On Monday, October 24th, representatives of the EU member states passed three final regulations to complete the European Health Union, which are to come into force in November, Euractiv reports (link in German).
The latest building blocks of the European Health Union relate to the regulation on substantial cross-border health threats, the regulation extending the mandate of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the emergency framework regulation, which provides the EU with additional powers to Health Emergencies Crisis Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
“The key pillars of our European Health Union are now in place,” Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement , adding that these are “additional tools to act quickly and respond with determination and unity to emerging health crises.”
In addition to the three new regulations, the regulation extending the mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has been in force since March of this year.
The four regulations form the package of the European Health Union, first presented by the European Commission on 11 November 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic and future public health emergencies.