React to Coronavirus with unified prevention rules and new economic stimulus

Unified European standards on how to deal with public events or flights from and to coronavirus affected regions; more money to fund research for vaccination and possible treatment against the virus; economic stimulus to counter the economic disaster caused by the virus and a new effort to bring medicine production back to Europe. These are some points from the list of measures the EPP Group calls for in response to the spread of the new coronavirus.

"Why do football matches in Spain take place in empty stadiums, while in other countries matches go ahead as normal? Why do some countries close schools when a family member of a student has been infected, while other countries do not? We demand the highest possible coordination between the EU Member States and European Authorities. Instead of national solutions, we need a European standard", stated Ester de Lange MEP, EPP Group Vice-President responsible for Economy, Environment and Health, and Peter Liese MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

The EPP Group MEPs also want to increase the size and competences of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). "The ECDC is far too small to be able to properly accompany epidemics like this. They need a larger budget and more options for action. It is them who should set the common European standards to respond to such a crisis", Liese explained.

De Lange calls for a "flexible interpretation of EU state aid rules", the European rules which limit the options of Member States to help ailing companies. "This public health crisis is nothing less than urgent and concerning than the financial crisis in 2008. We have to prevent a major economic crisis. We need national support programmes for companies, short hour working schemes, tax rebates and exemptions for the sectors most concerned, as well as targeted fiscal stimulus measures", de Lange said.

De Lange and Liese also deplore the current shortages of medicines and personal protection equipment. "We need to work on Europe's ‘Medical Sovereignty’. The coronavirus reminds us that we are by far too dependent on the production of medicines outside Europe. For instance, 80 percent of the ingredients of antibiotics in Europe are manufactured in China. This is a result of decades of mistakes in our industrial policies. We call on the European Commission to make proposals on how to bring back the production of essential medicines to Europe", de Lange and Liese concluded.