The Conference on the Future of Europe should aim to reflect politically how, given the Covid-19 experience, we could improve the way by which Europe functions to make it more clearly responsive to the needs of its citizens, Alfred Sant said in the European Parliament.
The Labour MEP stressed that the EU should respond to the needs of its citizens when they most need it, in terms of public health this time round, but just as importantly in emergencies that involve education on a European scale, environment and social protection.
The intervention was made during the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament after a presentation by a member of the European Court of Auditors Ms Joëlle Elvinger about a review on the EU’s initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic covering the first half of 2020.
Sant referred to the challenges faced by the EU in supporting and coordinating the efforts of member states in the fight against COVID-19 noting that the review, even if preliminary, should be used to draw the lessons from mistakes made in the early stages of the pandemic as well as later.
“Our rhetoric is that united as Europe, we stand a better chance of solving problems that cut across frontiers. Unfortunately, that claim was not reinforced by how the covid-19 pandemic has been dealt with”, Alfred Sant said.
“The EU can play a useful role in such emergency only if there is there is a clear political will shared by all or most member states and only if there exist the administrative, diplomatic, scientific, regulatory and commercial structures that know each other, trust each other and deal easily with each other.”
“A useful role by the EU also requires a legal infrastructure that flexibly underpins the really essential initiatives that must be taken across economic, public health, human rights, social and national boundaries.”
Alfred Sant added that when faced with an unprecedented situation, all players in the EU need to have the ability to be flexible because they have trust in each other.
“Member States, the whole of Europe, were unprepared for the pandemic. But is not this the stuff of all crises? Yet the range of topics on which there has been a lack of competence and flexibility is really disquieting: the uncoordinated closure of borders; the lack or absence of health equipment in critical areas; limited joint procurement; uncoordinated classification of public health statuses in different countries and regions; the vaccination contracting and distribution tangles that we have witnessed.”, Alfred Sant stressed
In his conclusive remarks, Sant called for a full-scale report from the European Court of Auditors to assess non-politically the processes and outcomes over the past months and weeks.