”We must not forget to resolve our issues”

On Wednesday, 19 April 2023, MEP Irena Joveva spoke at the plenary session in Strasbourg on the EU Global Health Strategy. Stressing the importance of solidarity and of helping everyone in need, particularly in health care, she added that in implementing EU strategies, institutions should not forget to resolve our issues.

Joveva’s opening remarks were critical of the fact that it took thirteen years and a pandemic to happen for the Commission to present a new global health strategy.

“But well, at least we got it. It is well-designed and, if implemented successfully, it will position the Union as a leading geopolitical power in the field of health.”

Joveva strongly supported this objective, but asked those present in the Chamber, and in particular the European Commission, whether the European Union is actually, and not only in theory, ready for a Health Union, which, in plain language, means transferring health competences from the Member States to the European level.

​​“Without this, it is difficult to set strategies for building effective health systems, while within the Union these are under immense pressure and in some places even falling apart. I believe in solidarity and I support helping everyone in need, including – or especially – in health care. But in pursuing our strategies, we must not forget to resolve our issues.”

You can watch MEP Joveva’s speech in Slovenian here.

On the European Union’s Global Health Strategy:

At the end of November 2022, the European Commission adopted a new EU Global Health Strategy to improve global health security and deliver better health for all in the fast-changing world. The strategy will strengthen the EU’s leadership and responsibility for tackling key global challenges and inequalities in the field of health care and health.

The main interrelated priorities in dealing with global health challenges set out in the strategy include: delivering better health and well-being of people across the life course, strengthening health systems, and combating health threats, including pandemics.

The strategy seeks to regain the ground lost to reach the universal health-related targets in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

It is also one of the essential pillars of EU foreign policy and central to EU strategic autonomy. It aims to enable better preparedness and faster response to health threats, while promoting sustainable partnerships of equals, drawing on the Global Gateway.

You can read the full EU Global Health Strategy here.