The European Parliament greenlit a new stand-alone committee focusing solely on health, which will begin working next year.
The new Public Health Committee (SANT), approved on Wednesday by the Parliament in Strasbourg, branches off from the previous subcommittee handling the issue and will assume responsibility for health policy previously overseen by the broader Environment Committee.
SANT will now have 43 members, an increase from the 30 MEPs who formed the previous subcommittee, and will commence work from the next plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg (20–23 January). MEP Adam Jarubas (Poland/European People’s Party [EPP]), who currently chairs the subcommittee, will retain his post.
It will be officially responsible for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and will supervise preparedness and response to health crises, mental health and patients’ rights, as well as health aspects of bioterrorism.
The SANT stand-alone committee will also supervise inter-institutional relations with other health authorities such as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
However, food security and animal welfare will remain under the Environment Committee, which will be renamed Environment, Climate and Food Safety.
This change was first driven by the EPP, which argued that health issues were overlooked in the larger Environment Committee.
MEP Tomislav Sokol (Croatia/EPP), a vocal advocate for the upgrade, told Euronews that by creating the new committee, “we are sending a strong message that health must remain a priority for the European Union”.
He added that “prioritizing health isn’t an expense but a long-term investment.”
MEP Tiemo Wölken (Germany/S&D) agreed, saying “the stand-alone SANT Committee gives us the opportunity to place neglected health issues on the EU agenda.”
“It remains to be seen whether the EPP group will use this committee merely to push through the interests of the pharmaceutical or tobacco lobby, or whether they will work with the democratic center to fight for the well-being of patients,” he told Euronews.
Alongside the public health committee, the Parliament’s group leaders reached a political agreement last Friday to set up two new special committees on housing and foreign interference, and to upgrade the subcommittee on security and defence (SEDE)
