Mr. Gerry Kiely:

Many thanks to the members for the invitation to speak before the committee this morning. I am delighted to be here. I will give as much of a summary as I can of the various EU actions that have taken place over the past six to eight months since the Covid crisis emerged. I will be as brief as I can and I know the committee has much to get into the session.

During her state of the Union 2020 speech last month, President Ursula von der Leyen devoted her first words to pay tribute to all the caregivers, nurses, doctors and front-line workers in Europe, who have pulled us through this crisis to date and who continue to be our first line of response to the Covid-19 panic and pandemic. The President said – and I agree - that we are inspired by their empathy, bravery and sense of duty. She also said their stories reveal a lot about the state of our world and the state of our Union. A virus a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand exposed how delicate life can be. It laid bare the strains on our health systems and the limits of a model that values wealth above well-being. People want to move out of this corona world, she said, and out of this fragility, out of uncertainty. She stated they are ready for change and they are ready to move on. She concluded that therefore this is the moment for Europe.

For a long time healthcare in the EU member states has been a national competence, whereas until recently the EU had very limited input. This was also the case when the virus struck us and this also influenced how we could react in the EU. The initial response in EU member states showed that we still have 27 sovereign member states that might share many areas of responsibility within the framework of our Union but which also maintain multiple areas of competence covered by their own decisions, and health is one of them.

When Covid-19 hit us, this became the moment for Europe and one, in my view, where we have risen to the occasion . EU member states’ health systems immediately went into overdrive to counter the contagion and support those affected. However, member states also started closing borders, limiting the flow of essential goods. Some started to compete with each other for the procurement of limited supplies of personal protective equipment, PPE, and medication. In addition, the economic effects of lockdowns had to be met by national social security systems and national financial support to businesses and workers.

In recent months, we have rediscovered the value of what we hold in common. As individuals, we have all sacrificed a piece of our personal liberty for the safety of others and as a Union, we all shared a part of our sovereignty for the common good. We showed what is possible when we trust each other and trust our European institutions. Working within its competences, and sometimes moving beyond into innovative areas, the EU has given a massive response to Covid-19. I have already provided a separate summary overview of that response, which I will not repeat in detail here. However, I would like to highlight a number of important elements.

The first is the response to Covid-19 by the EU with economic measures. These include a massive recovery package of €1.8 trillion that combines the EU budget for 2021 to 2027 and Next Generation EU. Under the agreement, the Commission will be able to borrow up to €750 billion on the markets. A first successful EU bond issue of €17 billion has just been oversubscribed 13 times over.

Additionally, there are economic measures that complement the European Central Bank’s €1.35 trillion pandemic emergency purchase programme, in addition to the €120 billion programme decided earlier. There has been a temporary relaxing of state aid rules so governments can provide liquidity to the economy. We have also seen the triggering of the "escape clause" that allows maximum flexibility to our budgetary rules, which links to the earlier point on state aid, and there has been the Commission’s temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency, SURE, which is designed to help people keep their jobs during the crisis.

There has also been financial support for hard-hit small and medium businesses. The Commission tabled an investment initiative to provide member states with immediate liquidity, and it consists of unspent cohesion policy funds. I do not know if Ireland got any of this because Ireland did not have any unspent cohesion funding. To support farmers and the agriculture sector, the Commission has launched exceptional measures to support and stabilise agricultural markets.

To respond to Covid-19, the EU has set up support for research for treatment, diagnostics and vaccines. The coronavirus global response pledging marathon raised €16 billion in funds for universal access to treatments, tests and vaccines, of which €1.4 billion was from the Commission. The Commission has also mobilised more than €660 million under Horizon 2020 to develop vaccines, new treatments, diagnostic tests and medical systems. The Commission's vaccines strategywas designed to accelerate the development and availability of vaccines. It aims to secure the production of vaccines within the EU, ensure sufficient supplies for its member states through advance purchase agreements with vaccine producers, adapt the EU's regulatory framework to the current emergency and use the flexibility of our rules to speed up the development, authorisation and availability of vaccines. So far, the Commission has concluded agreements on behalf of all EU member states with pharmaceutical companies for hundreds of millions of vaccine doses as soon as a vaccine is approved. Separate from this, the Commission also presented a vaccination strategyto help identify vulnerable groups that should benefit from vaccination. The strategy also deals with vaccination services and infrastructure and vaccines deployment, as well as the availability and affordability of vaccines, and communication to ensure public confidence.

To respond to Covid-19 the EU has also provided support to the public health sector. The Commission has allocated €3 billion from the EU budget, matched by €3 billion from member states, to fund the emergency support instrument and the rescEU's common stockpile of equipment to deal with the pandemic. To aid the production and availability of personal protective equipment, the Commission is working closely with member states to assess the available stock of PPE in the EU, the production capacity and anticipated needs. It is ensuring conformity assessment and market surveillance to increase the supply of PPE without compromising health and safety standards. It is discussing with industry how to convert production lines to supply more PPE and providing manufacturers with guidance to increase production of PPE, hand sanitisers and disinfectants.

To respond to Covid-19 the EU has also addressed the issue of borders and mobility, including guidelines for border management measures to protect health and ensure availability of goods and essential services and creating so-called green lanes to ensure the flow of goods. There have also been temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU and guidance to ensure the free movement of workers, especially in the healthcare and food sectors.

Finally, to respond to Covid-19 the EU has engaged in activities to fight disinformation. The Commission is in close contact with social media platforms regarding measures to promote authoritative content and to take down misleading, illegal and harmful content. Many initiatives are being implemented and many of them are available to Ireland in support of the efforts of the Irish Government and Irish authorities to counter the pandemic but also to deal with its economic impact. The pandemic is not over and a vaccine is not yet available, although there are some hopeful signs. National competences and EU policies continue as they are, but given the range of responses from the EU to date and working closely together with all EU member states, we hope to meet the challenge and protect our citizens.

In the past six months, our health systems and workers have produced miracles. Every country has worked to do its best for its citizens and Europe has done more together than ever before, and we achieved this without having full competences but rather through co-ordination and co-operation. As President von der Leyen has said, it is crystal clear we need to build a stronger European health union. The Commission wants to strengthen our crisis preparedness and management of cross-border health threats. The Commission will propose to reinforce and empower the European Medicines Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Commission also wants to establish a European agency for biomedical advanced research and development. We need strategic stockpiling to address supply chain dependencies, notably for pharmaceutical products. In conclusion, it is clearer than ever before that we must discuss the question of health competences for the EU, a matter that saw strong support in the Eurobarometer published last week.

The Commission believes this is a suitable subject for the conference on the future of Europe, which we hope will kick off next month or in the near future.