EPP and S&D clash over future health committee

The European Parliament’s sub-committee on Public Health (SANT) discussed whether a new full committee dedicated to health should be created on Monday (9 September), raising tensions between MEPs over its future competencies.

Set up in February 2023, the SANT sub-committee remains under the umbrella of the committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).

Things could soon change as SANT may become a full committee with the authority to adopt legislative texts.

Behind the scenes, the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) are squabbling over the future remit of the proposed new committee.

The liberal Renew Europe group supports the idea, while the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) and The Left say it would undermine the more holistic approach offered by being a subgroup of the ENVI committee.

“Our approach recognises the interconnectedness of human health, animal health and the environment,” said Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp (The Left). “Removing the SANT committee from ENVI would be a crucial mistake, one that serves no one’s interest except that of Big Pharma.”

The main discussion revolves around which competencies SANT would acquire from other parliamentary committees, fuelling a heated debate among political groups.

ENVI handles many issues that intersect with health, from environmental pollution to the future regulation of the pharma sector. Other committees, such as the Employment and Social Affairs committee (EMPL), also address health-related topics, including occupational health.

Renew and the EPP, which chairs the current SANT sub-committee, want to gain as many competencies as possible, believing this would give them the upper hand on all health policy.

Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP) said health gained prominence in the last mandate due to COVID-19. “If we want to maintain this momentum, we have to show the initiative from our side,” he said.

“The most important thing is that this sub-committee becomes a fully fledged committee. I think that if we want healthcare to remain as one of the policy priorities in the European Union you need a special committee.”

Sokol argues that a more cross-cutting approach weakens health policy: “Essentially, this means that it is diluted, that you lose focus, that you lose political strength.”

“We need to implement our promise to have a ‘health in all policies’ approach. It should be on the agenda of all committees,” said S&D Coordinator, former Health Commissioner from Lithuania, Vytenis Andriukaitis.

SANT Vice-President Stine Bosse (Renew), like her Croatian counterpart, is calling for a broad remit.

“European public health, investment in research and innovation on rare diseases and global action on antimicrobial resistance all need a solid foundation,” she told Euractiv.

“The pharmaceutical industry is clearly a manufacturing industry of strategic importance for our continent. That is why it is so important for the SANT committee to cover health issues in the broadest sense.”

Negotiations are still ongoing, and an agreement with the S&D could soon be reached. But at what cost?

“The main risk for us [the S&D group] is that SANT becomes a ‘vaccines-drugs-cancer’ committee, and that all other aspects of health are neglected,” an S&D source told Euractiv.

The S&D group want to maintain a holistic and ‘One Health’ approach to health. According to one source, this is well served by the current arrangements, but the group is open to discussions on whether a dedicated standing committee could preserve this approach.