CoFoE: Hajsel: Expansion of EMA's Powers Must Increase Transparency

Strasbourg, January 27 (TASR) – The approved measures must not only accelerate individual processes but also boost transparency in the conduct of clinical trials and approval of certificates needed to place medicines on the market, Slovak MEP Robert Hajsel has stated in reaction to the European Parliament’s approval of a move to bolster the powers of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

“I hope that strengthening the EMA’s powers will indeed make it possible to ensure that the EU and all member states, including Slovakia, will be better prepared to deal with future health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic,” Hajsel remarked, as cited by the European Parliament press department.

“In practice, this should prevent a repetition of a situation in which there was a shortage of effective medicines and medical supplies,” he added. On January 20, the European Parliament approved an increase in the EMA’s powers. This move was supported by 655 MEPs, while 31 voted against and eight abstained. After approval by the EP, the regulation still needs to be formally endorsed by the EU Council of Ministers. It will then be signed and published in the EU’s Official Journal and should enter into force on March 1, 2022.

The future of health care in the EU is among the topics discussed at the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), which brings together four panels of randomly selected citizens from EU-member states. The third CoFoE citizens’ panel included boosting the powers of the agency in its recommendations. Each one of the four CoFoE panels will submit its recommendations to the European Parliament. The recommendations will be included in a final report to be drawn up by the CoFoE executive board in the spring.

Anyone can join the debate on the future of the Union via the multilingual digital platform futureu.europa.eu.