The COVID-19 pandemic provides a stark illustration of why we need effective tools for sharing health data in Europe, say four MEPs By Maria Manuel Leitão Marques , Maria Da Graça Carvalho , Chrysoula Zacharapoulou and Alexandra Geese In 1854, John Snow, one of the first epidemiologists, defeated a cholera outbreak ravaging London by mapping the locations where the disease showed up and carefully analysing risk factors. That provided the data he needed to demonstrate the cause was se...
The six Portuguese MEPs wrote a letter addressed to Commission President von der Leyen, European Parliament President Sassoli, European Central Bank President Lagarde, and to the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa with proposals to combat the Covid-19 crisis, TSF Online reports. In the document, the MEPs propose 17 measures to contribute to “an urgent common solution”, based in solidarity. The MEPs defended their support for Coronabonds, the creation of an unemployment reassurance, the...
The six MEPs from Portuguese party PSD sent a letter to the European institutions with proposals to fight the Covid-19 crisis, Jornal de Notícias Online reports. The letter was sent to Commission President von der Leyen, European Parliament President Sassoli, European Central Bank President Lagarde, and to the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa. In the letter, the MEPs stated that the current pandemic shows that the European Union does not have any strategic supplies of medicine, food, ...
In an opinion article in O Jornal Económico, MEP Graça Carvalho writes about the isolation measures to prevent contagion by Covid-19. MEP Carvalho praises all the alternatives found by the companies and people to continue interacting and working. “The ease in information circulation reveals its priceless importance, allowing the contact between political deciders, scientists, and experts in public health involved in the combat to the Covid-19 in their respective countries,” MEP Carvalho says....
The six PSD MEPs sent this Friday a letter to the four presidents of the European Institutions (European Commission, European Council, European Parliament and European Central Bank) and to the Portugal's Prime Minister, António Costa, with information also being addressed to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The letter was sent with a document in which MEPs present 17 measures to respond to the Covid-19 crisis and demand a common solution of an urgent nature, capable of ...
Hard-pressed governments lack time and capacity to agree on long-term funding for 2021 - 2027 By Éanna Kelly and Florin Zubașcu As governments across Europe desperately firefight COVID-19, minds in Brussels are turning to contingency plans for the multi annual financial framework (MFF), the next seven-year EU budget that is due to run from the start of next year. Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, on Saturday said she would unveil a new proposal for the 2021-2027 budget, ...
The complexity of our global interrelation was evident long before the COVID-19 outbreak, but is now appearing as a Gordian knot that requires urgent reflexion and decisive action. There is a deep interdependence between the different regions of the world, that brought us many gains but also new problems like the ones we are now experiencing. The Von der Leyen Commission has made clear that the Union shall develop a continental strategic autonomy. Until now, digital or technological...
Investing in education and innovation enriches our ability to respond to unforeseen circumstances and is crucial to ensuring our continued wellbeing. There is a deep interdependence between the different regions of the world that brought us many gains, but also new problems like the ones we are now experiencing. The Von der Leyen Commission has made clear that the Union must develop a continental strategic autonomy. Until now, digital or technological sovereignty was the key component in t...
I voted in favour of this report as it contains proposals that must be immediately deployed to create minimum conditions for mobilising cash reserves in the European Structural and Investment Funds to tackle the crisis. The quasi-unanimous support that the report gathered shows how the European Parliament can act united in the interests of the European citizens when it comes to alleviate the effects of this unprecedented crisis. The report contains provisions to modify three legal acts aiming...
I voted in favour of this report as it contains proposals that must be immediately deployed to create minimum conditions for mobilising cash reserves in the European Structural and Investment Funds to tackle the crisis. The quasi-unanimous support that the report gathered shows how the European Parliament can act united in the interests of the European citizens when it comes to alleviate the effects of this unprecedented crisis. The report contains provisions to modify three legal acts aiming...
In an opinion article in Público, MEP Graça Carvalho wrote about the need of a coordinated response to the Covid-19 outbreak at a European level. The MEP wrote about health and economy being the most important sectors to face this crisis, and that investment in health is also an investment in the economy. Ms Carvalho said that the measures presented by the European Commission to allow more budgetary flexibility to the member states was a good action, but it will be for naught if the money is n...
PSD MEPs in the European Parliament questioned today the European Commission about the possibility of launching a specific tender for the purchase of test kits for screening Covid-19, which ensures the necessary supply flows to Member States. This question to the Commission follows the recommendation of the World Health Organization, which urges States to adopt mass screening policies, giving as an example the actions taken by the Chinese and South Korean authorities and pointing to the data...