The ECR Group strongly endorses a European Parliament report adopted today in the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety which calls on the EU to reduce its dependency on the production of medicines in third countries and to relocate production into Europe. It also calls to better coordinate health policies and cooperation of the Member States. Furthermore, the ECR is of the opinion that the price of drugs and medicines must be affordable enough for everyone to use without any restrictions.

Speaking after the vote in Committee, ECR Shadow Rapporteur Joanna Kopcińska, said:

“The problem of lack of drugs concerns not only specialized and complex medicinal substances as for example drugs in cancer therapy, but completely basic medical products. Europe has been struggling with a lack of access to medicines for a long time. This has made the pandemic outbreak even more evident, showing the complexity of the problem and its larger scale.

“We must do everything to restore drug safety on our continent. The best solution would be to introduce appropriate regulatory measures that encourage manufacturing companies to return to Europe as much as possible. It is possible to create a positively favourable legal base enabling regaining independence in the field of drug safety.”