Inside EU Health: Maladministration finding could have consequences for health; and Commission unveils new health crisis action plan
Maladministration finding could have consequences for health proposals
European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho has found maladministration in the European Commission’s preparation of new laws, concluding it repeatedly bypassed its own Better Regulation rules.
The Ombudswoman acknowledged that the Commission would sometimes have to respond urgently to different situations, but said that a balance needed to be struck: “Certain principles of good law-making cannot be compromised even for the sake of urgency.”
MEP Tiemo Wölken warns that the Commission is routinely sidelining impact assessments (IAs) in favour of Staff Working Documents (SWDs). According to Parliament’s research service, only 18 of 80 legislative proposals since December 2024 have included an IA, with most relying instead on SWDs, an approach Wölken says undermines transparency and evidence-based policymaking.
The Commission argues that urgency can justify faster procedures, but the Ombudswoman found it failed to explain why standard rules were dropped. With upcoming health proposals like the Biotech Act also expected to proceed without IAs, pressure is mounting on the Commission to restore business as usual.
Catherine Feore
EU unveils new health crisis action plan — but what’s actually new?
The European Commission launched its Communication “Introducing Union prevention, preparedness and response plan for health crises”, with little fanfare on Friday (28 November). This may not be surprising, as it doesn’t appear to add much to existing strategies or rules.
Indeed, the document (accompanied by a 126-page Staff Working Document) seems to acknowledge as much, stating that the commitment to present an action plan, proposed in the ‘Preparedness Union Strategy’ earlier this year, is already a legal requirement under the regulation on serious cross-border threats to health.
Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi has defended the plan’s added value, arguing it strengthens co-ordination: “By linking national and EU efforts better, today’s Union Plan gives us a solid set of tools to prepare for, prevent and respond to health crises more robustly.”
The Commission’s press release says that the ‘Union plan’ will help member states by outlining “the EU's health crisis toolkit” with an overview of ‘crisis governance architecture’ and what existing support is available for the four phases of the health crisis management cycle: prevention and preparedness; detection and assessment; response; and, recovery.
What it reveals is the complexity of the governance structure behind the EU’s crisis response, or as the staff document refers to it: the EU’s “matrixed approach to health crisis governance”.