Inside EU Health: S&D present major health plan and more questions over Várhelyi
S&D puts health first: The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group in the European Parliament have unveiled a new position paper to mainstream health across all EU policies, ensuring that citizens’ wellbeing is considered in every area of decision-making.
“Health is a fundamental right for all citizens, and the EU must defend it,” said S&D vice-president Christophe Clergeau. “We want to embed health into every policy area — from the food we eat to the pollution we face — to truly protect and promote citizens’ wellbeing.”
The position paper is the result of nine months of internal consultations and includes more than 60 proposals. Among them are plans to create a Health Policy Coordination Board to better align EU actions in areas such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health. It also calls for a new Health Risk Assessment for new legislative proposals.
Catherine Feore
Cardiovascular and rare diseases rapporteurs: It has just been agreed that Vice Chair of the Public Health (SANT) committee Romana Jercović MEP (S&D) will take the lead on the cardiovascular plan and that Nicolás Casares MEP (S&D) will lead on the Rare Disease Strategy.
Várhelyi “did not tell the truth”: Hungarian MEP Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, currently polling ahead of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has added to speculation on what Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi knew about the Hungarian espionage allegations.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Magyar wrote: “At the Hungarian EU Embassy in Brussels, it was common knowledge that during János Lázár’s ministerial term (Head of the Prime Minister's Office, 2015–2018), intelligence officers were stationed in Brussels.” He added that “in my opinion, Olivér Várhelyi — the current EU Commissioner, then Hungarian ambassador to the EU (and my former boss) — did not tell the full truth when he recently denied this during the official investigation.”
Magyar, who served as a diplomat at the mission, alleged that “some strange figures with no policy expertise arrived in Brussels in covert “diplomatic” positions. They were most likely working for Hungarian intelligence services, and their task appeared to be collecting compromising personal and political information about Hungarian and foreign diplomats and officials.”
He added that “It was also shocking to see how Olivér Várhelyi, who before 2015 held strongly anti-Russian views, became — following his appointment by Lázár and Orbán — one of the biggest advocates and enablers of the increasingly powerful Orbán–Putin axis.
Catherine Feore