#EAPM - Top priorities as well as top jobs, please

Still, at this stage, there’s no - ahem - ‘accounting’ for the deals that are yet to come, both in the hemicycle regarding inevitable ‘rainbow’ coalitions and among member states as various would-be Commission presidents jostle for position. 

No change there, then…

In the meantime, EAPM has plenty on its plate and June will see two round tables in the Brussels seat of parliament, which will commence on 19 June, with MEPs in the members salon, to enable all present to gain a better understanding of the issues involved in personalised health care.

A second, technically minded round table, with member state representatives on Real World Evidence and HTA , will take place the day after (20 June) and be structured around an initial framework-setter, followed by various case examples.

A vital part of EAPM’s role has always been engagement with EU health attachés and MEPs, as well as continuous involvement in ongoing discussions in our arena.

The long-running STEPs (Specialised Treatment for Europe’s Patients) interest group of MEPs, will continue, no doubt with some new faces added in the wake of the EU elections.

Going forward, as ever, EAPM intends to focus on the key Parliamentary committees in our sector - for example the ENVI, ITRE and EMPL committees.

Political manoeuvring

It’s all getting a little bit interesting already with regards to the much-spoken about Spitzenkandidaten process, with the ambitions of the likes of the EPP’s Manfred Weber and, the socialists’ Frans Timmermans (to name but two), hanging in the balance as they bid to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the next European Commission.

Parliament has put its weight firmly behind this lead candidate process, flagging it up as the most democratic process, but it remains to be seen whether the EU’s heads of state and government forming the European Council yield to the pressure.

As for the European Commission, the very powerful Commission Secretary-General Martin Selmayr, speaking during an event organized by Politico, referred to the Lisbon Treaty and underlined that it’s clear that “the European Parliament elects the president of the European Commission”.

“The key issue is for the Spitzenkandidat to become president of the Commission and not something else.”

Selmayr did, however, call for patience as the three main EU institutions will have to come together to form an executive.

Part of the problem is both the centre-right and the socialists got a bit of a slapping at the elections and the traditional balance of power has undeniably shifted.

French President Emmanuel Macron and the new liberal grouping are openly outto undermine Weber who, despite his group still holding the most seats, has himself admitted that: “The EPP cannot see itself as a shining winner.”

He added: “We go into the talks with humility, but also with self-confidence.”

This ‘humility’ was echoed by Timmermans, who said that he and his grouping would seek agreement on content and a programme for a majority in Parliament before talking about which job went to whom.

MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, meanwhile, who is co-chair of the European Green Party, said: “If we want to defend this Union against the attack of the far right, the European Parliament has to play a strong role…The anti-Spitzenkandidat game is in my mind a game against the European Parliament and that’s why we hate that.”

In an interview with ZDF’s Heute Journal, Weber not surprisingly said he is “very well aligned” with the Greens on the point.

Back to the maths of the situation and, with 751 seats in Parliament, any group or groups need to reach 376 to command a majority.

The EPP, S&D and Greens are set to have 393 MEPs. That’s not a massive majority but is reached without the liberals, of course, leaving Guy Verhofstadt’s hopes of becoming president of the parliament on shaky ground.

(For his part, ALDE Group leader Verhofstadt focused on the battle for Commission chief saying: “The new balance of power in the European Parliament calls for a Commission President candidate that can build a robust majority way beyond partisan lines. Our new group will be open to consider all candidates that can gather the support of the political families that will compose the future governing majority.”)

Current Parliament President Antonio Tajaniis expected to deliver a clear message today (Tuesday 28) to EU leaders along the lines thatParliament intends to be consulted in the appointment of the next Commission president. Tajani is a great defender of Parliament, so it will be no surprise if the message will be somewhat firmer.

At least Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is on board to a degree. She said: “To appoint the Commission president, the European Council must cooperate with the European Parliament.”

The chancellor wants “a solution as quickly as possible,” setting out some sort of timetable by adding that“it would be desirable if a proposal from the European Council were already on the table” by the new Parliament’s first plenary in the first week ofJuly.

“We must be capable of action in the European Union. The faster we take decisions, the better it will be,”the chancellor stressed.

It should all get a little tasty at today’s dinner of EU leaders after a key summit on jobs. Well, the dinner should certainly be ‘tasty’, given the amount spent on it.

Oh, no! Surely not another compromise?

As we’ve mentioned before in our regular Alliance updates and newsletters, none other than Michel Barnier has been mentioned as a possible Commission president.

Not only does Barnier know his way around the Berlaymont (and not just geographically, being an ex-commissioner) he’s also earned much kudos for managing to keep 27 member states singing from the same song sheet against the background of the cacophony of Brexit. No mean feat, it has to be said.

It helps that he’s from the biggest party the EPP, of course, and Macron could be persuaded to put his weight behind him, it’s been mooted, not least because Barnier is French.

The elections and health care

Of course, we have some new faces about to take their seats in the hemicycle and that will affect every area of legislation, not least health care.

Committees need to be formed and new rapporteurs appointed, including on the vital and still difficult HTA file, as some stalwarts are no longer in parliament.

MEPs will elect their next Parliament president while confirming the committees at the first plenary sitting (currently scheduled for 2 July). After the that, during the same month, the committees will hold their first meetings and elect chairs and vice-chairs.

As it stands, the EPP’s Adina-Ioana Vălean is the most recent chair of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI), and has been re-elected. 

Meanwhile, the Greens want the EU to do more in the health arena, especially as they traditionally line up against pharmaceutical and chemical giants.

Said Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout: “DG SANTE is not sufficiently standing up against the pharmaceutical industry, industrial farming, and the chemical sector.”

As we know, most EU citizens and certainly health-care groups want the EU as a whole to do more on health, despite it remaining a much-guarded member state competence, and there is pressure for a Commission vice-president on health to be appointed.

From the point of view of stability, or the possibility of it at least, many deputies who worked on the medical device regulations in the last parliament are on their way back, including EAPM supporter Peter Liese who was co-rapporteur on the file.

We’re a smidgen under a year away from the implementation deadline as it stands, and plenty of work still needs to be done, with only two notified bodies ready to ensure the quality of devices under the new regulation.

Whoever ends up leading it, It looks as though the new European Parliament will have to hit the ground running.