Coronavirus: What EU can do (and has already done)
The European Commission has since the outbreak tasked itself to soften the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic on public health and the economy.
The Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak turned our daily life upside-down. Despite difficulties, the European Commission and all the EU Organizations (in general) set out plans for a robust and targeted EU response to support partner countries’ efforts in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
The EU’s collective action will focus on addressing the immediate health crisis and resulting humanitarian needs, strengthening partner countries’ health, water and sanitation systems and their research and preparedness capacities to deal with the pandemic, as well as mitigating the socio-economic impact.
The EU is making use of all the tools at its disposal to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic. In particular:
– strengthening partner countries’ health;
– strengthening research and preparedness capacities to deal with the pandemic;
– mitigating the socio-economic impact.
– Funding emergency scientific research for vaccines, therapies, technologies and innovations that could help in treating, testing, monitoring or other aspects of the Coronavirus outbreak.
The European Union response to the pandemic
“We will only win this battle with a coordinated global response. Therefore, we will support our partners,” President Ursula von der Leyen.
To fight the coronavirus on a global scale, on 8 April, the European Commission announced some €15.6 billion of support for partner countries’ efforts in tackling the pandemic.
What about research and innovation support instruments?
VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
On March 17 the European Commission informed that it supports the work of the CureVac company, developed in Tübingen, involved in the development and production of Coronavirus vaccines, with support of up to € 80 million.
RELIABLE CORONAVIRUS TESTS
Scientists from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) defined a new control material that laboratories across Europe can use for testing the correct functioning of coronavirus tests and avoiding false-negative results.
164 MILLION FOR STARTUP AND SMEs
A budget of 164 million was put at the disposal of startups and technology companies that plan innovative ideas to respond to the Covid-19 emergency.
137.5 MILLION FOR SUPPORTING THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
€ 47.5 million already allocated for research, diagnosis, treatments, supporting 18 projects focused on coronavirus involving 136 research groups across Europe. Another € 90 million has been earmarked for the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) with the pharmaceutical industry.
Read more on https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en and http://euvsdisinfo.eu/
