After months of intense wheeling and dealing, MEPs officially approved the long-awaited independence of the Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT) in mid-December.

The Subcommittee used to operate under the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI). The new Committee, including 13 new members, is to be run independently with a sole focus on health policy. The January plenary session was to determine the composition of the committee, aides to SANT Chair Adam Jarubas told EUPerspectives.

The decision was made during the mid-December plenary session with 448 of the 649 MEPs voting in favour of the change, 161 voting against the measure, and 40 abstentions. The move comes at a time when health issues form a larger-than-ever part of the European agenda. The covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent healthcare challenges have shown that the European Union needs more effective emergency management mechanisms, as well as better access to healthcare.

Change to arrive in January

The SANT Subcommittee was only established last February as part of the ENVI Committee, whose agenda covers a wide range of topics from the environment to food safety. SANT’s main focal point was public health; its weak mandate and shared remit with ENVI often limited its effectiveness. This is now set to change.

“SANT’s targeted mandate will enable it to address the most pressing health care issues in an agile and effective way. At the same time, open cooperation with other relevant Parliament Committees and Commissioners will ensure that the principle of ‘One Health’ is not compromised,” said Polish MEP Adam Jarubas (EPP), Chairs of the Public Health Subcommittee, in a statement after the vote.

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The key task for MEPs will now be to ensure a smooth transition from ENVI to the new structure. The transfer of members, legislative acts and agenda will require cooperation across political groups. “We would like to have it done by a gentlemen’s agreement so that there is no need to introduce too many changes here,” a source from the European Parliament told news website Euractiv in early December. It will also be key to avoid forcing MEPs to choose between membership of one committee or the other and swapping rapporteurs for individual acts.

The actual composition of the committee (which should in theory reflect the political composition of the European Parliament) will be determined by each political group and the non-attached MEPs. “The exact names of the SANT MEPs will be voted on at the January plenary session,” Borys Maria Brzezinski, assistant to the Subcommittee’s Chairman, told EUPerspectives. The current Subcommittee on Public Health will technically cease to exist on the first day of the January plenary session and will be formally established as a committee on the same day. The chair and vice-chairs of the committee are to be elected at the respective constituent sessions.

One of the pending questions is a potential changing hands at the helm. Currently, the Adam Jarubas (EPP) is the Chair, with Tilly Metz (Greens), Stine Boss (Renew Europe), Romana Jerković (S&D), and Emmanouil Fragkos (ECR) serving as Vice-Chairs. The current 30-strong membership is set to increase by 13 to 43 members.

A varied agenda

The SANT committee freshly-gained independence is intended to help achieve greater capacity of action in the field of health policy. Food safety issues are to remain under the remit of ENVI. The new committee will focus fully on key topics such as medicines and medical supplies and equipment, public health programmes and specific actions, health emergency preparedness and response, mental health and patients’ rights, health aspects of bioterrorism, and topics related to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The SANT Committee is also expected to strengthen relations with the World Health Organisation (WHO). “The committee will be have a broader secretariat and more resources to finance studies, missions and other activities,” Brzezinski also told EUPerspectives.

“In an increasingly unstable world, we need to ensure greater autonomy over medicines and other health-care resources, faster detection and improved preparedness for future health emergencies, as well as safeguard our leadership in health-care innovation – for the benefit of patients but also for the EU’s competitiveness. We need to reduce health inequalities, both between and within EU countries,” Jarubas set out the long-term goals.

Ever since the SANT Subcommittee was established in 2023, speculation abounded about its independence. Although its original mandate was limited, it quickly became apparent that the health agenda was too vital to remain subordinate to a more general committee. The December vote can thus be seen as a historic step towards strengthening European health policy, as well as a response to the call for greater efficiency and accountability in this area.