New European Parliament health committee deal reportedly close to completion

The European Parliament is close to finalising a split of its environment and health committee (ENVI) and upgrading the current subcommittee on public health (SANT) to a standing committee, parliamentary sources tell Euractiv. 

For the first time in over a decade, the parliament is expected to create new standing committees. The move comes after the last five-year mandate deepened cooperation between EU member states on issues such as health and defence. 

Senior sources in the S&D and Renew groups each confirmed that the parliamentary groups in the parliamentary majority had informally decided to upgrade the health committee after weeks of speculation. 

The chair of the current health subcommittee, Adam Jarubas, told Euractiv more cautiously that the EPP “will still try to go for a full SANT committee”, for which it has long advocated. 

“There is, in our view, a [Jean] Monnet moment in the EU to have deeper integration on health,” he told Euractiv. “The COVID-19 crisis showed that we can do more by cooperating rather than competing for limited resources.” 

The confirmation comes as a surprise, as plans for a full-fledged health committee were reported to have collapsed in early July.   

Parliament sources told Euractiv that sceptics among the Socialists feared that a split could give a numerical advantage to right-wing forces.   

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) currently counts 90 members, the sub-committee on public health (SANT) counts 30 members. In a smaller committee, the three right-wing groups (ECR, PfE and ESN) and the EPP would supposedly have it easier to drag outcomes in their direction. 

It remains unclear why the socialist grouping has changed its position.   

The informal agreement is now expected to be formalised when the Parliament reconvenes in the autumn as part of a wider deal on new committee structures. 

Greens sceptical 

There remains some uncertainty as the Greens, affiliated with the pro-EU parliamentary majority, claimed that the deal is not done yet. 

“We’re sceptical on making SANT a standing committee, as we fear it will just be a “pharma-committee” for the businesses.” Greens vice-president Kira Peter-Hansen told Euractiv.  

The final configuration of the committees will depend on the green light from the Conference of Presidents, which will not meet again until the autumn. 

Upgraded defence committee and special committee on housing

The move to upgrade the health committee would be part of a wider reconfiguration of the Parliament’s committees. Sources in the Socialist and Liberal groups told Euractiv that the current subcommittee of the defence committee would also be upgraded to a standing committee, separating it from the foreign affairs committee (AFET). The deal is also expected to include the creation of a special committee on housing.   

Ultimately, an agreement on changes to Parliament’s committees would seek to reflect the composition and portfolios of the new European Commission, says Jarubas.   

Although the composition of the new Commission is not yet known, re-elected Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to have a new commissioner for defence and another for housing. The agreement on the composition of the Parliament’s committees is therefore likely to depend on the composition of the new Commission. 

Details on the competences, composition and leadership of the new standing committee on public health are still scarce. However, the split would mean that the public health committee would be able to amend and vote on legislative proposals, a competency currently reserved for its parent committee, ENVI. 

*Nick Alipour contributed to this report. 

[Edited by Nick Alipour, Chris Powers] 

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