Life will get back to normality if we all pull the same rope – Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner
10342 Mins Read
Among the women at the helm of the EU’s Coronavirus Crisis Team is Cypriot Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. Like many other leaders, she describes the current fight against the pandemic as a war. “My focus is on saving lives”, she insists.
She defends Europe’s initial free-for-all reaction, explaining that ultimately health is the competence of Member States. “We are facing an unprecedented situation. And don’t forget that not all member states went into this crisis at the same time. Health is a member states’ competence. We as a Commission were there to be able to update them on the scientific evidence to co-ordinate and also to solve problems when they appeared.”
Kyriakides does concede that there was room for improvement in Europe’s reaction, but suggests this there will be other times to look into that: “When this crisis is passed, and it will pass, then we’ll be able to assess what we need to do differently.” What is sure, is that while Europe entered the crisis in an uncoordinated manner, things will be different when it comes to exiting it.
“We’re already working on, as a European Commission, on possible exit strategies to recommend to member states based on scientific evidence.” She adds that the Commission is working with the European Centre for Disease and Control (ECDC), we are assessing what recommendations can be given to member states in order to start lifting the containment measures, again, taking into account that each member state is facing different realities on the ground.”
EU facilitates delivery of food and medicine
The Commissioner insists that the EU facilitates life in many ways which perhaps we do not witness directly, but its measures impact us more than we realise. She mentions, as an example, the fact that despite Member States unilaterally closing borders between themselves, the Commission has coordinated the opening of specific lanes to ensure that food and medicines reached their target destinations. It also coordinated patient and healthcare mobility when this was needed and possible.
More importantly, it has allocated over over 140 million euro through Horizon 2020 to support research projects across Europe of the vaccine.
The Commissioner reassures that life in Europe will go back to normality gradually. However, she appeals to the general public to respect the authorities’ directives – only in this manner victory will ensure. “We are all responsible as citizens to slow down the spread, to take the pressure of health systems, so that all patients, not only those with COVID19, can have access to optimal healthcare. This needs to be our target.”
