Von der Leyen’s second term as President of the Commission has been confirmed with a vote in the European Parliament. Despite the initial years of her first mandate being overwhelmingly about health as the COVID19 pandemic swept the globe, there is now very little focus on health going into von der Leyen’s second term. This is understandable as there is a collective desire to move on after the pandemic, as well as new crises stemming from the war in Ukraine and the resulting energy and cost of living crisis. Von der Leyen would not have wanted to remind the Parliament of the vaccine procurement process in any event, given the European Court of Justice found the Commission had breached transparency regulations relating to the contracts the day before the vote to approve her.
However, health has featured in the political guidelines she presented as part of her programme to the Parliament. This is more than what had occurred prior to her first confirmation by the Parliament five years ago. The section on health contains the assertion that “we must continue our work on anti-microbial resistance.”
While this progress is welcome, the scale of the challenge posed by AMR is such that much more will be needed to ensure that a coherent One Health approach to AMR is pursued across the Commission. This is particularly the case given that the rest of von der Leyen’s guidelines extensively cover security (including health security – especially in relation to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats) and also a new approach to agriculture policy that is, in general, more friendly to the sector. As the articles in this newsletter attest, action to improve animal health, particularly with improved husbandry practices, will be key to delivering the animal health component of a One Health approach to AMR.
As the Commission overall undergoes its confirmation in-front of the European Parliament, AMR and One Health will take a high profile in the international agenda with the United Nations General Assembly session dedicated to the topic.
Whilst the EU has been one of the leaders of the fight against AMR, this high-level session will provide the expert community the opportunity to demonstrate the need for action beyond that already undertaken in the EU – especially in relation to food, agriculture, and environmental health.