Moldova signs the EU’s Joint Procurement Agreement to deepen health cooperation with the EU
Today, Moldova became the 38th country to sign the Joint Procurement Agreement in the area of health, during an official visit to Chisinau by Commissioner for health and food safety, Stella Kyriakides. Moldova is now the 6th EU candidate country to become part of the Agreement.
The Joint Procurement Agreement is a legal and operational mechanism which enables participating countries to join forces in the face of a serious health threat and to jointly purchase essential supplies, such as medicines and medical equipment. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it allowed participating countries to acquire personal protective equipment, needles and syringes for COVID-19 vaccination, ventilators and medicines under equal conditions.
Participation in the Joint Procurement Agreement allows a country to benefit from the combined purchasing power of EU Member States and participating countries, enabling improved access a
nd greater security of supply for medical countermeasures in a health emergency through pooling needs and creating economies of scale. The Joint Procurement Agreement also improves participating countries’ preparedness for serious cross-border diseases, by having contracts for essential medical countermeasures in place before major outbreaks occur.
Most recently, the Commission signed a joint procurement framework contract to supply up to 665,000 doses of the zoonotic influenza (avian flu) vaccine from Seqirus, with an option for an additional 40 million doses. This contract, aimed at preventing avian flu, ensures that participating countries have access to medical countermeasures if needed.
The Commission – via its Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) – manages the procurement procedures under the Joint Procurement Agreement in close collaboration with the participating countries. These countries can then purchase the contracted products as needed, using their national budgets.
For
More Information
2014 Joint Procurement Agreement Decision
JPA : participating countries
Quote(s)
Over the last five years, the Joint Procurement Agreement has become a critical tool allowing our citizens access to essential medical products in times of crisis. As such, it also empowers participating countries to prepare and respond to serious cross-border health threats. Through this mechanism, EU, EEA and candidate countries prove that we are stronger when we work together as a European Health Union, ensuring that the health of nearly 480 million citizens is protected when faced with an emergency. I am delighted that Moldova has signed this Agreement today and is joining our ranks. We stand ready to support in any way for Moldova to implement and benefit from it.
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety
Commission proposes decisions establishing the existence of excessive deficit for seven Member States
As part of the European Semester Spring package of June 2024, the Commission pre
sented a Report under Article 126(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). The Report found that the opening of a deficit-based excessive deficit procedure was warranted for seven selected Member States. The Economic and Financial Committee provided its opinion within the following two weeks.
Therefore, the Commission has proposed to the Council yesterday decisions establishing the existence of excessive deficits for Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia.
The next step is for the Council to decide on the existence of an excessive deficit in these Member States and, following a proposal from the Commission as part of the European Semester Autumn Package, to adopt its recommendation on the adjustment path and the deadline to end the excessive deficit situation. The relevant documents are available here.
(For more information: Veerle Nuyts – Tel.: +32 229 96302; Quentin Cortès – Tel.: +32 460 76 10 03)
EU signs updated agreement for Trkiye’s participation in the EU Civil Pr
otection Mechanism
Today, the European Union and Trkiye signed an updated agreement on the participation of Trkiye in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, together with the Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, signed the agreement in Ankara.
Trkiye is an active participant in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and has been a member since 2016. Today’s updated agreement further strengthens the role of Trkiye in the mechanism.
Janez Lenarcic, Commissioner for Crisis Management said: ‘I am very pleased with the signature of the updated Agreement. This will continue to serve as a basis of our co-operation and assistance to each other, when disasters strike. Over the years, EU Civil Protection Mechanism has proven its worth. Trkiye can always count on the civil protection support from the Mechanism, and vice-versa other countries can also count on the support from Trkiye through the Mechanism.’
Trkiye is strongly involved in developing
rescEU capacities and hosted the largest EU MODEX civil protection exercise to date. Trkiye also significantly benefited from support from the Mechanism, particularly following the 2023 earthquakes.
(For more information: Balazs Ujvari – Tel.: +32 2 295 45 78; Daniel Puglisi – Tel.: +32 2 296 91 40)
High Representative Borrell travels to Washington to boost Euro-Atlantic cooperation
High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell will travel to Washington, DC, to participate in the NATO Summit from today to 11 July, together with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. High Representative/Vice-President Borrell will also attend the Summit on behalf of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The Summit is an opportunity to reinforce the EU-NATO strategic partnership in the context of the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as to strengthen relationships with global partners, including in the Indo-Pacific region.
Today, High Representative/Vice
-President Borrell will participate in a commemorative event on the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. He will also deliver a keynote speech at the EU Defence night, gathering various stakeholders from the defence industry.
Tomorrow, he will attend a dinner hosted by the President of the United States Joe Biden at the White House.
On 11 July, High Representative/Vice-President Borrell will participate, together with Indo-Pacific partners, in the Summit session focused on security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. He will deliver doorstep remarks at ca. 8:00 EST. The same day, the High Representative will speak at the NATO Public Forum.
High Representative Borrell will also hold bilateral meetings with Allies and partners participating in the Summit.
Audiovisual material will be available on EbS. Follow the High Representative and the European External Action Service on social media for live updates.
(For more information: Nabila Massrali – Tel.: +32 2 298
80 93; Xavier Cifre Quatresols – Tel.: +32 2 297 35 82)
Commissioner Várhelyi travels to Moldova to launch the accession bilateral screening
Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, will undertake an official visit to the Republic of Moldova from today until 11 July 2024. This visit comes after the Intergovernmental Conference, which historically opened EU accession negotiations with Moldova on 25 June.
Commissioner Várhelyi will launch the EU accession bilateral screening procedure with Moldova, starting with the fundamentals area. The bilateral screening is the first step of the negotiations, whereby the candidate country is invited to present where it stands in its preparations to adopt and implement the EU acquis, as well as the steps it intends to undertake to further align its legislation with the EU’s.
The Commissioner will discuss the next steps in the EU-Moldova cooperation and future support to Moldova in meetings with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Dorin Recean, De
puty Prime Ministers Cristina Gherasimov and Dumitru Alaiba, Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov and Minister of Interior Adrian Efros. He will also meet with the Speaker of the Parliament, Igor Grosu, and Members of Parliament.
Commissioner Várhelyi will also visit beneficiaries of EU-funded projects, underscoring the EU’s commitment to supporting Moldova’s development. This includes a visit to an apartment complex that was renovated to an energy efficient standard with EU funds, a tangible example of the pound 1.6 billion of investments planned under the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for Moldova. He will also hand over 40 EU-funded patrol cars and body cameras to the Moldovan police, clearly demonstrating the EU’s support for Moldova’s security.
Commissioner Várhelyi will participate in a press conference together with Prime Minister Recean after their bilateral meeting on Wednesday.
Photo and video coverage of the mission will be provided by EbS. More information on EU-Moldova relations is available
here.
(For more information: Ana Pisonero – Tel.: +32 2 295 43 20; Piotr Cichocki – Tel.: +32 229-5844)
Europe’s innovation performance steadily improving but at different speeds between Member States
The innovation performance of the European Union continues to improve at a steady pace, reaching a 10% increase since 2017 and a growth of 0.5% between 2023 and 2024. According to the 2024 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) published today, most EU Member States have boosted their innovation performance, but the increase varies strongly from one to another.
Key findings
Between 2023 and 2024, the national innovation performance has increased for 15 Member States, while it has declined for another group of 11. Croatia remained stable. Compared to the last edition:
Denmark remains the most innovative EU country followed by Sweden, which led the rankings between 2017-2022.
Two countries now belong to a different performance group. Estonia became a Strong Innovator following a steady growth p
attern since 2017. Belgium, which was an Innovation leader in 2023, moved down to the Strong Innovators’ category, although it maintained its fifth position in the rankings overall.
A broader analysis, including other European countries and selected global competitors, shows a changing international landscape. Switzerland is the most innovative European country and South Korea remains the most innovative global competitor in 2024, while China has surpassed Japan and is progressively closing the gap with the EU.
In the global context, the EU maintains a robust position, demonstrating strong performance in most indicators including in SMEs introducing product and process innovations and environment-related technologies. The EU still faces challenges compared to its main global competitors in areas such as intellectual assets, collaboration among innovative SMEs and R and D expenditure in the business sector.
Figure 3: Innovation performance compared to the EU 2017 among EU 27 Member States – A comparison to
2023.
The Innovation Leaders have particularly attractive research systems and are strong in digitalisation. The Strong Innovators demonstrate significant strengths in their innovation ecosystems (product and business innovations). Among the Moderate Innovators, there is a range of positive trends, in particular the development of collaboration in research; whereas Emerging Innovators have shown an overall positive trajectory in innovation performance, but they are still lagging.
Although the performance differences have slightly narrowed among the Strong Innovators and Moderate Innovators between 2017 and 2024, they became more pronounced among the Innovation Leaders and Emerging Innovators. There are also persistent geographic differences in innovation performance, with Innovation Leaders and most Strong Innovators predominantly located in Northern and Western Europe, and many of the Moderate and Emerging innovators in Southern and Eastern Europe.
Background
The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) is a
n annual publication by the European Commission that provides a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States, neighbouring European countries and selected global competitors. The EIS is based on 32 indicators covering the economy, business and entrepreneurship, innovation profiles, governance and policy framework, climate change and demography.
The EIS 2024 covers all EU Member States, 12 neighbouring European countries including Moldova for the first time and, with a smaller set of indicators, 11 global competitors. The EIS 2024 categorises Member States in four innovation groups based on their scores:
Innovation Leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average),
Strong Innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average),
Moderate Innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) and
Emerging Innovators (below 70% of the EU average).
The scoreboard aims to support policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders in understanding the innovation landscape, finding strengths
and weaknesses, and formulating evidence-based policies to enhance innovation across Europe.
The EIS 2024 is accompanied by an updated and revamped interactive tool which offers customised comparisons visualising country profiles and showcasing relative strengths, weaknesses and trends, as well as exploring correlations between indicators.
The New European Innovation Agenda, launched in 2022, is key to bridging the innovation gap by accelerating the development of cutting-edge technologies and fostering a dynamic environment for startups and established businesses throughout Europe. Substantial efforts have been made in carrying forward initiatives under the Agenda’s key priorities, such as implementing new directives in the financial sector, introducing new mechanisms and funds to encourage venture capital, and providing training opportunities for deep tech talent.
More information
European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024
European Innovation Scoreboard 2024- Executive summary
Questions and Answers on
the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024
EIS 2024 – Annex B (performance per indicator)
EIS 2024 Methodology report
EIS 2024 – EU countries and neighbouring countries database
EIS 2024 – EU and global competitors database
Quote(s)
This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard confirms that the EU is an industrial and research powerhouse. In today’s global race for resilience and competitiveness, it has all it takes to position itself as a standard-setter and technological hub. Now we need to build on this technological edge to be industrial and commercial leaders in the markets of tomorrow. Resilient and diversified supply chains and a modern Single Market will remain at the core of well performing and innovative companies that create jobs for Europeans.
Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market
The European Innovation Scoreboard 2024 shows we have made significant progress in innovation performance in recent years. However, innovation divide persists between the Member States, and the EU als
o has potential to improve its standing in the global innovation race. We must continue our efforts, particularly in striving for more private investment in research and innovation.
Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
CALENDAR
Tuesday 09 July
Mr Margaritis Schinas delivers a keynote speech at the Egypt National Day reception organised by the Embassy of Egypt in Belgium.
Ms Stella Kyriakides in Chi?inau, Moldova: meets with Ms Maia Sandu, President of Moldova; meets with Ms Ala Nemerenco, Minister of Health of Moldova; visits the Emergency Reception Unit of the Institute of Emergency Medicine; visits the Oncological Institute of Moldova.
Thursday 11 July
Mrs Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships visits Cyprus: meets with Foreign Affairs Minister Kombos and holds talks with relevant stakeholders
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l personal information processed by the Directorate-General for Communication / European Commission Representations is treated accordingly. If you do not work for a media organisation, you are welcome to contact the EU through Europe Direct in writing or by calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11.
Source: Cyprus News Agency