World Health Day | Eurogroup | Western Balkans

This Tuesday marks World Health Day, celebrated each year to raise awareness around a specific health theme. For this year’s edition, countries and institutions will honour the contribution of nurses and midwives, reminding of the critical role they play, not least in times of crisis.

As EU Member States and institutions continue to mobilise all their resources into tackling the coronavirus crisis, the Eurogroup, acting on the EUCO Leaders’ mandate, will work on delivering a coordinated response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic this week. Meanwhile, EU justice ministers will discuss the situation in prisons and detention facilities given the danger of a COVID-19 outbreak, and defence ministers will go over the military implications of the pandemic. The European Parliament will focus on remote meetings in preparation of next week’s special plenary.

European Parliament

This week, MEPs attend remote meetings of governing bodies, groups and committees. Parliament will also be preparing for the extraordinary plenary session scheduled for next week. Many Committees have however postponed and cancelled meetings until the end of the month due to the upcoming extraordinary plenary session and impacts of COVID-19. On Tuesday, the Committee on Fisheries will discuss measures to tackle socio-economic consequences of the pandemic for the fisheries sector. The Parliament’s calendar for 2020 has been once again updated. You can find the latest version here.

European Commission

This week, the College agenda foresees the discussion of Vice-President Suica’s “Report on the Impact of Demographic Change”. Commissioners will also debate the Commission's contribution to the EU-Western Balkans Summit in May. Meanwhile, Commissioner Johansson will continue to hold meetings with EU justice and home affairs ministers. On Monday, Commissioner Kyriakides will also hold a videoconference with EU Health Ministers, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the European Medicines Agency to address developments in COVID-19 as well as to raise awareness for World Health Day.

Council of the EU

This week, EU ministers of justice will take part in a video conference to go over measures introduced by Member States in the field of justice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include the changes in working methods of judicial bodies and legal professions, challenges for cross-border judicial cooperation and prison and custodial sentences, with particular emphasis on the situation in prisons and detention facilities given the danger of a COVID-19 outbreak. Also on Monday, EU defence ministers together with HR/VP Borrell, will touch base to discuss the military implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, the Eurogroup, acting on the EUCO Leaders’ mandate, will meet via videoconference and work on a coordinated EU policy response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, aligning well with celebrations and awareness for World Health Day.