Dear President Draghi, dear President von der Leyen,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for inviting me to participate in this Summit, which falls at a very important moment. A year and a half after the outbreak of the pandemic - which first hit Italy in the winter of 2020 - we have covered an important stretch of road together and we can prepare a common framework for international action to prevent and protect ourselves from future health crises.

This crisis has taught us that no one is safe alone and that only together can we beat a global pandemic.

However, this is not all.

The pandemic has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable sections of the population, young people and women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly, residents in nursing homes.

This is why we know that health is a common good and that we must act in the interest of everyone, even the most vulnerable: no one should be left behind.

Of course, we now know that nothing will be the same. The old status quo cannot become the new one: we have the opportunity and the means to build a different present. Sustainable, fair and inclusive.

EU action and strategy

As you know, the European Union has put in place a strong response to the health crisis, despite having limited competence in the field of health, an area in which the Member States remain primarily responsible. Well, the pandemic has made us understand the importance and utility of common action for the public good to protect the health of our citizens.

Europe needs more coordination and greater and better defined competences, as circumstances have shown and our citizens demand of us. According to a Eurobarometer survey, published two days before the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe, around 8 out of 10 Europeans agree that the Conference should focus on how the EU can better manage health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the fragmented nature of its competences, the European Union has kept its promises, and is now building the foundations of a European Health Union, where the 27 Member States concentrate their efforts to improve the preparedness and resilience of European health systems and health professionals in the face of risks to human health.

In particular, we are seeking to strengthen the crisis preparedness role of some key EU agencies, especially the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

We are also defining the main elements of the future European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), which is expected to be launched this fall. Already now, the European Union is taking steps to address emerging COVID-19 variants, increasing their detection and evaluation, improving research funding, as well as accelerating the production and approval of COVID-19 vaccines adapted through the project of the HERA incubator.

On multilateral cooperation in the field of epidemic prevention and management

This summit is a great opportunity to find concrete solutions in the name of our interdependence. To act together for the global common good.

This means first of all knowing that a single thread links human health, animal health and environmental protection. There is only one health. Action against climate change, against environmental degradation, the loss of biodiversity and for sustainable food production is essential to protect humans from emerging pathogens.

Secondly, the crisis has reminded us of the importance of multilateral cooperation. Cooperation and coordination within the framework of the WHO and the WTO are essential to get out of this global crisis together.

The European Union has been at the forefront of the global response, strengthening the production of vaccines, ensuring the fluidity of supply chains, facilitating licensing agreements. This action is now having a positive impact on vaccination campaigns, which have been accelerating a lot in recent weeks, with tangible results: in many member countries we are seeing a gradual reopening of schools, universities, workplaces, commercial and cultural establishments.

In line with its long-standing adherence to multilateralism, the EU has decided from the outset of the pandemic to export vaccines produced in its territory and to finance the COVAX platform with € 2.2 billion, allowing the supply of 68 million doses to low- and middle-income countries.

However, this is not all. Member States of the European Union have also announced the sharing of over 11 million surplus doses with developing countries. The European Parliament has already expressed its support for the ACT accelerator and its COVAX tool and will continue to do so to ensure that treatments and vaccines are distributed in the widest and most cost-effective way possible. In this context, I believe President Biden's decision to donate 20 million doses to the most affected countries, in addition to the 60 million doses already promised, is extremely important.

And I think it would be a very concrete step if all G20 member countries also decided to share a reasonable amount of vaccines with countries in difficulty, to lift export restrictions - and in particular to do so for the doses intended for the COVAX instrument.

It is a question of responsibility but also practicality, because there will be no security for anyone, until everyone is safe.  These short-term decisions are fundamental, but we know that we need to think now in the medium and long term.

We need to support vaccine production capacities in low- and middle-income countries - and this can be done through licensing agreements, knowledge sharing, and price moderation.

We need to explore coordinated multilateral solutions that envisage not only the voluntary sharing of licenses for production - an effective tool for strengthening production - but also mandatory forms of license sharing in the context of an emergency situation such as the present one.

There are forms of flexibility in the framework of the TRIPS agreements in the context of the WTO that we need to explore together and in a coordinated way.

This is why I believe that the unified proposal that the European Commission will present for joint action by the European Union within the WTO is important.

We have a duty to explore all available solutions to facilitate access to doses and therapies for millions of people around the world who are now deprived of them.

In this context, if there are proposals for a targeted and time-limited suspension of intellectual property rights, the European Union will not block a constructive debate to assess its impact.

The entire international community must take shared responsibility. This is why we support the call to negotiate a new global treaty to strengthen the common system for monitoring and responding to epidemics, and today's summit represents the right occasion for the elaboration and approval of a new declaration, the Rome Declaration, which must be a point of reference for strengthening multilateral cooperation and acting together to avoid health crises in the future.

Let me stress this once again: there is no way out of this pandemic other than through a shared effort for the global common good. I hope we will find the courage and wisdom to take the ambitious steps that this unprecedented challenge requires.

Thank you.