/image alliance, Anadolu, Dursun Aydemir
Berlin Cardiovascular diseases, organ donation and the European Health Data Space are three topics on the agenda of an informal meeting of health ministers in Budapest. This comes from an overview of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) which corresponds to the German medical journal is present.
The meetings will, among other things, discuss what measures the EU could take or develop to support Member States in preventing and combating cardiovascular diseases.
Furthermore, it will address the national challenges that have been identified in the preparatory process for the implementation of the European Health Data Space EHDS regulation. An afternoon meeting will focus on European cooperation in the field of transplantation.
An exchange is planned between Member States, but also with the European Commission (EU-COM), to discuss common challenges, obtain examples of best practices and identify measures that can be taken at European level to improve the results of organ donations and transplants, which could contribute, it was said.
The meeting, at which BMG State Secretary Thomas Steffen will lead the German delegation, is scheduled for tomorrow and the following day (24/25 July). The invitation comes from the Hungarian Council Presidency.
The meeting is likely to be closely monitored because there are currently diplomatic tensions between the Hungarian Council Presidency and the EU. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ensured this with unscheduled meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese state and party leader Xi Jinping and former US President Donald Trump. This has been discussed in the EU for days.
They are considered particularly irritating because Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. There are fears that the impression abroad could be created that Orban is speaking on behalf of the European Union at the meetings. In terms of content, the main criticism is that the trip to Putin could be seen as a concession to the EU’s position on the war in Ukraine.
In response to the trips, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced a boycott of a meeting of foreign ministers planned by Hungary in Budapest. The Spaniard announced in Brussels that he would instead invite people to a meeting in Brussels after the end of the summer break.
Borrell made the decision after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels and against the stated wishes of countries including Germany, Spain and Luxembourg. It was initially unclear what specific consequences this would have.
Borrell said he had tried to create an agreement among EU states on the approach. Unfortunately, this was not possible. The decision also affects an informal meeting of EU states’ defence ministers, which was also due to take place in Budapest in the last week of August. Borrell is also responsible for this issue in the EU.
In response to Orban’s individual initiatives, Lithuania and Sweden had already announced days ago that they would temporarily not send ministers to meetings in Hungary. © may/dpa/aerzteblatt.de