Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate for Health, is heard by the Committee on Environment (ENVI) in association with the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) of the European Parliament in Brussels for a hearing to test her general competences, European commitment and specific expertise related to her portfolio. Statements by Dolors MONTSERRAT (EPP, ES), Jytte GUTELAND (S&D, SE), Pascal CANFIN (RE, FR), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO) and Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate for Health.

Brussels

GUTELAND, Jytte (S&D, SE)

Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

hearing

BUŞOI, Cristian-Silviu (EPP, RO)

CANFIN, Pascal (Renew, FR)

MONTSERRAT, Dolors (EPP, ES)

2019 Commissioners' hearings (T)

KYRIAKIDES, Stella (CY, EC)

hearing of Stella KYRIAKIDES 2019 (T)

Hearing of Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health: extracts from the hearing

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Dolors MONTSERRAT (EPP, ES), Over 40% of us Europeans will suffer with cancer at some point in our lives. 1.4 million Europeans will lose their lives this year as a result of cancer. The EPP is leading the European stuggle against cancer. My question to you is will this plan include measures to include fairness when it comes to access to treatment?

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, The European Beating cancer plan needs to cover all what you have mentioned and this plan, if it is effective can lead noone behind. We cannot speak about inequalities when we are talking about cancer care. We need to focus on all the aspects from prevention to pioltive care because it is really unacceptable that when we know today that we can prevent almost 30% of all cancers, that we are not investing enough in changing lifestyles that we know will lead to less suffering. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, A number of cancer patients lose their lives because of the antimicrobial problem. So we really need to look at it horizontally and see how we are going to deal with this across all policies of health. And not in an isolation.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Jytte GUTELAND (S&amp;D, SE), Do you agree that endocrine disruptors are actually just as dangerous as cancer and other toxic substances?

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, I wouldn't compare whether endocrine disruptors are as dangerous as cancer. I know that they impact human health and I know that we need to be able to do something about it. And this is going to be my commitment to taking this up. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal CANFIN (RE, FR), As part of the farm-to-fork strategy, will you support a targeted aim for pesticide reduction and reducing the risks from pesticides?

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, I can commit to decreasing the dependence that we have on pesticides and to try to invest and encourage finding low risk alternatives. I think this is our responsibility, this is part of what is in the President elect's mission letter both for green deal and farm-to-fork. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BU&#350;OI (EPP, RO), As future commissioner for health, if you will be supported, by the Parliament, what measures do you intend to take to support the digitalisation of the health sector in the European Union?

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, We are committed to digitalisation as a Commission. It is something we promote through research and innovation. We already have the European reference networks and these are allowing people with rare diseases and paediatrics to be able to have this access and I believe it can radically change patient care and treatment. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Stella KYRIAKIDES, Commissioner-designate, Health, We need to be careful as well when we are talking about data protection with patients and this is something we have to always have in mind when we are talking about e-health.