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ABSTRACT
This article proposes to assess the role and influence of the European Parliament (EP) in the shaping and implementation of one major instrument of European Union’s (EU’s) global health involvement, namely the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Through the content analysis of the legislative procedure that led to the establishment and the renewal of this initiative, as well as the EU’s and independent reports that evaluate its implementation, this study examines how EP’s recommendations made at the initial stage of this initiative have been influential for its elaboration and execution. Using an analytical framework designed in the light of the contemporary academic debate on EP’s influence on EU’s foreign policy, this study shows that, despite several challenges, the EP has succeeded in shaping significantly this initiative and its implementation by playing several specific roles. Furthermore, it demonstrates that such influence has made this global health initiative more democratic, more inclusive and more compliant with norms that frame international development cooperation since 2000. Consequently, this article concludes that the EP represents a significant actor of global health governance whose role will be determinant for the elaboration of the future EU–Africa Global Health Partnership (EDCTP-3).
Competing Interest
No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. For a detailed overview of the academic studies related to the EP’s role in EU Foreign Policy and in international relations before 2009, see Irrera Citation2015:1–3.
2. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, UK, Switzerland and Norway.
3. Art.169 – now Art.185 of the TFEU – allows the EU to participate in research programs jointly undertaken by several EU countries.
4. Other EU-funded programs dealing with PRNDs exist under Horizon 2020 activities but they are more fragmented and smaller, or like the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), only with a limited number of projects related to LMICs.
5. Interview with an advisor on Development, The Greens/EFA Group, 22 January 2019, Brussels.
6. EEIG enables companies, other legally constituted bodies, or individuals from different EU MS, to work together. A well-known EEIG is the Franco-German television channel ARTE.
7. 17.3% of the Sixth Framework Programme on Research and Development (2002–2006).
8. Angola (aspirant member), Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
9. Especially about the non-governmental nature of African representatives at the GA that makes it difficult to get African governments fully committed to EDCTP (EC Citation2017, 59).
10. Including the absence of 17 sub-Saharan countries in any EDCTP activities.
11. BMGF (24%), Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (23.5%), Areas Global TB Vaccine Foundation (14.7%), Bayer AG (1.7%) and Sanofi Aventis (0.5%).
12. Interview with a researcher, EP Research Service. 24 January 2019, Brussels.
13. This article stipulates that ‘The Commission shall reply orally or in writing to questions put to it by the European Parliament or by its Members.’
14. Interview with MEP, Socialist Party Group, Member of the EP Committee on Development, 22 January 2019, Brussels
15. Following the entry into force of the Withdrawal Agreement agreed between the EU and the United Kingdom.
16. On 18 December 2019, R. Palmer sent a written question to the Commission on the accessibility of HIV/AIDS treatments in Southern African countries and the EU Strategy for Africa (EP Citation2019).
17. Interview with NGO’s representative, European Parliamentary Forum, 23 January 2019, Brussels.
18. Interview with NGO’s representative, European Parliamentary Forum, 23 January 2019, Brussels.