The Greek Parliament ratified with a wide majority on Tuesday, two Health Ministry bills on cooperation with Egypt and Cyprus in health care.
The bills were titled “Ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Government of the Cyprus Republic and the government of the Hellenic Republic related to cooperation in various sectors of health care,” and “Ratification of the Amending Agreement of the Agreement between the governments of the Hellenic Republic and the Cyprus Republic for cooperation in the public health sector.”
Voting in support of the ratification bills were ruling New Democracy, main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL), and SYRIZA, while the Communist Party of Greece voted against. Elliniki Lysi, Nea Aristera, Niki and Plefsi Eleftherias voted ‘present’.
The rapporteur of ruling New Democracy, Thanasis Papathanasis, stressed that the agreements have geo-political significance, underlying that “these are Agreements that strengthen our country’s position in the Mediterranean and at the same time serve the fundamental objective of protecting and upgrading public health.”
Regarding to the Agreement with Cyprus, the rapporteur said that “on one hand it is an act that consolidates an already strong cooperation in a sector fundamental to the welfare state, while a stable framework is created that allows our health authorities to cooperate institutionally, without bureaucratic delays in issues such as epidemiological surveillance, public health crisis management, the development of common protocols, the use of digital systems for monitoring health data. He also spoke about the geopolitical and strategic dimension since cooperation in the health sector is not only humanitarian, it is also political.”
With regards to the Agreement with Egypt, Papathanasis stressed that “it is equally crucial, as it broadens the horizon of Greece’s cooperation with a key country for the Southeastern Mediterranean, which creates opportunities for the exchange of know-how in hospital administration and the organization of health services, joint research programs in medicines and vaccines, and the development of innovative tools in the field of biomedical technology.”
In particular, he noted that “the cooperation provides for the exchange of medical and nursing personnel, training of health executives, development of digital health systems, support for the pharmaceutical industry and the medical equipment industry, something very important for our country.”
Finally, he also referred to the geopolitical importance of the Agreement, “since the Memorandum is not isolated, but rather forms part of the broader strategy of trilateral cooperation between Greece-Cyprus-Egypt, and our country is becoming a hub of stability and cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean, upgrading its geopolitical role and safeguarding its national interests.”
