One year ago, the world faced the worst Ebola outbreak in history. As the EU Ebola coordinator, I visited Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea - the three most affected countries - where I witnessed the positive results of the EU response on the ground. But I also saw the operational gaps and the unmet needs in the field.
The international community, including the EU, provided these countries with much needed medical supplies, laboratories and epidemiology experts. The EU also put in place a vital medical evacuation system for all international health workers.
However, in spite of the heroic efforts of many local and international health workers, there was clearly an acute shortage of fully equipped and 'ready for deployment' medical teams at international level. This was also the main lesson learned for Europe. The Ebola outbreak revealed that we were simply insufficiently prepared.
This was a wake-up call for the international community to take urgent action to strengthen the world's capacity to respond to health emergencies.
Against this backdrop, Germany and France proposed - under the so-called 'white helmet' initiative - the creation of a European reserve of medical experts available for emergency response to disasters with a health component. This proposal laid the groundwork for the development of a European Medical Corps (EMC).
It was my honour to officially launch the EMC in Brussels on 15 February, together with the German and French foreign ministers, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault, as well as Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO and my colleague Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for health and food safety.
Having learned the lessons from Ebola, the EU acted quickly and decisively to establish the EMC and ensure a more predictable European response to future health emergencies in Europe and worldwide.
The EMC will improve the European capacity to respond to pandemics and other health emergencies by bringing together 'ready for deployment' assets from the member states.
These assets include medical teams, field hospitals, public health experts, mobile laboratories and medical evacuation capacities. Thanks to the existing EU civil protection mechanism, the EU was able to set up the Corps quickly as part of the European emergency response capacity (also known as the voluntary pool), which brings together specialised teams and equipment from member states.
The European Medical Corps is now adding a new health-specific strand to the already established European cooperation in disaster management.
To date, nine member states have offered a total of 12 specialised teams as well as equipment to set up the EMC. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands have made crucial first contributions to the EMC.
This has set a trend that, I am confident, many others will follow. The strength of the EMC lies in the unique experience and capacities of member states. This is a genuinely European project of solidarity during disasters.
The EU is working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) to further develop the EMC. I believe that with the EMC, Europe will make a significant contribution to the global health emergency workforce established under the lead of the WHO. Joining forces with the WHO and building on our shared expertise and capacities, we can make a real difference.
The EMC is also an illustration of a genuine partnership across specialisms and organisations. To make this happen, the civil protection, humanitarian aid and health communities sat together around the table to hammer out a new framework. You can imagine that this was not an easy task.
Cooperation is at the heart of the European Medical Corps. Parliament played a crucial role in raising public awareness on the Ebola outbreak, garnering political support and identifying key lessons from the outbreak. MEPs have also been instrumental in shaping the EU civil protection mechanism.
I hope that in this newest chapter of disaster management cooperation, MEPs will also play a crucial role in raising awareness and support to ensure the engagement of our member states to make the EMC the backbone of the EU's response to the next major health emergency, whether within Europe or beyond.