Kristian Vigenin: Alongside rearmament, let us raise the capabilities for rapid response to health crises

“Alongside the efforts on rearmament, special attention has to be paid to health systems, especially to the capabilities for rapid response. The readiness of the population to deal with health crises has to be raised, without provoking needless fears. In the European Parliament we are also paying attention to these questions, and last week we, the socialists from the Health Committee, had a special meeting with the Commissioner for Crisis Response Hadja Lahbib.” This was stated by the head of the Delegation of Bulgarian Socialists in the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin at a round table organised by Foreign Policy magazine on the topic “Resilience without borders: integrating biosecurity into total defence strategies”. The event was held alongside the NATO summit in The Hague. Vigenin was the only politician among senior representatives from NATO, the EU, the UN, the defence industry, academia and health security agencies.

Pooling efforts more effectively

The MEP drew attention to the need to pool efforts and resources more effectively, so that the EU, NATO and the individual member states do not carry out parallel activities and investments. He emphasised that artificial intelligence makes access to technology and to the possibilities for genetic modification of pathogens easier. He warned that non-state actors could thus end up in possession of biological weapons, which significantly worsens the security environment.