<s>[INST] The next text is a question of a member of the European parliament:"An investigation launched by the British newspaper The Guardian has revealed that Europe proved to be incapable of responding to the desperate requests for help sent by Italy during the most critical phases of the spread of the Coronavirus.In particular, the European Commissioner for crisis management, Mr Lenarčič, said ‘No Member State responded to Italy's call for help. Which meant that not only was Italy not prepared. No one was prepared. The lack of response to the Italian request was not so much a lack of solidarity. It was a lack of equipment’.Particularly in the last few years before the arrival of the Coronavirus, European stocks of protective equipment had decreased. The face masks had either gone past their expiry date, or been destroyed, without ever being replaced. And pandemic preparedness plans were out-of-date. When the pandemic began to emerge in all its violence, Member States acted alone.In view of the above, can the Commission answer the following questions:1.Can it justify the EU’s inability to respond to Italy's calls for help?2.Why had a stockpile of medical devices never been set up to help Member States in the event of an epidemic?"
Analyze carefully the text and assign it to the most relevant policy area among those listed below. Do not explain your answer and return only a number.
Policy area numbers: 1 = Macroeconomics
2 = Civil Rights, Minority Issues and Civil Liberties
3 = Health
4 = Agriculture and Fisheries
5 = Labour, employment and pensions
6 = Education
7 = Environment
8 = Energy
9 = Immigration
10 = Transportation
12 = Law and Crime
13 = Social welfare
14 = Regional and Urban issues and Planning
15 = Banking, finance and domestic commerce issues
16 = Defence
17 = Space, science, technology, and communications issues
18 = Foreign trade
19 = International affairs and foreign aid
20 = Governance and government
21 = Public Lands, Water Management and Territorial Issues
23 = Culture and media
[/INST]. Answer = [3]. </s>
An investigation launched by the British newspaper The Guardian has revealed that Europe proved to be incapable of responding to the desperate requests for help sent by Italy during the most critical phases of the spread of the Coronavirus.In particular, the European Commissioner for crisis management, Mr Lenarčič, said ‘No Member State responded to Italy's call for help. Which meant that not only was Italy not prepared. No one was prepared. The lack of response to the Italian request was not so much a lack of solidarity. It was a lack of equipment’.Particularly in the last few years before the arrival of the Coronavirus, European stocks of protective equipment had decreased. The face masks had either gone past their expiry date, or been destroyed, without ever being replaced. And pandemic preparedness plans were out-of-date. When the pandemic began to emerge in all its violence, Member States acted alone.In view of the above, can the Commission answer the following questions:1.Can it justify the EU’s inability to respond to Italy's calls for help?2.Why had a stockpile of medical devices never been set up to help Member States in the event of an epidemic?