The European Council is unlikely to make health a priority in the next five years. This is according to a leaked draft of the European Union’s strategic agenda, which defines Europe’s priorities for the mandate from 2024 to 2029. The information was provided by the Euractiv portal, which monitors European events.
The EU Strategic Agenda will be adopted by the 27 European heads of state at the European Council on 27 and 28 June. The internal document, which Euractiv says it has had the opportunity to see, focuses mainly on geopolitical challenges, security and EU defence, but health is said to be somewhat neglected.
„I find it shocking that the leaked EU strategy document 2024/2029 does not mention health,“ Portuguese MEP Sara Cerdas responded to X on Friday 14 June.
By all accounts, the health agenda is only mentioned twice in the document, and is always part of another topic, such as defence and artificial intelligence (AI). The agenda says the European Union will „strengthen its resilience, preparedness and crisis response capacity.“
„It is a little worrying that leaders have forgotten the horrors of the last pandemic and also the health risks we face from climate change and man-made harmful substances such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),“ Finnish MEP Nils Torvalds told Euractiv.
Health is definitely a „priority“ for the European People’s Party (EPP) for the next five years, German MEP Peter Liese told Euractiv. „A lot can be done to concretely improve people’s lives. It is regrettable when the council does not focus on health,“ he added.
Disrespect for the existing line
The proposal for the coming years is in clear contrast to the European Council’s agenda for 2019-2024, which promised „social protection, […] a high level of consumer protection and food standards and good access to healthcare“.
It also clearly contradicts the Council conclusions on the future of the European Health Union, in which the EU Council calls on the next Commission to keep health as a priority.
The conclusions on the future of the European Health Union will be endorsed by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 21 June. Also on the agenda is a discussion on the pharmaceutical package and the adoption of recommendations on vaccine-preventable cancers.
„If the Council adopts its agenda without focusing on health, it misses a crucial role in the security of Europeans,“ Finnish MEP Silvia Modig (Left) told Euractiv.
-ns-
