Ill health can happen to anyone. When you fall sick, you want to be able to get the help you need and access to the right medicines for your condition. While healthcare in the European Union is generally high quality, the COVID‑19 pandemic heightened the pressure on national health systems in terms of staffing, and of supply and affordability of medicinal products and innovative treatments. It revealed inequalities between countries and the need for a shared EU response to health crises.
During the pandemic,Parliament championed EU solidarity in responding to the virus and in the measures to tackle misinformation. Parliament insisted that the EU institutions and Member States cooperate more on healthcare, to tackle the immediate threat and for the future. The EU4Health programme was the European Commission’s response to the pandemic and was designed to support an overall European health union with four main focus areas: crisis preparedness; reform of EU pharmaceutical legislation; a European plan to fight cancer; and a comprehensive approach to mental health. During negotiations on the EU’s long-term budget, Parliament secured an extra €3.4 billion for EU4Health, raising the financing to €5.3 billion for 2021‑2027. It also set up a temporary Special Committee on the COVID‑19 pandemic (COVI).
Parliament has long advocated for a coherent EU policy on pharmaceuticals, while paying particular attention to balancing both public health and industry interests. Parliament has denounced the inequities between Member States in access to medicines and healthcare services and expressed concern over medicine shortages. Parliament also referred several times to the serious public health risks posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the need for a ‘One Health’ approach, the risks of prudent use of therapeutics, and the need for the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading on the Commission’s April 2023 pharmaceutical package. This initiative seeks to make medicines more accessible and affordable, while supporting EU pharmaceutical industry competitiveness and securing higher environmental standards. The package is now in the hands of the Council, which has not yet adopted its position. The newly elected Parliament is expected to recommence interinstitutional negotiations on the file later in 2024.
On Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, Parliament’s February 2022 resolution was the fruit of a lengthy consultation process involving public hearings and exchanges between Members, experts, national parliaments and international organisations, and made a number of key recommendations. Parliament also set up a temporary Special Committee on beating cancer (BECA) in 2020.
On the need to put good mental health at the heart of EU policymaking, numerous Parliament opinions, studies, debates, written questions and own-initiative resolutions have focused on the importance of prevention, accessibility of mental health services, early diagnosis, treatment, and the social integration of people with mental health conditions. Both law-making and agenda-setting powers were used by Parliament to bring EU countries together for better health for all Europeans. Parliament’s powers fall broadly into six, often overlapping, domains: law-making, the budget, scrutiny of the executive, external relations, and, to a lesser extent, constitutional affairs and agenda-setting. This graphic shows more examples of areas where Parliament used one or more of its different powers to influence legislation:
For a fuller picture of the European Parliament’s activity over the past five years, take a look at our publication Examples of Parliament’s impact: 2019 to 2024: Illustrating the powers of the European Parliament, from which this case is drawn.
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