New priorities such as defense and competitiveness have drawn more and more resources from other sectors, raising concerns that health (a key focus of previous EU missions) could potentially pay the best price in future long-term EU budgets.
The European Commission is set to clarify its budget proposal for the next seven years in July. But early leak And increasing speculation suggests that dedicated health funds could merge with broader funding instruments or potentially be completely discarded.
Health policy is primarily the responsibility of the central government, but EU member states have been allocated to 5.3 billion euros of health through the EU4Health programme in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This indicates that a standalone health budget has been created for the first time at the EU level.
Prior to this, the EU health initiative was run with much less resources. The total budget for the 2014-2020 health programme was only 450 million euros, significantly lower than EU4Health.
Since its release, EU4Health has been Recent A 1.3 million euro project to address nursing shortages across Europe by promoting occupations in the most affected countries.
However, they fear that the program will not be able to withstand the next programming cycle. Even some EU officials have it hinted eu4health could have been a one-off measure.
The political battle for health funds
Lawmakers have warned about the potential disappearance of EU4Health and its impact on flagship initiatives from the previous period, such as the Beating Cancer Plan.
Croatian MEP Tomisravsokor pointed out the importance of maintaining a dedicated health budget as health has become one of the most important topics in the EU since the pandemic.
For this reason, the EU has chosen to create another health programme within the BLOC budget to support initiatives such as: EU Health Data Space and European Reference Network.
“If we can’t protect this, we’re worried that all this will be diluted and absorbed by other large funds in our budget, and we’ll lose this focus on the healthcare we have right now,” he told Euronows.
Sokol also cited new priorities like The Critical Pharmaceutical Actthey also claim that they need a significant amount of EU funding.
“Of course, healthcare remains primarily the responsibility of the state, but EU support is needed to create a level playing field across member states,” he added.
Industry voices will be taking part in the phone
Concerns about future health investments have been attributed in part to recent budget reassignments. In February 2024, it was about 1 billion euros. redirect From EU4Health, which supports funding for Ukraine’s aid package.
The looming cuts are causing anxiety in the health sector. The PHSSR is a coalition of academics, policymakers and politicians working on Sustainable Health Systems, and highlighted the need for ongoing investment in a recent report prior to the committee’s proposal.
In an interview with Euronows, Astrazeneca Senior Vice President Greg Rossi, who participated in the PHSSR, stressed that Europe is at risk of falling behind in life sciences.
“We see massive innovations and opportunities to improve health outcomes. Cancer, my region, has seen extraordinary progress over the past 10-15 years. But Europe is losing ground,” he said.
He warned that without specific health investment initiatives like dedicated EU health funds, access to innovation will be worsened, health outcomes will deteriorate, and Europe’s competitiveness will be reduced.
“Health is an investment that should be managed, not a cost that is managed, and we will improve the health and wealth of the country,” he said.
What’s coming next?
The European Commission prepares a comprehensive one overhaul Since 2027, the long-term budget also known as the Perennial Financial Framework (MFF).
The aim is to be simpler, more effective and more compatible with evolving policy priorities.
Currently, the MFF is around 1.2 trillion euros, which is about 1% of the EU GDP. Committee chair Ursula von der Reyen is considering a major restructuring of the MFF from 2028 to 2034, leaving the current system of perhaps more than 50 EU-level programs.
Budget Committee Member Piotr Seraphine previously indicated that the next budget proposal would focus on “a less, more intensive program” and a more strategic and ambitious framework.
The European Commission’s proposal, expected in mid-July, provides the first concrete signal of what is ahead for health funding in the EU.
