Towards A European Health Union
Building A Resilient European Health System
Health is not an exclusive competence of the EU but the responsibility of each Member State. The European Union has a role of coordination and support of national actions to guarantee an effective health protection and safety policy to European citizens.
The COVID crisis that we have been experiencing for more than a year, has revealed gaps in preparedness and emergency responses to health threats and has highlighted need for stronger and more efficient coordination of the European countries but also globally.
Governance and preparedness are essential in times of crisis. It is up to EU legislators to evolve the already existing structures such as the EMA and ECDC in order to strengthen their capacity to protect and promote human (and animal) health more efficiently. In addition, the European Commission proposes the creation of a European Health Emergency Response and Preparedness Authority (HERA) to address health threats in a faster, more comprehensive and coordinated manner.
Strong EU’s national health systems are crucial and can be achieved through private and public investment. Investment is notably needed for a rapid digital transformation of healthcare with a robust digital infrastructure.
To meet these challenges, the Commission adopted a Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe last November. The objective of the Strategy is twofold: to ensure the security and diversification of supply sources across value chain and to strengthen the competitiveness and innovation of the European pharmaceutical industry.
Strategic cooperation among the Member States remains the cornerstone of the construction of a Europe of Health. This entails information sharing, identification of best practices, in-depth evaluation of innovative medicinal products and treatments and above all, procurement practices that ensure timely and equitable access to affordable innovative medicines.
A Europe of Health also means ensuring that the regulatory framework for pharmaceuticals and medical technologies meets the needs of EU patients and health systems, while enabling the EU to remain a global industrial leader.
These initiatives are an opportunity for the EU to take the first steps towards a Health Union. Its success will depend on the commitment and ability to collaborate of all actors in the pharmaceutical value chain and, more importantly, on the Member States’ willingness to create an effective European Health Union.
This edition of the European Files addresses all of these points through articles by various European leaders and experts, as well as contributions by high level executives from the health and pharmaceutical industry in Europe.
Editorial by
Laurent Ulmann
Editor-in-Chief
Laurent ULMANN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- A Health Union to prepare Europe for health threats across borders
, European Commission Vice-President in charge of promoting our European Way of life - Reinforcing our cooperation at EU level to further strengthen our health systems
, Minister for Health, Portugal - Providing continuing support to health systems
Minister for Solidarity and Health, France - Minimizing risks related to pandemics to
better protect communities
, WHO Europe Regional Director - Enhancing co-operation to create better
health policies for safer and healthier lives
, Head – OECD Health Division - EMA shapes up for its post-pandemic role
, Executive Director for the
European Medicines Agency. - Creating a safer and healthier Europe by
strengthening ECDC’S mandate
, ECDC Director - Transparency as a strength – the EU
administration’s role in health policy
, European Ombudsman - When in a pandemic, call on your development bank
, Vice-President, European Investment Bank
l. Shaping A Post-Pandemic Public Health Strategy
- Towards a European Health Emergency Plan
, MEP (Renew Europe, France), Member of the ENVI Committee, Rapporteur for the European Parliament on the Regulation on serious cross-border threats to health - A pharmaceutical strategy for Europe to promote health security
, Director General – DG SANTE, European Commission - A new public-private collaborative approach for
stronger European pandemic preparedness
, Executive Vice President,
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi - Affordable medicines for all EU citizens
, MEP (Renew Europe, Romania),
Member of the BUDG and ENVI Committees, European Parliament - A forward-looking public private collaboration
to fit with a new vaccine era
, Executive Director, Vaccines Europe - Role-Players: The importance of patients in
co-designing Europe’s future health systems
, President, European Patients’ Forum (EPF) - Mental Health – a pandemic we can prepare for
, MEP, EPP Group, Fine Gael Party (Ireland),
Co-chair MEP Alliance for Mental Health - How to further engage European citizens to improve the health system and make it more resilient and efficient
, Responsible EU Affairs at Cittadinanzattiva, Director Active Citizenship Network - Improving patient survival and quality of life
through an effective European Health Union
, Director, European Cancer
Patient Coalition (ECPC) - Health inequalities in the European Health Union
, Director General European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) - Prevention is the best cure – A plead for a European health union to solve medicine shortages
, MEP, (Renew Europe Group/Netherlands), Member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety - The European Health Union: Why a Shared Vision for Immunization beyond pandemic times is needed
, Vaccines Policy & Patient Engagement Director, Mid Europe, MSD - Guaranteeing access to quality medicines and
healthcare to strengthen the health system in Europe
, Director at European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) - Resilience and the need for a continuum of
responsibility in the pharma industry:
The French experience of Single Points of Contact
, President of the National Council French Chamber of Pharmacists –
Ordre national des pharmaciens
, President of the Council of Industrial Pharmacists French Chamber of Pharmacists –
Ordre national des pharmaciens - Building Adult Immunisation Back Better in the
Wake of the Pandemic
, MD, MSc. Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, GSK Vaccines
, MBE. Vice President, Communications and Government Affairs, GSK Vaccines - Innovating for Sustainable Health Systems
in the European Union
, Interim Executive Director, Health First Europe
II. Enabling A Competitive Healthcare Industry in Europe
- The digital healthcare transformation as a catalyst for resilient healthcare system
, MEP (EPP, Romania), Chair of the ITRE Committee, European Parliament - Building strategic independence for the European pharmaceutical industry
, Director-General of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission - InvestEU: accelerate the EU’s strategic investment
, MEP (EPP Group) rapporteur of Invest EU - ‘European Health Union’: When political imperatives risk getting in the way of good policy
, Head of EU Government Affairs – Pfizer - Addressing medicine shortages:
the symbol of the creation of a Europe of Health
, MEP (EPP Group – France), Vice-President BECA Commission & Member of the ENVI Committee - How to build a European Health Union
, Director General, EFPIA - The urge of medicine accessibility
, MEP (S&D, Portugal), Member of the ENVI Committee, European Parliament - Research and Innovation brings Europe together
, Director – People Directorate, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission - The EU needs more people-centric
technological progress
, MEP (RENEW EUROPE / Finland), Member of the ENVI Committee. - Fostering innovative technologies:
drawing lessons from what works
, EUCOPE Secretary-General - Harmonization of EU minimum standards for quality health care, can help to improve the preparation and coordination in case of health crisis
, MEP (S&D Group, Slovakia) Quaster, Member ENVI Committee, European Parliament
