The European Health Union is like a diamond, forged under extreme pressure. It was formed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in response to EU citizens’ calling for the EU to play a stronger role in public health. And it was built on all the experience we had gathered through the years, and lessons  learnt  during the pandemic.  

The pandemic hit three months into the mandate of the current Commission. It was almost like running into a wall when you’ve just sprinted off and are getting into stride for a marathon. When the mandate began at the end of 2019, we were full of energy and optimism, with a mandate to achieve progress in many fields, from cancer to the Pharmaceutical Strategy and the European Health Data Space, and we had laid the groundwork to do it.  

We never lost sight of those goals. But our first priority had to be to address the pandemic, and that required nearly all hands on deck. I think some people may have already forgotten what it was like in spring of 2020.  Forgotten the images coming from my home country of Italy and soon repeated elsewhere, where health systems were overrun, people were dying, health workers were ill-equipped and becoming sick too, and we knew very little about this new, deadly and highly contagious coronavirus.  

I’m very proud that collectively, we were able to turn things around. Vaccines were developed and authorised at record speed and made available to all EU citizens at the same time. We came up with the EU Digital COVID Certificate that allowed society to safely re-open and that became a world standard.  

Just as the pandemic was a global problem, the solution had to be global too. The Commission’s solidarity extended beyond Europe’s borders, with Team Europe becoming the largest donor of vaccines through COVAX and providing almost €54 billion in emergency support to partner countries.  

In November of 2020, President Von der Leyen launched the European Health Union to deal not only with COVID-19, but also to ensure that the EU would be better prepared to respond to future health crises together.   

It wasn’t only created to prepare for and handle emergencies though. The European Health Union also strengthens all other areas of public health, to ensure the highest standards of prevention, treatment and care for all citizens.  

If there is a silver lining in the pandemic, it’s that all the world came to understand what we at DG SANTE have always known. Health is the foundation for everything. Health is Wealth.  Realising the value of protecting and promoting good health, the European Health Union was given the resources it needed to accomplish its goals – an unprecedented €5.3 billion in the form of the EU4Health programme.  

Obviously when I look back at the last five years, and when history looks back at public health from 2019-2024, COVID-19 is going to hog the headlines. But we made significant progress in many other areas, just as we had set out to do when our mandate began. 

These achievements are summarised in the Communication that the College adopted last week, which I encourage you to read.   

The Communication goes into more depth about our work on key flagships of the Health Union. Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is one of the world’s most ambitious and well-funded cancer programmes and is already delivering concrete benefits for patients and citizens across the EU. The EU Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health put mental health on a par with physical health for the first time at EU level, with over EUR 1.2 billion earmarked for in a wide range of actions, from prevention, to treatment, to protecting and supporting our younger generation. As part of the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, we have proposed the biggest reform of EU pharmaceutical legislation in a generation to improve access, availability and affordability of medicines in the EU, including by tackling the risk of shortages, while also supporting the competitiveness of our industry. And we have taken a great leap forward in eHealth, with the EU Health Data Space, which will harness important benefits that digitalisation can bring to our healthcare systems.   

Our work on these and many other important initiatives has laid solid foundations for our Health Union, to the benefit of every single EU citizen – now and in the future.     

The Communication also presents the One Health approach to tackling major health risks. Threats continuously emerge in the field of health, and they are often linked to the connection between humans, animals and the environment. We see it in the rise of antimicrobial resistance, new viruses and zoonosis, and in the impact of climate change on communicable and non-communicable diseases. We need to always keep this connection in mind when we develop health policy.  

This intricate connection was made even more obvious during the pandemic. But connection isn’t a liability.  It’s a strength. Together, we are stronger. Together we were able to find solutions to new problems over the past five years, and we were able to deliver on our promises.   

I am not going to sugar-coat it – the last five years have been extremely challenging. But we rose to the challenge. And we created a European Health Union that makes us stronger than ever before. I am exceedingly proud of that, and DG SANTE will be working to continue this success story in the years ahead.     

For more information:  

European Health Union: Stronger and better prepared for the future - European Commission (europa.eu)