Edition: International | Greek
MENU

Home » Europe

Council meets Parliament halfway on EU health budget

European lawmakers have agreed to reduce cuts to the proposed €9.4 billion EU4Health Programme, which will now amount to €5.1 billion in the forthcoming seven-year budget

By: EBR - Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2020

"The ambition to raise the EU4Health programme was recently backed by MEPs in the Parliament’s health committee (ENVI), who adopted its report on the programme for the EU’s action in the health sector last month."
"The ambition to raise the EU4Health programme was recently backed by MEPs in the Parliament’s health committee (ENVI), who adopted its report on the programme for the EU’s action in the health sector last month."

by Gerardo Fortuna

European lawmakers have agreed to reduce cuts to the proposed €9.4 billion EU4Health Programme, which will now amount to €5.1 billion in the forthcoming seven-year budget.

In its stimulus package launched in May to recover from the pandemic, the European Commission proposed a €9.4 billion EU4Health Programme for strengthening the resilience of health systems, increasing coordination on public health and enhancing crisis management.

Although the initial ambition has remained halved, the new figure agreed yesterday (10 November) by the EU Council and the European Parliament triples the amount agreed by the EU leaders at July’s EU summit, when the fund was reduced to a mere €1.7 billion after pressure from the so-called frugal countries – Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden.

Since then, the European Parliament promised a battle to remedy the cuts to a fund considered essential to protect citizens from the pandemic and facing other health crises in the future.

The ambition to raise the EU4Health programme was recently backed by MEPs in the Parliament’s health committee (ENVI), who adopted its report on the programme for the EU’s action in the health sector last month.

The Parliament’s rapporteur for the EU’s 2021 annual budget, French socialist Pierre Larrouturou, has been on hunger strike to protest heavy cuts for health and climate imposed by the member states.

Backing the Parliament’s stance, the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed in her State of the Union address to restore, at least partially, the funding “for a future-proof EU4Health programme.”

“We have decided to triple the health programme because, as we can understand, it is the most important at the moment,” the vice-chair of Parliament’s budget committee (BUDG), the Portugues socialist Margarida Marques, told a press conference.

In total, €3.4 out of the extra €16 billion obtained by the European Parliament will flow into the health EU4Health programme, which now totalled €5.1 billion.

The final sum marks a considerable step forward considering that only €449 million were allocated in the health strand of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) in the 2014-2020 budget.

The news of the agreement on the EU health budget comes on the eve of the unveiling of the Commission’s plan for a European Health Union, announced by von der Leyen in September.

The communication is set to be presented on 11 November and will include the reinforcement of both the European medicines agency (EMA) and the agency for infectious diseases (ECDC), which are currently perceived as underfunded and underpowered.

The European Parliament is also expected to discuss the new developments on the EU4Health programme in a debate scheduled on Thursday (12 November).

*first published in: www.euractiv.com

READ ALSO

EU Actually

Danish social democratic prime minister Mette Frederiksen sometimes tougher on migration than Giorgia Meloni

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

With her country holding the rotating EU presidency the second half of 2025, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is advocating a stronger EU with more defence and less migration

View 04/2021 2021 Digital edition

Magazine

Current Issue

04/2021 2021

View past issues
Subscribe
Advertise
Digital edition

Europe

Greek MEPs demand tariff-free trade in medicines as new deadline looms

Greek MEPs demand tariff-free trade in medicines as new deadline looms

Greek MEPs Papandreou and Tsiodras warn that US pharma tariffs threaten health and supply chains, urging the Commission to react accordingly.

Business

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

Most people familiar with EU affairs know the single market is a myth. Hailed as the bedrock of the European Union, it was never completed and is now crumbling.

MARKET INDICES

Powered by Investing.com
All contents © Copyright EMG Strategic Consulting Ltd. 1997-2025. All Rights Reserved   |   Home Page  |   Disclaimer  |   Website by Theratron