Public health groups warn that projects not considered innovative, such as smoking-cessation campaigns to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease, would struggle to secure funds designated to boost industry competitiveness in the region.
In response, the health committee is pushing to boost health funding and dedicate it solely to health projects. However, without the committee leading on the file, health MEPs have limited influence over their demands.
Radan Kanev, MEP for the European People’s Party, is the author of the committee’s draft opinion on health funding in the proposed competitiveness fund. “I hope these figures will not be frightening to our colleagues,” Kanev told POLITICO, referring to MEPs on other committees as well as national governments. “It is really needed … to show the benefits of scale for European health policy,” he said.
His report asks for a carve-out of €15.55 billion for health (from the €20.4 billion health-agriculture-bioeconomy pot of the competitiveness fund). From this, €5.5 billion would support industrial competitiveness in areas including pharma and medical devices, he said.
The other €10.05 billion would be reserved for health policies covered by the European Commission’s current health budget, EU4Health — around double its original pot.
The committee wants €2.5 billion from this pot to fund Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and €400 million for HERA Invest, a scheme that supports medical countermeasures against pandemic threats and antimicrobial resistance.
