By the Civil Society Organisations’ Group

Healthcare professionals and civil society representatives call on policy-makers to introduce a ‘health check’ for all future policies. Their demand: the ‘Right to Health’ must remain at the top of the EU and national agendas in the new legislative term, which is what Europeans asked for at the Conference on the Future of Europe. 

National and European health measures must be better coordinated and aligned so as to build a more sustainable health sector that is resilient to future shocks and guarantees equal access to quality healthcare for all. 

Investment, prevention, technological innovations and early health education are expected to play a key role in this, according to the conference on The State of Health in the EU, held on 4 June in Liège. The event was organised by the EESC’s Civil Society Organisations’ Group, together with the CHU Liège and the Hôpital de la Citadelle, in the context of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. 

‘In the next legislative term, 2024-2029, health must remain a key strategic priority for the new European Commission, the new European Parliament and the Council,’ said Séamus Boland, president of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group. The European institutions should embrace a ‘One Health’ approach that promotes the interlinkages between health policy and changing demographics, the digital and environmental transitions, economic security and industrial policy. 

Mr Boland stressed that health policy can only function effectively if it is managed alongside accessible, adequate and high-quality social services and public social policies and staffed with sufficient numbers of well-trained health professionals. Reiterating the need for direct involvement and responsibility in healthcare for civil society organisations (CSOs), such as patient associations, he said: ‘The take up and success of European health initiatives and programmes are dependent on transparent, regular and structured dialogue with CSOs. Their ability to carry out this work is in turn dependent on obtaining sustainable and predictable funding.’ 

The conference discussed several fundamental aspects for a strengthened European Health Union: 

• The commitment to One Health; 
• Digital innovations and their impact on health; 
• Sustainability and future-proofing health systems through social investment; and
• The global fight against health inequalities through the prism of European solidarity: the case of rare diseases. 

The conclusions and recommendations of the conference will be published on the event webpage. 

More about the conference in our press release.