How to foster a resilient value chain for the EU chemical industry - Related Opinions

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, health has become a central topic on the geopolitical stage. The EU Global Health Strategy, launched at the end of 2022, shows the political path forward, guiding the EU’s role in advancing health for all beyond 2023. This own-initiative opinion will examine four key dimensions:  strategic autonomy in health; structural trends in health and related sectors; health coordination; and security, defence and the mitigation of major shocks. 

Confronted with increasing instability, increased strategic competition and growing security threats, the EU committed to taking greater responsibility for its security and to taking further decisive action to build open European sovereignty, reduce its dependencies and develop a new growth and investment model for 2030 and beyond. 

The well-functioning Single Market is a main asset of the EU. It is clearly the quality of the overall legislative framework that matters for businesses when making investment decisions, being a key competitiveness factor.

The EC Communication with title "Towards a more resilient, competitive and sustainable Europe" summarises what has been achieved to promote and build a more resilient, competitive and sustainable economy, protect EU citizens and guarantee their well-being.

In its opinion, the EESC wishes to put forward its views on the Communication, adopted in connection with the Granada summit, so that its position can be taken into account during preparations for the next European legislative mandate. Given the range of issues addressed in the Communication, the opinion is focussing on four key sectors for the future of European strategic autonomy: the energy sector, the digital sector, the defence sector and the space sector. In its opinion, the EESC makes concrete proposals to highlight the need for a European economic and political power.

On 24 October 2023 the European Commission adopted a set of actions to better prevent and mitigate critical medicine shortages in the EU. Recent critical shortages, including of certain antibiotics last winter, show that continued coordinated action is needed to address supply challenges and to make Europe's medicine supply chains more resilient in the long run. The main objective of the Communication is to prevent and mitigate critical shortages at EU level, focusing in particular on the most critical medicines, for which security of supply in the EU must be ensured at all times.

The Covid 19-pandemic has drawn attention to the role of the pharmaceutical industry and to production, availability and affordability of medicines and medicinal products on the European market.

Dependency on critical ingredients, such as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), became obvious when China and India limited exports. According to current data, up to 80% of APIs used in Europe and about 40% of finished medicines sold in Europe come from China or India. The European Union's increasing dependence on API supplies has led to a partial loss of capability to manufacture active substances independently, which poses a potential threat to public health in the countries of the European Union.

In September 2020, the European Commission presented the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, which also contains the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials.