On 5 May, European Parliament SANT Committee adopted an Opinion for the IRTE Committee, relating to European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), as part of the ongoing negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the next seven-year cycle of the EU budget.
The Opinion underlined the importance of ensuring EU support for public health priorities within the ECF, including equitable access to medicines, prevention, health literacy, support for civil society organisations working in health, patient rights, patient safety. It also called for a strong dedicated funding for public health activities. As part of this it calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of a dedicated EU4Health programme within the ECF.
Additionally, amendments proposed by the Opinion call for support for NGOs contributing to prevention, health promotion and patient engagement, as well as demanding that the Commission present a roadmap towards a coherent Union framework for health financing, across the domains of programmes including Horizon Europe, EU4Health, Digital Europe etc.
The full text of the opinion is available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/SANT-AD-784244_EN.pdf
