MEP Tomislav Sokol calls for stronger EU focus on healthcare

Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – MEP Tomislav Sokol said that health needs to remain a focus at the European level, and he flagged the need for a common effort to improve the early detection and precluding of diseases and the development of new medicines.    

Why Must Health Remain a European Priority?

“Before the previous mandate, before the EU Beating Cancer Plan and before COVID-19, healthcare was a marginal issue in the European institutions,” MEP Tomislav Sokol (Croatia/European Popular Party) stated.  He added that the pandemic and the deficiencies of medicines the EU has experienced in the last few years have revealed that member states cannot resolve all healthcare issues alone. 

What Is the European Health Data Space?

Sokol was the top MEP on the European Health Data Space, which appointed a common European framework for sharing health data and arranged on behalf of the EPP the revision of the bloc’s pharmaceutical legislation – a file that generated some controversy last year and is set to be one of the most complex issues in the next mandate.   

The Croatian MEP said that the EU Council’s position is still very shaky, and it remains unclear when it will be ready to begin interinstitutional discussions. Some of the most controversial elements to date have been the incentives for the development of new medicines offered by the European Commission and the reduction of the regulatory protection periods. “We need to find a balance between facilitating research and development, and innovation of new medicines on the 

one side and facilitating full access for patients in the EU on the other,” he stated.    

How Can the EU Balance Innovation and Patient Access?

According to Sokol, besides the uncertain work from the previous mandate, there are also increasing challenges the EU will have to address in the next five years. The European Commission issued a Communication on Mental Health in June 2023, and the European Parliament supported a non-binding resolution to bring mental health on par with physical fitness and essay the stigma of those suffering from related conditions.    

Despite some job already being done, Sokol added that the EU “should have a much more precise and stronger approach.”   

The EPP’s health committee coordinator also emphasised the need to develop a strategy for cardiovascular diseases. “In a similar vein, as was determined with cancer – the number two killer in the EU – so with cardiovascular illness as the number one killer, a cardiovascular method should be one of the priorities.”   

The EU’s Beating Cancer Plan was one of the flagship endeavours of the previous Commission, and, according to Sokol should serve as a footprint that could be applied to other strategies.    

“The Cancer Plan was so important because it wasn’t a wish list, it contained concrete deadlines, benchmarks and measures. It also had concrete funding, which is very important,” he said.