Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Italian MEP Antonio Decaro holding the Chair of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI), gave harsh criticism of the cuts to EU health funding approved by the European Council in February.
In a letter to the head of the Parliament’s Budget Committee, Johan Van Overtveldt MEP (Belgium, ECR), regarding the general EU budget for 2025, Decaro “deplored” the cuts pushed by the EU Council to health and environmental agendas. MEP Decaro reports that the committee “strongly regrets” the €1 billion cut to the EU4Health schedule for the 2025-2027 period, which would amount to €189 million in 2025.
What Are MEPs Proposing to Reverse the Health Funding Cuts?
The Parliament indicates that the EU’s Flexibility Instrument, which amounts to €9.2 billion for the entire 2021-2027 term, could be mobilised to cover the gap in funding. The EU Parliament is also calling for a turnaround in cuts to the Horizon Health Cluster, which MEPs state was severely overstretched by the pandemic. The health cluster budget funds research into developing capabilities to venture emerging, re-emerging, neglected and rare diseases.
What Alternatives Do MEPs Suggest to Offset the Health Cuts?
The MEPs suggest that the Single Margin Instrument, which utilises the difference between actual payment commitments and the EU’s budgetary ceilings, could cover these budget gaps.
The major amendments concerning health funding were backed by most of the EU lawmakers from the European People’s Party (EPP), the Social Democrats (S&D), Renew and the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA).Â
“We shared the rapporteur’s worries about the significant cuts,” stated Alexandr Vondra MEP (Czechia, ECR), the coordinator of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. “However, the cuts are the result of challenging decisions made by the EU Council, which relocated more than 10 billion to support Ukraine.”
Peter Leise MEP (German, EPP), the coordinator for the EPP group, stated that the health programmes have had a powerful impact and highlighted that the cuts would hamper HERA’s ability to support meaningful actions like the fight against antimicrobial resistance, “this may kill Europeans.”
