PHSSR European Union Investing in Health 2025

21 Investing in Health for a Competitive, Secure, and Resilient Europe: A Strategic Call to Action The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience� Strengthen engagement with key stakeholders, particularly national authorities and implementing bodies, to enhance accountability, support knowledge exchange, and develop structured pathways for achieving targets. This effort should continue the work of the Commission Expert Group on Public Health and foster ongoing dialogue between EU institutions and Member States. � Develop a comprehensive set of crisis preparedness benchmarks for EU public health systems, building on the work of the Health System Performance Assessment Expert Group, the OECD, and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. � Ensure the implementation of resilience stress tests for public health systems, in accordance with the EU Regulation on Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health and the Critical Entities Resilience Directive, to assess and strengthen preparedness for future emergencies. 2.A.3 Prioritise health within the new MFF and leverage synergies with other EU priorities Representing nearly a third of the total EU budget, the Cohesion Policy is the EU’s main investment policy, aimed at strengthening economic, social, and territorial cohesion in the EU and delivering on a variety of EU policy objectives. Although less than 5% of funds are directed towards health-related objectives, with approximately €10 billion planned, the Cohesion Policy instruments remain the largest source of EU funding for health investments.80 In terms of dedicated health funding, the current EU4Health programme is the largest EU health programme to date, with an initial allocation of €5.3 billion for 2021-2027.81 However, €1 billion was redeployed from the EU4Health programme following the mid-term revision of the MFF in 2024, representing a 20% reduction in the overall budget. This decision raised concerns about potential disruptions to strategic programming for the remainder of the MFF period, with possible implications for ongoing efforts to strengthen health system resilience in the post-COVID recovery phase.82 Promoting recognition and awareness of the intrinsic links between health and other EU priorities is key to facilitating continued prioritisation of and funding for health, in alignment with a coherent EU strategy for investments in public health and health systems. For instance, there is a deeply reciprocal relationship between environmental sustainability and health systems, with the health sector identified as vulnerable to climate-related risks.83 Considering the EU climate targets for 2050 and the health sector’s considerable emissions, representing 4%-6% of total emissions, health systems will need enhanced support to decarbonise their operations and reduce their overall environmental impact.84 Health also plays a critical role in underpinning the EU’s security and crisis preparedness.85,86 The European Preparedness Union Strategy highlights the need for more investment in preparedness of health systems and the health sector, including stockpiling of medical equipment for emergency and disaster response; development of dual-use medical countermeasures; and maintenance and possible scaling-up of existing medical capabilities under the rescEU programme, including development of a European field hospital. For example, access to critical medicines such as antibiotics is essential for strategic autonomy and undoubtedly crucial for the health of EU citizens but also military and crisis scenarios.87 The health sector is also a key contributor to European competitiveness, with health and social care accounting for over 10% of jobs in the EU in 2022.88 The MedTech industry alone directly employs over 880,000 people in highly productive jobs, with an estimated added value of €177,000 per employee.89 Similarly, pharmaceutical R&D has grown on average 4.4% per year since 2010, driving a highly productive sector with important positive externalities that contributed €311 billion gross value to the EU-27 economy in 2022.90