Why health should be at the heart of building a more secure and competitive Europe

Five years ago this month, governments across Europe implemented unprecedented lockdowns in response to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It brought home to us the risks we face and the costs of complacency and a lack of preparedness. Above all, the global pandemic exposed the EU to unwanted dependencies and vulnerabilities in the EU’s pharmaceutical supply chains.

Though the sense of urgency around health policies faded once the worst of the pandemic was over, the current shocks to international trade and multilateralism should lead the EU to continue prioritising health security.

The nexus between industrial and pharmaceutical policies has always been a critical weakness for Europe. As health ministers from 11 member states wrote last week, Europe’s dangerous medicine dependency is the Achilles heel of its defence strategy. The recently published Critical Medicines Act is a step in the right direction, but the manufacturing of medicines is only one part of the pharmaceutical value chain.