On Sunday June 9, European citizens are called to the polls to elect future MEPs who will sit in the European Parliament for five years. What are the candidates' proposals in terms of health? Why does the theme not really seem to interest the parties? The answers from Aurélien Demarthe, consultant analyst at Akkanto.
On June 9, the tenth European elections will be held, aimed at renewing the mandate of European Union deputies. This time, there will be 720 elected representatives from all over Europe who will sit for five years in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, compared to 705 currently. But health appears little during this campaign… What are the European issues in this area and the candidates' proposals?
Immigration, security, environment… but little health
Since May 27, the campaign for the European elections has been officially launched. Themes linked to security, immigration or the environment are widely covered by the parties, through the speeches of the different heads of the lists.
But health remains a subject that we rarely talk about. However, according to an Ipsos survey carried out in mid-May, health came in third place among the French's concerns. And the concern is not only French since a Eurobarometer survey makes public health the second most cited issue by European citizens.
What are the health proposals made by the candidates?
The different French parties address the issue of health in their programs unevenly, as Akkanto Europe points out.
- At Reconquête, health is barely mentioned by the identification of threats “to the Mental Health and physics of European youth“. For its part, the National Rally (RN) uses it to criticize the European institutions: the Commission is accused of “(take advantage) of crises to monopolize new powers“. For the RN, health is therefore considered as a certainly national competence and which must remain so.
- The programs of the Ecologists, the Socialist Party-Place publique (PS-PP) and La Europe insoumise focus on expanding the Union's powers in health matters. The three lists defend the creation of a European public medicines service. They also come together on themes such as air quality, disability, psychosocial risks and nutrition.
- For Renaissance (the party of Emmanuel Macron) and Les Républicains, it is necessary to have a more advanced reflection on health in Europe: the two parties agree on the need to strengthen research programs, particularly for cancer , degenerative and mental illnesses, as well as the relocation of strategic pharmaceutical production to the continent.
- The list of François-Xavier Bellamy (Les Républicains) particularly insists on a Europe which ensures “strategic autonomy in the field of health”. The ideas of “contribution” and D'”justified intervention” that we find there suggest the desire to limit health cooperation to what is strictly necessary.
- The list led by Valérie Hayer (Renaissance) makes health one of the 5 “key sectors” in which Europe must become “World Champion”through a “Plan Europe 2030″.
- The programs of the Ecologists, the Socialist Party-Place publique (PS-PP) and La Europe insoumise are those which abound the most in proposals on health, proposals which imply, for many, the broadening of the Union's powers in the material. The 3 lists agree – like the previous ones – on the need to relocalize strategic health production. However, they go well beyond in terms of cooperation and interventionism since they defend, for example, the creation of a European public medicines service. They also come together on themes as varied as air quality, disability, psychosocial risks or diet, with a few variations.
- These training courses also mention more comprehensive thoughts about health. Thus, the lists of Raphaël Glucksmann (PS-PP) and Marie Toussaint (Les Ecologistes) mobilize the idea of ”environmental health” : what good health a human being owes to the environment in which he lives.
- That of Manon Aubry (La Europe insoumise) refers to the principle of “one health”according to which the interdependencies between the health of living beings and that of the ecosystems in which they evolve make them inseparable in matters of public policy.
Why is health not at the heart of the European campaign?
Although it represents a concern for Europeans, health is – as we see – unevenly represented in the programs and is not used as a campaign theme. For what ? “LHealth is an important issue for the French and Europeans.” confirms Aurélien Demarthe, consultant analyst at Akkanto. “But the subject is not taken as a spearhead by the candidates because there are fewer concrete actions that can be decided“.
According to the consultant, “Europe can, for example, help to relocate the manufacturing of certain molecules, to limit the drug shortages faced by many countries, including Europe..
“Health represents a support skill, it can for example be further exploited in Europe through support for research, particularly against rare diseases” adds Aurélien Demarthe.
The Covid crisis that the world experienced in 2020 should also serve as an example, so that all European countries can learn from the experience and anticipate the next pandemic. Health is therefore a transpartisan theme, which would have the power to unite Europeans across borders. Will MEPs take up this issue? Only the future will tell us.