Funding that helps fight cancer, rare diseases or future health crises could lose its own programme in the next EU budget. The European Commission wants to fold it into a new competitiveness fund. MEPs warn health spending could become harder to track among defence, tech and industry — and easier to sideline when priorities clash.
The European Parliament has set firm red lines on health in the next EU budget. MEPs accept integration into a broader competitiveness framework, but they demand €10.05 billion for EU4Health. They want visibility preserved and they reject any dilution of the programme.
With its Tuesday vote on the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), MEPs have defined their mandate ahead of negotiations with member states, where these conditions will now be tested.
“This multiannual budget is not just a financial tool. But a genuine political roadmap of what the priorities of the European Union are today,” Parliament President Roberta Metsola said after the vote. She added that the current framework “was not fit for the crisis we have lived through”.
You might be interested
The message is broader than health alone. The next EU budget is being framed as a strategic instrument to respond to new geopolitical, economic and societal challenges. From security and defence to competitiveness and resilience.
Bigger budget, broader ambitions
Beyond individual policy areas, Parliament’s position sets out a clear overall direction for the next MFF. MEPs are calling for the post-2027 budget to be set at 1.27 per cent of EU GNI, with repayment of NextGenerationEU debt kept outside the main ceilings. This represents a roughly 10 per cent increase compared to the Commission’s proposal. It would bring the total budget to around €2 trillion in current prices.
This multiannual budget is not just a financial tool, but a genuine political roadmap of what the priorities of the European Union are today. — Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
The increase is intended to support both new priorities, such as defence, security, competitiveness and innovation, and traditional policies, including cohesion and agriculture. Parliament also rejects attempts to renationalise spending and insists on maintaining EU-level programmes with clear governance and accountability.
One priority among many
Within this broader expansion, health is one of several areas where funding is expected to increase. While it’s clearly included, it remains one priority among many.
In plenary, co-rapporteur Carla Tavares (S&D/PRT) made that explicit when she said that the EU must be able to act more in key areas such as defence and security, research and innovation, green and digital, infrastructure, health, education and culture. “The environment and citizens’ health are challenges of the present and the future. We want to ensure lasting support to LIFE and EU4Health.”
EU4Health is the EU’s flagship health programme, created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen health systems, improve crisis preparedness and support areas such as cancer, rare diseases and cross-border cooperation. In the current budget cycle, it operates as a standalone funding instrument. It’s a key reference point in the debate over how health should be financed in the next framework.
In the same plenary debate, MEP Stine Bosse (Renew/DNK) framed health as part of a broader investment logic. She said Europe must invest across priorities. “That requires investment… in energy independence, competitiveness, health and most of all, in security and defence.” She stressed “it’s all interconnected”.
What the new fund changes
At the centre of the Commission’s proposal is the creation of a European Competitiveness Fund, designed to streamline EU spending and strengthen investment across key strategic sectors. According to the Commission, the fund will invest in strategic technologies, to benefit the entire Single Market and operate under a single rulebook with one gateway for applicants. The aim is to simplify access to funding, accelerating delivery and attracting both public and private investment.
It will focus its support on four areas. The clean transition and decarbonisation, the digital transition, health, biotech, agriculture and the bioeconomy, as well as defence and space. Under this model, EU4Health would no longer exist as a separate programme. Its actions would instead become eligible for funding within this broader framework.
The environment and citizens’ health are challenges of the present and the future, we want to ensure lasting support to LIFE and EU4Health. — MEP Carla Tavares (S&D/PRT)
In parallel, the Commission proposes to maintain a strong role for Horizon Europe. It its flagship research framework worth €175 billion, which will continue to fund world-class innovation. While the Parliament’s position does not single out health explicitly within Horizon Europe, the programme’s central role is to support research and innovation. Including in biomedical and health-related fields.
Together, Horizon Europe and the Competitiveness Fund are intended to support the full investment journey of projects. From early-stage research to scale-up, while reducing costs for beneficiaries and accelerating disbursement.
This means that, rather than being concentrated in a single programme, EU health funding would be spread across multiple instruments.
Defining what health must deliver
Within this broader roadmap, Parliament sets out one of its most detailed policy positions on health. The position states that the health of European citizens remains a priority. It highlights that a healthy population and a strong health sector are fundamental drivers of Europe’s competitiveness, economic resilience and well-being.
It underlines that sustained and predictable investment in health is essential to strengthen the resilience of health systems, support and retain a skilled health workforce, reduce inequalities in access to care across Member States and ensure the Union’s preparedness for future health crises. This formulation places health across three dimensions at once, linking it to economic performance, social cohesion and crisis readiness.
A funding demand, and a red line
Parliament also moves beyond general principles by putting a concrete figure on the table. It expresses strong concern about the dilution of the EU4Health programme. It calls for €10.05 billion in current prices to be earmarked under the European Competitiveness Fund for specific EU4Health priorities.
I believe health can be a winner in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. — Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare
This effectively defines Parliament’s negotiating position. It accepts the new budget structure proposed by the Commission, but insists that health must remain visible, funded and politically accountable within it.
At the same time, Parliament makes clear that EU health policy is not limited to systems and preparedness. It reiterates that adequate resources should be devoted to supporting sexual and reproductive health and services, women’s rights organisations and broader initiatives promoting equality. This anchors health funding within a wider framework of rights, inclusion and social policy.
A structural shift in health security
A further shift concerns how health security is organised at EU level. The opinion takes note of a proposal to move crisis preparedness and health emergency response out of EU4Health and into broader crisis response tools. This would create a more integrated civil protection system. It also underlines the EU’s role as a coordination hub. It calls for adequate funding to ensure preparedness and rapid response, including €12.42 billion for the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
This reflects a broader evolution in EU governance, where health emergencies are increasingly treated as part of a wider security and crisis management framework.
Health can still win
The European Commission is defending that shift in architecture. In an exclusive interview with EU Perspectives, Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi rejected concerns that health would lose out in the new budget. “On the contrary. I believe health can be a winner in the next Multiannual Financial Framework,” he said.
Mr Várhelyi stressed that all policy actions currently financed under EU4Health would remain eligible under the European Competitiveness Fund. Including funding for areas such as rare diseases and cancer, and highlighted flexibility as a core design feature of the new system.
Pressure shifts to the Council
With its position now adopted, Parliament is turning up the pressure on member states. European Parliament President Metsola made clear that the Parliament has moved ahead of schedule. She expects the Council to follow quickly so that negotiations can begin without delay.
MEPs are calling for an agreement by the end of the year. They warned that delays could slow down the implementation of the next budget cycle and postpone the delivery of key investments.
Member states remain divided
That call comes against a backdrop of deep divisions among EU governments. Member states remain split over the size of the budget, the introduction of new revenue sources and the balance between spending priorities. Some countries are pushing for tighter budgets and greater flexibility. While others are calling for increased investment and stronger EU-level action.
Health sits within this broader tension. It is widely recognised as important, but it competes with defence, competitiveness and other priorities for political attention and financial resources.
The balance now to be tested
The European Parliament has now drawn its lines. Health is part of the roadmap, not outside it. It is tied to economic strength, social cohesion and security. It is funded, but within a new structure. And it is no longer a standalone policy silo, but one element of a wider strategic agenda.
Whether that balance holds will depend on what member states are willing to accept when negotiations begin.
