Who’s the real health commissioner?

Presented by MedTech Europe

By RORY O’NEILL

with HELEN COLLIS, MARI ECCLES, GIEDRE PESECKYTE, HANNE COKELAERE and CLAUDIA CHIAPPA

PRESENTED BY

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— EU health policy is now split across multiple departments, and MEPs aren’t happy.

— Sort your own house out first: MEPs question Hungarian health secretary over presidency plans and country’s health commissioner role.

— Spend less on defense and more on health, WHO chief Tedros told world leaders at the United Nations in New York.

Welcome to Tuesday’s Morning Health Care! How do you do, fellow kids? DG SANTE has launched a game based on Fortnite aimed at raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance. Meanwhile, the European Health Forum Gastein kicks off today. Mari, Claudia and Helen are on site — say hi!

Get in touch: meccles@politico.eu, gpeseckyte@politico.eu, roneill@politico.co.uk, cchiappa@politico.eu. Tweet us @MariEccles, @GPeseckyt and @chiappa_claudia.

WHO’S THE REAL HEALTH COMMISSIONER? Now the dust has settled on Ursula von der Leyen’s commissioner picks and their roles, attention has turned to who will hold the reins on some of the most important files for EU health policy — and why. That’s because several pieces of key health policy work — including the EU life sciences strategy — have landed not with health commissioner-designate Olivér Várhelyi, but with others within the College. Meanwhile, some major pieces of work — such as the EU Biotech Act — have been shared out across several commissioners.  

Too many cooks: “When too many people are responsible, no one is truly in charge,” Green MEP Tilly Metz told POLITICO. And it’s a sentiment reverberating around the European Parliament’s health champions.

Who “will be playing the first violin,” former Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said. “It is very weird … I cannot really get my head around this,” said Andriukaitis, a cardiac surgeon who is now an MEP with the Socialists & Democrats group.

Newcomer MEP with Renew, Stine Bosse, whose career spans international banking and insurance, said she has counted six commissioners covering “important new efforts” across industry, research, health, preparedness and competition policy “that are key to the public health and the pharma and biotech ecosystem,” she told POLITICO, adding this fragmentation was a “concern.”

Strength in numbers: But, there is also another side to this coin. Sharing the workload for pharma, generics supplies and biotech legislation, as well as mental health files and the life sciences strategy, could ease the burden on each commissioner, and also promote a health-in-all-policies approach, some MEPs suggested.

Unequal balance: But while joint work sounds like a great idea, the reality might be very different, pointed out Caroline Costongs, director of EuroHealthNet, a public health nonprofit, since “health doesn’t have as much power compared to some other DGs.” Health has a limited mandate by the Lisbon Treaty, she added.

We also can’t help but notice that while Várhelyi has the job of leading work on the EU Biotech Act — another important file for pharma and biotech sectors — commissioners Zaharieva and Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice president for prosperity and industrial strategy will “contribute” to it — and one of them is his boss. Awks!

Whether this new Commission structure will reap rewards or weaken EU health policy looks likely to be determined by von der Leyen herself. “Input from the president of the commission will be crucial,” for this to work, MEP Tomislav Sokol told POLITICO.

Read Giedre’s full story on the topic here.

DON’T TELL ME THERE’S NO MONEY FOR HEALTH, TEDROS SAYS: There should be “no competition” between health agencies for funding at a time when governments are spending more on defense, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. Speaking at a panel moderated by our colleague Suzanne Lynch at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Tedros said it was “dangerous” for countries to be “proudly announcing increases in defense expenditure.” 

Spend it on something useful: The focus should instead be on political solutions and funding for health, Tedros argued. “The work we do with the Global Fund, Gavi and others is complementary … The people we serve can be served better if all these organizations are fully-funded,” he said.

Asked by Suzanne whether he was concerned a change in the U.S. administration could impact health funding, Tedros replied — with a laugh: “I think it’s up to the citizens of the U.S. to choose their leaders. I have no comment on that.”

UN AGENCIES ‘CAN’T DO OUR JOBS’ IN GAZA: Attacks on humanitarian and health workers mean United Nations agencies can’t do their jobs in Gaza, leaders have warned in an open letter. Earlier this month, Tedros reported that Israeli tanks had fired shots near a WHO-led convoy. “The war is also jeopardizing the future for all Palestinians and rendering eventual recovery far from reach,” said the letter, signed by the heads of U.N. agencies and NGOs and published by the WHO on Monday.

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TRUST ISSUES WITH HUNGARIAN PRESIDENCY: How can Hungary lead the EU’s health policy when the country is failing its own citizens, MEPs asked Hungary’s Secretary of State for Health, Péter Takács, at the European Parliament’s health and environment committee (ENVI) on Monday. Lawmakers also questioned Hungary’s willingness to work on EU-wide initiatives, and overall democratic values.

‘Team Europe’: “We haven’t seen any improvement in Hungary. In some areas, we’ve seen the situation get even worse,” said Hungarian MEP András Kulja, from the EPP, who joined the Parliament hoping to improve health care systems in Hungary. He questioned how a country that cannot fix its own issues when it comes to non-communicable diseases, can ensure an EU-wide approach. 

‘Disregard for health’: “What deeply concerns me is that the EU is currently being led by a country that unfortunately has demonstrated a disregard for the health and wellbeing of its own citizens,” Green MEP Metz, from Luxembourg, said.

Hungarian priorities: Takács visited ENVI to outline the presidency’s priorities, a little more than three months before the end of their term. Increasing the competitiveness of Europe’s pharma industry seems to be the main focus for Hungary, clearly inspired by Draghi’s report. “We run the risk of losing our role as a global leader in pharmaceutical innovation, and many medicines are not available,” said Takács.

Also on Hungary’s agenda: Cardiovascular diseases, transplantation and organ donation. And, of course, the pharmaceutical legislation. 

Dates for the diary: The presidency will hold conferences on mental health on Oct. 7, with the WHO, and in Budapest on Nov. 29.

CITIZENS THINK LEADERS ARE FAILING THEM ON CLIMATE CRISIS: An overwhelming majority (82 percent) of people think world leaders aren’t doing enough to adapt to climate change, especially in developing countries where people’s health is already suffering, new research from Sanofi’s philanthropic foundation has found. An even higher share (87 percent) of 5,000 citizens surveyed thought future generations would have poorer health than current ones due to climate change. 

SHORTAGE OF MPOX TESTS IN DRC: Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo can’t confirm mpox cases due to a shortage of tests, the WHO reported on Monday. There have been 812 deaths from a suspected 29,342 cases in 2024 — most of them in the DRC and Burundi. 

More tests coming? Six diagnostics manufacturers hope to receive emergency approval for mpox tests from the WHO. Out of those, two have submitted regulatory data and information, a WHO spokesperson told Rory.

SMALL AND MID-SIZED HOPES FOR THE NEW PHARMA FRAMEWORK: A robust, predictable and strong investment and industrial ecosystem is what the EU’s pharmaceutical industry needs to remain globally competitive, Alexander Natz, Secretary General of the European Confederation of Pharmaceuticals Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE) said in a letter to the chiefs of the European Commission, Parliament and the Council today.

Main targets: The letter, signed by 23 pharmaceutical companies including Chiesi and Sanofi, outlines small and mid-sized developers’ hopes for the new pharmaceutical legislative framework, including strong and predictable intellectual property incentives and a “holistic approach” to access to medicines.

BELGIAN WOMEN DRIVING TO NETHERLANDS FOR ABORTIONS: Abortion organizations in Belgium have set up a volunteering system to drive women seeking terminations to abortion clinics in the Netherlands, where it’s possible to get an abortion up to 24 weeks’ pregnant. In Belgium, the limit is 12 weeks. Political attempts to increase that to at least 18 weeks and do away with a six-day reconsideration period have been at a standstill, our colleague Hanne Cokelaere writes in.

No consensus: The issue will be discussed today in the House of Representatives’ Justice Committee — although there’s no consensus on whether an extension should be two, four or six weeks. Luna, the association of Dutch-speaking abortion clinics, says that extending the limit by two weeks would only help 80 women per year.  “Barely one in five Belgian women who now have to go to the Netherlands for an abortion would be helped by this,” they say.

FINLAND LEGISLATES FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: The Finnish government wants to introduce a maximum waiting time of one month for children and young adults looking for primary mental health services. The proposal is expected to cost €35 million a year and would enter into effect on May 1, 2025.

A lifeline for young people: The proposed law, which was submitted to the Parliament on Monday, would allow children and people under 23 years-old to access brief psychotherapy or standardized and time-restricted psychosocial treatment — free of charge — within 28 days from when they first established the need for help.

People in Malawi are paying for climate change with their lives, writes Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda in The Guardian.

GSK ex-vaccines chief says group’s blockbuster flu jab is too expensive, the FT reports.

The UK’s Labour government will review most of the Tories’ new hospital schemes, BBC reports.

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