MEPs greenlight health budget cuts, with deferral
MEPs have given their approval for reductions in the health budget, coupled with a deferral. Despite efforts by lawmakers to mitigate the impact, EU leaders’ proposal to divert 20% of the European Union’s health funds to aid Ukraine was not entirely overturned, and cuts were postponed to the next term.
The European Parliament’s budget and foreign affairs committees have endorsed a €50 billion support package for Ukraine, known as the Ukraine Facility. In negotiations held in February, MEPs sought to minimize the impact on the EU’s finances, as €1 billion was controversially redirected from the largest health program to finance the aid package. The committees’ approved text on February 22 only managed to spare the EU health budget for the current and next year, deferring cuts to the subsequent annual installments until 2027.
The parliament is set to formally endorse the text in a plenary session on February 27 in Strasbourg. While acknowledging limited maneuverability due to the urgency of delivering aid to Ukraine by March, lawmakers pledged to revisit the issue, emphasizing that compromising on health funding would undermine the bloc’s sectoral ambitions.
The EU4Health program, with a €5.3 billion funding line, was established to finance the bloc’s health strategy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns have been raised by individuals such as Tomislav Sokol and Cristian Bușoi, who stressed the negative impact of the proposed cuts on ongoing health activities and urged efforts to regain the funding in subsequent budget allocations.
