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European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib to the Committee on Public Health at the European Parliament Brussels, 3 June 2026 In the past year, health has continued to make headlines, in Europe and around the world. The Hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks are clear reminders of the importance of strong and effective health emergency preparedness and response. Health threats easily ...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib to the Committee on Public Health at the European Parliament Brussels, 3 June 2026 In the past year, health has continued to make headlines, in Europe and around the world. The Hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks are clear reminders of the importance of strong and effective health emergency preparedness and response. Health threats easily cross borders. That is why coordination within the EU but also internationally is essential. That is exactly what the Preparedness Union Strategy is about. Last year, as our first concrete deliverable of this Strategy, we adopted a Medical Countermeasures Strategy. It builds on the foundations laid under the last mandate where you helped make Europe stronger and better protected. One thing is certain: when the next crisis hits, we won't face it alone. Hantavirus and Ebola proved that again. Global cooperation is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Three weeks ago, we presented the Global Health Resilience Initiative, our commitment in action. We will strengthen surveillance systems in third countries, share expertise on surge capacity, and support initiatives to speed up the development and access to the tools we need when outbreaks strike. A threat anywhere is a threat everywhere. Over the past months, we have started turning our Medical Countermeasures Strategy into concrete action, working with Member States, industry, civil society and partners around the world. Earlier this year, we adopted our Comprehensive Health Threat Prioritisation Assessment, a shared EU-level understanding of priority health threats. Ebola and Hantaviruses were already on that list. We are also investing in what protects us: new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Through Horizon Europe and EU4Health, we are backing promising vaccine and therapeutics candidates against Ebola and hantaviruses. We are donating medical equipment, including protective equipment, to support the Ebola outbreak response. At the same time, we are supporting strengthening surveillance and sequencing capacities to help contain the outbreak. At the One Health Summit in Lyon last April, we committed 50 million euros investment to develop new antibiotics against antimicrobial resistance and a treatment for Dengue. Together with our stockpiles of medical countermeasures, these investments are building real preparedness for all- hazards. We will also tackle disinformation head-on. As a former journalist, I have seen firsthand what fake news can do in a crisis. In health emergencies, reliable, science-based information can save lives. We must keep health preparedness a priority in our next European budget. Europeans expect nothing less. Our Civil Protection Mechanism and Union support for health emergency preparedness and response instrument will anchor our operational response capacity. We must also make sure that innovation in medical countermeasures, and the industrial capacity needed to produce them, receive strong support through the European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe. I count on your support in the upcoming negotiations. Preparedness means nothing if it doesn't reach everyone equally. As Commissioner for Equality, I am committed to fixing a long-standing injustice: for too long, medicine was designed around male standards. Women paid the price, with misdiagnoses, inadequate treatments, and ignored symptoms. That must end now. In our Union, your healthcare cannot depend on your gender. This is a priority of our Roadmap for Women's Rights and the new Gender Equality Strategy I presented in March. We will soon launch a new initiative with the WHO to improve the quality and access of women's healthcare, giving policymakers the evidence they need to act. We will also work with the European Medicines Agency to explore a gender-sensitive check in medicines development because a drug that works for men must also work for women. Through Horizon Europe, we are investing €220 million in women's health research to better understand conditions that have been understudied for far too long. We will do more for women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, in Europe and beyond. In February, we responded positively to the Citizen's Initiative “My Voice, My Choice”, recognising that unsafe abortion is a public health issue. This met the Parliament's demand for a positive reply, as expressed in the plenary resolution from last December. For the first time, EU funding can be used to support access to safe and legal abortion services, where Member States choose to use the European Social Fund+ for that purpose. Let me leave you with two convictions. First, health preparedness is not just a health issue. It is a security issue. The next outbreak is not a question of if, but when. And when it comes, Europe must be ready. Second, women's health is not negotiable. When we fail to invest in it, women pay the price with their health, across their entire lives, and society pays the price in lost potential. That is a cost none of us can afford. I count on you. Let's build a Union that is fairer, healthier, and better prepared, for everyone. SPEECH/26/1257
Speech Brief