According to a recent Reuters report, health ministers from 11 European Union countries have proposed expanding the scope of EU defense funds to include critical medicines. The ministers from Belgium, Czechia, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain are advocating for a Critical Medicines Act to be integrated within the EU’s strategic autonomy and security efforts. They argue that without essential medicines, Europe’s defense capabilities are compromised.
This proposal seeks to access the €800 billion the European Commission plans to mobilize over the next four years through the Rearm Europe plan. The plan includes increased defense and security spending by EU member states, facilitated by activating a national escape clause within the EU’s fiscal rulebook—the Stability and Growth Pact—which allows for higher spending under exceptional circumstances. An additional €150 billion would come from a new EU defense instrument, enabling the Commission to borrow from capital markets, issue bonds, and lend to member states.
The ministers’ proposal aligns with the United States’ Defense Production Act, which designates pharmaceutical supply chains as a national security issue. The U.S. government uses this act to map critical pharmaceutical supply chains, identify vulnerabilities, and direct investments toward strengthening domestic production. It also allows the issuance of priority-rated contracts, requiring suppliers to prioritize government orders.
The proposed Critical Medicines Act aims to address severe shortages of essential medicines, such as antibiotics, insulin, and painkillers, within the EU. It focuses on medicines that are difficult to source or rely on few manufacturers or countries for supply. The European Commission is expected to present the proposal on Tuesday, following a fast-tracked legislative process that has raised concerns about the lack of a proper impact assessment.
The ministers highlighted that Europe, once a leader in pharmaceutical production, now depends on Asia for 60–80% of its supply in the sector. This dependence creates significant vulnerabilities, particularly in the event of supply chain disruptions during a crisis or conflict. They warned that if the supply chain of antibiotics is interrupted in the midst of an escalating conflict, routine surgeries could become high-risk procedures, and easily treatable infections could turn fatal. Foreign actors could exploit this dependency, creating a major security risk for Europe.
The proposal could also have financial implications on health spending in Europe, as the fate of a specific fund dedicated to health in the next EU budget remains uncertain. The EU4Health program, established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was initially given a funding injection of €5.3 billion. However, recent budget cuts, including the reallocation of €1 billion from EU4Health to partially fund Ukraine’s aid package, have raised concerns within the sector.
Early blueprints of the next seven-year EU budget suggest that its health portion could be merged with other funds or even eliminated altogether. The proposed mechanism would allow for increased health spending at the national level by loosening EU budget rules, enabling higher expenditure without penalties. In practice, this would mean that defense spending—potentially expanded to include critical medicines—of up to 1.5% of GDP would be exempt from EU spending limits for four years.
It remains to be seen whether the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament will incorporate this approach into the legislative talks on the upcoming Critical Medicines Act.
