The Covid-19 pandemic reminds us of the indisputable reality that must guide the European Union’s future action: strong and resilient health systems are not a cost to society, but a long-term investment and an imperative for solidarity and prosperity. A true Europe of health can be achieved, provided that all actors show sufficient ambition: it is to seize this opportunity and to feed the reflections in this field that the Jacques Delors Institute has set up, in spring 2021, a working group on the future of the European health policy. Based on an analysis of the proposals presented by the European Commission and the positions taken by the main international bodies, the group is working within the framework of the existing European treaties and is putting forward twelve recommendations for making the best use of the vast range of instrument available to the Union, based on three main pillars: prevention, crisis management and multilateralism.

Members of the health working group

• XAVIER PRATS-MONNÉ, Chairman of the Working Group, Advisor to the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) and former Director General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission.
• ISABELLE MARCHAIS, Rapporteur of the Working Group, Associate Researcher Health at the Jacques Delors Institute.
• FRÉDÉRIC BIZARD, Professor of economics at ESCP, founding President of the Health Institute, author of L’Autonomie solidaire en santé (October 2021, Éditions Michalon).
• FRANCESCA COLOMBO, Head of the OECD Health Division.
• HÉLÈNE DOLLFUS, Professor of Medical Genetics, University Hospitals of Strasbourg and University of Strasbourg.
• SOFIA FERNANDES, Senior research fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute, Director of the Académie Notre Europe.
• RICCARDO PERISSICH, Member of the Board of Directors of the Jacques Delors Institute, Former Director General of the European Commission’s DG Industry.
• LOUIS PIZARRO, Team Lead at Unitaid, Professor of global health issues at SciencesPo.
• CAMILLA RANDAZZO, Coordinator of the Health Working Group of the College of Europe Alumni Association.

Thanks to BENJAMIN COUTEAU, research assistant at the Jacques Delors Institute, for his help and careful proofreading.