Meet the MEPs who will shape EU health policy

The recently concluded legislature has highlighted the importance of health in EU policy-making, even though national governments still retain primary competence over this sector.

The EU’s fight against cancer plan was a top priority for the EU executive before COVID-19 pushed health up the Commission’s agenda, resulting in the bloc’s first health budget line.

Sources within Parliament’s largest group, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), have suggested that MEPs could consider creating a stand-alone health committee with legislative powers, which could further increase the focus on the issue in the next term.

Familiar faces and newcomers to the Parliament are poised to significantly influence EU health policies with their diverse experiences and expertise.

Senior officials

Several newly elected lawmakers are former senior officials, including Vytenis Andriukaitisformer European Commissioner for Health from 2014 to 2019. Known in Brussels for his vigorous campaigns against anti-vaxxers, the Lithuanian has training as a traumatologist, orthopedic surgeon and cardiac surgeon, and was WHO special envoy for the European region. After his election, he tweeted that he was ready to work on issues such as the European Health Union and many others.

The list of former health ministers includes Marta Temido from Portugal. The new Socialist MEP’s knowledge of health matters is well established, having chaired the ministerial meeting during the Portuguese Presidency in 2021, which focused on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and responses to public health threats.

Other senior officials joining the Parliament’s ranks include other Socialist MEPs. Aodhán in RíordáinFormer Irish Health Minister, responsible for the country’s anti-drug strategy and abortion rights advocate, and Liberal Vlad Voiculescu of Romania, who has twice served as health minister and has significant experience in defending patients’ rights. Voiculescu has recently been seen at health events in Brussels, suggesting a willingness to remain immersed in the subject.

Spanish socialist Read PajinElected to the European Parliament for the first time, she headed her country’s health ministry between 2010 and 2011 before working for the Pan American Health Organization. Although her appointment to the committee remains uncertain, her main interest appears to be health.

Health experts

A number of doctors with diverse backgrounds have clearly focused their election campaign on health.

A new remarkable MEP is Hungarian András Kuljaa Budapest surgeon who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and hosted educational podcasts about health in his home country. He joined Péter Magyar’s Tisza party and received the support of his group’s former health coordinator, German MEP Peter Liese, to run for chair of the Parliament’s Health Committee (SANT).

Italian green Ignazio MarinoRecently elected vice-president of his parliamentary group, he is a well-known figure in Italy. The former mayor of Rome and transplant surgeon has worked on pioneering projects in the United States, including the first organ transplant from a baboon to a human. In Italy, he performed the first transplant on HIV-positive patients and has held various positions, including chairman of a commission of inquiry into the National Health Service.

French Christian Democrat Laurent Castillo is the only doctor elected among the French MEPs. As Director General of the University Hospitals of Nice, he is very attentive to issues relating to health personnel and the working conditions of healthcare workers, which should be crucial subjects during the next legislature.

German MEP Friedrich Pürnerwho previously headed the Aichach district health department, was fired for publicly criticizing COVID-19 containment measures in Bavaria, such as mandatory mask-wearing for children. Known in Germany as a “coronavirus rebel,” he was elected for the left-wing populist party Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). He is joined in his left-wing delegation by Jan Peter Warnkea former neurosurgeon who embarks on a political career.

Familiar Faces

The next European Parliament will also include several well-known figures from the previous legislature, such as the Croatian centre-right MEP Tomislav Sokola recognised name in Brussels health circles. Now in his second term, Sokol has been involved in important health legislation, including updates to EU pharmaceutical rules and the European Health Data Space, for which he served as rapporteur.

German socialist Tiemo Wolken The EU Pharmaceutical Industry Committee report will also be back in the European Parliament. As one of the rapporteurs for the new pharmaceutical legislation, Mr Wölken will continue his work on this complex dossier, ready for negotiation with EU ministers and the Commission.

Luxembourgish Tilly Verte Metza veteran of the European Parliament, will return for a third term. A former vice-chair of the subcommittee on public health, she is expected to continue to focus on health issues.

German doctor holds record for longevity of MEP in charge of health Pierre Liesewho specialises in human genetics and internal medicine and is returning for his seventh term since he was first elected in 1994. Liese is expected to remain as environment spokesman for the powerful centre-right EPP party.

Another Christian Democrat, Bartosz Arłukowicz Arłukowicz, a native of Poland and former chair of the Public Health Subcommittee and the Cancer Control Select Committee, will also return for the next five years. Arłukowicz, a paediatric oncologist for over a decade, served as Poland’s health minister before being elected to the European Parliament in 2019.

Former Spanish Minister of Health Montserrat Pains She will return to Parliament for a second term as part of the EPP Group. For the past five years, she has been a member of the Public Health Committee and was rapporteur for the report on lessons learned and future recommendations on COVID-19.