While the brutal Russian war against Ukraine continues, we are all heartened by the outpouring of solidarity shown towards refugees by citizens and civil society in Poland and Hungary. Yet the rule of law and democracy is being further and further dismantled by the governments in both countries.

The European Commission’s proposal to create the European Health Data Space to further facilitate the digitalisation of healthcare across Europe is a crucial step in the efforts to overcome the health challenges of our time.

The European Parliament has given its green light to the EU Action Plan for Organic Agriculture that aims to have 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming and see a significant increase in organic aquaculture by 2030.  This plan arises from the European Green Deal and complements the Farm to Fork strategy.  Organic farming offers high quality food with low environmental impact and plays a key role in reinforcing and developing the EU’s sustainable food system.

Today the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) issued its final assessment of the EU electricity market design. It comes at a time of volatile electricity prices and unprecedented supply insecurity linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its core message is the EU must maintain its electricity price setting mechanism and preserve the Internal Energy Market, a key asset in dealing with the crisis.

Date of release: 28 April 2022

Pressure has long been mounting on EU health systems. More and more patients are affected by major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and lung illnesses while the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the sustainability of our healthcare model.  We need impactful solutions that think long term and biosimilar medicines are part of it.