Athens, 27 September 2021

Teleconference on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

The need for closer cooperation at European level to tackle cancer was agreed upon by all participants in the teleconference on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, organised by the European Parliament Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA). The Hellenic Parliament was represented by the members of the Permanent Committee on Social Affairs Konstantinos Blouchos and Andreas Xanthos.

In his speech, Mr. Blouchos argued that it is necessary to activate European mechanisms in a way that releases scientific knowledge and underlined that prevention should be supported, while he also referred to a holistic approach to the patient, which is being jeopardized due to an overspecialization of science. He referred to the recent strengthening of the National Health System and to the National Action Plan for Public Health 2021 – 2025, which includes operational goals regarding the National Screening Programme for cancers such as cervical cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and also focuses on the provision of palliative care services.

In his intervention, Mr. Xanthos described cancer as a pandemic that can only be tackled through cooperation at European level. He stressed the need for the European Plan to set the priority of reducing inequalities between member states regarding citizen access to organised health prevention and promotion services, emphasising personalised medicine and precision medicine. He stressed the need to enhance policies that prioritise both the behavioural factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, STDs) and the social ones (environmental pollution, unhealthy working conditions, exposure to radiation and toxic substances). Lastly, he argued that the most important challenge for the European policy against cancer is the centralised evaluation and negotiation with “fair price” pharmaceutical companies on innovative high-cost oncology drugs, state-of-the-art diagnostic tests and gene therapies.

The rapporteur of the Committee’s Report referred to the four areas of the Project (prevention, screening, treatment and support) and stressed that it is necessary to have a joint negotiation on uniform prices and adequate reserves of anti-cancer drugs. She emphasised the need to fund this ambitious Project through the Cohesion Fund, the Horizon programme and the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

The Chairman of the BECA Committee emphasised the need to tackle inequalities between member states, which could require a revision of the European treaties, so that the EU can acquire increased competence in the field of health.

The Head of the European Commission’s DG for Health and Food Safety referred to the funding and the project’s implementation plan, as well as to the help that the Commission can provide to member states.

Lastly, MPs and MEPs referred to the need to insure cross-border research and treatment, to cooperate on pediatric and adolescent cancers, the need for data exchange between national registries, but also the right of cancer patients to be forgotten.

 

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