Securing Europe's future against health emergencies

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions, have clearly demonstrated Europe’s need to strengthen its ability to prevent, detect and respond to cross-border health emergencies. Defence and security have risen to the top of the EU political agenda and the European Commission has taken unprecedented steps to better anticipate future threats. As well as establishing the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and rescEU “strategic reserve of European disaster response capabilities and stockpiles”, the Commission has issued an EU Preparedness Union Strategy and, most recently, an EU stockpiling strategy.

Despite these efforts, experts warn that Europe has not yet reached the level of civilian and military preparedness and readiness needed to face future challenges effectively. Stockpiling of medical countermeasures (MCMs) is currently handled by a myriad of stakeholders and differs significantly across EU member states. 

The absence of a Europe-wide policy framework and fragmentation of public services make it challenging to manage supply chains and manufacture MCMs, such as medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic tests, and personal protective equipment.
 

In this context, it is important to connect policy ambitions with operational realities and ensure a more comprehensive and integrated approach involving all relevant stakeholders. What supply chain vulnerabilities must Europe address? How can it ensure sustainable MCM stockpiling solutions, while allowing companies and public-private partnerships to contribute? What policy measures are required to stimulate the production of innovative MCMs? And how can regional, national, European and international governance levels better align to ensure the security of European citizens?

This report summarises a multi-stakeholder roundtable meeting which took place in Brussels and online on the 4th of June 2025, organised by Science|Business in partnership with a leading public health company Emergent and the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). At the event, key stakeholders came together to address operational challenges and produce a set of practical recommendations to inform the policy-making process currently underway. The participants discussed various aspects of European preparedness against health threats, including strategic reserves management, research and innovation (R&I), and coordination among various stakeholders with emphasis on the need for better collaboration between public and private sectors.

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