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Minister Darias, President Barbón, Minister Fernández Muñiz,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
None of us can predict the future. However, we need to be able to anticipate it and to prepare for it.
That means understanding better today what choices are necessary to shape our world tomorrow.
Nowhere is this more obvious than health.
That is why I am pleased to join you today in the Dialogues on the Future.
The Spanish Government’s foresight report is a model for the long-term reflection we need across Europe.
It comes at the right time, as we work together as a Union to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger, fairer, more sustainable Europe.
We in the Commission also issued our Strategic Foresight Report, looking at major trends affecting the EU’s capacity and ability to act in the coming decades.
We have all witnessed that resilient health systems and the anticipation of health threats on the horizon are absolutely fundamental.
The proposals for a European Health Union that we have put on the table will empower us to work better together to detect health threats, and to prepare, and respond collectively.
I am very grateful for Spain’s support for these initiatives.
We will build the Health Union on a number pillars.
The first pillar boosts crisis preparedness and response, through a stronger EU health security framework and stronger mandates for the EU agencies, that have been key to our collective efforts to fight the pandemic.
Then we have Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan – our ambitious response to the growing cancer threat in Europe. The plan sets out a new, comprehensive approach to cancer prevention, treatment and care, with EUR 4 billion earmarked for investment.
We have our Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, designed to give people access to safe, affordable medicines and support the industry’s competitiveness, innovative capacity and sustainability.
And we have the new EU Health preparedness and Response Authority, HERA, which is tasked to look down the line, to identify and prevent potential health emergencies, and to be ready to respond to them.
But as our event suggests today, we must look to the future: the next threat. We need to see this one coming.
Antimicrobial resistance. I often refer to this as “the silent pandemic”, because already now 30 thousand people are dying in Europe because of antimicrobial resistance every year.
When microbes no longer respond to antibiotics we are faced with the prospect of returning to a “pre-Penicillin age”.
Infections will be harder to treat and we will see more and more severe illness and death.
We must step up action across all relevant areas against this threat.
First of all by recognising that human, animal, plant and planetary health are inseparable. They are a continuum and need to be tackled as a continuum.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Major challenges like climate change and potential health crises in the future are calling humanity into question.
If we use strategic foresight wisely, we can act now to deliver a healthier, more resilient and more sustainable future for us and for future generations.
I am glad that the Spanish government fully shares this approach and wish you a successful dialogue here today.
