EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Lack Concrete Actions for Persons with Disabilities and Service Providers

EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Lack Concrete Actions for Persons with Disabilities and Service Providers

In July 2025, the European Commission published the EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies as part of the Preparedness Union agenda*.  

The EU Stockpiling Strategy is designed to secure essential goods  – such as food, water, oil, fuel, and medicines – in the event of a crisis. Key actions in the Stockpiling Strategy include:

• Establishing an EU Stockpiling Network with Member States to share best practices, coordinate stocks, and develop joint recommendations.
• Identifying stock gaps and duplications through information sharing and strengthening cooperation among Member States and with the EU.
• Expanding EU-level stockpiles to fill gaps in essential goods, supported by initiatives like rescEU for medical gear, shelter, generators, and more.
• Enhancing transport and logistics for rapid crisis response.
• Promoting civil-military, public-private, and international partnerships to maximise resource use efficiently and on time.

Even though the Stockpiling Strategy mentions that its implementation will take into account the needs of specific groups, such as persons with disabilities, questions remain on how this will be achieved in practice, and what will be the role of service providers.

The EU Medical Countermeasures Strategy aims to accelerate the development, production, deployment and accessibility of key medical tools to overcome disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance. 

The EU Medical Countermeasures Strategy acknowledges the importance of providing medical countermeasures rapidly, sufficiently and equitably to protect people from emergencies, while being mindful of the specific needs of certain groups, including persons with disabilities. It also notes how vital effective and inclusive risk and emergency communication and information is to build citizen’s trust and increasing awareness. To achieve this, ensuring accessibility of emergency communications and information is key to ensure that persons with disabilities can request and receive heath in emergency situations. However, the Strategy does not provide specific guidance on how to ensure such accessibility or what the role of service providers in this area could be.

* The Preparedness Union was launched in March 2025 with the objective of making the EU ready to protect its citizens and democracy in a period of growing geopolitical tensions, cybersecurity threats, foreign information manipulation, climate change and increasing  natural disasters. Therefore, the Commission published the Preparedness Union Strategy and a detailed Action Plan (which included the EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies).

More information on the EU Stockpiling Strategy & EU Medical Countermeasures Strategy available here.