European Parliament Calls for an European Action Plan on Rare Diseases

European Parliament Calls for an European Action Plan on Rare Diseases

On 3 April 2025, the European Parliament held a debate with Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on the topic of an European Action Plan on Rare Diseases.

Commissioner Várhelyi highlighted existing EU measures on the topic of rare diseases, such as the European Commission (EC) Communication on Rare Diseases, the Council recommendations on action in the field of rare diseases and the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive, a joint action to integrate reference networks into national healthcare systems, the recently presented Critical Medicines Act, the revision of the European Pharmaceutical Legislation, and the European Health Data Space within others. Moreover, he stated that the EU already has a comprehensive framework on rare diseases.

Nevertheless, a majority of Members of the European Parliament intervening in the debate across nationalities and parties called for the creation of an ambitious European Action Plan on Rare Diseases.

Recording of the debate is available here, and the transcript is available here.