Ireland’s Presidency - A Focus on Health and Cancer
By Billy Kelleher, MEP
Ireland's presidency of the Council of the European Union started this month, and it comes at a serious moment for Europe – and for Ireland.
For six months, we will help steer the Council's work: chairing meetings, brokering agreement among Member States, and working with the Parliament and Commission to find solutions to the many challenges now before us.
That sounds procedural. It is not. A presidency can decide whether difficult files move forward or stall. Handled well, it creates space for compromise, brings discipline to the European agenda, and shows citizens that Europe can act with purpose.
Ireland will approach this with confidence. We are a small country, but not a marginal one. Our influence rests on preparation, trust and a belief in collaboration. A strong Union is not a luxury for a country our size. EU membership has been the driver of our growth over the last 50 years, and it is central to our future.
The presidency's motto this term is 'Strength with Unity', and in health that phrase carries real weight: no country can meet today's challenges alone. Staff shortages, delayed diagnosis, inequalities in care, unequal access to innovation – the list is long, felt nationally, but best addressed collectively.
If Europe wants to prove its relevance, health is one of the strongest places to start.
Cancer makes the case most visibly. It touches every family in some way and tests health systems from prevention, through to diagnosis, to life afterwards. Europe has already made real commitments through Europe's Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Cancer Mission. Those commitments now need to be pushed forward with urgency.
Progress has been genuine: earlier diagnosis is improving outcomes, research is advancing breakthroughs, and more people are living with and beyond cancer than ever before. That success brings added responsibility. Cancer policy can no longer stop when treatment does, and survivorship must become central to care.
Too many survivors today struggle with follow-up treatment, returning to work, or unfair barriers to obtaining insurance, credit or a mortgage – a gap I described in the foreword to the European Cancer Organisation's recent survivorship report. That is why I am so passionate about the 'Right to Be Forgotten': survivors should not be penalised indefinitely for a diagnosis long ago. Recovery should mean the chance to move on, and public policy should support that, not obstruct it.
Prevention also deserves a higher place in the debate. I have called on the EU to let Member States reduce or remove VAT on sunscreen – a practical public health measure which simply recognises that sunscreen should not be treated as a luxury but as a necessity.
The specific health needs of women also require a more serious European approach. Screening rates for breast and cervical cancer vary enormously across the EU. Beyond cancer, symptoms tied to menopause, endometriosis and cardiovascular disease are too often missed or dismissed. This is a persistent issue of fairness and quality of care.
None of it, however, can be addressed without the resources to support it. The next Multiannual Financial Framework will shape Europe's choices for years to come. Better screening, earlier diagnosis and stronger research all depend on a budget that reflects the ambition. A Europe that wants to lead in life sciences has to treat health research as a strategic priority. That is why our presidency will advance the EU Biotech Act and revisions to the Medical Device Regulation – reforms that will allow new cancer therapies, diagnostics and medical technologies to reach more patients, more quickly.
Ireland has something useful to offer here. Our own experience with cancer care shows that investing in strong health systems does not come at the expense of economic growth – it drives it. A country does not have to choose between good healthcare and a competitive economy; the two reinforce each other. But that only holds if innovation actually reaches patients, including those in smaller or poorer regions.
The Irish presidency will juggle many demands this term, from Ukraine to security, enlargement and the Single Market. Health should run through all of it as a visible, human priority reaching families and patients, not just negotiating rooms in Brussels.
No presidency can finish every task in six months. But it can set the direction and ensure health is not sidelined in the next budget. In doing so, it becomes a presidency focused on the people it is meant to serve.
