The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, gave her yearly address to the European Parliament’s Plenary, the so-called “the State of the Union (SOTEU)”. Like every year, this is an important occasion to understand the overall political direction which will be followed by the European Commission in the coming year.
The most prominent theme in Ursula Von Der Leyen’s theme was European security. Despite this, the President of the European Commission still gave some important remarks on health and social Europe.
On Innovation, she stressed the important of investing in AI in healthcare, with the aim of creating real value for patients and healthcare professionals. In this regard, she said that AI needs to be developed in a sustainable manner, and that AI needs to be developed with human agency, as healthcare professionals need to stay behind the wheel. Linked to this, she stressed that to make the most of AI and digitalisation we need a highly skilled and qualified workforce, and therefore she committed to delivering the Quality Jobs Act by the end of the year.
On Climate, after one of the hottest summers ever recorded, she pledged that European Commission will soon present a European Heatwave Plan, stating that we need better early warning systems and better health preparedness. This is key for the EFN, which this summer has joined the #HandleTheHeat Campaign, led by Healthcare without Harm Europe.
Finally, she stressed the importance of continuing to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights, including in the context of providing better housing for everyone through the Housing Act and by continuing to work towards gender equality and women’s rights.
As nurses are key and indispensable partners in the implementation of this vision, the EFN stands ready to work closely with the European Commission to deliver better and more resilient EU and European healthcare systems.