EU Perspectives

Could EU environmental rules make essential medicines unaffordable?The latest EU Perspectives podcast examines how the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive could shift billions in treatment costs onto the pharmaceutical sector — potentially raising prices of common drugs like metformin by up to sevenfold.Featuring insights from Adrian van den Hoven, Director General of Medicines for Europe, Member of the European Patrliament Ondřej Knotek (PfE/CZE), and host Jennifer Baker.

Europe’s pharmaceutical sector is under pressure — from rising costs and medicine shortages to geopolitical tensions and differing access to medicines across EU member states.In this episode of the EU Perspectives podcast, host Jennifer Baker speaks with:Alessandra Moretti, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)Ines Windisch, Head of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability at Zentiva GroupAndrew Bounds, EU correspondent at the Financial TimesWhat’s driving these challenges and what does it mean for the future of healthcare in Europe?Listen now and join the conversation.

Negotiating the EU’s next seven-year budget is one of the toughest jobs in Brussels — and Czech MEP Danuše Nerudová is at the centre of it.In this episode of the EU Perspectives podcast, Nerudová, on of the key European Parliament negotiators on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and rapporteur on new EU “own resources,” explains why budget talks are already tense, why Parliament threatened to reject the Commission’s proposal, and why Europe cannot keep adding new priorities without increasing revenues.

Europe is facing a set of hidden epidemics: a deepening mental-health divide, rising addiction and behavioural risks, and policy systems still built for yesterday’s challenges. To understand what’s driving these pressures, and why the EU keeps struggling to respond, we spoke with two insiders: MEP Tomislav Sokol and Ivan Duškov, Deputy Director of Czechia’s General Health Insurance Company and member of the government’s mental-health council. In the latest episode of the EU Perspectives podcast, they walk us through what solutions are actually within reach.

What’s really behind Europe’s growing medicine shortages? In this episode of EU Perspectives, we dive deep into the proposed Critical Medicines Act and the future of European healthcare with three experts at the forefront of EU health policy and pharmaceutical access:🎙️ Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová, Member of the European Parliament (Renew Europe)🎙️ Arnaud Maheas, Head of Public Affairs Europe at Sandoz🎙️ Stefano Romanelli, Senior Government Affairs Manager at EUCOPE💊 From Europe’s dependency on Chinese antibiotics to the dramatic price pressures killing local production of generics, we ask the hard questions:– Can joint procurement fix supply issues?– Should Europe pay more to keep production on the continent?– Is the single market failing patients in Eastern Europe?We also explore the role of transparency, environmental regulation, state aid, and the upcoming EU budget battles – all through the lens of health equity and resilience.

Three years into a brutal war on its eastern flank, EU defence is the same old shambles. Even the optimists concede that the current rearmament efforts may create an effective system no sooner than in 2030. Is the Union’s institutional, political, and financial straitjacket simply too tight, or is there a way out? In the 14 May episode of the EU Perspectives podcast, MEP Jan Farský (EPP/CZE) debated the hot topic with defence experts, Juan Mejino-López of the Bruegel think-tank and Burkard Schmitt of The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe.

What hinders Europe’s agriculture? From high input prices to excessive bureaucracy, the sector eating up a third of the Europan Union’s budget has no shortage of problems. MEPs Veronika Vrecionová (ECR/CZE), Norbert Lins (EPP/GE), and Thomas Waitz (Greens-EFA/AUT) present their ideas of dealing with them in the 13 May episode of the EU Perspectives podcast.

A common return policy is needed for the European Union to deal with both the influx of immigrants and domestic opposition, the latter often fuelled by enemies of Europe. It is both good policy and good politics, the EU Perspectives podcast was told. The latest episode, held in the European Parliament, featured MEPs Lukas Mandl (EPP/AT) and Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP/CZE) debating Katarína Cséfalvayová, Director of the Institute for Central Europe; Camille Le Coz, Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe; and Başak Yavçan, Head of Research of the Migration Policy Group.

The latest episode of the EU Perspectives podcast on the hot topic of European defence from Brussels’ European Parliament features the MEPs Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP(LI), Markéta Gregorová (Greens-EFA/CZE), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew/LI) and Martin Fedor, Slovakia’s ex-Defence Minister.

The EU budget has long been constrained to approximately 1% of the bloc's GDP, raising critical questions about its adequacy in addressing evolving policy priorities. In this episode of EU Perspectives podcast series, experts and policymakers examine the structural limitations of the current budget, the growing demand for investment in defense, competitiveness, and the green transition, as well as the potential avenues for reform.

Banning the combustion engine was a mistake, the automotive industry must not face any penalties this year – and above all, the Commission must act on the changes before this summer, Jens Gieseke, Member of the European Parlament for the European People’s Party, sets his political group’s priorities before Thursday’s start of strategic talks on the future of European carmakers.