While she did not talk about health policy at all during her campaign in the European Parliament, the future President of the European Commission mentioned it briefly in her Programme for Europe, published when she was elected on 16 July.
Thus, like the unsuccessful EPP Spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber, she has made the fight against cancer one of her priorities. "As a doctor, I strongly believe in the importance of health. Some 40% of us will face cancer at some point in our lives, and virtually all of us will experience the anxiety or grief of a friend or family member diagnosed with cancer”, says the former Minister of Defence in a 30-page document. In particular, she proposes to present a “European plan for the fight against cancer” to help Member States step up the fight against this disease and improve the care provided. According to her, early detection and screening are key measures to overcome this disease.
It should be recalled that, in his manifesto, the EPP candidate, Manfred Weber, had also highlighted the fight against cancer by announcing a general plan to “pool resources and data at the European level”. However, Mrs von der Leyen's announcement does not say on what level she intends to work. In any case, the document says nothing about the future Commission's strategy towards endocrine disrupters accused of causing cancer, a matter neglected by the current European Commission. See Mrs von der Leyen's programme: https://bit.ly/2xPVV90 (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)