The Minister of Health participated in the EU Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg
Health Minister Marija Jakubauskienė participated on Friday in the meeting of the European Union’s Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) held in Luxembourg, where the main focus was on medicine supply, prevention, and youth mental health.
During the meeting, discussions focused on the European Commission's proposal for the Critical Medicines Act, and the Council conclusions on strengthening the mental health of children and adolescents in the digital age were also adopted.
“Lithuania supports the main goal of the Critical Medicines Act — to strengthen the security, availability, and affordability of medicine supply across the EU. We also endorse voluntary joint procurement of critical medicines involving the European Commission. This opportunity is especially important for smaller EU markets. We believe it is essential to ensure the supply of critical medicines, promote solidarity, and strengthen cooperation among member states,” said M. Jakubauskienė during the meeting.
The Council conclusions on the mental health of children and adolescents highlighted the challenges posed by the digital environment and called for action at the EU level to help protect youth from the harms caused by innovative tobacco and nicotine products.
Lithuania supported the concerns expressed by French colleagues regarding the threat that misinformation poses to public health and the use of artificial intelligence to spread misinformation. This makes it increasingly difficult for the public to recognize reliable and evidence-based information in the public sphere.
Lithuania also supported Germany’s proposal to thoroughly reassess the impact of last year’s Directive on Urban Wastewater Treatment on the medicines market, which places additional responsibilities on medicine manufacturers. While Lithuania agreed with the directive’s goals of effectively treating wastewater and protecting the public from micropollutants, it has repeatedly expressed concerns about the directive’s potential impact on medicine availability.
At the end of the meeting, Denmark, which will take over the EU Council presidency for the second half of this year, presented its presidency program.