The Euronews Health Summit 2026 gathers policymakers, innovators, and patient advocates to tackle the continent's most pressing healthcare challenges.
Europe navigates an increasingly complex health landscape, with questions around sovereignty, artificial intelligence, rare kidney disease, and the EU’s health mandate.
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Leaders from across the continent gathered in Brussels on Tuesday for the Euronews Health Summit.
The high-level forum brings together EU institutions, medical technology companies, research bodies and patient organisations.
Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, kicked off the day by talking about biotech and spoke about the new pharmaceutical legislation and EU competitiveness.
The event can be viewed in the player above.
The four pillars of the summit:
Four sessions addressed some of the most pressing questions in health.
The first major panel of the day discussed rare kidney disease, with patient advocates, clinicians and policymakers seated together. The panel features Daniel Gallego (President, European Kidney Patients Federation), Professor Michel Jadoul (Co-President, European Kidney Health Alliance and practising nephrologist), Lydia Abad Franch (Chief Medical Officer, Sobi) and MEP Nikos Papandreou (S&D). Euronews reporter Mared Gwyn Jones will hold the discussion.
The second panel tried to answer how Europe secures its medical sovereignty. Speakers include Olivier Girard - Head of Unit Medical Counter Measures, DG HERA, and Adrian van den Hoven - Director General, Medicines for Europe. Euronews’ business editor Angela Barnes will moderate the session.
Ricardo Baptista Leite - CEO at HealthAI, the global agency for responsible AI in health, will then sit down for A Big Question interview.
The next session aimed to tackle whether AI in healthcare has crossed a line. Speakers include business leaders, AI and health experts and the European Commission’s Fulvia Raffaelli, head of unit, Digital Health DG SANTE. Euronews’ acting manager for tech and health will moderate the session.
Speakers on the panel also included: Professor Christian F. Doeller, director and vice president of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Simone Mohrs, senior policy officer at The Guild of European Research‑Intensive Universities, and Jan-Willem Scheijgrond, vice president and global head of government and Public Affairs at Philips.
After the coffee break, Euronews chief anchor Méabh Mc Mahon hosted The Ring, a debate format pitting MEPs Tilly Metz (The Greens) and Stine Bosse (Renew) against one another
Finally, a politically charged panel to end the day on whether the EU should have a greater health mandate. This will include: MEP Peter Agius, EPP, MEP Vytenis Andriukaitis, S&D, Dr Milka Sokolović - director general, European Public Health Alliance and Dr Matthias Wismar - programme manager, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Euronews’ Maia De La Baume will moderate the panel.
Adam Vojtěch, Health Minister of the Czech Republic, will sit down with Euronews’ health journalist Marta Iraola to talk about the country’s health priorities and the EU’s role in international health.
The summit can be watched back in the video player above.
