Bridging Policy and Patients: Strengthening Cancer Advocacy in the EU Parliament – CPE Policy Access Forum 2025
This Event Report documents Cancer Patients Europe’s Policy Access Forum held at the European Parliament on 25 June 2025, hosted by MEPs Nikos Papandreou (S&D, Greece) and Michalis Hadjipantela (EPP, Cyprus). The forum gathered MEPs, patient advocates, healthcare professionals, and stakeholders to discuss persistent cancer care inequalities and explore concrete policy actions. Key themes addressed included understanding inequalities across Europe (with OECD data showing 56% mortality gap and 67% higher rates in men), patient stories illustrating postcode-dependent survival (Merel Hennink’s stage IV lung cancer survival due to early biomarker access in Netherlands), mental health in survivorship (Michael Daly’s post-prostate cancer depression), fading political momentum behind Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (Alina Comanescu’s warning), the Parliament’s responsibility to turn commitments into action (MEP Nicolu00e1s Casares on prevention and misinformation), and CPE’s advocacy initiatives including the European Semester on Health Manifesto and 5 Ways to Reduce Cancer Care Inequalities Call to Action. Q&A covered funding for non-EU countries, HPV vaccine misinformation, rare cancers, clinical trial transparency, and healthcare vs defence spending prioritisation.