European Union

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Written by Laurence Amand-Eeckhout.

Three years after its launch, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is positively impacting lives by fostering collaboration and advancing prevention, early detection, treatment and care while enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients. Nevertheless, cancer remains a major public health challenge, with cancer cases continuing to rise, reflecting population ageing as well as changes to people’s exposure to risk factors.

World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day was established on 4 February 2000 at the ‘World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium’, on the initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control. The three-year ‘United by unique’ campaign (2025-2027) aims to raise awareness about the need for people-centred care. Behind every cancer diagnosis, there is a unique human story, but people touched by cancer are united in a shared ambition to see cancer treated successfully and lead better lives with cancer.

Background

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. One defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs (metastasis). Cancer arises from the transformation of normal cells into tumour cells in a multistage process that generally progresses from a pre-cancerous lesion to a malignant tumour.

According to the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), at least 40 % of all cancer cases could be prevented with effective primary prevention measures. Tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, obesity, lack of physical activity, hormones, environmental exposures, occupational exposures, ultraviolet radiation exposure, infections (e.g. hepatitis B and C viruses and some types of human papillomavirus) are the main risk factors for cancer. The impact of cancer can also be reduced through early detection and appropriate treatment.

Facts and figures

The European Cancer Information System (ECIS) provides indicators on cancer across the EU. Mainly driven by an ageing population, the burden of cancer is increasing: in 2022, 2.7 million people in the EU were diagnosed with cancer; cancer deaths also went up and were estimated to be at 1.3 million. Cancer is currently the second leading cause of mortality in the EU on average (after cardiovascular diseases), although it is already the leading cause of death in five Member States (Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Spain). Cancer diagnoses are expected to increase by 19 % by 2040 in EU countries; in the same period, cancer deaths are expected to increase by 27 %, making cancer the leading cause of death in the EU. The four most common cancer causes of death in the EU are estimated to be lung (19.5 % of all cancer deaths), followed by colorectal (12.3 %), breast (7.5 %), and pancreatic cancer (7.4 %). Among men, the main diagnoses are prostate cancer, followed by lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Among women, breast cancer is the main diagnosis. As underlined in the 2024 report on ‘Beating Cancer Inequalities in the EU‘, published jointly by the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), not everyone has the same risk of dying from cancer, even within the same country.

The economic burden of cancer across the EU is difficult to calculate. In 2021, the Commission estimated the overall economic impact of cancer to exceed €100 billion annually. In its November 2024 report on ‘Tackling the impact of cancer on health, the economy and society‘, the OECD estimates that – assuming that the incidence and survival rates of cancer per age group remain unchanged – per capita cancer health expenditure would grow by 67 % between 2023 and 2050 on average across the OECD.

EU action on cancer

EU Member States are responsible for their own healthcare policies. However, according to Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU can complement and add value to national actions by encouraging the sharing of information and best practices and by fostering cooperation.

As far back as 1985, the EU has been fighting cancer alongside Member States, in collaboration with the WHO, the Joint Research Centre and the IARC. The EU focuses on prevention, research and information while also fostering cooperation between Member States. It also complements Member States’ efforts by adopting legislation to address cancer risk factors (such as exposure to environmental pollution or hazardous substances and radiation, obesity, alcohol-related harm, tobacco consumption and smoke- and aerosol-free environments) and ensuring specific policy rules reflect cancer-related concerns.

In February 2021, as part of the European Health Union, the European Commission adopted the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to address cancer-related inequalities and help improve prevention, treatment and care. The plan is structured around four key action areas (prevention; early detection; diagnosis and treatment; and quality of life) and supported by 10 flagship initiatives, currently under implementation:

1. The Knowledge Centre on Cancer
2. The European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres (which, by 2028, should link 100 multidisciplinary structures that manage all aspects of cancer care, research and specialised medical training)
3. Cancer diagnosis and treatment for all
4. The European Cancer Inequalities Registry
5. The EU Cancer Screening Scheme (a Council recommendation was adopted in 2022)
6. The European Initiative to Understand Cancer
7. Better quality of life for cancer patients (smart card application)
8. Eliminate cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (a Council recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers was adopted in 2024)
9. The European Cancer Imaging Initiative (to create digital infrastructure linking cancer imaging data resources across the EU)
10. Helping children with cancer

The EU has invested continuously in cancer research through successive framework programmes for research and innovation. Under Horizon Europe (2021-2027), the EU Mission on Cancer aims to offer a comprehensive approach by bringing together research, innovation and policy development.

European Parliament

In June 2020, the European Parliament set up a Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA), which completed its mandate in December 2021. The final report (‘Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer – towards a comprehensive and coordinated strategy‘) was adopted by Parliament in February 2022. The recommendations focus on cancer prevention, equal access to cancer care across borders, and a European approach addressing medicine shortages.

In its resolution of 13 December 2023 on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Parliament pointed out that many people living with NCDs (including cancer) are undiagnosed and unaware of their illness, and thus fail to get proper, timely treatment. It invited the Commission to collect examples of best practices regarding screening for and early detection of NCDs.

Since the start of the current legislature, Parliament has submitted several written questions to the Commission regarding cancer-related issues. They include questions on the reintegration of cancer patients into the workplace (E-002497/2024), addressing ageism in cancer-related healthcare (E-001125/2024), and providing support to Member States lagging behind in screening programmes (E-002125/2024). Additional questions have focused on the Commission’s efforts to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2040 (E-001618/2024), tackling unequal access to medicinal products (E-002559/2024), introducing labelling on all alcoholic beverages (E-002418/2024), and abolishing taxes on domestic fruit and vegetable production as a measure to tackle child obesity, cancer and diabetes (E-002474/2024). The new standing Committee on Public Health (SANT) – succeeding the SANT subcommittee – will continue to monitor the implementation of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘World Cancer Day 2025 – 4 FebruaryThe burden of cancer is increasing‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

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