Civil society, patient organisations and Members of the European Parliament working together to strengthen the protection of patients' rights at the European level: this is the message and main objective of the initiative, which over the years has become a model for the promotion of other thematic interest groups.

Since 2015, thanks to the MEPs Interest Group “European Patients’ Rights & Cross-border Healthcare” - whose secretariat is managed by the representative office to the European Institutions in Brussels of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network - civil recommendations, best practices and case studies concerning citizens with chronic and rare conditions, invisible health conditions (pain, ostomy); innovative medicines and ATMPs, public policies on vaccinations; medical deserts and the healthcare workforce crisis; pandemics and neglected pandemics (COVID-19, healthcare associated infections and AMR); issues related to cross-border healthcare (ERN/medical tourism), etc.

In its first 10 years, the Interest Group received the support of 40 Members of the European Parliament, hosted more than 30 institutional policy dialogue events - the first in December 2015 and the most recent in March 2025 - involving hundreds of qualified speakers from across Europe and beyond, all with a single common thread: strengthening the right to health for European citizens and making patients‘ rights enforceable throughout Europe, as set out in the European Charter of Patients’ Rights.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the Members of the European Parliament and partner organisations who have supported our efforts over the past decade to advocate for and protect the rights of European citizens and patients.

Also for this reason, we warmly welcome the political value of the decision of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to include patients' rights in its programme (Jan/June 2025), thus placing them at the centre of the European political agenda. As underlined in the recently published White Paper “Healthcare Policy Recommendations”, the willingness to take concrete steps towards the official adoption of the European Charter of Patients' Rights represents a fundamental step.

The importance that will be given to health issues in this European policy framework will determine whether the need to create a stronger European Health Union is just an aspiration or the real direction that the European institutions are taking and the key point by which we will assess their work.

To read more about the founding of the MEPs Interest Group “European Patients' Rights & Cross-border Healthcare” click here.

Mariano Votta

Director Active Citizenship Network