PAREA contributes to EU consultation on EU4Health 2026, calling for a strategic, well-funded mental health agenda
The European Commission has opened a targeted consultation to shape the EU4Health Annual Work Programme 2026 (open 4 August – 30 September 2025, 00:00 CEST). PAREA submitted its contribution, stressing that mental health innovation must become a strategic and structural priority for EU health policy.
We welcome the Commission’s engagement with civil society, patient organisations, healthcare professionals, researchers, and businesses to inform the 2026 Work Programme. In our response, we highlight that mental health is now the single largest contributor to long-term ill health, yet remains underfunded and underserved in research and innovation. We therefore advocate for a coherent, mission-driven approach that combines regulatory innovation, data and trial infrastructure, cross-sector coordination, and workforce capacity-building.
What PAREA is calling for
A European Mental Health Strategy with cross-sectoral coordination and a dedicated funding envelope.
Regulatory innovation, including support for real-world evaluation and regulatory sandboxes tailored to mental health interventions.
Scaled multidisciplinary training (e.g., EU-PROMENS-type programmes) to prepare systems for novel treatment models, including psychedelic therapies.
An EU-wide Mental Health Innovation Hub to coordinate cross-border research, trials, and data infrastructure.
Expanded support for SMEs and public-private partnerships developing novel treatment models, including psychedelic therapies.
“The EU4Health programme should make mental health a strategic and structural priority.”
— Tadeusz Hawrot
Why it matters
Mental health causes more years of poor health than cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory illness combined.
Globally, government health budgets allocate ~2% to mental health; in the EU, psychiatry ranks last in commercial clinical trials share.
This burden–innovation gap is precisely where EU4Health can deliver outsized public value in 2026 and beyond.
PAREA’s full contribution is available here.
The consultation is open until 30 September 2025.Feedback can be submitted via the European Commission’s portal on the DG SANTE consultation page.
