Europe’s beating cancer plan: Opening avenues for radiation oncology

Abstract

Traditionally, healthcare policy and administration in the European Union (EU) have been firmly positioned under the remit of its Member States based on the principle of subsidiarity. However, in recent years, the division between European and national competencies in health care has become more porous, as evidenced by initiatives like the joint purchasing of vaccines for COVID-19 and the establishment of European Reference Networks for Rare Diseases (ERN) [1]. It is significant that the first EU healthcare plan focuses on cancer, underlining its high priority for countries and the shared perspective that European efforts in areas such as oncology can lead to significant improvements in the survival and quality of life for cancer patients in our countries.