As an important step on Ukraine’s integration path, five agreements were signed on 9 April 2025, on the 10th meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels. One of them was the agreement on the procure medical countermeasures against serious cross-border health threats, which allows all signatories, including the EU and other candidate countries, to jointly procure medical countermeasures. While the EU reaffirms its unwavering support for Ukraine once again, this is a real landmark for Kyiv as the agreement opens the way for the war-torn country’s healthcare system not only to be integrated into the EU’s modern health security framework but also that Ukraine’s dream of becoming a medicines hub for the EU turn into reality.
Ukraine had come up with the idea of becoming a strategic hub of medicines for the EU in 2023. Since that time, Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers are striving to fully enter the European pharmaceutical market.
How seriously Ukraine looks at this goal is well illustrated by the fact that, in May, a strategic project for modern medicine without borders was launched between Poland and Ukraine which also paves the way for Ukraine’s European integration. According to the catchy headlines, the €3 million project EMERGENCY is a major infrastructure project of key importance for the border regions – particularly Poland’s Mazowieckie Voivodeship and the Lviv region in Ukraine -, which is in line with Poland’s and Ukraine’s health policy objectives and strengthens joint crisis response capacities. The project responds to the challenges faced by Poland in the context of the new EU strategy on preparedness, Poland says.
To assist Ukraine’s integration reform in the pharmaceutical field, on 28 May, the European Commission announced a Twinning project dedicated to find EU experts who will assist Ukraine in establishing a new national pharmaceutical regulatory authority. A support group has already been formed, comprising representatives from the regulatory bodies of EU Member States such as Poland, Sweden, Denmark, France and Croatia.
According to top Ukrainian healthcare officials, two major directions or tasks currently define the European integration work in the pharmaceutical sphere.
First, extending the future so-called industrial visa-free regime with the EU to pharmaceutical products which would mean that trade in medicines between Ukraine and the EU will follow EU single market rules, without the need for additional certification. ’This gives us a high chance of achieving a positive outcome even before EU accession’, Deputy Minister of Health for European Integration Maryna Slobodnichenko said.
Second, following the implementation of the pharma visa-free regime, the creation of a new regulator is required that will ensure reliable oversight of the quality and safety of medicines, as well as high standards for drug authorisation in Ukraine. According to the plans, the organisational structure of Ukraine’s future regulator which is expected to become operational on 1 January 2027, will be based on the Swedish model.
If we look closely enough at this issue, it is not difficult to see that the current process with the Ukrainian medicines is very similar to the one used in the case of the Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products in recent years. As Ukraine seems to be determined to send its pharmaceutical products to the EU market and, it has been given substantial support from Brussels, against the existential interest of the Member States. By doing so, the top EU officials in Brussels should bear in mind a worst-case scenario: similarly to the farmers’ protests across Europe due to the uncontrolled dumping of cheap GMO grain from Ukraine, European pharmaceutical industry players are also likely to step up against the expected flood of Ukrainian medicines.
However, it is also worth noting that the agricultural sector is not the only one to draw parallels with Ukraine’s pharmaceutical ambitions in the EU. Both the EU and Ukraine seem to be out of fantasy, at least as far as the name-branding of the various programmes is concerned, since the Ukrainian healthcare sector’s recovery project has been called ’Ukraine ReHealth’, inspired by the obvious analogy of the ’ReArm Europe’ plan.
It should also be mentioned that far fewer people might have heard about ’Ukraine ReHealth 2025’ than its big brother, the over €800 billion ’ReArm Europe’ project. Indeed, it also needs to be noted that the total value of the programme is no match for ’ReArm Europe’, given that according to the government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group and the European Commission, the current needs of the Ukrainian healthcare system are estimated at USD 543 million.
What to know about ’ReHealth 2025’? ’Ukraine ReHealth 2025’ is not just a programme but it is also the first conference and exhibition in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, dedicated to identifying and implementing solutions for the restoration of the country’s healthcare system, with the participation of foreign businesses.
From Ukraine’s perspective, ’ReHealth’ means that Kyiv can insist on its statements that, despite all circumstances, Ukraine remains committed to reforming its healthcare system, aligning it with European Union standards and improving the accessibility, quality, and efficiency of medical services.
From the EU Member States’ perspective, a Ukraine joining the bloc’s healthcare system can be considered a mistake or even a disaster, but such opinions are uneasy to find in the EU. ’As a result, strategic windows of opportunity are opening for international partners, particularly from EU countries, many of which are launching funding programs to support Ukraine’s healthcare sector.’, the official propaganda says. In fact, no one in Brussels seems to be ready to speak about the challenges even problems Ukraine faces, namely its damaged or disrupted healthcare infrastructure, the shortage of medical staff, not to speak about the qualitiy of the Ukrainian medicines.
The compliance of Ukraine’s legislation with EU law is, to put it mildly, insufficient. In the interpretation of a top Ukrainian healthcare official the situation looks like this: ’In terms of legislative regulation, we meet the European requirements, but there is still work to be done in terms of procedures.’, Ukraine’s Deputy Health Minister for European Integration said.
The European regulatory system for medicines is one the world’s most serious collection of standards which is based on a network of around 50 regulatory authorities from the 30 EEA countries (27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), the European Commission and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This network is what makes the EU regulatory system unique. EU legislation requires that each Member State operates to the same rules and requirements regarding the authorisation and monitoring of medicines. This is the system Ukraine is now being tried to include, and without any merit.
Despite the obvious fact of non-compliance, Ukraine continues on its EU integration path, including the healthcare field, thanks to the effective propaganda tools it uses and also to the political support of Brussels. It doesn’t matter how far we are from a strong, modern healthcare system in Ukraine, both the mainstream European media and political circles and the decision-makers in Kyiv claim that this is a component of broader European security. Instead of talking about the threats and damages Ukraine’s EU membership could cause to European citizens, they repeat the importance of new markets and business opportunities.
In Brussels, no one seems to take care of a very likely scenario, namely that, with a Ukraine closer to EU, unauthorised medicine can flood the bloc. Currently, the biggest threat is that Ukraine is about to expand the export potential of its pharmaceutical industry and is engaged in a dialogue with the European Commission in several areas. One of Ukraine’s main goals is the inclusion of the country in the centralized European procedures for the registration of medicinal products even before joining the EU.
Is this really what Europe wants? Do the Eurocrats in Brussels really want to play a game of hazard with our health?
Discussing the issue of the gradual merger of the Ukrainian healthcare system with that of the EU is really timely given that Kyiv and Brussels look to the date of 25 June to begin Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.
Although Kyiv stresses the irreversibility of the enlargement process, the situation is a bit different, considering that some Member States, including Hungary and Slovakia, are determined to prevent the green light for accession negotiations with Ukraine. In addition, Poland’s newly elected president also spoke against Ukraine’s EU accelerated membership stressing that it would be against Poland’s national interest.
The actions taken to fast-track Ukraine’s EU accession, including the accelerated integration of its healthcare system into the European framework, suggest that, disregarding internal protests, Brussels is willing to jeopardise both the markets of the European pharmaceutical companies and the health of the European citizens just to make a political gesture to Kyiv.
