Established in 2021, HERA has played a crucial role in reinforcing EU preparedness and response capabilities for medical countermeasures, demonstrating the EU’s ability to move from a reactive mindset to proactive readiness. The recent review published by the European Commission assessed HERA’s effectiveness, efficiency and relevance almost four years on, triggering a reflection on how to improve HERA’s institutional design and operation in the years to come.
This comes at a pivotal moment. The EU, amid a rapidly evolving global health landscape marked by persistent gaps in funding, capacity and response, has reaffirmed its ambition to strengthen its leadership in EU and global health security through the Global Health Strategy, the Medical Countermeasures Strategy and the EU Stockpiling Strategy. At the same time, it is uncertain how effectively these strategies translate into operational guidelines for HERA’s preparedness and response mandate. And as the Commission prepares its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–34), new opportunities are emerging to strengthen HERA’s budgetary architecture to support crisis response readiness, innovation and strategic global partnerships.
CEPS is convening a roundtable to present two new research reports. The first explores various options on how HERA can strengthen its leadership in preparing and responding to global challenges through stronger outlined competences, greater flexibility and enhanced international cooperation. The second outlines how HERA can reinforce its stakeholder engagement by improving its communication strategy, transparency and responsiveness to stakeholder feedback. After the reports have been presented, there will be a dedicated roundtable discussion with leading experts, who will explore possible scenarios and reform pathways for HERA.
