Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (Health), 2 December 2025

Main results

Critical medicines act 

The Council agreed its position on the critical medicines act (CMA), a proposed regulation that seeks to strengthen the EU’s resilience in the face of ongoing challenges to security of supply of critical medicines in Europe.

Today, we have taken an important step towards ensuring that European patients have access to the medicines they need. The critical medicines act will strengthen the availability of vital medicines, reduce shortages, and build a more resilient supply chain for critical health products across Europe.

Sophie Løhde, Danish Health Minister and Minister for the Interior

The CMA aims to tackle shortages in key medicines such as antibiotics, insulin and painkillers by improving security of supply and availability in the EU.

It includes provisions to incentivise supply chain diversification, facilitate collaborative procurement models, and create incentives to boost pharmaceutical manufacturing in EU countries.

• Critical medicines act: Council agrees its position on new rules to tackle shortages (press release, 2 December 2025)
• Critical medicines act (Council’s general approach)
• New rules for critical medicines in the EU (background information)

Any other business

During the Council, ministers also received information on topics including the pharmaceutical package, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and the pandemic agreement.

Informal lunch debate

Over lunch, ministers took part in an informal debate on the topic of ‘Novel tobacco and nicotine products: impact on children and young people’.