EU health policy during and after the Covid-19 pandemic - what does it mean for Norway?

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU decided to take a greater role in the health field. In the face of such a serious cross-border health threat, it became clear that cooperation between countries was necessary, and that there was a need for the coordinating function that the EU could exercise. It also turned out that the ability of countries to handle the pandemic was related to how resilient their health systems were in the first place. This made strengthening the countries' health systems, also outside of crises, a more legitimate concern for the EU, and the EU Commission launched the vision of a European Health Union. The Norwegian government believes that it is necessary to seek affiliation to the EU's Health Union, on as equal terms as possible with EU member states. The White Paper on a Resilient Health Preparedness (Meld. St. 5 2023-2024) states that there is no alternative to binding cooperation with the EU's strengthened health preparedness. The public sector PhD project studies the development of EU health policy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the project studies what this development means for Norway, and Norway's connection to this health policy. The project is expected to provide increased insight into EU policy, regulations and instruments. This knowledge will be useful in the further development of Norway's cooperation with the EU in the health area in the future.