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Preparation of EU matters Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) The EPSCO Council, which brings together ministers from all EU Member States, decides on EU cooperation in employment, social policy, health, consumer...

12.2.2026 | The health status of people in Finland is in many respects better than the EU average, and the service system is fairly comprehensive. However, a recent country report by the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies indicates that access to care is not realised equally in Finland. In 2024, 12.4% of those who required medical care reported that they had not received the services they needed. The share is the second highest in the EU.

2.12.2025 | Finland has ranked 8th in the Gender Equality Index for the European Union (EU). The Index measured gender equality in various domains, such as work, health and power. The data for the most recent Index is mainly from 2023 and 2024.

22.5.2025 | Ukraine held a Ministerial Social Policy Summit in Lviv on 22 May. The theme of the Summit was ‘Building Resilient Societies: Innovative Solutions for Demographic Change’. The Summit also issued a joint communiqué, in which the participating countries expressed their support for Ukraine and Moldova on their path towards joining the European Union.

23.9.2024 | The Finnish Government proposes about EUR 15.2 billion in appropriations for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and its administrative branch for 2025. This is about EUR 1.1 billion less than in 2024.

19.6.2024 | The EU ministers will meet at the Employment, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 20 and 21 June 2024. The items of the ministers' agenda include the social dimension of the single market, the revision of pharmaceutical legislation, the health sector's role in crisis preparedness, and the possibility of adopting a Council Recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers.

29.11.2024 | The EU’s Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will meet in Brussels on 2 December 2024. Minister of Employment Arto Satonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

15.11.2024 | The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU will hold an informal meeting of the ministers responsible for demography in Budapest on 18 and 19 November 2024. The meeting will exchange views on the basis of background documents prepared by the presidency. No decisions will be made at the informal meeting. Director General Annakaisa Iivari will represent Finland at the meeting.

6.9.2022 | The EU health ministers are holding an informal meeting in Prague on 7 September 2022. They will discuss the health impacts of the war in Ukraine, vaccinations, the implementation of the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan and other issues related to cancer.

25.4.2022 | The European Commission adopted an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child in spring 2021, recommending that Member States introduce a European Child Guarantee. The Child Guarantee seeks to support particularly vulnerable children and their families, and to help channel investment in child wellbeing. Finland is realising the Child Guarantee as part of work related to the National Child Strategy, which has aligned with policies of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child from the very outset.

27.11.2023 | The EU employment and social affairs ministers will meet in Brussels on 27–28 November to discuss, among other things, the European disability card. Other topics on the agenda include green collective bargaining, the EU action plan against racism, and social investment. Minister of Social Affairs and Health Kaisa Juuso will represent Finland at the meeting. 

20.12.2023 | Additional common EU reserves will be established in Finland. The new reserves will contain supplies such as medicines, medical supplies and medical devices, and they are part of the rescEU project. Finland has received a total of EUR 305 million in funding from the European Commission for the establishment of the reserves

5.12.2019 | The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) will meet for the last time during Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in Brussels on 9–10 December. Health ministers will meet on the first day, and ministers responsible for employment, social affairs and gender equality on the second day.

1.4.2022 | On 1 April, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides, who is currently visiting Finland, will meet with Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Aki Lindén. During the day, they will pay a visit to the Helsinki Reception Centre in Punavuori and the Comprehensive Cancer Centre of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.

27.3.2019 | The Minister of Social Affairs and Health has selected the Slovakian company Allexis s.r.o. as the issuer of the mandatory identifiers associated with the traceability system for tobacco products

23.11.2023 | The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU will hold an informal ministerial meeting on equality in Pamplona on 23–24 November 2023. Minister of Social Security Sanni Grahn-Laasonen will represent Finland at the meeting. The meeting will focus on violence against women.

31.1.2023 | A working group appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health proposes measures to end the use of tobacco and nicotine products in Finland by 2030. The group submitted its report to State Secretary Eila Mäkipää on Tuesday, 31 January 2023.

28.11.2019 | Experts from several European countries and organisations met in Helsinki to explore how to accelerate the fight against work-related cancer. The cooperation will be further strengthened by continuing the Roadmap on Carcinogens campaign, which aims to raise awareness about carcinogens and reduce exposure to them. An agreement on the continuation of the campaign was signed in Helsinki on 28 November 2019.

9.12.2019 | The health aspects of the economy of wellbeing, better access to medicines and the EU’s role and priorities in global health cooperation were the main topics of the meeting of EU health ministers on 9 December. The meeting was chaired by Krista Kiuru, Finland’s Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services.

9.12.2022 | The EU health ministers will meet in Brussels on Friday 9 December to discuss mental health, vaccine procurements and cancer screening, among others. At the meeting, Finland will be represented by Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Krista Kiuru.