Making health systems resilient in Europe’s new security landscape

Health systems across Europe, long accustomed to rising costs and constrained budgets, are bracing for even tougher times as governments come under pressure to increase defence spending.1 Those that are members of NATO have committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence and related activities by 2035, with a review of progress in 2029.2 On average, this is a doubling since the mid-1990s. While non-NATO countries in Western Europe may not have the same obligation, most are following a similar path. While this has been widely interpreted in the health community as a competition, a key message that emerged from the 2026 European Health Forum Gastein, in Austria, was that this can be seen as an opportunity for health systems to strengthen their resilience against a wider array of threats, including extreme weather events.