ECA publishes its report on ‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan’

On Thursday 19 February, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) will publish a special report on the effectiveness of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan was adopted in February 2021 with a view to tackling the four key stages along the disease pathway: prevention, early detection, cancer care and treatment, and quality of life for patients and survivors. The EU offers funding for projects, which can be proposed and implemented by a wide range of public and private bodies, including non-profits and academic institutions. The EBCP had an initial budget of €4 billion, but it was not specified how this amount was to be distributed between objectives and actions. As of October 2025, more than €2.7 billion had been committed.

The auditors assessed the EBCP’s effectiveness as an EU-wide response in the fight against cancer. Specifically, they examined the design of the EBCP, how its 10 flagship initiatives and related projects are being implemented in member states, and whether they appear to be sustainable. A special focus of the audit is also on the EBCP’s contribution to reducing cancer inequalities between and within EU countries.

The report and press release will be published on the ECA website eca.europa.eu at 5:00 p.m. CET on Thursday 19 February. The ECA member responsible for this report is Klaus Heiner-Lehne.

The ECA’s special reports set out the results of its audits of EU policies and programmes or management topics related to specific budgetary areas. The ECA selects and designs these audit tasks to be of maximum impact by considering the risks to performance or compliance, the level of income or spending involved, forthcoming developments and political and public interest.