7
Apr
2022
Watch
Mental Health (debate)
Mr President, some six years ago, a total of 84 million people suffered from mental health. And since then, we've been challenged to no end with the new realities of a pandemic and now a war. Balanced mental health is, of course, everything. Without it, we struggle to cope, adapt, maintain a good quality of life. We are currently living in a silent pandemic and no one deserves to suffer in silence. I ask the Commission and the Council to dedicate 2023 to an EU year that looks at mental health and develop an EU-wide mental health strategy, now and for all. I particularly like to highlight our staff, our teams and our advisors that work tremendously hard in these institutions that are experiencing and facing burnout and mental health pressures at work and at home. As Dragoș Pîslaru, our EMPL chair, shared, this debate deserves to be on a time when Parliament is full. We cannot continue to stigmatise mental health yet mourn the loss of it.