An estimated number of 1580096 new cancer cases, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, occurred in the European Union in 1998. Of these, 1,4 % were cervical cancers, 13 % breast cancers, 14 % colorectal cancers and 9 % prostate cancers.

This was followed by Council Conclusions on reducing the burden of cancer in 2008[34] inviting the Commission to explore the potential for developing a European pilot accreditation scheme for breast cancer screening and follow-up, based on the European Quality Assurance guidelines.

On 2 December 2003 the Council unanimously adopted the Recommendation on cancer screening[3] (hereafter the Council Recommendation)which acknowledges both the significance of the burden of cancer and the evidence for effectiveness of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening.

Lung cancer was the most common, followed by colorectal, breast and stomach cancer.

come forward at short notice with a proposal for a Council recommendation on cancer screening based on the "Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union" of the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention, which emphasises an organised and consistent approach to cancer screening (breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer); considers that a Europe-wide coordinated approach is essential in order to prevent inefficient, low-quality and opportunistic screening; the European Parliament undertakes to participate in this process;

improve data compilation and, at the earliest possible opportunity, set up national cancer registers which meet the standards set by the European Network of Cancer Registries, so that the EU may finally have available informative and comparable European data about the development of cancer and breast cancer;