Last Thursday 5 October, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg held a hybrid breakfast-debate on Mental Health and Addictions, with the participation of the speakers Professor José Martínez Raga, specialised in dual pathology, Enrique Terol, Health Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU, and Tomás Petříček, Director of the Progressive Analytical Centre (PAC).

During the breakfast-debate, followed by 20 companies and organizations dedicated to mental health, it was presented how, mental health has been a widespread and growing problem at EU level after the covid pandemic.

The first intervention was made by Professor José Martínez Raga, who spoke about current treatments for patients with dual disorders and the barriers that exist. Secondly, Terol mentioned the level of importance of mental health in the EU, the main elements of communication in this topic and the initiatives that would be carried out in the framework of the Spanish presidency in the EU. To conclude the panel, Tomás Petříček shared information on mental health policies currently in place in the EU.

The debate was followed by a Q&A session that allowed the on-site and online participants to interact with the speakers.