EMSA is committed to reducing premature mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases while promoting equity in health. This feedback is submitted as a response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on “cardiovascular diseases – health checks”. EMSA puts forward a set of recommendations addressing strengthening of primary care, opportunistic prevention, cross-sectoral action, health workforce training, digital health transformation, and the governance of screening programmes. However, caution is raised as general cardiovascular screenings are shown to have very low efficacy. The feedback also highlights that when programmes require healthcare worker capacity, it must be supported by robust evidence and take opportunity costs into consideration.