Thousands of people have already lost their lives as a result of the heatwave conditions in Europe.

Omissions

• The confirmed figures are 'excess deaths' (statistical deviation from expected mortality) attributed to the heatwave, not individually certified heat-caused deaths; some of these deaths may have other underlying causes.
• No primary official source (national statistics office or Eurostat) was directly located in the search results; the figures come from news organisations reporting official national statistics.
• Some corroborating estimates (AP report of possibly over 10,000 deaths; France24/AFP report of at least 12,000 excess deaths across nine countries, published 16 July 2026) appeared after the session date of 8 July 2026, although the data they describe covers the June–early July 2026 period the MEP could have known.
• The Reuters report (3 July 2026) predates the session and already supported the 'thousands' figure based on just three countries.

Sources

• SecondaryReutersFrance, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded 3,700 excess deaths during the June heatwave that sent temperatures soaring across Europe (report dated 3 July 2026).
• SecondaryAP NewsEurope's early heat wave led to a spike in deaths and may have killed over 10,000 people; an exceptionally deadly week in early summer 2026.
• SecondaryDeutsche Welle (DW)At least 3,700 excess deaths have been recorded in France, Belgium and the Netherlands alone as a result of the June heat wave that sent temperatures soaring.
• SecondaryFrance 24 (AFP analysis)At least 12,000 excess deaths were recorded across nine European countries during June's heatwave, national statistics indicated.