MEPs seek opinions on health policy

Date: 22/10/1998

By Rory Watson

THE European Parliament is planning to hold special hearings next week on the EU's future input into public health policy.

British Socialist MEP Clive Needle, who is preparing a parliamentary report on the issue, argues that public health policy should "break out" of the narrow approach of the past "into something much wider".

"I think there should be the possibility of health impact assessments on all EU policy issues. I want to beef up health and ensure a more powerful, integrative approach," he said.

The parliamentary hearings next Wednesday (28 October) will bring together a wide range of participants from the medical profession, patients' groups and non-governmental organisations.

While the Amsterdam Treaty recognises that fundamental responsibility for health care remains in national hands, it also states that "a high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Community policies and activities".

That provision, say campaigners, should put health issues on a par with employment and environmental considerations, which must now be taken into account in any new policy proposal. "The obvious example is the link between health and the Common Agricultural Policy," said a British Medical Association representative. "Just look at the contradiction between giving subsidies to tobacco producers and funding a campaign against cancer. There is also a lot you can do with the CAP on nutrition."

Others point to the need for greater emphasis on such issues in enlargement negotiations. Attention began to focus on the EU's role in public health earlier this year when Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn highlighted not only the new possibilities offered by Amsterdam but also the fact that most EU-funded programmes on AIDS, cancer and drugs would end in or around 2000.