Commission’s health strategy hinges on reform treaty outcome

The European Commission’s health department is putting the final touches on a white paper on a EU health strategy, to be proposed in October.

The ten-year strategy will be an attempt to make governments work more closely together on healthcare, after a series of initiatives that failed to win support.

The shape of the health strategy will depend on the outcome of the intergovernmental conference (IGC) which was launched on Monday (23 July) to draft a new EU treaty.

A draft of the health white paper will go for consultation to the other Commission departments at the end of this week (27 July). After the inter-service consultation, the white paper will include an implementation plan setting dates for approving a final health strategy.

"Health services are one of the areas where the EU can bring added value while respecting national competences," said a spokesman for the Commission’s health department. "Citizens consider health one of their foremost concerns."

The Commission sees a new health strategy as a necessary overarching EU policy framework, after healthcare was last year thrown out of a proposed directive on opening up services. As part of negotiations on a reform treaty, to replace the EU constitution which was rejected by citizens in France and the Netherlands, governments watered down an article on public health policies from the initial version in the constitution.

The Commission has limited competence in the field of health policy, though this has been gradually increasing since the 1992 Maastricht treaty said that "the EU shall contribute towards ensuring a high level of human health protection by encouraging co-operation between member states".

Five years later, governments agreed in the Amsterdam treaty that human health-linked veterinary policies, such as measures to deal with mad cow disease, would only need qualified majority support. Decisions on human blood and organ quality also started to be made by qualified majority voting.

Member states have so far resisted moves to transfer any more legislative powers on health by moving to qualified majority voting. The draft EU constitution would have allowed the EU to adopt "laws and framework laws…to protect and improve human health".

Governments last month agreed that the reform treaty should only give the EU powers to adopt "measures of encouragement" for health policies. These could apply to alcohol and tobacco abuse, cross-border health threats, disease monitoring and early warning systems.

Diplomatic sources say that even this new wording could fall foul of Sweden and Denmark, where any transfer of powers to the EU triggers a referendum. A Eurobarometer opinion poll this year showed that less than half of the population in Sweden and Denmark wanted a new EU treaty.

Officials involved in negotiations on the new treaty say that they hope the wording "measures of encouragement" will not be seen as a significant change to existing treaties and that referenda can be avoided. "There is no transfer of power here," said one source.

A Swedish diplomat said: "We are perfectly happy with the reform treaty."

The Portuguese presidency of the EU hopes that the new treaty will be approved at the informal EU summit in October - the same month the health white paper is due to emerge.

If the call for encouragement measures does not make it into the final text, the EU would be deprived of legislative powers, crucial to the strategy.

Lara Garrido-Herrero, secretary-general of the European Public Health Alliance, said: "We will welcome an EU health strategy, but the detailed description of implementation is vital."

She added: "It must include details of specific measures, including legislative measures and budget allocations."

The European Commission’s health department is putting the final touches on a white paper on a EU health strategy, to be proposed in October.