Gateway to the European Union: Health and EU enlargement

This special issue is a compilation of 19 short summaries on the health implications of EU enlargement. There are four different categories of papers in the collection.

Firstly, there is a set of papers addressing the general health issues raised by this latest enlargement. Several reports also look at the issues of the movement of health professionals and patients in the Union.

A second set of papers examines country-specific issues taken from the candidate countries, including Poland, Malta, Slovenia and Bulgaria. Taking a historical perspective, the collection also includes a series of papers on how accession impacted on health services in Spain, Finland and the former Eastern Germany. The health issues treated by these papers include pharmaceuticals, alcohol and tobacco.

Finally, the collection addresses broader policy issues such as the EU's pharmaceutical legislation, as well as WTO/GATS and health services.