Welcome to the February 2004 edition of the EPHA newsletter.
The Irish Presidency is trying to make progress on the European Constitution. Dublin has to deliver a progress report to the Spring summit (25-26 March) and is talking to the Heads of State to gauge willingess to resolve key issues such as voting weights. Some reports indicate that no consensus exists on the public health articles, with some Member States refusing to consider an extension of EU powers. However, cooperation between countries in healthcare was on the agenda of the summit meeting held by the big 3 countries (FR, DE, UK) in early February in which health ministers took part.
The Parliament approved 1st reading for the proposed European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and on the Directive on recognition of professional qualifications. MEPS expressed concern about the implementation of food safety legislation in many of the new Member States. On the agenda in March is a debate on healthcare for the elderly and 1st reading on legislation on animal feed.
The new Commissioners start work on 1 May and the Czech representative will shadow Commission Byrne.
DG SANCO has finally launched the 2004 Call for proposals for the EU Public Health Programme. In the coming weeks the Commission response to the High Level Reflection process on patient mobility and Commission’s Communication on Health Strategy.
The Environment and Health Strategy enters a final stage with the Consultative Working Group faced with more than 800 pages of technical reports to digest. Disappointingly all reference to preventative actions and legislation have been removed from the report.
In the members only section of the website, there are details of the Policy Coordination meeting held on 25 February 2004 and plans for a workshop being facilitated by EPHA at the OPen Health Forum in May 2004.
To read all the articles in the newsletter click here.
