The Health and Consumer Intergroup of the European Parliament has been officially launched in June 2005.
The Intergroup dedicated website is available at www.hecointergroup.org ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION WILL BE DULY POSTED ON THE INTERGROUP WEBSITE
June meeting - New Health and Consumer Programme 2007-2013
The launch meeting took place on the 22 June 2005 from 14:00 to 15:00 in the European Parliament - Brussels - room ASP 1E3.
The Intergroup aims to provide the first opportunity for MEPs to question the Commission’s proposal and to start debating.
Election of the Bureau and the co-presidents
Speakers:
Nick Fahy and David Mair - DG Sanco - Prensentation of the new Health and Consumer Programme
Comments from EPHA and BEUC speakers
Contributions from MEPs and debate
Latest developments
Amongst the more than 110 MEPs that had committed to support the creation of the Intergroup, several of them have presented their candidature to be the co-chairs and the bureau members and they were officially elected by all Intergroup members during the launch meeting in June 2005.
The official registration of the Intergroup by the European Parliament was led by the co-chairs Mrs Pilar Ayuso Gonzalez (EPP-ED, ES) and Mr Henrik Dam Kristensen (PES, D).
The dates of the meetings for 2005 were agreed by the bureau and co-chairs. (See the Annual work plan on www.hecointergroup.org)
Intergroup meetings are organised by and for MEPs. Parliamentarians and their assistants will receive priority seats. Although meetings will be public, external attendance will be limited to the capacity of the EP meeting rooms.
Structure of the meetings
The Secretariat is shared between the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation.
As set up in the Rules of the European Parliament, Intergroup meetings are held in Strasbourg during Plenary week (see the European Parliament’s calendar).
The one-hour long meetings will include a welcome word from the chairperson of the meeting (an MEP), two key speakers (authoritative external experts), and discussion time. The meetings will be held on the Wednesday afternoon of the Plenary week.
Members of the Intergroup
More than 110 MEPs from a range of political groups supported the creation of the Health and Consumer Intergroup in November 2004. The official registration of the Intergroup took place in April 2005, and it was made possible thanks to the backing from the PPE, PSE and Green groups of the European Parliament.
The person responsible for the Intergroup in the EPHA Secretariat is Anne Hoel.
