June 2005 newsletter

Welcome to the June 2005 edition of the EPHA newsletter.

The failure of the June summit to reach an agreement on the EU budget and how to deal with the two "no" votes to the Constitutional Treaty leaves the EU Institutions in a vacuum.

The atmosphere at the discussions was acrimonious and bitter and revealed deep divisions amongst EU leaders about their visions of Europe. Although the agenda for the summit featured EU finances and not the Constitutional Treaty, EU leaders could not avoid the blame game.

The Luxembourg presidency made a last minute attempt to reach a deal without success. Without agreement on the Financial Perspectives for 2007-2013, the prospects for a range of programme proposals which are just starting their legislative passage are uncertain.

What is needed is a return to basics; thinking about what is the European Union, who should be in it and how should it function.

The UK has now taken the helm of the European Union and during their presidency they have the responsibility of reaching consensus on the budget and the political way forward for Europe. This will certainly be a challenge because the UK was at the heart of the budget row.

If Mr Blair cannot work his magic by December, the EU would have to resort to the annual budgetary procedures: the approval of the budget on a year by year basis. The monthly expenditure would be equal to one twelfth (1/12) of the 2006 budget. This emergency system of financing of the Union is called “provisional twelfths”.

What does this mean for the proposed new Health and Consumer Programme? It sits inside heading 3 of the EU budget 2007-2013 together with policies on security, terrorism and organised crime. The Luxembourg presidency had proposed an increase of at least 18% for these politically visible issues and in contrast listed a maximum increase of 5% for the policy areas of health, consumer, youth and culture.

So there is still a lot of work to be done with the co-legislators, Council and Parliament, to convince them that the softer policy areas are what matters to citizens.

EPHA and its members accept this challenge, in fact encouraging behaviour change is a familiar process for the health community!

The Health and Consumer Intergroup of the European Parliament was successfully launched this month with a meeting on the proposed Health and Consumer Programme. Topics for discussion in the coming months include FP7, mental health, demographic change, obesity and the health of young people.

Youth will also be on the agenda at a conference organised by EPHA and several partners on Future Europeans - the right start in life for children and young people in Europe in Brussels on 9-10 November 2005. This international event will bring together 150 practitioners, local and regional authorities and young people. It is an associated event of the UK presidency under their theme of health inequalities.

EPHA was delighted to host Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, at a lunch with MEPs and at its Annual General Assembly on 23 June 2005. The lively debates with institutional speakers show continued interest by civil society in engaging with the EU policy-making. This is a message that EPHA will bring to Commissioner Wallstrom as a contribution to her plans to communicate about the EU to citizens.

EPHA members can access a range of new material in the Members Only section:

 Background information on the new Health and Consumer Intergroup

 An updated article on the EPHA Annual General Assembly with all the relevant background documents and presentations made

 Read all the online articles of our newsletter for June 2005