Welcome to the February 2008 edition of the EPHA Newsletter.
This week’s resignation of Commissioner Kyprianou and the announcement that he will be replaced by Androulla Vassiliou as the new Cypriot Commissioner caused a flurry of speculation in Brussels and beyond.
Mrs. Vassiliou will be a welcome addition to the College of Commissioners, and comes with a strong reputation for action and support of civil causes. EPHA would like to thank Commissioner Kyprianou for his hard work under this Commission and would like to offer our warm welcome and support to Androulla Vassiliou as she joins us in Brussels.
Although there are rumours that a reshuffle of the Commission is imminent, we have concerns that this would once again bring disruption to DG Sanco in what has been a turbulent term. Readers will recall that DG Sanco was split following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU, with Commissioner Kyprianou taking the health portfolio and the new Bulgarian Commissioner taking responsibility for Consumer Protection.
In addition to the political disruptions, February was a busy month for the EPHA team with two public consultation deadlines, ’Information to Patients’ and ’European social realities: a stocktaking’, as well as the Slovenian Presidency Conference on Cancer and our own STACS project event on the Common Agricultural Policy. The long-awaited Commission Public Health Programme ’Call for proposals 2008’ was published on 29 February and the deadline to apply for funding of 23 May 2008 brings a busy few months ahead for many of us.
Finally, we are delighted to announce our new ’Spotlight on Members’ section with this month’s focus on the European Federation of Nurses, the European Heart Network, the Finnish Diabetes Association, and FEANTSA.
Read all the online articles of our Newsletter for February 2008
EPHA members can find the following new information in the Members Only section:
Please note that if an EPHA member would like to highlight their activities in the EPHA Newsletter, the deadline to submit a news item is Tuesday 25 March 2008. The staff member responsible for the newsletter is Daniela Negri.
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