Almost 200 MEPs supported the Written Declaration on EU Workforce for Health

On 17 September 2010, the Written Declaration officially lapsed in the Parliament. It obtained 182 signatures from MEPs working in various committees and coming from across party lines. The Written Declaration helped spur political debate and brought attention to the issue of health professionals, prior to the Ministerial Conference on the Health Workforce in early September. EPHA would like to thank all the MEPs who signed the declaration, and their names are available below.

To follow up on the issue of EU Workforce for Health, EPHA and EFN are organising a lunch debate "EU Workforce for Health - Putting a human face to EU Policy-making" on 27 October 2010 in the European Parliament. See SAVE THE DATE.

Political and policy context: the EU institutional framework

On 10 December 2008, the European Commission adopted a Green Paper on the EU Workforce for Health and launched a public consultation on this matter. The European Public Health Alliance showed extensive commitment to the issue, organising a comprehensive internal consultation and issuing its public response in March 2009, which underlined the challenges faced by health professionals in the European Union and wider Europe and proposed a series of recommendations to the European institutions. However, since the EC Green Paper was issued, no further progress on this dossier has been achieved at the level of the European Commission, despite the findings of the consultation and the challenges identified by the EC itself.

At the Council level, the health workforce dossier has the potential to be re-launched, with the Belgian Presidency taking the Council’s leadership in the second half of 2010. The Ministerial Summit on 9-10 September 2010 will input the Council Conclusions EU Workforce for Health, which are expected to be adopted by the end of the year.

In a process strongly supported by EPHA, a number of leading Members of the European Parliament, coming from various political groups, EP committees and EU Member States, initiated a Written Declaration on the EU Workforce for Health. If adopted, this written declaration has the potential to influence the Council Conclusions and to re-launch the debate in the European Commission, as well as the various EU Member States level.

The Written Declaration on EU Workforce for Health (40/2010)

Successfully tabled by five MEPs - Oana Elena Antonescu MEP (Romania, EPP), Jean Lambert MEP (UK, Greens/EFA), Antonyia Parvanova MEP (Bulgaria, ALDE), Marc Tarabella MEP (Belgium, S&D) and Thomas Ulmer MEP (Germany, EPP) - the Written Declaration bears the number 40/2010 and is open for signatures between 17 May and 17 September 2010.

This important document, in line with the recommendations from the public health community put forward by EPHA in its 2009 position on the EU workforce for health, calls on the European Commission and the Governments of the EU Member States to:

"- ensure that there is sufficient comparable data for EU wide health workforce planning,
 establish effective and sustainable recruitment and retention strategies in the health sector,
 ensure that all health professionals have access to continuing professional development and that professional qualifications meet agreed criteria,
 promote the role of health professionals to identify and implement strategies that facilitate professional and knowledge mobility while recognising the health professionals’ contribution to achieve optimal health outcomes".

The Written Declaration is available in all EU official languages and can be accessed below.

Background information on written declarations in the European Parliament

A written declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union’s sphere of activities. MEPs can use written declarations to launch or re-launch a debate on a subject that comes within the EU’s remit. In this context, a group of up to five MEPs can submit a written declaration by presenting a text to be signed by their colleagues. In order for the text to be adopted, it needs to be signed by more than half of the total number of MEPs. However, MEPs will mainly sign such a document during the plenary sessions, when the text is actually presented at the entrance of the meeting room. If the declaration is signed by a majority of the MEPs, it is forwarded to the President, who announces its adoption in plenary and forwards it to the institutions named in the text.

Written declarations are political texts and, if adopted and therefore signed by more than half of the MEPs, represent a strong political engagement and commitment at the European Parliament’s level. They are not legally binding instruments, but their political value is not to be ignored.

Only an average of 10% of the submitted written declarations manage to gather the necessary support, especially given the time limits in order to collect the signatures (i.e. three working months). They therefore require important advocacy accompanying the signatures collection process, both from the submitting MEPs and from supporting external organisations.

EPHA welcomes the fact that the following MEPs have already signed the declaration.

 János Áder (EPP RO)
 Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA DE)
 Magdalena Alvarez (S&D SP)
 Josefa Andrés Barea (S&D SP)
 Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA DK)
 Elena Oana Antonescu (EPP RO)
 Liam Aylward (ALDE IR)
 Paolo Bartolozzi (EPP IT)
 Elena Basescu (EPP RO)
 Regina Bastos (EPP PT)
 George Becali (NI RO)
 Jean-Luc Bennahmias (ALDE FR)
 Slavi Binev (NI BU)
 Sebastian Valentin Bodu (EPP RO)
 Vito Bonsignore (EPP IT)
 Piotr Borys (EPP PO)
 Cristian Silviu Busoi (ALDE RO)
 Simon Busuttil (EPP MT)
 Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA DE)
 Milan Cabrnoch (ECR CZ)
 Maria Da Graça Caravalho (EPP PT)
 David Casa (EPP MT)
 Francoise Castex (S&D FR)
 Nessa Childers (S&D IR)
 Carlos Coelho (EPP PT)
 António Fernando Correia De Campos (S&D PT)
 Ricardo Cortés Lastra (S&D ES)
 Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA DE)
 George Sabin Cutas(S&D RO)
 Brian Crowley (ALDE IR)
 George Sabin Cutaş (ALDE RO)
 Mario David (S&D PT)
 Karima Delli (Greens/EFA Fr)
 Anne Delvaux (EPP FR)
 Leonidas Donskis (ALDE LI)
 Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA BE)
 Sari Essayah (EPP FI)
 Edite Estrela (S&D PT)
 Tanja Fajon (S&D LI)
 Diogo Feio (EPP PT)
 Pat the Cope Gallagher (ALDE IR)
 Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz (EPP HU)
 Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D PO)
 Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA De)
 Adam Gierek (S&D PO)
 Ana Gomes (S&D PT)
 Estelle Grelier (S&D FR)
 Catherine Greze (Greens/EFA FR)
 Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE FR)
 Enrique Guerrero Salom (S&D ES)
 Takis Hadjigeorgios (GUE/NGL Cy)
 Małgorzata Handzlik (EPP PO)
 Marian Harkin (ALDE IR)
 Edit Herczog (S&D HU)
 Anna Hedh (S&D SW)
 Jolanta Emilia Hibner (EPP PL)
 Elie Hoarau (GUE/NGL FR)
 Danuta Maria Hübner (EPP PL)
 Filiz Hakaeva Hyusmenova (ALDE BG)
 Stanimir Ilchev (ALDE BG)
 Vincenzo Iovine (ALDE IT)
 Cătălin Sorin Ivan (S&D RO)
 Anneli Jäätteenmäki (ALDE FI)
 Romana Jordan Cizelj (EPP SL)
 Jelko Kacin (ALDE SL)
 Filip Kaczmarek (EPP PL)
 Ivailo Kalfin (S&D BG)
 Jarosław Kalinowski (EPP PL)
 Ioannis Kasoulides (EPP CY)
 Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska (EPP PO)
 Tunne Kelam (EPP EE)
 Nicole Kiil-Nielsen (Greens/EFA FR)
 Evgeni Kirilov (S&D BG)
 Dieter-Lebrecht Koch (EPP DE)
 Lena Kolarska-Bobińska (EPP PO)
 Andrey Kovatchev (BG EPP)
 Sergej Kozlik (ALDE SK)
 Jan Kozłowski (EPP PL)
 Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA BE)
 Esther de Lange (EPP NL)
 Corinne Lepage (ALDE FR)
 Petru Constantin Luhan (EPP RO)
 Ulrike Lunacek (GUE/NGL AS)
 George Lyon (ALDE UK)
 Elizabeth Lynne (ALDE UK)
 Olle Ludvigsson (S&D SW)
 Linda McAvan (S&D UK)
 Arlene McCarthy (S&D UK)
 Mairead McGuinness (EPP IR)
 Monica Luisa Macovei (EPP RO)
 Ramona Nicole Manescu (ALDE RO)
 Vladamir Maňka (S&D SL)
 Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP RO)
 Jiří Mastalka (GUE/NGL CZ)
 Clemente Mastella(EPP IT)
 Iosif Matula (EPP RO)
 Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL PT)
 Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez (S&D SP)
 Kyriakos Mavronikolas (S&D CY)
 Erminia Mazzoni (EPP IT)
 Gesine Meissner (ALDE DE)
 Emilio Menéndez del Valle (S&D ES)
 Judith A. Merkies (S&D NL)
 Alajos Mészáros (EPP SL)
 Louis Michel (ALDE BE)
 Miroslav Mikolášik (EPP SK)
 Guido Milana (S&D IT)
 Gay Mitchell (EPP IR)
 Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP FR)
 María Muñiz De Urquiza (S&D SP)
 Mariya Nedelcheva (BG EPP)
 Katarína Neveďalová (S&D SK)
 Bill Newton Dunn (ALDE UK)
 Jan Olbrycht (EPP PO)
 Raimon Obiols (S&D ES)
 Siiri Oviir (ALDE EE)
 Justas Vincas Paleckis (S&D LT)
 Alfredo Pallone (EPP IT)
 Antigoni Papadopoulou (S&D CY)
 Antonyia Parvanova (ALDE BG)
 Jaroslav Paska (EFD SK)
 Maria do Céu Patrão Neves (EPP PT)
 Vladko Todorov Panayotov (ALDE BG)
 Vincent Peillon (S&D FR)
 Andres Perello Rodriguez (S&D SP)
 Konstantinos Poupakis (EPP GR)
 Cristian Dan Preda (EPP RO)
 Aldo Patriciello (EPP IT)
 Alojz Peterle (EPP SI)
 Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP FL)
 Mirosław Piotrowski (ECR PL)
 Mario Pirillo (S&D IT)
 Gianni Pittella (S&D IT)
 Pavel Poc (S&D CZ)
 Vittorio Prodi (S&D IT)
 Michèle Rivasi (GREENS/EFA FR)
 Zuzana Roithova (EPP CZ)
 Raul Romeva I Rueda (Greens/EFA ES)
 Teresa Riera Madurell (S&D SP)
 Carmen Romero López (S&D SP)
 Licia Ronzulli (EPP IT)
 Libor Rouček (S&D CZ)
 Alfreds Rubiks (GUE/NGL LA)
 Heide Rühle (Greens/EFA DE)
 Antolín Sánchez Presedo (S&D SP)
 Nikolaos Salavrakos (EFD GR)
 Vilja Savisaar (ALDE EE)
 Christel Schaldemose (S&D DK)
 Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL DE)
 Olga Sehnalova (S&D CZ)
 Marek Siwiec (S&D PL)
 Monika Smolková (S&D SK)
 Bart Staes (Greens/EFA BE)
 Georgios Stavrakakis (S&D GR)
 Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (EPP RO)
 Dimitar Stoyanov (NI BG)
 Csaba Sándor Tabajdi (S&D HU)
 Claudiu Ciprian Tanasescu (NI RO)
 Marc Tarabella (S&D BE)
 Zoran Thaler (S&D SL)
 Britta Thomsen (S&D DK)
 Silvia-Adriana Ticau (S&D RO)
 Kyriacos Triantaphyllides (GUE/NGL CY)
 Ioannis A. Tsoukalas (EPP GR)
 Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA LU)
 Giommaria Uggias (ALDE IT)
 Thomas Ulmer (EPP DE)
 Marita Ulvskog (S&D SW)
 Vladamir Urutchev (EPP BG)
 Viktor Uspaskich (ALDE LI)
 Corneliu Vadim Tudor (NI RO)
 Ivo Vajgl (ALDE SL)
 Bernadette Vergnaud (S&D FR)
 Oldrich Vlasak (ERC CZ)
 Janusz Wojciechowski (ERC PL)
 Corien Wortmann-Kool (EPP NL)
 Boris Zala (S&D SK)
 Gabriele Zimmer (GUE DE)
 Zbigniew Ziobro (ECR PL)
 Tatjana Ždanoka (Greens/EFA LA)