Summer 2010 Newsletter

Welcome to the Summer 2010 Newsletter

Due to the new mandate of the new Parliament and the new Commission, the summer of 2010 was an exceptionally busy time with activities running well into July, after progress had been made on several high profile files. 2010 is a particularly important year because with the new Parliament and Commission, advocates and lobbyists were able to influence priorities for the next five-year mandate and with the Europe 2020 processes; there is the possibility to influence the priorities and EU framework for the next ten years. With autumn and a new policy cycle fast approaching, EPHA organised several working group meetings to coordinate activities for the autumn and members of EPHA staff were busy working on position papers and our new website.

The summer had started off with a huge defeat: in its June plenary session, the European Parliament voted against including traffic lights in food labelling legislation. This vote was a loss for the public health community and a defeat for evidence-based policy-making, public health advocates had called for a traffic light system on food labelling, in line with independent public health evidence, since it empowers consumers to make quick and simple choices on food. This triumph for industry lobbying received wide spread attention and it was later claimed that the food industry had spent over 1 billion euros lobbying against food labelling. However, all is not yet lost and Member States still have the opportunity to salvage food labelling proposals when the regulation passes the Council. At the same time, there was a silver lining to this dark cloud, the Parliament voted in an amendment on nutrient profiles, and Commissioner Dalli will present a proposal in the near future. A move which is necessary for sound future nutrition policy.

Progress also was made on the front of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Ciolos hosted the conference on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) post-2013 on 19 and 20 July. The conference marked the end of the public debate launched in April, which was reported to have received more responses than any other consultation - a total of 5,700 responses from individuals, stakeholders and research institutes were received. The conference explored more in depth the issues raised in the consultation and possible solutions as to feed into DG AGRI’s drafting of the Commission’s proposals for a future CAP. Public health advocates were present at this conference, and one workshop, “Quality, diversity, health” took a closer look at nutritional quality, the link between what we eat and health, and sustainability in the Common Agriculture policy.

Summer was also a busy time for the development community, as civil society worked hard in preparation for the September 2010 UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals. In June, the European Council reaffirmed its commitment to achieve development aid targets by 2015 and called for firm political commitment, implementation of necessary policy changes and concrete action. The EU development commissioner and several European functionaires believe the goals are attainable by the 2015 deadline. However, much of the political discourse on foreign policy has been dominated by discussions of the EU’s European External Action Service and, thus the MDGs represent a major test of the EU’s global ambitions and development impact post-Lisbon Treaty. In June, Alliance2015 a coalition of cross-European non-government organizations working in development launched the sixth 2015-Watch Report "The EU’s Contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. Keeping the Goals Alive" at a hearing in the Parlaiment. The Allaince called for bold and responsible leadership in the preparations towards the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As the summer continues, the Public Health Community remains busy at work preparing to hit the ground running in September. With victories in agriculture and health and global health under our belt, work will continue in September on transparency, the EU budget, health professionals in order to put health and citizens at the centre of EU policy.

Monika Kosinska

Secretary General

Brussels

Read all the online articles from our Summer 2010 Newsletter.

EPHA members can find the following new information in the Members Only section:

 European Parliament’s own initiative report on dementia
 DG SANCO 2010 Management Plan
 Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Working Group - July 2010
 Toward Europe 2020 – the role of mental capital and well-being: seminar in the European Parliament
 EPHA Special Interest Group on Health Systems
 EPHA Health Determinants SIG: Agendas and Minutes

The expected release date of EPHA’s September newsletter is the first week of October. If an EPHA member would like to highlight their activities in the following newsletter, the submission deadline is Friday, 24 September 2010. Please send any relevant items to the EPHA Secretariat.