Newsletter December 2004

Eight central European countries to promote Roma inclusion

Eight Central European Countries have launched the project Decade of Roma Inclusion in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 2 February 2005. The project is sponsored by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank, and it is also supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission. Running from 2005 up to 2015, it aims at improving social inclusion and economic status of Roma people. Health condition is on top of the agenda. Roma Health Data More than seven million (...)

OECD guidelines on work/family life balance

The third volume of the OECD series of reports, "Babies and Bosses", was published at the end of October 2004. The series reviews policies in OECD countries to help parents reconcile work and family commitments and recommends a range of measures to improve results. Declining fertility rates are a concern in most countries, particularly in Japan, where birth rates are dropping as more people put jobs before childbearing. In Switzerland, as many as 40% of women at age 40 with university (...)

Executive Agency for the EU Public Health Programme

On 15 December, the European Commission set up an executive agency to carry out tasks relating to the management of the Community programme in the field of public health (2003-2008). A cost-benefit study carried out by the Commission showed that the executive agency would be a more economical mean of improving the effectiveness of the way in which the public health programme is implemented. This study has not been published so far. The Commission wants to capitalise on the technical work (...)

EU split on genetically modified products

Genetically modified maize Following a meeting of Regulatory Committee on 29 November 2004, the Committee decided to pass on to the Council of Ministers the decision about the import and processing of the genetically modified maize known as MON 863. The Committee, set up under the Directive on the deliberate release into the environment of GMOs and bringing together representative of Member States, did not reach the qualified majority necessary to support the Commission proposal to (...)

EPHA vacancy for an Administrator

The recruitment process has been finalised in March 2005. EPHA is recruiting an Administrator for its Brussels based Secretariat. The role of the Administrator: To contribute to the effective and efficient administration of EPHA. Specifically, to manage the day-to-day administration and finance system of the EPHA office in Brussels and to provide support for the other NGOs sharing the office facilities. Specific tasks: Information act as first point of contact for telephone (...)

EU Presidencies until 2020

EU member states met on 13 December 2004 and reached political agreement on provisions concerning the exercise of the Council Presidency including the order of Presidencies from 2007 to 2020. The current provision runs out at the end of 2006 with Luxembourg, the UK, Finland and Austria still to come. The Council set out the order of Presidencies of the Council as from 1 January 2007 and laid down certain modalities concerning arrangements among Member States for the exercise of the (...)

European Court validates ban on ’Snus’

Following a legal challenge of Directive 2001/37/EC on the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, the European Court of Justice ruled on 15 December 2004 that the prohibition on the marketing of tobacco products for oral use is valid. The Court stated that the existence of obstacles in the internal market in those products authorised the Community legislator to intervene and such a prohibition was not disproportionate to the objective of health protection. The Directive (...)

CPME position on the Services Directive

On 12 November 2004, the Standing Committee of European Doctors adopted a position statement on the Draft Directive on Services in the Internal Market. The position notes the opportunities for opening up freedoms for patients, consumers and professionals are welcomed. CPME supports the idea of the draft directive to the extent that migration and cross-boarder services of physicians should be facilitated as long as concerns about public safety and quality of services are observed. (...)

Hungarian public health official first director of ECDC

NGO involvement on the ratification of new Treaty

As part of the Act4europe campaign, the Civil Society Contact Group is preparing a handbook for NGOs on the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. The handbook will include sectoral assessments of the final text by the Contact Group members and information on what the state of play is in the different Member States. There will be a section on national NGO views on the ratification process in their Member States, and the involvement of NGOs in the process: whether/how you are (...)