Health at the Heart of the New Treaty

EPHA’s comments on the on-going Treaty revision are based on the experience of campaigning during the debate on the drafting of the Treaty. Individual EPHA members working at national or regional levels may have a different viewpoint. This is not a legal, scientific nor academic interpretation.
Updated with the changes announced at the June 2007 Council Summit and the agreement reached by Member States on 19 October 2007.
This article compares the legal provisions on public health of the (...)

With the risk of a political "quick fix" of the Constitutional Treaty at the June 2007 European Council, NGOs call on a Social Europe and improved Civil Society Consultation.
On 21 and 22 June the European Council met for the last time under the German Presidency. The agenda included a point on the review of the EU Treaty.
The German Presidency had announced that they wanted to outline a precise "roadmap" for the review of the Treaty.
The risk of a political ‘quick-fix’at any price and (...)

1st May 2004 represents a both historical and symbolic landmark in the process of European integration.
Initiated more than 50 years ago, the concept of the European Union now includes some of the countries that once belonged to the former Communist block.
While undoubtedly a milestone in the ‘ever wider and closer’ European experiment, this new enlargement also raises a whole range of serious challenges particularly in terms of health and health policies.
Importance of Enlargement
In (...)

Chirac, Schroeder and Blair met on 16 February 2004 and set forward their ideas on how to make the EU more competitive. Specifically they called for a ’Super commissioner’ whose job would be to cut red tape and ensure that all EU legislation is checked for its impact and cost to business before it is approved. The big 3 summit also included the health ministers who discussed healthcare reform.
The three leaders sent an open letter to the Irish Prime Minster as President of the EU with (...)

EPHA and the European Respiratory Society organised a conference in Brussels on 27 November 2003 to discuss the EU competence in public health. The agenda featured speakers from the European Commission, WHO, Member States and a senior lawyer with experience of the Court of Justice
The conference examined whether the draft Constitutional Treaty provides the legal basis to achieve a ’high level of human health’ in the EU. The morning featured presentations about the health status of (...)

A letter was drafted by the Social Policy Working Group of the Social Platform, approved by the Management Committee, and sent to Foreign Affairs Ministers and the Italian Presidency in light of the ’conclave’ meeting in Naples (29-30 November).
The letter responds exclusively to proposals that were tabled by national delegations and the Commission during the IGC meeting of 27th October.
It supported proposals to include public health in Article I-3 (the Union’s objectives) and for a (...)

FIPSU, the European organisation of the Finnish trade unions in the public sectors has published a report drafted by Jari Hellsten On the Legal Status of Public Services in the EU. PAges 9-13 of the report explicitly covers the way that EU law, particularly on the internal market, intrudes into health services of Member States which is specifically excluded from EU legislation. Addressing recent ECJ judgements on health services and patient mobility, the report provides an introduction on (...)

On 30 October 2003 the Italian Presidency asked the groups of legal experts from the EU institutions to examine a new series of issues from the draft Constitutional treaty that need clarification. The experts have a tight deadline and have been convened to meet on 11-12 November 2003 to deliver an answer on these questions.
The latest mandate for the experts covers questions such as the whether Article 10 on primacy of EU law reflects ECJ jurisprudence.
On public health, the lawyers have (...)

The health community must seize the opportunity of the treaty reform to put health in its rightful place at the heart of the European Union.
This means ensuring that public health is included as an objective of the EU (new Article 3) and as a shared competence (new Article 12) between the EU and the Member States.
The current legal basis for public health in the EU is the Amsterdam Treaty, signed in 1997. Article 152 states that the EU will ensure a ’high level of health protection in all (...)

The new draft of the Constitutional Treaty was published on Monday 26 May 2003 by the Convention Praesidium. Disappointingly, public health is not included in Article I-3 as an overall objective for the EU. This press release provides EPHA’s reaction to the draft document.