The European Convention

Following the Council conclusions of 7 December 2011, The European Commission launched a consultation on chronic diseases. The European Health Policy Forum (EU HPF) - Commission consultative body on health - and of which EPHA is a member - made public its views on how to best address the issues related to chronic diseases. The EU Health Policy Forum response on chronic diseases called for the EU to quickly take action to reduce the risk of chronic disease, to improve the health of its (...)

In the January Plenary, the European parliament elected its new President and Vice Presidents, and afterwards the Committees elected new Chairs and Vice-Chairs, below are the results of the elections. At the Plenary in Strasbourg from 15-19 January, Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, was elected the new President of the European Parliament from 2012-2014. Receiving 387 votes, Mr Schulz obtained the absolute majority of votes needed. Mr Schulz was previously the head of the S&D (...)

In December 2011, 18 new MEPS joined the European Parliament, when changes to a protocol in the Lisbon treaty came into force. Twelve countries are to gain one or more representatives – Spain: 4; Austria, France, and Sweden: 2; Bulgaria, Italy, Malta, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and the UK: 1 The political affiliation of the new MEPs is 8 new members to the European People Party, 5 new members to the Socialist & Democrats Group, 2 new Members to the Green/EFA (...)

At the end of October, the European Commission unveiled the Social Business Initiative aiming to create a competitive social market economy in the EU - acknowledging the importance of the sector in the EU: social economy (eg cooperatives, foundations, associations or mutual societies) currently employs more than 11 million people in the EU, accounting for 6% of total employment. In Social Business Initiative the Commission commits to exploring: “the need for a possible European (...)

On 1 December, the European Parliament approved its first-ever Code of Conduct for MEPs. This code will enter into force in January 2012 and aims to make the MEPs’ mandate as transparent as possible. The Code of Conduct was developed by a Working Group commissioned by the Conference of Presidents, then later sent to the Constitutional Affairs Committee which added some adjustments and clarifications where necessary. Some measures include that MEPs have the duty to declare any (...)

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of freezing part of the budget for the European Commission’s expert groups until new rules are introduced to provide safeguards against their capture by special interests and to improve transparency. ALTER-EU has welcomed this initiative by the Parliament to put pressure on the European Commission to prevent the corporate capture of EU policy preparation. The European Parliament in its resolution has asked the European (...)

EPHA attended the first High-level conference on the Multi-annual Financial Framework. This was the first time that national Parlements were invited to come to Brussels to discuss the EU budget. However the discussion focused on competitiveness and the economic crisis. There was no discussion about the social impact of the crisis, or sustainable development. This High Level Conference is of particular importance as it provides an opportunity to discuss the future EU budget for (...)

Against the release of the Multi annual financial Framework and before the Health for Growth programme proposal is finalised by the European Commission, EPHA publishes its position on the priorities of the future Health programmes of the European Union, for 2014-2020. In order to contribute to the debate, EPHA developed its suggestions for the priorities of the programme. EPHA position on the Health for Growth programme EPHA considers that health equity should be the overarching (...)

The European Anti-Poverty Network developed a briefing on the Europe 2020 Strategy. This tool explains how social NGOs can be involved in the implementation of the Europe 2020 Stategy. The Europe 2020 Strategy is the overarching strategy for the European Union, that Eu leaders agreed on in 2010. Its objective is to create "Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth." The Strategy contains several flagship iniatitives and mechanisms which will influence how policy is shaped until 2020. (...)