Intense discussions are underway on possible reforms aiming to bring greater efficiency to the European Parliament and to give greater weight to key areas like health, energy and the environment. This reform could lead to a major overhaul of several parliamentary committees and to a new committee dedicated to health and consumer affairs. One option […]

The Health Programme 2008-2013 entered into force on 1 January 2008. The Programme is intended to complement, support and add value to the policies of the Member States and contribute to increased solidarity and prosperity in the European Union by protecting and promoting human health and safety and by improving public health. Under the new […]

     On 15 July the French Minister of Health, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, has presented the Health priorities for the next 6 months to the members of the European Parliament. The following five items will be high priority of the French Presidency: Improve health safety – better coordination between Member States; Allowing people to age in good […]

Today, 1 July 2008, France began its 6 month rotating EU Presidency. Its top priorities are energy and the climate, migration issues, agriculture, and security and defence. The health plans of the French Presidency will focus on Alzheimer’s disease, food safety, and serving the needs of the patients. Other issues relevant to the CPME that […]

   Visit the new EU Health Commissioner Mrs Androula Vassiliou’s homepage on the European Commission website : http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/vassiliou/index_en.htm

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has written to the President of the Council and to the President of the European Parliament, transmitting the resignation of Mr Markos Kyprianou (see news 29/02/08) as a member of the European Commission, and President Barroso’s agreement with the nomination by the Republic of Cyprus of […]

     Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has announced his resignation on 28/02/08 in order to join the new Cypriot government. The announcement was made shortly after Dimitris Christofias was elected new Cypriot president. Markos Kyprianou was appointed EU commissioner for health and consumer affairs in May 2004 when Cyprus joined the Union. His resignation will be […]

     At the first January of 2008, Slovenia took over the EU presidency. The Presidency, i.e. the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, is held by each Member State in turn for a period of six months. During this time, the Presidency is the “face and voice” of the European Union, speaking on […]

     MEPS and trade unions are stepping up pressure on the European Commission to increase legal protection for public services, threatening changes to its forthcoming proposals on cross boarder healthcare. The campaign follows the refusal this week by the Commissions president Barrosso, to propose laws safeguarding public services from internal market and competition rules. Barrosso’s […]

         The European Parliament has finally endorsed an international agreement on improving access to medicines for developing countries. The protocol aims to facilitate developing countries’ access to medicines, by enabling countries “with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector” to address public health emergencies, such as AIDS or malaria, by importing cheap generic […]