UK health challenges: can the EU make a difference?

摘要

The role of the European Commission is not healthcare provision - it never will be and it is not our ambition - but rather to see if ways can be found in which Europe can make a positive contribution while leaving the necessary autonomy at local, regional and national levels.Following the high profile and successful UK Presidency of the Council of Ministers in the health field, now is a good time to reflect where to go next. We are also 20 years from the Single European Act when the need for European legislation to incorporate health protection was explicitly acknowledged for the first time. Behind the headlines that say Europe is about markets and competitiveness against social goods or public goods, the same European Council is adopting Healthy Life Years (the sustainable health and well-being of individual citizens) as a key performance indicator for its competitiveness agenda. I think this is a sign for optimism. If we wanted to be pessimistic, we would then poll the heads of states and governmentsto determine whether they are conscious this is what they had decided.