Brussels, 26/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - Eight of the European Union's member states, led by Belgium, have criticised the proposal by the president-elect of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to bring health products (medicines and medical devices) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) back within the area of responsibility of DG Enterprise, the Belgian health minister announced on Thursday 25 September. These countries are unhappy at the possibility of a “commodification” of the medicines sector to the detriment of patient wellbeing.
On the sidelines of the informal meeting of health ministers in Milan on 22-23 September, the Belgian minister, Laurette Onkelinx called for this decision to be reversed and garnered the support of France, Cyprus, Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania. She argued that there would be a danger that “the entire health policy on medicines and health products would be skewed in favour of economic interests rather than public health interests”. She has written to Juncker to make him aware of her concerns and a similar letter will be sent to him by the countries that share her view. In 2009, under the Barroso Commission, health products were removed from DG Enterprise and made part of DG SANCO, a move welcomed at the time by public health organisations and patients' health associations. The return to the previous state of affairs, as planned by the Juncker Commission, has already been criticised by these same organisations and by the European consumers' organisation, BEUC when the organisational structure of the new Commission was announced (see EUROPE 11158). (IL)