European ministers want public health issues to be included in the European Semester. At their meeting in Brussels on Thursday 8 December, they mandated a group of high-ranking officials to address this issue.
The European Semester is a cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination within the EU. It begins with an examination of annual growth, which sets the main priorities for the future, and closes with country-specific recommendations.
During the round table discussion, most health ministers backed the idea of being more closely involved in the European Semester (even though it is not unusual for their economy counterparts to argue the opposite point of view). Germany, however, showed a degree of reticence. “The social importance of health cannot expand the scope of the European Semester. The Semester is there to coordinate economic, financial and employment policies. Involving health ministers could water down the issues tackled and weaken the Semester’s outcomes”, stated the German minister, though not opposing the idea of charging the “public health group” of high-ranking officials with investigating the matter.
Alcohol, cross-border care and WHO. The meeting, which was not devoted to any legislative issue and at which no adoption of conclusions was planned, provided the opportunity for ministers to discuss many of the facets of health systems.
Put under pressure by the Irish delegation, the Commission restated its intention to present its report on the labelling of alcoholic beverages at the start of 2017 (more than two years behind schedule).
The Commission also stated that, in March 2017, it would launch the European reference networks, provided for in Directive 2011/24/EU on cross-border healthcare. These networks will bring together patients and highly specialised expertise from across the EU. This will help remedy a situation in which many persons affected by a rare disease do not have access to accurate diagnosis or high quality treatment.
Hungary presented its candidate for the post of Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Miklos Szocska. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)