The EU Council is due to adopt conclusions welcoming the communication on mental health on 30 November.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health problems were already affecting around 84 million people in the EU, or one in six citizens, at a cost of €600 billion, or 4% of GDP, according to the draft conclusions (see EUROPE 13287/14).
In this text, EU Member States are invited to “prioritise” integrated policies and services dealing with mental health and well-being and to “consider” elaborating action plans or strategies to tackle the most pressing and widespread issues, such as the implementation of a mental health approach in all policies that goes beyond health and includes issues in other key sectors as relevant factors, including employment, education, health and safety, digital education, digitalisation (including the effects of artificial intelligence), social protection, financial security, research, housing, urban planning, public health, access to culture, media and communication, environment and climate. According to the conclusions, countries should recognise the social, environmental and economic determinants of mental health and improve education about mental health from an early age.
The European Commission is invited to support Member States' mental health policies by “continuing to support Member States in implementing the Communication on a Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health and its 20 flagship initiatives”. The Commission will have to present a “overview document” on the flagship initiatives presented in the communication, which will also include a timetable for implementing each flagship initiative and the budget allocated.
Link to the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/9iz (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)