Brussels, 16/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Thursday, the Health Council adopted conclusions on combating problems linked to stress and depression. It notes that problems linked to stress and depression, as well as their transmission from one generation to the next has a major importance for all ages and contributes in a notable manner to the burden of morbidity and the loss of quality of life in the European Union. The Council also stresses that the problems in question are frequent, lead to suffering at human level and incapcities, increase the risk of social exclusion, increase the rate of mortality and have negative consequences for national economies, and regards it necessary to improve the possibilities of detection for these problems, especially for preventative, early diagnostic and early treatment purposes. The Council urges Member States to (1) pay special attention to the growing problem of stress and depression, especially in the work place, (2) take measures aimed at improving knowledge on mental health and the prevention of problems linked to stress and depression in primary medical care services and other health services and social services, (3) gather reliable data on problems linked to stress and depression and share it with other Member States and the Commission, (4) devise, implement and assess actions in view of preventing these problems and encourage exchange of good practice and common projects. The Commission, for its part, is urged to facilitate the collection of comparable data on the characteristics, determining factors and causes of stress and depression, as well as to study the possibility of designing strategies to prevent their appearance.
The Health Ministers also had an exchange of view on the implications of recent Court of Justice rulings ("Geraets-Smits" and "Peerbooms" cases) which set out the conditions in which patients may receive treatment in another Member State and be refunded in their country of origin. Member States are concerned at the consequences for national social security systems and medical and hospital services of these rulings, which simply describe the conditions of validity and urgency of the treatment required to obtain a refund. The Council expressed its desire to have an in-depth debate on the subject and welcomed the invitation made, in this context, by the future Spanish Presidency to hold an informal meeting in Malaga on 6 and 8 February 2002. The Council took note of the Commission's intention to rapidly present a report on the impact of the Court's rulings. At the press conference, Commissioner David Byrne stressed that certain ministers had considered that the Court's interpretation encouraged Member States to "provide a political follow-up to these rulings", and that the question of extending Article 152 of the Treaty, that still hampers the possibilities of EU action in public health, may be put to the next IGC.