Strasbourg, 13/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday, Italian Rifondazione Communista MEP Roberto Musacchio and Democratici di Sinistra MEP Giovanni Berlinguer submitted a letter to EP President Josep Borrell from Democratic Psychiatry and the users of various mental health services in Rome calling for 'Europe without mental hospitals'.
Adding the press on Wednesday, Giovanni Berlinguer said he was proud of the Italian experiment whereby after manifold problems and struggles, the former practice of locking mental health patients away, sometimes from the age of childhood, depriving them of their rights and identity, had been put to an end. Berlinguer said mental hospitals had been closed in Italy and replaced with user-friendly services. He said this met treatment needs and also respected patients' civil rights and wanted to see this as an area where the EU took the initiative. Berlinguer welcomed the announcement that the European Commission will be publishing a Green Paper on this issue in the autumn, noting that this means that resources are starting to be found. He also welcomed the adoption at a World Heath Organisation-Europe conference in Helsinki in January of an extremely important working document calling for Trieste to be the city that sets the tone for this type of experiment.