On 1 July 2010 Belgium took over the six-month rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be the second Presidency since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009. EPHA has prepared a briefing for members with the main contacts, events and health related priorities of the Belgian presidency.
Policy priorities
1/ General Political Programme
The Belgian Presidency has six major priorities for the European Union:
– Implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2010;
– Launch of the EU 2020 strategy, which will guide EU policies in the coming decade;
– Pursuit of international climate and energy negotiations;
– Implementation of the Stockholm programme in the areas of justice, asylum and immigration;
– Continuation of enlargement negotiations;
– Preparation of 2011 budget and mid-term revision of financial perspectives.
The Belgian Presidency will also continue the work on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). This will be a part of the efforts to demonstrate the added-value of the European Union to citizens.
Under the Belgian Presidency, the Council of the European Union will adopt employment guidelines.
The Belgian Presidency will continue the work started by the Monti report, identifying the bottlenecks, missing links and new frontiers of the internal market.
Smart regulation will be another area of action for the Belgian Presidency. The Commission communication on smart regulation instruments will be discussed by the Council of the European Union under the Belgian Presidency.
2/ Health policy priorities
The Belgian Presidency has outlined several priorities for health such as:
– Health inequalities
– Management of public health risks (particularly the evaluation of the influenza pandemic response)
– The fight against cancer
– Chronic disease
– Solidarity and innovation in the proprietary medicinal products sector.
– determining social factors of health
– health professionals (the Presidency will organize a European summit on this issue on the 9-10 September the results of this summit will feed into Council Conclusions)
At the same time, work will continue on several dossiers, which are specified below.
Using the Commission communication as a basis, the Council will adopt conclusions on nuclear medicine and radioisotopes.
Under the Belgian Presidency negotiations will continue on the draft
directive relating to cross-border healthcare.
In the area of Pharmaceutical policy, the Council will continue to work on legislative initiatives on combating the counterfeiting of medicines, and pharmacovigilance.
The Belgian Presidency will take the lead in preparing and coordinating the European Union delegation for the Conference of the Parties on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The Belgian Presidency intends to continue work on the proposal for a regulation relating to food information for consumers. Moreover, the Presidency will attempt to reach an agreement on the proposal for a regulation concerning novel foods and their release on the market.
The EPSCO Council will meet during an informal session of the Ministers of Health in July. The Ministers of Health will discuss issues that that need to be further explored in the EU, such as cooperation in the fight against cancer, the treatment of cancer, the conclusions of the pandemic concil, and emergency security responses. A high level strategic meeting held with the cooperation of the European Commission aiming to draw conclusions on how to improve access to medicines. The Ministerial Conference will be held on 23 – 24 September 2010.
Activities foreseen include:
– Ministerial Conference: Investing in the health professionals on 9-10 September
– Hepatitis B and C in European summit conference on 14 – 15 October
– Innovative approaches for chronic illness in Public health and healthcare systems On 19 – 20 October
The full briefing with more areas of interest and the list of events and contacts is available here.
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For Further Information
Website of the Belgian Presidency
The full programme of the Belgian Presidency
Yves Leterme: “Re-connecting with the European Union’s ambition”
MEPs debate Belgian EU Presidency in-tray
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