Below you can find EPHA’s response to the public consultation on the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 Strategy. EPHA believes that the Europe 2020 Strategy should be revised in order to better serve the public health interests of Europeans. Current targets do not invest enough in sustainable development despite its potential to create economic surplus in addition to social benefits. EPHA advocates the addition of more health targets in the Europe 2020 Strategy as well as more involvement by MEPs, stakeholders and other NGOs in securing the inclusion of public health interests in the Strategy. Achieving the goals set by the Europe 2020 Strategy would require more synergies between Europe 2020 and parallel long-term processes and strategies on vulnerable groups such as the EU Roma framework strategy which calls for sustained political commitments of all stakeholders to make a difference in the life of Roma people by 2020.
The Europe 2020 Strategy provides a plan for Europe to begin economic recovery from the recession. However, as the mid-term review approaches it becomes clear that the Strategy needs to be revised in order to incorporate policies which will address social issues such as creating more effective public health measures.
Although the Strategy makes significant provisions for addressing economic concerns by creating targets for unemployment and imbalance, there is hardly any mention of equally important social issues and there is no mention of health targets. Key topics such as education, poverty, chronic illness, health legitimacy and affordability of healthcare are not mentioned, and therefore there are no goals for improvement.
EPHA recognises that targets are a helpful device because often the area in which the target is set receives improvement. For this reason, EPHA would like to see more targets regarding smart, sustainable and inclusive growth regarding health concerns which can be achieved by improving on areas such as education, tax justice and accessible health and social protection systems. As long as targets address the real needs of the inhabitants of the Member States and take into account each of their social and economic positions, then ambitious individual national targets regarding health for each Member State are encouraged.
In order to realise these efforts, there are activities in which actors can engage to make health and social well-being priorities. At the EU level, providing funding for health civil society networks to monitor the implementation of national health system reform programs will better ensure overall improvements. The European Parliament should become more involved in the social goals of the original Communication on the Strategy from before the implementation of the European Semester. EPHA and other NGOs should have more direct communication with MEPs in order to most efficiently implement public health improvements.
The current Europe 2020 Strategy does not adequately address the health and social concerns of Europeans. There is too great a focus on economic concerns while key issues such as affordable healthcare, safe housing and sustainable food supply sources are essentially ignored. It is imperative to advocate for a revision of the Strategy during the mid-term review in order to ensure the health needs of Europeans are addressed and plans are made to foster improved programs.
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EPHA response to Public Consultation on Europe 2020 Strategy Mid-Term Review
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