EFA has participated to the ongoing discussion on the future of the European Union, a debate set back in March with the European Commission White Paper on the Future of Europe. EFA provided a formal contribution to the European Commission, voicing the needs of 30% of Europeans living with allergy, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Europe. On the 13th September European Commission President Juncker delivered his annual State of the Union speech addressing EU challenges and proposing to reduce health inequalities by addressing access to vaccination among EU children.
Read below EFA’s statement for the Future of the European Union:
Health is a prerequisite of life. It is also a core value for the European electorate: 70% of European citizens want the EU to do more for health. When asked recently where they would like EU budget to be spent, the most common answer was public health with an increase of +5 points from 2015; it was also at the top priority in 11 Member States.
EU health policy has a crucial added value in complementing national actions, with major achievements that have enhanced citizens’ daily lives. For instance, due to EU actions, people with respiratory diseases can now breathe in better air and are less exposed to harmful chemicals. Tobacco products that enter the EU market are less harmful and medicines are authorised in all EU countries. EU legislation has been a real game-changer for people with food allergy. All these improvements could have not been possible without EU health policy and laws. This is why, we firmly believe that the EU should do more on health and not less.
Today’s major threats to health and wellbeing, from sustainability of healthcare systems to demographic change and the rise of chronic diseases, from health inequalities within and between EU Member States to addressing environmental health factors – cannot be addressed by national governments acting alone. A robust, coherent and ambitious future EU health policy can effectively support Member States whilst respecting their competences, and to yield national macroeconomic benefits by saving lives, preventing disease, and increasing productivity.