By Desmond Hinton-Beales - 4th May 2011
The EU is not responsible for running health services, but does have an influence in issues germane to health
John Bowis, former MEP
A former British MEP has said that the idea that health policy is not an area of EU concern is "nonsense".
John Bowis, a former UK Conservative, has said that, though it may frighten governments and policymakers, health is definitely on the EU agenda and is likely to grow in policy over the coming years.
Bowis, speaking at the Parliament Magazine's Brussels spring briefing in London, said that EU involvement in health policy "goes back to the European coal and steel community and Euratom", when health safety rules in the workplace were established.
The EU has a whole raft of legislation in other policy areas that directly impacts on the health sector, the former politician told participants at the event's 'EU and the NHS' breakout session.
"The EU is not responsible for running health services, but does have an influence in issues germane to health, such as food safety and soil quality", he said.
Elisabetta Zanon, director of the NHS EU office, said that as healthcare organisations are service providers they also "come under EU market law".
Zanon said that the NHS EU office, established in 2007, operates under a "broad mandate" to engage on any of the numerous branches of legislation which could impact on the NHS, Europe's largest employer.
"EU funding programmes are very relevant to the NHS", she added, as the UK national health service is facing efficiency targets of €20bn over the next few years.
The European commission's principal advisor to the director-general for health and consumers Despina Spanou said that health could play an integral role in achieving the objectives of the EU2020 strategy.
While health is not a 2020 objective per se, she said, it could play a major part in achieving the EU's 75 per cent employment objective as the health and social work sector employs 10 per cent of workers in the targeted 20-64 age bracket.
The health sector will also account for a sixth of the three per cent of EU GDP target for research and innovation outlined in the EU2020 strategy, added Spanou.
Bowis, who was the European parliament's original rapporteur on the cross-border health directive, also highlighted the relationship between health and competitiveness, saying that, while it is an accepted truth for developing countries, it should be understood that, for the EU, "healthy people equals a healthy economy".
