Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for almost ten years now the Community institutions have been working on the issue of social protection, a major element of which is, quite clearly, health cover. Today, Member States, while retaining their own responsibilities through the direct application of the subsidiarity principle, nevertheless have problems in common which justify a debate at European level. The operation of social systems is directly affected by certain general trends including the unemployment and social exclusion generated by 25 years of low economic growth, which has restricted the overall potential tax yield, the ageing of the population, the consequence of the emergence of new diseases and, finally, increased health care costs due to advances in medical research and treatment. However diverse national situations may be, one can recognise in all Member States a more or less general reduction in statutory cover, an enhanced role for supplementary health insurance schemes and a marked increase in discriminating factors. Against this backdrop, a more global approach to health protection seemed to me to be necessary, taking account, of course, of the institutional context: responsibility for the organisation and financing of social insurance systems by the Member States; national social models shaped by history, and free competition governing the rules applicable to the insurance industry. Providing guaranteed access for all European citizens to high-quality necessary medical treatment within reasonable time limits is a primary objective towards which the efforts and financing of obligatory and supplementary systems must converge. Starting from the principle that every individual has a right to medical care and that healthcare is a social good to which all Member States must provide access, it is unacceptable that some are forced to simply abandon healthcare, allowing unwholesome systems to take their place which are disastrous for our societies. The Employment and Social Policy Council adopted a European strategy for the fight against social exclusion in Luxembourg on 17 October. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which will be officially announced at the Nice Summit, recognises the right to social security and to health protection as a common reference value. In its fight to combat discrimination and social exclusion, and in terms of the responsibilities of each individual, the European Parliament will take pride in giving a strong impetus to the establishment of a system which will allow the essential principle of solidarity to be practically implemented. To this end, I sought the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee, which greatly clarified a number of points in a communication which was adopted with a very large majority. The opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the proposals of the draftsman, Ioannis Marinos, gave rise to a large number of debates and favoured the adoption of compromise texts. A broad consensus was finally reached within the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, which I have the honour of chairing. The proposed system contains a number of approaches, the first of which is the development of a common vision of universal services which allow access to essential healthcare within a reasonable timeframe. The second is the establishment of a Community system to monitor health systems and their capacity to respond to specific needs: the collection of statistics and comparable data; the development of effective cooperation between the Member States and the pooling of good practice. It should be possible for this monitoring system to be organised by extending the tasks of a Community agency that has already been formed. The third approach is the presentation by the European Commission within a period of six months of a Green Paper examining a framework for supplementary health insurance schemes and proposing appropriate legislative initiatives. We have already called on the Commission to do this and, Commissioner, we are aware that it will involve a considerable amount of work. This will preferably be in the form of proposals for recommendations to include the following points: recognition by Member States of a common concept of a universal service to govern the basic service which will enable every European citizen to have access to the necessary care; establishing, in agreement with the private insuring bodies, guaranteed respect for the principle of non-discrimination; organising a system of pooling costs in order to cover the costs of persons and groups with serious existing diseases, and encouraging private insurers to develop preventative measures. There should also be a proposal for a directive to include the following points: a prohibition on the use of personal medical data, such as genetic typing, a key point; ensuring that persons joining a scheme are not in principle required to undergo a medical examination; the introduction of an obligation to provide lifelong insurance by the insurer; undertaking to reimburse persons working and moving within the European Union in a more coordinated way and, finally, introducing a mediation procedure. It would be necessary to consider encouraging and supporting the codes of conduct for insurers concluded on a national or transnational basis, and an annual forum to study these issues.

Political group: PSE