A4-0022/98

Resolution on the second report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies (COM(96)0407 - C4-0663/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the second report from the Commission (COM(96)0407 - C4-0663/96),

- having regard to its resolutions and opinions adopted since 1979 on public health matters, and in particular its resolution of 19 November 1993 on public health policy after Maastricht ((OJ C 329, 6.12.1993, p. 375.)),

- having regard to the Commission communication of 24 November 1993 on the framework for action in the field of public health (COM(93)0559 - C3-0508/93),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0022/98),

A. whereas the Treaty on European Union requires the Community to undertake the task of pursuing a coordinated policy in the field of public health,

B. whereas the Union's health protection obligations derive primarily from the Maastricht Treaty, through the incorporation of Article 129 ('Public health') into the EC Treaty, and also apply specifically with reference to workers (Articles 118 and 118a and the Charter of Social Rights) and citizens and consumers (Article 100a in conjunction with Article 130),

C. whereas, in view of the outcome of the Amsterdam Summit and in particular the changes to Article 129 once the new Treaty has entered into force, the Union's tasks in the health sphere will expand substantially,

D. having regard to the Europe-wide challenges to which health policy must respond, in particular the changing population structure, new treatment methods and technologies, changes in the living and working environment, and increasing population mobility,

1. Welcomes the Commission communication on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies, since it does much to implement the objectives set out in Article 129 of the EC Treaty and raises awareness of the wide range of policy areas which impact on health;

2. Calls on the Commission to produce further annual reports in future on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies, which should:

- assess how far health policy considerations have been taken into account at the initial policy-making stage, to be recorded at the end of each Community policy, including an explanation of where health has not been considered,

- list the health policy shortcomings in individual policy areas,

- include a summary of projected work with health policy implications;

3. Calls on the Commission to draw attention in its annual work programmes to activities with health policy implications;

4. Calls on the Commission, when submitting proposals for new initiatives or revising existing rules and regulations, to consider the resulting consequences for human health and specify them in the impact statements; believes that the Commission should also say how far health protection aspects were taken into account when the proposals were being drawn up;

5. Urges the Commission to recognize that:

- public health activities are becoming increasingly horizontal;

- there should be formalized structures which encourage inter-directorate working as appropriate;

- it has access to independent public health expertise to help ascertain health implications during policy development;

6. Is of the opinion that the sections of the Commission report relating to research and development, environment and energy, transport and international cooperation provide an accurate and comprehensive survey of activities which affect human health;

7. Notes that the statements in the sections on the internal market and agriculture and food in particular are confined to incomplete generalizations and that the extent of the explanation is in no way commensurate with the health policy significance of the areas concerned; calls on the Commission, therefore, to pay special attention to those policy areas in the next report on the integration of health protection requirements; and further calls on the Commission to consider that, as poor diet is a major contributor to ill health, its next report should include the quantities of foodstuffs produced and destroyed under the provisions of the common agricultural policy;

8. Calls on the Commission to press ahead especially with the integration of health protection requirements in European food law and notes that the Green Paper of 30 April 1997 on the future of food law (COM(97)0176 - C4-0213/97) and the Commission communication of 30 April 1997 entitled 'Consumer Health and Food Safety' (COM(97)0183 - C4-0238/97) constitute steps in the right direction;

9. Calls on the Commission to submit a communication on the situation regarding vitamin and mineral preparations within the EU, before legislative measures are proposed;

10. Points out that both the ideas put forward by the Council of Agricultural Ministers, with the aim of reducing aid for quantity rather than quality, and the subsidies for the conversion of tobacco growing will contribute to better health protection, and urges the Commission to put forward a reform plan in which the harm done to human health by tobacco consumption is taken into account;

11. Calls on the Commission to draw up special preventive health measures for older workers so as to ensure that they are not prematurely forced out of gainful employment;

12. Calls on the Commission to ensure that no research is carried out with Community funding that is inconsistent with a high level of protection of human health, as referred to in the report of development of a tobacco strain containing less nicotine;

13. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the position of the Interservice Group on Health within the Commission's internal consultation and cooperation machinery, thereby recognizing the growing importance of health policy;

14. Calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with detailed information about the membership and briefs of, and the work carried out to date by, the Interservice Group on Health and its subgroups;

15. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors communicates its findings, if only to the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work;

16. Calls on the Commission to consider what measures might be employed to improve freedom of movement for workers pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaty, specifically as regards the medical profession and trainee doctors in particular;

17. Calls on the Commission to draw up proposals to strengthen patients' rights on a Europe-wide basis and, for that purpose, to submit a study on national provisions for compensation in the event of medical errors;

18. Renews its call for an overhaul of the current division of responsibilities for health matters among the various Commission departments, the aim being to ensure that a single Directorate-General under the political authority of a single Member of the Commission is put in charge of policy-making and policy implementation in the health sphere;

19. Calls on the Commission, when it draws up the 1999 preliminary draft budget, to acknowledge the growing Europe-wide importance of public health and preventive health programmes and allocate correspondingly more generous financial resources for the above purposes; believes, moreover, that a separate title on public health should be inserted in the 1999 budget to enable the relevant budget headings to be grouped together in a transparent way;

20. Welcomes the Commission's intention to make use of the wider scope of Article 129 and submit a communication or Green Paper on the future of European health policy after Amsterdam, in which it should examine possible future areas of responsibility, identify the predetermined limits imposed by the subsidiarity principle, especially with regard to sensitive matters such as authorization of unconventional therapies, and facilitate a renewed debate on the future priorities for public health policy by the public professions and institutions of Europe, including applicant countries; further urges the Commission to support parliamentary initiatives in this respect such as relevant public hearings;

21. Calls on the Commission to draw up proposals to strengthen the role of health policy at European level and increase its weight in relation to other policy areas and to strengthen the Community role in relation to public health networks or bodies such as non-governmental organizations and the World Health Organization;

22. Calls on the Commission to exert continuing firm pressure to secure a ban on the use of growth-promoting hormones to fatten animals;

23. Calls on the Commission to insist vis-à-vis the WTO that all WTO members have the right, where there are scientific grounds, to establish a higher degree of protection than that which can be achieved by following Codex Alimentarius recommendations;

24. Calls on the Commission to make all imported foodstuffs subject to the same health requirements as Community products;

25. Calls on the Commission to campaign for stringent liability laws in the nuclear industry in order to protect public health;

26. Calls on the Council to adopt a more constructive approach to the role of the EU in public health cooperation within the terms of Article 129;

27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, and the governments of the Member States.

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