Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a second Programme of Community action in the field of Health (2007-2013)
Date: 2007-03-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU action, action programme, health policy, public health

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 23.3.2007 
COM(2007) 150 final 

2005/0042A (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European 
Parliament and of the Council establishing a second Programme of Community action 
in the field of Health (2007-2013) 

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2005/0042A (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European 
Parliament and of the Council establishing a second Programme of Community action 
in the field of Health (2007-2013) 

(text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2005)115 – 2005/0042 (COD) 

13 April 2005 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: 

16 February 2006 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee 

14 February 2006 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

16 March 2006 

Date of the revised proposal of the Commission 
(document COM(2006) 234 – 2005/0042A (COD)  

24 May 2006 

Date of the political agreement in the Council 

30 November 2006 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

 22 March 2007 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  programme  aims  to  contribute  to  protecting  the  health  and  safety  of  citizens  through 
specific actions in the field of health. It enables the EU to complement, support and add value 
to  the  policies  of  the  Member  States  and  thus  contributes  to  increased  solidarity  and 
prosperity  in  the  EU  by  protecting  and  promoting  human  health  and  safety  and  improving 
public  health.  The  programme  for  2007-2013  will  have  three  main  objectives:  to  improve 
citizens’  health  security,  to  promote  health,  and  to  generate  and  disseminate  health 
information and knowledge. 

These  objectives  shall  be  achieved  through  a  combination  of  actions  and  instruments 
according to the priorities set out in the annual work plans. 

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3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

On 30 November 2006, the Council reached by unanimity a political agreement on the draft 
Decision establishing a second Programme of Community action in the field of Health (2007-
2013). It was largely based on the Commission’s modified proposal issued on 24 May 2006. 
The  modified  proposal  adapts  the  scope  and  range  of  actions  of  the  programme  to  the 
substantial reduction in the programme budget resulting from the Inter-institutional agreement 
on  the  EU  Financial  Framework  (2007-2013)  as  well  as  to  the  views  expressed  by  the 
European  Parliament.  This  split  the  health  programme  from  the  consumer  protection 
programme, and introduced new focuses on health inequalities, promoting healthy ageing, and 
addressing  children’s  health  and  gender  questions  which  reflect  the  European  Parliament 
amendments voted in its1st reading of March 2006. 

Council  discussions  on  the  modified  proposal  concentrated  on  several  specific  issues 
concerning both the content and implementation of the programme.  

Some  Member  States  expressed  reservations  on  substantive  issues  of  content  such  as  the 
priority  to  be  given  to  the  reduction  of  major  diseases  and  the  work  to  be  undertaken  in 
improving the EU's capacity to respond to health threats, for example, the support to be given 
to networking of laboratories. 

In  addition,  a  number  of  Member  States  wished  to  have  more  clarity  on  the  financial 
mechanisms  to  be  employed  in  the  programme,  such  as  how  operational  grants  would  be 
used,  the  functioning  of  the  Programme  Committee,  and  how  the  programme  would  be 
evaluated. 

Ways  were  found  to  respond  to  the  Member  States  reservations  by  making  some  small 
modifications  to  the  text,  while  fully  respecting  the  spirit  of  the  Commission  modified 
proposal. These included: 

-  adding  a  reference  to  major  diseases  in  Article  2  in  view  of  the  European  Parliament's 
concern about stressing reduction of major disease as a key objective of the programme; 

-  additional  wording  in  Recital  32  and  Article  13  to  specify  more  precisely  the  nature  and 
aims of the evaluation to be carried out; 

-  in  Annex  1,  point  1.1.1  on  protecting  citizens  against  health  threats,  a  modification  was 
made to clarify that the objective of the Community action was to help to strengthen Member 
States  capabilities  to  support  existing  laboratories  carrying  out  work  with  Community 
relevance, rather then to set up new Community mechanisms; 

- in relation to the financial arrangements, the wording of Article 8 was kept unchanged, but a 
new Recital 33, guiding its interpretation, was added to make it clearer that Committee of the 
programme would be fully informed; 

- in relation to operational grants to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the wording 
of Recital 26 and Article 4 was slightly modified to respond to Member States concerns about 
the scope of this provision, but the aim of the Commission's proposal was maintained. 

In  line  with  the  standard  approach  followed  for  all  the  Community  programmes  for  the 
financial programming period 2007-2013, the Council undertook a reordering of the articles 
of the programme 

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Finally,  as  the  co  decision  procedure  is  still  continuing,  it  will  not  be  possible  to  apply  the 
new  legal  base  from  2007;  it  will  therefore  be  ensured  that  the  existing  legal  base 
(1786/2002/EC) will be the one used to finance health actions in 2007. As a consequence, the 
budget line to be used in 2007 for operational expenditure remains the same as in 2006, but an 
internal  transfer  has  been  made  to  be  able  to  use  the  budget  allocated  to  the  public  health 
programme  in  2007.  It  will  be  ensured  that  the  text  of  the  new  legal  base  is  adjusted 
accordingly, namely as regards the date of  implementation, duration and total budget of the 
new programme1, and with the inclusion of the necessary transitional measures. 

The Council common position was adopted unanimously on 22.3.2007. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  considers  that  the  common  position  is  in  line  with  the  objectives  and  the 
approach of its modified proposal. The Commission will support inter-institutional efforts to 
find an agreement in the course of the second reading. 

1EUR 321.5 mios in current price 

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