Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-12-Speech-1-189"
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"en.20070312.22.1-189"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank Members for a very interesting debate, which will be very useful and will provide guidance for us in the next steps of drafting a proposal, along with the outcome of contributions from the other stakeholders, from consultations and from the Member States.
Just to cover a few issues: first of all, we will certainly be taking into account the health objectives and social values adopted by the health ministers last June, and this will be one of the considerations in our proposal.
At the same time, we will also be looking at the important issue of patients’ rights, which is part of our consultation on Community action. It is clear that we will look at these issues; what tools will be used will, of course, be decided after proper analysis of the consultation and based on the responses provided.
I would like to confirm that what we plan to do is to take a step forward and not to reduce or undermine patients’ rights as recognised by the Court, but to improve them and make them work, make them more concrete, and to make it possible to apply them equally among all European citizens. Information is an important factor in this respect.
As we have already stated, we will take subsidiarity into account. However, I have to remind you first of all that we do not propose harmonisation of national health assistance – this is not the intention. But, at the same time, I have to remind you of the European Court of Justice judgment on the Watts case, which provided that there are situations where Member States, based on other Treaty provisions, will have to apply to amend and adjust their national healthcare systems.
Finally, I think there is a misunderstanding here. First of all, there are no proposals in the communication because it is precisely a consultation document. We did not want to pre-empt the positions of Parliament, the Member States and the stakeholders, so it is intentional that there is no proposal at this stage. It is just a description of the problems. Freedom of movement and patient mobility is not something which is being introduced by the European Commission – I think we discussed that in the past as well – it is something which has been recognised, whether we like it or not – and I hope we like it! – by the European Court of Justice, which has established that the internal market rules apply also to health, even if this is publicly funded.
So this is not a question of a Commission initiative introducing a new concept but how we in the Commission, together with Parliament and the Member States, can make this concept, this reality, work for the benefit of patients without being to the detriment of the national healthcare systems, their viability and their operation.
This is a big challenge for us but I think it is a big opportunity as well, and we can make it work for the benefit of citizens."@en1
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