Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-13-Speech-2-609-000"
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"en.20120313.24.2-609-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, Commissioner, I am grateful to this Parliament for taking the initiative in organising this debate and in drawing attention to this important issue.
I am also pleased to announce that the European Diabetes Leadership Forum will take place on 25 and 26 April this year. A wide range of stakeholders, including politicians, government officials, health NGOs, health care professionals and business organisations, will be represented at that forum, and the Danish Presidency is proud to support it. The Presidency is convinced that these events will not only bring together experts across a range of fields; they will also support the reflection process on chronic diseases under way in the Council.
Considerable efforts are under way to address the challenges of chronic diseases, including diabetes. The work in the Council is one of many strands of work which are contributing to these efforts – but more could and should be done. Our discussion this afternoon, and the resolution which you will vote on tomorrow, will help increase awareness of this challenge to our collective health.
I therefore look forward to hearing your views on this issue and to reporting back to the Council.
I wish today to thank in particular the co-chairs, Ms Schaldemose, Baroness Ludford, Mr Busuttil and Ms Matias for their leadership and, of course, the members of Parliament’s working group on diabetes, which sponsored the motion for a resolution before you. They continue to work tirelessly to raise the profile of the effects of diabetes on the health of citizens across the European Union.
Throughout Europe, chronic diseases in general pose an enormous challenge to patients and their relatives and society at large. This calls for a new and coordinated approach and increased cooperation. The biggest challenge in this context arises from the fact that we live longer and do not live healthily enough. This means that ever more Europeans develop diabetes and other chronic diseases.
The implications are obvious: mounting pressure on our health sector and a situation where fewer young people are entering the labour market to pay for rising public costs.
Diabetes is one of the four most common chronic diseases. At present, around 30 million people in the European Union are diagnosed with diabetes. This figure is expected to rise to around 40 million by around 2030. Around 10% of the EU Member States’ health care budget is spent on the direct treatment of diabetes. This amounts to about EUR 80 billion, which does not even include the cost of treating associated illnesses or complications.
At present, diabetes can be neither reversed nor cured. Current therapies do not prevent the progression of the disease. Equally, they cannot eliminate the threat of long-term complications. The growing burden of diabetes must therefore be addressed through prevention, early detection, effective management, education and research.
Prevention can be very effective. According to the World Health Organisation, Type 2 diabetes – which represents between 85 and 95% of diabetes cases – can be prevented by basic changes in lifestyle, including healthy diet and regular physical activity.
What can be done within the EU to face up to this challenge? Health issues are, first and foremost, a matter for Member States. The European Union has only limited competence in this area, but that clearly does not mean that we are inactive. In December 2010, the Council launched a reflection process on the issue of chronic diseases. It invited Member States and the Commission to identify options to optimise the response to chronic diseases and spur cooperation among Member States. This process is carried out in close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders and will result in a reflection paper. Work is ongoing and is being managed at senior level within the appropriate Council bodies. It is expected to be finalised next year.
The Danish Presidency is fully supportive of this process and will use its time in office to advance it as much as possible. In fact, chronic disease is one of the main priorities of the Danish Presidency in the field of health. It will be on the agenda of the informal meeting of health ministers in Horsens in Denmark this April, where the question of patient empowerment will be in focus. Patient empowerment is also the topic of a conference organised under the Danish Presidency, which will take place on 11 and 12 April in Copenhagen."@en1
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