Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-09-Speech-4-040"
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"en.20081009.4.4-040"2
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"Mr President, I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, Commissioner Vassiliou.
In addition to encouraging healthy lifestyles, we share your views about the need to support effective screening to detect diseases, in particular cancer, at an early stage, and to foster greater exchange of best practice.
The Commission is actively supporting the implementation of the Council recommendation on cancer screening and has recently updated the EU guidelines on breast and cervical cancer. But we need to do more to help health systems fight cancer.
I am pleased to announce that the Commission plans to launch an EU platform for action on cancer next year to help Member States exchange knowledge and good practice in the prevention and treatment of cancer.
The Commission welcomes Parliament’s emphasis on the role that a healthy workforce plays in delivering the Lisbon agenda.
Now let me comment on a few additional issues that the report raises.
Parliament calls for the establishment of European centres of reference. These would be leading centres of expertise in particular conditions, such as rare diseases, that require a combination of expertise and resources that many Member States do not have.
The Commission will build on the principles agreed between Member States for such centres and will continue work to promote such centres in the framework of the future directive on patients’ rights in cross-border health care.
Parliament also underlines the need for effective measures to tackle the rising problem of resistance to antibiotics. The Commission shares this concern and is actively supporting Member States in implementing the Council recommendation on anti-microbial resistance. We will present a report on this next year.
Finally, the Commission endorses the views expressed about the need for health and social policies to work closely together. Mainstreaming health concerns in other policies is indeed a key principle of our strategy, and we are currently exploring synergies on a wide range of issues between these two policy areas.
In conclusion, the Commission and Parliament share the same vision about the key health issues that we need to address.
I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Peterle, for this report, and Members of Parliament for their interest in the white paper putting forward an EU health strategy.
The time has now come to take forward work on the strategy and translate words into action.
The Commission will work closely with Parliament, the Council, the Member States and civil society in transforming the strategy objectives into better health for all across the European Union.
So I thank you for your support and I look forward to hearing your views.
I am delighted that Parliament supports the health objectives and principles of the white paper.
The Commission welcomes this report, and fully agrees with the key issues it raises, in particular the need to address health inequalities, to focus on promoting health by encouraging healthy lifestyles and to help prevent diseases.
I am pleased to say that these issues are at the very top of the Commission’s health agenda.
Health inequalities between different regions in the EU and between different socioeconomic groups are a growing concern, and the Commission plans to bring forward action later next year to help bridge the health gap across the EU.
The Commission fully shares your views about the need to promote healthy lifestyles, in particular as regards nutrition. We all agree that this requires action targeted at citizens of all ages, in schools, the workplace and other settings.
This is a key component of the health strategy, and initiatives will be developed in the next couple of years. In the mean time, we are actively pursuing our strategies on nutrition, overweight and obesity and on alcohol-related harm.
The Commission also fully agrees with Parliament about the need to step up our efforts to prevent diseases."@en1
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