Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-13-Speech-2-610-000"
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"en.20120313.24.2-610-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank the Parliament for its commitment to improving the lives of people with diabetes. The European Commission shares your concern. Diabetes translates to great suffering for over 32 million Europeans and their families.
In addition, the Commission has also financed action through the health programme to support Member States’ responses to diabetes prevention and care and to improve European capacity for monitoring the diabetes epidemic. Special attention is given to juvenile diabetes and factors related to childhood.
The Commission is persuaded that the EU framework programme for research and also the health programme contribute to research breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and in better understanding the interaction of diabetes with other diseases.
Your resolution further calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure adequate follow up of the UN summit on non-communicable diseases. In this regard, I would like to inform you that the Commission has already launched a reflection process, together with Member States and stakeholders, to identify areas for added-value action at EU level.
I trust you will recognise the Commission’s commitment to addressing the diabetes epidemic and to supporting Member States in their efforts to prevent and manage diabetes. The Commission will carefully study your resolution and how to accommodate your request for further action.
The Commission agrees with the European Parliament about the need to do more on diabetes: for example, to prevent diabetes, in particular, amongst children and adolescents; to support patients, and enable them to live a fulfilling life; and to offer the best available diagnosis and treatment options to people affected, to minimise complications and the risk of associated diseases.
This being said, as you know, the Commission believes that it can provide most added value by focusing work on the challenges and causes common to many chronic diseases such as obesity, rather than focusing on the individual diseases one by one.
By addressing obesity, we address diabetes and many other chronic diseases at the same time. This is why the European Commission favours a horizontal holistic approach instead of specific strategies for individual diseases. It is in this spirit that the Commission takes note of the fact that the resolution calls on the Commission to develop and implement a dedicated EU diabetes strategy and to monitor Member State action in this area.
Finally, let me assure you that by addressing the risk factors, developing the evidence base and by supporting Member States, the Commission can, and will, continue to play its full role in addressing diabetes.
The European Commission believes we need to attack the root causes of diabetes further. As such, the European Commission fully endorses your call to Member States to develop strategies on diet and exercise to prevent Type 2 diabetes, as expressed in your resolution.
We know that not all diabetes is preventable, but when it comes to Type 2 diabetes, we do know what the main causes are: being overweight, obesity and a lack of physical activity. The rate of obesity has more than doubled over the past 20 years. More than half of adult Europeans are overweight or obese. One in four European children aged six to nine are already overweight and, as such, at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. This is why the focus of Commission action to address diabetes is to tackle its main causes: being overweight, obesity and the lack of physical activity.
It was in this spirit that, back in 2007, the Commission developed a strategy on nutrition and physical activity to support national efforts to prevent obesity. The strategy works first by fostering an exchange of experiences amongst Member States, encouraging joint approaches and coordinated actions. This includes joint food reformulation approaches, for example, for key nutrients such as salt.
Second, it mobilises partners across society to take action, through the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, which, very importantly, also includes diabetes organisations.
In this framework, the Commission encourages action by food producers, media and advertisers on food reformulation and commercial communication standards.
Third, it mobilises other policies towards this cause. I will give you some examples. Through the EU research policy, the Commission has co-funded research on diabetes and obesity, worth EUR 340 million in the sixth and seventh framework programmes for research. Since 2007, over EUR 207 million has been devoted to diabetes and obesity research.
We further support research and innovation to address diet-related diseases more generally, with the Joint Programming Initiative ‘A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’. As such, we welcome your resolution’s call for coordination of diabetes research across the European Union.
Through the EU agriculture policy, the Commission brings fruits and vegetables to millions of school children every year via the School Fruit Scheme. Through the EU education policy, the Commission is also supporting physical activity with initiatives such as the EU guidelines for physical activity. Finally – and it is important to mention this – in the field of audiovisual media services, the Commission seeks to reduce the pressure of food marketing and advertising on children."@en1
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