Analyse : la politique européenne de santé

Union à l’origine économique et commerciale, dans laquelle les questions sociales devaient rester sous le contrôle des Etats membres, l’UE a progressivement développé une politique de santé ambitieuse et pragmatique. Dans cet article, Arnaud Senn, responsable de projet pour le système national de santé britannique (NHS), décrit l’émergence d’une politique européenne de santé et ses futures ambitions.

In the early days of the Community, health was conceived at best as a mere consequence of the implementation of an integrated economic market. This minimalist approach, partly due to differences in member states’ social protection systems, prevailed throughout the 1970s.

The emergence of new diseases (AIDS) and new trans-national sanitary risks (mad cow disease) in the 1980s and 1990s represent a turning point: the EU member states realised that the Community institutions could provide for useful policy and technical support to fight the new public health threats. The Commission, in particular, has, since, become a major player in this policy area. The EU harmonised legislation in many areas, while leaving national competences, for example in the field of pharmacovigilance, untouched. In addition, since the adoption of the Single European Act (1986), the legal basis for a European health policy has been further consolidated, thus enabling the European Court of Justice to allow, under certain conditions, for broader social security assistance throughout the EU. 

All in all, this has given birth to a European health policy, which A. Senn describes as « realistic in its objectives » and « pragmatic in the method it is implemented. » He also characterises the policy as a result of a broad consensus of a great variety of stakeholders, which uses different instruments (legislation, recommendations, cross-border cooperation, etc.). According to the author, this variety of actors and instruments is, however, by no means detrimental to European health ambitions, which includes, among others, benchmarking health across all EU policies.

To read the full article (in French only) click here.