Bridging towards the future of public health in Europe (II). Can we and how do we ensure Health in All EU Policies?

Abstract

Abstract The plenary will continue the debate on The future of Public Health in Europe introduced in the previous plenary, tackling the role of the EU and its institutions in ensuring that health is addressed in all EU policies. The EU is firmly committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals through its range of institutional mechanisms. Incoming Commission President von der Leyen has pledged to refocus the European Semester ‘to make sure we stay on track with our SDGs’. These developments, together with the broad recognition of the central role of health in the SDGs and the momentum given by the new EU policy cycle presents a unique window of opportunity to critically reappraise the role of health in the EC, which, at least, on paper makes for an ideal Health in All Policies institution. The first keynote by Director General Anne Bucher, DG SANTE, will draw on the ‘hot of the press’ results of the November 2019 State of Health in the EU exercise, including the EU Country Health Profiles and the Commission Staff Companion Report. She will highlight the main health and health system challenges faced by EU Member States—ranging from the burden posed by preventable mortality to the vaccination crisis and the resilience of the health workforce. Prof. Scott Greer’s keynote will contend that to tackle these challenges we need to go beyond Public Health Article 168 and its subsidiarity corset. He will speak to the need to proactively employ the much stronger (health) policy tools within the large body of EU law underlying the internal market and to draw on the EU’s newfound role in fiscal governance such as through the European semester. Prof. Greer will draw on the innovative results of the new edition of the seminal study ‘Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask’ which will be distributed to participants. The following panel will debate on the practical implementation and political economy questions arising from the plenary’s postulates. Prof. John Middleton, ASPHER’s president, will address the implications for the Public Health profession such as training in public health leadership, overhauling public health competencies or indeed the understanding of the public health profession itself. The second panellist will address the political economy implications of bringing health across EU policies and how to bypass the complexities of working across policy sectors in the EU institutions. The panel will actively interact with the participating audience through a range of innovative ways. Panellists Anne Bucher DG SANTE, European Commission Scott L. Greer Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan John Middleton The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPHER)