Abstract
Health Union raises bioethical questions ranging from resource allocation and risk balancing to respect for specific bioethical prohibitions, as an analysis of the European Parliament’s proposal for such a union shows. To date, European Union (EU) health law has succeeded in avoiding or circumscribing such questions, leading to the limited and inconsistent patchwork of EU bioethical provisions we currently have. Can this continue with a Health Union? This article argues that whilst full harmonisation is neither possible nor desirable, Health Union should entail a deepening of bioethical integration. This should occur via a robust legislative process involving citizen panels and ethical advisory group input; if Treaty change occurs, this process could be included in primary law. This is so for three reasons. First, addressing Health Union’s unavoidable bioethical questions coherently and openly reduces the risk of inadequate protection and, conversely, of interest groups “smuggling in” unsupported answers. Second, this will ensure respect for primary law, including Article 2 TEU and Article 3 CFR. Third, EU biolaw offers a middle ground between limited national and weak international human rights law on bioethics, whilst also consolidating European identity.
Highlights
Coronavirus continues to burn through the human biosphere, exploiting and clogging the arteries of trade and movement on which contemporary civilisation depend
Health Union raises bioethical questions ranging from resource allocation and risk balancing to respect for specific bioethical prohibitions, as an analysis of the European Parliament’s proposal for such a union shows
European Union (EU) health law has succeeded in avoiding or circumscribing such questions, leading to the limited and inconsistent patchwork of EU bioethical provisions we currently have. Can this continue with a Health Union? This article argues that whilst full harmonisation is neither possible nor desirable, Health Union should entail a deepening of bioethical integration
Summary
Coronavirus continues to burn through the human biosphere, exploiting and clogging the arteries of trade and movement on which contemporary civilisation depend. Health Union’s humanity brings with it sensitivities. How far would Health Union raise bioethical questions? This article will first contend that the core Health Union proposals raise an array of bioethical questions (Section II). It will argue that whilst Socrates appears to be banned from Brussels, closer inspection reveals that these bioethical questions must be confronted for reasons of balance, law and legitimacy (Section III). It will conclude with broader reflections on the role of ethics and values in the European Union (EU) (Section IV)
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