MEPs fight to reinstate EU health funding

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7543.686-c

BMJ 2006;332:686 (25 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7543.686-c

News roundup

MEPs fight to reinstate EU health funding

Brussels Rory Watson

A major battle is looming between members of the European parliament and European Union governments over the level of European funding for the health sector for the next seven years.

Various organisations are warning that the budget cuts that EU leaders made shortly before Christmas could sound the death knell for many public health policies funded by the EU (BMJ 2006;332:257, 4 Feb).

At stake is the level of funding that the EU should give to health and consumer protection programmes between 2007 and 2013. The European Commission had initially proposed an overall figure of €1.2bn (£0.8bn; $1.5bn), of which just under €1bn would be allocated to health programmes.

This figure was considerably reduced by European prime ministers at a summit in Brussels in December as part of their determination to keep any increases in EU spending to a minimum. The reduction means that the amount . . . [Full text of this article]

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