european council

Council Conclusions on the EU Drugs Strategy 2013-2020

In view of the forthcoming adoption of the EU Drugs Strategy 2013-2020, the Council of the European Union published in June its Conclusions on the Strategy. EPHA summarises these below. The Council conclusions on the new EU Drugs Strategy lay out the state of play of the drug use and its implications in the EU: heroin use is the biggest drug problem, cannabis is the most commonly illicit drug used in the EU, followed by cocaine, worrying developments are happening in the synthetic (...)

EPHA explainer - European Institutions - The European Council

The EU operates through a hybrid system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmentally made decisions negotiated by the countries part of the Union (the Member States). Important institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank. The European Council used to refer to the regular bi-annual official meetings of (...)

Council Declaration on the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion: Working together to fight poverty in 2010 and beyond.

In December 2010, the European Council adopted a Council Declaration closing the European Year 2010 on combating poverty and social exclusion in the European Union. EPHA called for health inequalities to be taken into account. EPHA regrets that the public health dimension of the declaration is very weak. During the year the European Public Health Alliance, together with other civil society organisations allied in 2010 NGO Coalition, was advocating for greater attention and strong political (...)

Czech Presidency calls for further discussion on excise duty for tobacco

Finance ministers from the EU’s Member States have failed to agree upon a proposal to raise the minimum excise duty for tobacco. The Czech Presidency is calling for further discussions with the hope of reaching an agreement within the next month. The proposal under discussion would raise the minimum excise rates to €90 per 1,000 cigarettes, compared to €64 as it stands today. It would also increase the minimum excise rates on fine-cut tobacco. Tobacco control and (...)