10 September 2014, Brussels – Today Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, announced the composition of the new College of European Commissioners. Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis (1), former Health Minister of Lithuania, was designated as new European Commissioner for the Health Policy and Food Safety portfolio. The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) would like to congratulate Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis for the designation and express its commitment to working with him to ensure that European policy makers champion the health of people living in Europe.
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“Health Encourages Growth” – statement by Mr Andriukiatis at the EPHA Annual Conference, September 04, 2014
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EPHA calls for leadership, courage and commitment from Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis to champion health for everyone. In particular, we would like to see firm promotion of health and well-being in all policy areas of the EU. Mr Andriukaitis also needs a clear mandate to support minimum unit pricing (2) to curb harmful use of alcohol, initiatives to address discrimination, an upgraded defence of child health, the promotion of public health in the common agriculture policy (CAP), a strong, well-qualified health workforce and a pharmaceutical policy based on the public interest. To achieve these objectives, EPHA would like to express its support for promoting better Health Impact Assessments (3) and a Health in All Policies Approach to policymaking.
“Better attention should be paid to socio-economic determinants of health, health promotion and prevention. Once he is confirmed as Health and Food Safety Commissioner by the European Parliament in October, he should put forward an agenda based on greater investments in health with a focus on social determinants,” said Emma Woodford, EPHA Interim Secretary General.
As Mr Andriukaitis stated (4) at EPHA’s 2013 annual conference, “health in all policies should be at the driving seat of our efforts to cut inequalities as it lays the groundwork for social justice and economic sustainability.” Last Thursday, speaking at our 2014 annual conference (5), he stressed that “health is not a consequence of growth but also a condition for growth. Investments in public health increase productivity and boost job creation. Health should not only be seen as product of growth: health encourages growth.”
Vytenis Andriukaitis will need to work with the College of Commissioners to stand up to powerful corporate lobbies to ensure transparency when working with stakeholders. It is an issue of particular relevance in Mr Andriukaitis’s portfolio, as too often economic interests are placed ahead of public ones.
The designated Health and Food Safety Commissioner should also speak out against the risks that the prospective EU-US trade and investment deal could pose to people’s health (6). “The public health community is very concerned about the impact that this agreement could have on deregulation and introducing ill-advised free market rules to the detriment of health. In particular, the areas of food labelling, environmental protection, agriculture, access to affordable medicines, alcohol and tobacco control policies may be badly affected if the trade deal is negotiated in a way that only protects business interests,” commented Mrs Woodford.
EPHA encourages Mr Vytenis Andriukaitis to, once confirmed as Health and Food Safety Commissioner, build up on the achievements of former Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg and make use of the expertise and the support of civil society to push health higher up the EU agenda. A strong Europe delivering for people needs to remember the values at the heart of its vision.
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Notes to the editors
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(1) Lithuanian candidate Vytenis Andriukaitis nominated to be European Commissioner.
(3) EPHA Policy Recommendations for measuring health in Sustainability Impact Assessments.
(5) Press release] [EPHA 5th Annual Conference – 1st day.
(6) See [EU-US trade agreement] [Would it benefit Europe’s public health?
->https://epha.org/spip.php?article5855]
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Contact information
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Javier Delgado Rivera, EPHA Communications Coordinator at javier@epha.org or +32 (0) 2 233 38 76 / (m) +32 (0) 484 919 156.