With his expertise in the field of public health and his commitment as an MEP to bringing public health to the policy agenda, we felt it would be very appropriate to ask John Bowis MEP to contribute to our special edition.
1. As EPHA has been around for fifteen years, do you remember the first time you came in contact with the organisation. How has your connection to the organisation developed throughout your time in Brussels?
My first recollection of EPHA was as a new boy in the parliament in 1999. Having spent some years in health in the UK government and then the WHO, I was drawn to Mel Read’s leadership of the Health Intergroup – and there was EPHA servicing it. Since then both EPHA and I have worked to put health up the agenda in the EU, with a range of Reports, hearings and initiatives. Health in Europe in 2009 has really made its mark. Of course that is partly because of the mega health threats of Climate Change and the Flu Pandemic, which made everyone aware of the need to cooperate better in the health field. It is also because EPHA and a small but growing number of MEPs have refused to take ‘No!’ for an answer on the question of ‘Does Europe Do Health?’ In Obama-ese our answer is ‘Yes -We-Can’
2. How beneficial is EPHA’s work for you as an MEP. Do you consider it a valuable source for information and public health advocacy messages?
EPHA is a good and useful support tool for MEPs – and, I have no doubt, for the Commission too. It is also of course a lobby. I value its input. If I had any advice it would be to let the support do the lobbying. Most MEPs do not react well to megaphone lobbying; they do react well to offers of support and help and information and guidance. So the more you can embrace politicians and make them first understand an issue and then adopt it as their own, the more successful you will be at influencing the progress of policy making. I stress that is not a criticism of EPHA but something I draw from EPHA at its best and most effective.
3. What advice would you have for EPHA to enable us to maximise our role as the leading voice for public health in Europe?
Keep connected with your roots, as politicians should do with theirs. The best MEPs or MPs are in close touch with their constituents and empathise with their problems and opportunities. The same is true of NGOs. The best are in close touch with their patients, carers and on-the-ground health teams. It is all too easy to be looking towards the policy horizon and think talking to people in the EU institutions is the endgame. It is an important part of the work, but your value to us is as a conduit of the views and needs of the individuals you represent. If a lobbying visit to me starts off with reference to someone the person lobbying me met last week with a problem that needs solving, my attention is captured – even more so if the person lives in my constituency. Then one listens to the bigger picture message that is being brought to me.
PS Don’t worry about being the biggest or the best. Do the job well and we will make that judgement! Make us like you and we will listen. Make us listen and we will both achieve more for our constituents.
