On the fringes of public hearings for the new Commission EHFG President Dr. Günther Leiner met with Members of the European Parliament on 12th January 2010.

At an informal lunch debate which was kindly organised and hosted by Dr. Antonyia Parvanova several members of the ENVI Committee joined us in discussing key results of EHFG 2009 and preliminary ideas for 2010. Both returning members of the Parliament and long-time supporters of EHFG as well as new MEPs concurred about the added value a multi-stakeholder platform such as EHFG can bring to policy discussions.

Considering the (low) importance health considerations sometimes have in political decision-making MEPs agreed that forces need to be joined across party lines with a view of raising the visibility and importance of health on the policy agenda. In this challenge policy-makers need to be supported by solid evidence such as provided by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies which also participated in the meeting. In particular a case for investment in health needs to be made to Ministers of Finance as the economic benefits of a healthy society are still not sufficiently acknowledged.

This meeting as well as an informal dinner with mostly Austrian MEPs provided an encouraging start for activities in 2010 and beyond as participating MEPs agreed to deepen cooperation between the European Parliament and EHFG and firmly pledged their support in promoting and facilitating future activities.

Matthias Schuppe
Secretary General

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