The European Commission is currently drafting a Commission Communication aiming to support the reduction of health inequalities in the EU.

AER Declaration on Financing Regional Healthcare, the overview of health care systems in Europe and the content of the AER positions on cross-border healthcare and on the European workforce mobility provided the basis for the AER answer to the European Consultation on Heath Inequalities.

In its answer, AER underlines that the problem of health inequalities in Europe is far from resolved and insisted on the importance of keeping health at the top of the political agenda at all levels of governance. Concrete measures to help closing the gap that remain between urban and rural areas, between regions in old and new member states, and between the different groups of population have to be identified.

The European Commission has launched a consultation on how to reinforce Europe's healthcare workforce. Questions raised include:

The AER Secretariat has prepared a summary of the European Commission Green Paper on the European Workforce for Health. 
The AER reponse to this consultation is based on the past work of the AER Social Policy & Public Health Committee (2) on this issue and on a consultation among the Committee member regions. It was adopted during the Committee 2 plenary session in Katowice (Silesia-PL) on 20 March 2009.

AER will continue to monitor further developments in this debate. Please contact the Committee Secretariat if you are interested in contributing or if you wish more information - click here.

The European Commission has launched its annual call for projects, tenders, operating grants, conferences and joint actions in the framework of the "Second Health Programme" (2008-2013). A total budget of 47.1 millions of euros is available for the execution of the 2010 Work Plan and for funding the European organisations active in the area of public health.

This year, greater focus has been put on calls for tenders and other financing opportunities, and the budget for projects has been reduced.

Deadline closed as of 19th March 2010.

On Dec. 9, 2008, Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Health, met with regional representatives to present the Commission’s recent initiatives in the field of health and debated their implications for the regions.  

Catarina Segersten-Larsson (Värmland, S) represented AER at this event. She presented the AER’s initial thoughts on the cross-border healthcare Directive and asked the Commission for clarifications regarding its impact on the regions.

The European Renewed Agenda is a package of legislative proposals that was published by the European Commission on July 2008.

• education: the challenges of migration for education systems; European cooperation on schools

• equal opportunities: equal treatment and non-discrimination

• youth: mobility of young volunteers

• employment & economic affairs: restructuring and employment

• health: cross-border interoperability in ehealth of electronic health records, patients' rights to cross-border healthcare

Links to the European Commission's website:

• European Commission - Patient's rights and crossborder healthcare 
• European Commission - Renewed social agenda
• European Commission - New portal for social affairs

The European Commission launched a consultation regarding the upcoming European Health Strategy.
The deadline for responding was 12 February 2007.

The AER prepared a response to this consultation based on the past work of the AER Committee 2/Social Policy & Public Health on this issue and a consultation among the Committee member regions.

You can download the discussion document published by the European Commission and the AER response adopted at the General Assembly in Udine, FVG-I (8. November 2007) here:

Further information on the upcoming health strategy is available on the European Commission website - please click here.