Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-07-Speech-2-364"
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"en.20050607.31.2-364"2
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"Mr President, we must today, I believe, make it abundantly clear to the European public that, while every jot and tittle of Mr Bowis’ excellent report cries out for Europe to take an initiative, this cannot justify the charge of over-regulation that is levelled against it. If implemented, every single thing that the report demands and proposes would add value to the European citizen’s participation in the European Union.
Let me say, then, that, second only to growth and employment policy, it is social and health policy to which demographic change presents the greatest challenge of all, not only in view of the ballooning costs in that area, but also in terms of the realisation of our four freedoms, of the expanding internal market and of the public’s greater mobility.
European citizenship is something that we all want. Europe’s citizens have fundamental rights; medical care and help in an emergency are, within the European Union, among them, and they cannot be restricted to a citizen’s own country. As a community founded upon solidarity, we have to be there for each other, above all when we need each other. That is why I am very much in favour of the suggestions that there should be a Commission proposal specifically dealing with the issue of patient mobility. I am very keen that patient mobility should not be subject to the Services Directive, and social and health services should be treated separately rather than now being thrown in the same pot as the Services Directive. This is not solely about them as a commodity, but also about quality and clear definitions, about a legal framework and the clarification of who pays and who gets what.
My view is that the report has come at the right time, for these are issues that we are currently discussing at so many different levels. We should take the report as the starting point for a wide-ranging debate on health and social provision and for a debate on how to achieve a better balance of national competence in relation to European responsibility."@en1
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