Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-05-Speech-2-329"
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"en.20060905.27.2-329"2
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". Mr President, I very much appreciate Parliament’s active participation in the consultation on the Commission’s Green Paper on mental health. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rapporteur, Mr Bowis, for his excellent report.
Raising awareness and exchanging approaches and good practice are important steps and in the long term can be more powerful than any other initiatives.
I look forward to the debate. Once again, I thank Parliament for this initiative.
It is almost a year since the Commission presented its Green Paper on improving the mental health of the population. The Green Paper was also a response to the WHO ministerial conference, which involved all EU Member States. In the declaration it adopted, the conference called upon the Commission to support the Green Paper’s implementation.
The Green Paper presented mental health as a central part of overall public health and a key determinant of quality of life in the European Union. It argued that public mental health was also a key factor in the attainment of the EU’s strategic objectives – prosperity, solidarity and social cohesion, as well as justice.
European values and the European social model demand that we give the necessary support to those who suffer from mental disorders and to promote social inclusion. Perhaps this is one of the basic messages to emerge from the consultation process and from the report and resolution, namely that tackling social inclusion and the stigma attached to mental health problems is a key factor in our efforts to deal with this whole question.
Because of the stigma attached, people who suffer from mental health problems do not admit to them, do not seek help. As a result, not only do they not get treatment, but also the reality and effectiveness of the statistical data are distorted, which in turn means that the matter is not always a priority for Member States and governments, since sometimes the figures may appear misleadingly low. Therefore, dealing with this stigma and dealing with social inclusion is not just a human rights issue and not just an obligation, but can also have practical effects in our efforts to give priority and emphasis to actions and activities designed to tackle this problem.
The Green Paper pursued three objectives. One was a broad discussion of the importance of exploring whether a on mental health strategy should be developed at EU level and identifying what the priorities of such a strategy should be. We held a full consultation. We had more than 150 contributions. One of the most important contributions, of course, will be Parliament’s resolution.
The draft report that has been tabled for today’s debate addresses mental health in its full complexity. I welcome the fact that it includes a number of very concrete suggestions. That is very important and helpful to us for the next steps we are to take. I agree with almost all the points contained in the report and the Commission will give due consideration to these proposals when deciding on the next steps to be taken.
We are now in the process of analysing the results of the consultation and as of yesterday, if I am not mistaken, all the contributions are available on our public health website. A document summarising the consultation outcomes will be prepared and published in the autumn. I can say at this stage that the preliminary results of the consultation showed very strong support for the development of an EU mental health strategy.
I hope to present a Commission White Paper on mental health during the first quarter of next year presenting a strategy and proposing a framework for sustainable cooperation between Member States, policy fields and the relevant stakeholders. I am firmly of the opinion that what we need most in order to promote positive mental health in the community and encourage social inclusion is dialogue, consensus-building and more importantly, action. That is extremely important."@en1
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