Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-18-Speech-2-430-000"
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"en.20110118.19.2-430-000"2
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"Mr President, let me congratulate Parliament on the major achievement of reaching an agreement on this directive. I am particularly grateful to the rapporteur, Ms Grossetête, and the shadow rapporteurs for their hard work and their commitment to patients’ rights. I would also like to thank the previous two presidencies – Spain and Belgium – for the hard work they did to conclude this dossier.
Lastly, the directive lays the foundation for European collaboration on health. While the cooperation networks set up by the directive are voluntary, I am convinced that all Member States will see that they have much to gain by working together. This is a matter of solidarity in Europe. I am therefore counting on the Member States to launch cooperation initiatives in key areas such as e-health and health technology assessments.
The directive also provides for European reference centres, which will facilitate the pooling of expertise and its dissemination across Europe. I believe such centres can lead to better healthcare for our citizens.
Mr President, Minister, honourable Members, the final compromise which is on the table today reflects the essential spirit and fundamental purpose of this directive: to enhance patients’ rights to cross-border healthcare, while taking into account the sustainability of health systems. This is a good day for the building of a ‘Europe for health’.
I should like to conclude by making the following statement on an institutional aspect of the text:
‘The Commission has certain doubts that some of the future acts which the Commission has been given the power to adopt by the legislative act would be implementing acts. When exercising its implementing powers, the Commission will not adopt, on the basis of the powers granted, acts that it considers as being delegated acts within the meaning of Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’.
I believe that the new directive will provide a coherent and uniform set of rules for patients all over Europe. It will also generate a new phase of cooperation between 27 national health systems.
The path towards today’s successful conclusion was far from easy. I remember last year, when I took up office, people told me that negotiations on the directive were at a dead end. The directive is a good example of the need for political leadership: it shows that, with courage and determination, decisions which are important for our citizens can be taken. I believe that legislators must not leave the European Court of Justice to decide in their place, nor leave citizens with no other means of having their rights recognised than by going to court.
The Court recognised the right of patient mobility under the Treaty. It is the legislator’s role to decide how to deliver such rights.
Allow me now to share with you some views on the directive. Firstly, the directive makes clear that all Member States have a duty to invest at home, to provide their citizens with the healthcare they need without undue delay.
The directive will thus contribute towards reducing inequalities in access to care by helping to minimise delays across the EU. Patients will be able to seek primary care with the provider of their choice across Europe. As regards hospital care, the directive provides that, when the delay – I mean the waiting time for receiving treatment – is too long, the patient will be able to choose a provider in another Member State and will be reimbursed. However, what precisely constitutes an acceptable waiting time will need to be carefully considered and defined.
The main progress achieved by this directive, as compared with existing legislation, is that patients will be able to choose their healthcare provider and will have access to information on the quality and safety of the care they will receive. I can assure you that the Commission will carefully monitor how Member States implement the directive in that respect.
Secondly, the directive will give patients access to information on their rights and on cross-border healthcare – information validated by national contact points and not left to private initiatives on the Internet or other media.
Thirdly, on quality of care, the directive offers transparency and accountability in relation to national standards. This should gradually lead to some convergence across Europe on the quality and safety of care."@en1
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