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29th Mar 2024

New commissioner pledges to tackle disputed EU health bill

The new Cypriot commissioner-designate Androula Vassiliou has pledged to move forward with an EU health bill addressing patients' rights despite the subject's controversy, which had earlier resulted in the European Commission shelving the issue.

Speaking to MEPs in a hearing on Tuesday (1 April) Mrs Vassilou said she is planning to put forward her own version of the bill in June. The would-be commissioner needs to receive the backing of the parliament to take on her post as health commissioner in order to replace her compatriot, Markos Kyprianou - now the new Cypriot foreign minister.

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  • The new Cypriot commissioner-designate intends to move forward with a controversial health bill (Photo: Wikipedia)

The long-awaited legislation would tackle a patient's rights to receive medical treatment in another EU member state and set out clear rules on who is responsible for covering the costs and secure quality of medical treatment provided abroad.

The EU executive was originally supposed to adopt the proposal in December. But the blueprint had been withdrawn due to strong opposition from several commissioners, as well as member states and MEPs.

In February when the commission was planning to revisit the health bill, some officials suggested it be shelved and until now had not been foreseen as a topic up for discussion in the near future.

But the new Cypriot commissioner is confident she can find a compromise solution. "I am sure that nobody is against the principle of improving legal clarity and transparency on an existing right under the Treaty, or against the objective of improving patients' access to healthcare," Ms Vassilou told the parliamentarians.

"I am already working on the proposal, and I am determined to submit it for adoption by the commission in June," she added, pointing out that she would present the bill along with the commission's pending social package, "promoting access, opportunities and solidarity for all EU citizens."

Patients' rights or health services?

The social aspects of the health bill featured high in the debate in its first version, with some social democratic individuals claiming it put too much emphasis on freedom of mobility for patients, a move that some countries feared could destroy their national health systems.

"It [the original proposal] would create two classes of citizens; those who can access the health services and those who can't and that is unacceptable," said UK Labour MEP Linda McAvan.

But her conservative opponent, British deputy John Bowis, urged Ms Vassiliou to "bully" forward the original bill and convince those of her colleagues in the commission "who failed to see the virtue of the excellent proposal."

"We are impatient for it," he said, adding that the EU should finally end the current practice where "courts and lawyers rather than politicians are deciding over the rights of patients."

He referred to several verdicts by the European Court of Justice that state that the bloc's general principle of freedom to receive and provide services should equally apply to the health sector, while recognising "the specific character of these services."

For her part, Ms Vassilou replied: "I'm not a bullfighter," and added that the controversial bill should be primarily about the rights of citizens and not about the free movement of health services.

"With persuasion and with dialogue, I'm going to solve the problem, I hope," said the Cypriot commissioner-designate.

Androula Vassiliou was originally a lawyer but gave up her legal practice after her husband was elected president of Cyprus in 1988. Later on, she entered politics and was elected to the country's parliament for two terms between 1996 and 2006.

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