Improvement of healthcare security, promotion of health, information and knowledge: these are the three major priorities of the future EU programme on health for the period 2007-2013. A “political deal” on the plan was reached in the Council of EU Ministers of Health in recent days. The plan now goes to the European Parliament for discussion and voting pending its final adoption. The proposed budget for the plan is 365.6 million euros. The plan forms part of the wider strategy for health that the Commission intends to present in 2007. Commenting on the accord, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou declared that “improving the health of citizens always represents an important objective, essential for tackling such challenges as demographic ageing, threats to security and the shortage of manpower. Health – concluded the Commissioner – is a factor that may help Europe to realise in full its potential for prosperity, solidarity and security”.
