Activities of Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS related to 2021/2100(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on cohesion policy as an instrument to reduce healthcare disparities and enhance cross-border health cooperation
Amendments (36)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
— having regard to Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which requires a high level of human health protection in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities and aims to encourage cooperation between Member States in order to improve the complementarity of their health services in cross-border areas,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
— having regard to Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which establishes everyone’s right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 b (new)
Citation 2 b (new)
— having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly SDG 3 which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, including universal health coverage,
Amendment 5 #
— having regard to the Communication from the Commission of 11 November 2020 entitled ‘Building a European Health Union: Reinforcing the EU’s resilience for cross-border health threats’,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
— having regard to the OECD report entitled ‘Health at a Glance: Europe 2020’ published in November 2020,
Amendment 10 #
-A. whereas the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the crucial importance of the health sector, put greater demands on the healthcare systems and health workers, and highlighted the weaknesses and shortcomings of the healthcare systems as well as the healthcare disparities and inequalities within the EU and its Member States;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. whereas cohesion policy, through the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII) and the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus (CRII+), was the first line of defence against the COVID-19 pandemic, thus proving that it can contribute significantly to promoting health and to reducing health inequalities;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the lack of basic infrastructure in certaand adequate workforce in less-developed regions, which seriously hampers equity of access to healthcare, is the main reason high-quality health infrastructure remainsand adequate and well- trained health workforce should be a priority for manyall national governments;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the standards of healthcare provision in the EU are not harmonised, as significant differences exist between Member States and their regions, whereby less-developed regions, which are not able to devote anything close to the amount of resources on healthcare per capita as their more developed counterparts, may face problems in this respect;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the EU instruments aimed at compensating for some of these problems are mostly limited to “soft” law resulting in general shortcomings; whereas a more structured Union-level approach complemented by a stronger and more comprehensive legal framework and legally binding means of action is required in this regard in order to enhance cooperation and coordination between Member States, better protect peoples’ health and effectively address the existing healthcare disparities;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas cross-border territories represent 40% of the territory of the EU, and more than one in three EU citizens live in a cross-border region;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the Commission supports cross-border cooperation in healthcare through numerous studies and initiatives, including through Interreg, financed under the structural funds; whereas, in the 2014- 2020 programming period, 169 healthcare-related projects were funded through Interreg programmes; whereas the beneficiaries of these programmes are first professionals and then patients, with few projects aimed at specific subgroups such as precarious or deprived populations;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas previous analyses have shown that strengthening cohesion policy is necessary in order to reduce disparities between the standards of healthcare provision in the EU; whereas recent studies still show considerable differences in health indicators across the EU, such as life expectancy, birth and mortality rates, chronic diseases and access to healthcare and infrastructure; whereas health inequalities between EU countries, regions and population groups continue to persist with social determinants, such as employment, income, education, gender, age and ethnicity, playing a key role;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas health spending accounts for almost 10 % of GDP in the EU, with people employed in health-related fields making up 15 % of the EU workforce; whereas significant differences regarding the level of healthcare expenditure and the availability of doctors and healthcare professionals still persist among Member States and their regions;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that the EU’s cohesion policy invests in health as a key asset for regional development and, social convergence and regional competitiveness, in order to reduce economic and social disparities;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Underlines that ensuring healthy lives means providing healthcare to all and guaranteeing adequate and well- trained health workforce, health infrastructure and equipment, equal access to quality health services and EU- wide insurance coverage;
Amendment 66 #
2. Highlights that certainmany less- developed regions are a long way from uniformly matching the standards of healthcare provision available in more developed parts of the EU, and that convergence in this sense is unlikely to be achieved without help at EU level, particularly through its cohesion policy;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that investments in healthcare innovation, public healthcare systems, sufficient health workforce and the reduction of health inequalities will continue to offer significant improvements to thepeoples’ daily lives of citizens;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Recalls that the Treaties require a high level of human health protection in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recommends that, when defining healthcare policies at regional and, national and EU level, there should be a willingness to overcome silo approaches between health, social and economic policies, with the goal of improving dialogue, synergies and planned investments from the structural funds and other relevant EU programmes, which are able to cater for citizenpeoples’ unmet health and social needs;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for better synergies and complementarities between cohesion policy programmes to be ensured, with the aim of reducing regional disparities, in particular in Horizon Europe which should generate new knowledge, and EU4Health, making the best possible use of this new knowledge for the benefit of citizens andpeople and public health systems;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses the importance of cohesion policy in tackling gender inequality in healthcare and promoting gender-related health priorities of the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR);
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the importance of continuing to build a comprehensive public health infrastructure and to reduce the existing disparities to the greatest possible extent; recalls that cohesion policy can make a significant contribution to the building of health infrastructure in every part of the EU, especially in the less- developed regions, in order to create high- quality, fully-equipped and resilient public healthcare systems throughout the entire EU, which can better protect peoples’ health and effectively respond to current and future challenges;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Emphasises that citizenspeople in rural areas and the outermost regions often encounter barriers to equality of access to healthcare that limit their ability to obtain the care they need, especially in the form of basic health infrastructure and adequate health workforce; stresses that, in order for them to acquire sufficient access, as well as the appropriate healthcare which they need, services must be available and obtainable in a timely manner;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for bold cohesion policy measures, in accordance with the legal provisions in force in the EU, in order to attempt to mitigate the lack ofsignificant lack of adequate healthcare workers especially in rural areas, and aimed at motivating them to commence or resume practice there;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Points out that sustainable long- term investment in the healthcare workforce is more urgent than ever before, given the severe economic, social and health impact of the COVID-19 crisis, in particular investment in sufficiency of healthcare workforce, higher education from the ESF+, funding specialisations and sub- specialisations of the health workforce in the countries and regions which are facing a brain drain;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that the COVID-19 pandemic represents a historic transformational moment for investments in health systems and future workforce capabilities; calls for the establishment of a strong and sufficiently-funded European Health Union to enhance cooperation and coordination between Member States, reinforce public healthcare systems, better protect peoples’ health and effectively address the long- standing healthcare disparities;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. SHighlights the importance of patient mobility and cross-border access to safe and high-quality healthcare in the EU; stresses that cross-border healthcare improvements can benefit patients by enabling equitable access to health services and infrastructure in other Member States, including diagnosis and clinical trials, based on the principle of ‘easiest, closest, best and fastest’ access12 ; underlines that there is still a lot of room for improvement in this regard; _________________ 12 https://eurohealthnet.eu/publication/joint- statement-use-next-european-and- structural-investment-funds-strategic- investments
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Acknowledges the existence of the numerous successful health cross-border projects13 across Europe, and that the experience gained from these cshould be capitalised on with a view to further enhancing and facilitating cross-border cooperation in this area, for the benefit of EU citizensall people in the EU; _________________ 13 https://www.interregeurope.eu/policylearni ng/news/6157/innovation-in-healthcare- showcasing-interreg-europe-good- practices/?no_cache=1&cHash=44676ec10 795d5bda5628029f930f60a
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls for enhanced focus on patients in the projects to be financed through Interreg programmes in the new programming period and for projects focusing specifically on vulnerable and marginalised groups as well as on gender- related health priorities of the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR);
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. CHighlights that cooperation on cross-border healthcare requires the support and involvement of a wide range of partners, medical and social institutions, health insurance entities and public authorities; calls for projects facilitating cross- border health contracts, whereby patients travel and are treated within the framework of contractual agreements, to be funded; underlines the importance of guaranteeing an EU-wide insurance coverage;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on the Commission to effectively address existing barriers to seeking and accessing cross-border healthcare including in terms of free movement, information, awareness or perception from patients, different taxation and social security systems, and the recognition of qualifications for healthcare staff and institutions;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Believes that centres of excellence could stimulate cross-border contracting to an even greater extent, and that, as a result, such centres could be of great importance in increasing thepeoples’ life expectancy of EU citizens;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to encourage better management of cross- border healthcare, as EU patients still face serious challenges and important barriers in accessing healthcare in other Member States and only a minority of potential patients are aware of their rights to seek cross-border healthcare; considers that appropriate pan-European campaigns should be launched in order to inform the public regarding their rights in this regard;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Highlights that several Interreg projects have contributed to cross-border regions’ fight against COVID-19 throughout the EU, for example through the mobility of intensive care patients and healthcare professionals, and the development of medical equipment; notes, however, that border closures affected the mobility of patients and healthcare workers, while information about infection data, vaccinations or conditions for patients’ transfers was not harmonised;