EU plans treaty change to take responsibility for health policy

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It has emerged that EU leaders are planning a ‘power grab’ to extend the role the European Union plays in health policy. The European Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, has said that the most “economically effective” way to manage health issues would be at an EU level.
 
Monmouth MP, David TC Davies, warned that “if the UK votes to stay the EU plans to take control of the NHS in the next few years”.
 
He said:
 
“EU leaders are now openly discussing their plans to manage health issues at an EU level, which would place the future of our NHS in great danger.
 
“Whilst the Welsh Government’s record-breaking cuts to the NHS have devastated local services in Wales, it is clear that the blame for spiralling waiting lists and hospital downgrades lies solely with policy decisions taken by Welsh ministers. 
 
“There is no appetite for EU treaty changes that would undermine our ability to pursue locally driven priorities.
 
“Wales needs to see better leadership of the NHS here in Wales, not a power grab by unelected EU bureaucrats, and it is becoming clear that if the UK votes to stay the EU plans to take control of the NHS in the next few years.”
 
David TC Davies MP also criticised the ever-expanding reach of EU legislation:
 
“Before the European Communities Act was signed in 1972, all laws affecting the people of this country were made by our own directly elected Parliament.
 
“In recent years, however, we have seen the level of EU regulations and directives spiralling out of control and half of our laws are now made by EU politicians in Brussels who we never voted for.
 
“Time after time we try to stop the new EU laws but are often defeated, which is why we should vote leave and take back control of our own affairs.”
 
The European Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, is on record talking about broadening the role of the EU executive when it comes to health policy. A move which would amount to a power grab, potentially placing the future of the NHS in doubt.
 
At a conference in Riga he recently said:
 
“I believe it will be nice to discuss the possibility to change the European Union treaties in the future.
 
“Believe me, I can’t imagine a more economically effective possibility than to manage health issues at an EU level.”
 
He also suggested that it would be “very timely to raise questions” in the European Parliament and the EU council, suggesting that work is underway to establish a consensus at EU level for treaty change.
 
Meanwhile, speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior figure in the Welsh NHS described the revelations as “alarming” and “arrogant”.
 
That figure, a surgeon, said:
 
“The National Health Service is one of the UK’s proudest achievements and it is alarming to hear senior EU figures speaking with such arrogance about their plans to take over responsibility for health.
 
“EU member states across the continent have totally different needs and healthcare priorities, and NHS professionals here in the UK already share best practice with colleagues all over the world.
 
“Many of my colleagues already have grave concerns over the impact that TTIP could have on the NHS, and we do need to stand up strongly and say NO to the European Union.
 
“The NHS is about our national health, and decisions regarding its future should be driven by local priorities – not unelected and unaccountable EU bureaucrats.”

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