The EU: a global player in health and development?

The conference gathered over 30 parliamentarians from across Europe and a range of expert speakers, including Dr Malcolm Potts, the eminent demographer from Berkeley University (USA) and Peter Colenso, Head of the Human Development Group in the Policy and Research Division of the UK Government’s Department for International Development.

At the meeting representatives of the European Commission, External Action Service and Parliament gave a brief insight into the major political and institutional changes in the EU’s approach to global health that have recently taken place, along with their interpretation of the current debate about the future of EU development policy and funding, and the potential opportunities it may present to global health advocates.

Participants agreed that the meeting proved a useful starting point for getting to grips with the sometimes baffling and impenetrable world that Brussels represents to those working in a national context, and hope that they will now be able to play an important role in helping to determine the approach that their government takes in negotiating the EU’s future development assistance.

The meeting was an activity in the framework of Action for Global Health (AfGH), a network of European NGOs based in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the UK and Brussels advocating for Europe to step up its efforts and their effectiveness to achieve the health MDGs.