Alzheimer Europe, along with 43 other civil society organisations, has signed up to a “job specification” setting out their view of the qualities and characteristics which the next Health Commissioner must possess. The statement was published to coincide with the announcement of Commissioners-designate, by European Commission President-elect, Ursula von der Leyen. The statement highlights the expectation among civil society organisations, that the future Health Commissioner will take strategic leadership of putting people and their health at the centre of EU policy-making. It further notes that whilst the EU has a mandate to protect human health in all EU policies, the relative status of health in the EU’s political agenda had diminished in recent years, compared with growth, migration and security, resulting in missed opportunities to decrease health inequalities. Specifically, the job specification explains that the future Health Commissioner is expected to prioritise the public interest over those of economic and financial actors and put forward an explicit approach to deal with the commercial, economic, social and environmental determinants of health. Once the structure of the next Commission is unveiled, the commissioners-designate will need to be vetted by the European Parliament during hearings which will take place at the end of September and beginning of October.
The full text of the job specification can be found here.
