We are pleased to report it has now been officially confirmed that pharmaceutical drugs will remain under the department of Health and Consumers in the next Brussels EU Commission. In an embarrassing u-turn, new Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has been forced to reverse his plan to give sole responsibility for policing drugs to the Commission’s department of Enterprise and Industry. Had it gone ahead, this dangerous move would have definitively placed the commercial, profit-driven interests of the trillion-dollar-a-year pharmaceutical “business with disease” right at the heart of European health policy decisions. Many thanks are therefore due to everyone who supported our campaign to put pressure on Juncker to back down.
Whilst Juncker’s Commission will doubtless remain, in common with its predecessors, an instrument of corporate interests, it will be well aware that support for the Brussels EU is rapidly disappearing. Voter turnout in the May 2014 Brussels EU Parliament elections was the lowest ever recorded, with a mere 42.54 percent of European people choosing to participate. Opinion polls similarly confirm that public trust in the construct has now reached an all time low.
Our Foundation has a very different vision for the future of Europe compared to that of Juncker and the Brussels EU, one in which the interests of the people are seen as more important than corporate profits. If you live in Europe and share this ideal we invite you to support the campaign for a Europe for the People, by the People. A better Europe and a better world are possible, but only if we all work together towards bringing them about.