Coordination and Fragmentation: European Response to a Public Health Emergency
Anniek de Ruijter, University of Amsterdam
This paper presents a case-study on the EU response to a public health emergency in the form of a communicable disease, specifically the case of the influenza A H1N1, the last major public health emergency the EU has been involved in. The paper seeks to identify the implications of the EU’s involvement in the response to an international public health emergency from three dimensions. First the implications of EU public health policy with regard to managing a health crisis at EU level for possible violations of patients’ rights are drawn out. Second it looks at the implications for the further definition and adoption of European health policy substantially, and last it looks at the implications for the procedural involvement and creation of institutional actors working on health policy at the EU level.