Background Document European Public Health Association (EUPHA
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What are the European Union political parties planning for your health? A response to the European Union parties’ manifestos Background document May 2019 The European Public Health Association, or EUPHA in short, is an umbrella organisation for public health associations in Europe. Our network of national associations of public health represents around 20’000 public health professionals. Our mission is to facilitate and activate a strong voice of the public health network by enhancing visibility of the evidence and by strengthening the capacity of public health professionals. EUPHA contributes to the preservation and improvement of public health in the European region through capacity and knowledge building. We are committed to creating a more inclusive Europe, narrowing all health inequalities among Europeans, by facilitating, activating, and disseminating strong evidence-based voices from the public health community and by strengthening the capacity of public health professionals to achieve evidence-based change. EUPHA - European Public Health Association E-mail [email protected] Internet www.eupha.org Twitter @EUPHActs Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Method ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Manifesto screening............................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Interviews MEPs .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Results ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Screening ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Descriptive analysis of the 2019 European Union parties’ manifestos ....................................................................................... 6 1. Group: European United Left- Nordic Green Left ....................................................................................................................... 6 a. Party of the European Left – For a progressive exit from the crisis (2019) ............................................................. 6 2. Group: Greens-European Free Alliance ........................................................................................................................................... 7 a. European Free Alliance (EFA) – Building a Europe for All Peoples (2019). ............................................................. 7 b. European Green Party – Time to renew the promise of Europe (2019) .................................................................... 8 3. European Pirates party – Pirate Common European Elections Programme 2019 ...................................................... 9 4. Group: Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats .................................................................................................... 10 a. Party of European Socialists – A New Social Contract for Europe (2019) .............................................................. 10 5. Group: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ......................................................................................................... 12 a. European Democratic Party (EDP) – Europe Stand Up! ................................................................................................. 12 b. Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – Freedom Opportunity, Prosperity: the Liberal vision for the future of Europe ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12 6. Group/party: European People’s Party - Lets open the next chapter for Europe together. ................................ 13 7. Group: European Conservatives and Reformists ..................................................................................................................... 15 a. European Christian Political Movement – Strong Values, Strong Nations, Strong Europe (2019). ............ 15 8. Group: Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (no subparty) No manifesto ...................................................... 16 9. Group: Europe of Nations and Freedom ...................................................................................................................................... 16 a. Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF) No manifesto ............................................................... 16 10. New parties ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 16 a. VOLT – the Amsterdam Declaration 2019 ............................................................................................................................ 16 b. Diem25 – European New Deal 2019 ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Appendixes ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Appendix 1 list of EU political parties ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Appendix 2 Interview invitation letter ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Appendix 3 Consent form ............................................................................................................................................................................. 21 Appendix 4 Interview Guide ........................................................................................................................................................................ 22 1 Introduction In the midst of adverse health trends and declining citizen trust in the European Union (EU), the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) takes the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections as an opportunity to confront the moderate to low political ambitions for health. The European party manifestos are analysed by EUPHA, resulting in a EUPHA statement (available here). This background document describes the methods deployed for this analysis and presents the results. The upcoming EU elections are the beginning of a new political cycle and the analysis presented in this background document gives insight into the parties’ plans and their effect on European citizens’ health. This analysis also provides an understanding of opportunities to put health on the agenda of policy makers. The guiding question for this analysis is: What are the electoral manifesto plans of the European Union political parties with regard to public health for the upcoming five-year period (2019-2024)? This document received funding under an operating grant from the European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020). 2 Methods Manifesto screening Previous political party screenings were carried out by van Alphen1, Stichting Public Health Forum2, and van Alphen and van Zoest3, which chose policy areas that might have one or more effects on health determinants. Many former screenings make use of tables to visualise what parties focus on in their manifestos, which offers a clear presentation of the results. A more recent screening from Croatia made use of the Walt-Gilson policy analysis model, which looks at four dimensions (content, actors, processes and context)4. Furthermore, the European Patients Forum (EPF) screened some European parties for the 2014 European Elections by looking at the frequency of the word ‘health’ (or words including health, e.g. healthcare), as a method to see whether political parties prioritize health5. For the 2019 European Parliament elections there are a total of 8 groups and 14 parties that are eligible. As not all the parties have a manifesto for the 2019 elections6, not all could be included in the analysis. In total 11 manifestos7 were screened and the screening was executed by two persons to increase the reliability