Kyprianou: I strongly support bans on smoking in public places 

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Commissioner Kyprianou, would you give EurActiv a brief preview of the main priorities under the new health strategy? Which new ideas coming out of the public consultation will be incorporated into the strategy document? 

I will be presenting a new strategy in the coming months setting out priorities both for health policy and consumer policy. These are policies with a common goal: improving wellbeing and promoting confidence among EU citizens. I am determined to achieve synergies between them and thereby increase their effectiveness and their visibility. Health and consumer protection are policy issues citizens care about, so it is important that we get them right. 

I still need to discuss the strategy with the other commissioners, so I cannot give you too much detail of its content. Nonetheless, empowering citizens to lead healthier lifestyles, promoting cooperation between member states’ healthcare systems and strengthening Europe’s defences against infectious disease are likely to be key themes. Action on tobacco, alcohol, obesity, HIV/AIDS and mental health should also feature strongly in the strategy. 

One message that came across strongly from the reflection process launched last year was the need to target children and adolescents in our strategy. The seeds of many diseases – from heart disease to mental illness – are often sown in childhood. I completely take on board the importance of addressing this in our strategy. 

During your brief period in office, you have already indicated a few topics, for instance, the fight against smoking and mental illnesses, as priorities for you. Which specific issues would you highlight as being particularly close to your heart and why? 

I passionately believe in the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles. The overwhelming majority of premature deaths in Europe can be directly linked to poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. The lifestyle habits we learn during our childhood and adolescence are of crucial importance here. For example, 80% of smokers start the habit during their teenage years. In view of this, some of the trends I see among young Europeans worry me: persistently high levels of smoking, a growing culture of binge drinking and unsafe sex, and rising levels of obesity. I want to do something about this. 

Mental health is an area I feel has not received enough political attention. Each year in the EU, around 58,000 people take their own lives and the vast majority of these deaths are linked to mental illness. That is more people than are killed in car crashes or by murder. Yet mental health receives surprisingly little attention – you could say mental illness is Europe’s unseen killer. Again, I think this is something I can help change. The WHO Ministerial Conference on Mental Health, which I attended in Helsinki in January, makes me optimistic that we are already heading in the right direction. 

I also feel strongly about my role in ensuring food sold in the EU is safe and about protecting the rights of consumers. These are issues that touch the daily lives of citizens around the EU. The EU’s work in these areas is an opportunity to connect with people – we can show how Europe brings direct, tangible benefit to them as an individual consumer. 

After Ireland, a smoking ban was introduced in Italy in January. What are your objectives on smoking during your term and what can the Commission do to help member states in their actions against tobacco use? 

I strongly support the bans on smoking in public places introduced by Ireland, Italy and, indeed, Malta. It is my ambition that by the end of my term in office similar bans will have been introduced in all member states. Citizens throughout the EU deserve to be protected from the risks of passive smoking. I believe this should be the next big objective for tobacco control policy in Europe. 

Of course, my overriding objective is to reduce the number of Europeans who smoke. The Commission will shortly be launching a € 72 million, four year publicity campaign aimed at dissuading young people from starting smoking and convincing existing smokers to kick the habit. I will also, over the coming months, be pushing EU countries to introduce hard-hitting picture warnings on cigarette packs. These have proved to be effective in other parts of the world, such as Canada, and I am sure they will make a difference in the EU. I would also like to see a levelling upwards of taxes on cigarettes across the EU and national laws banning smoking in public places. 

During your hearing in the European Parliament you said the protection of patients’ rights, including the right to information, was an area of concern to you. How would you improve the flow of information? Will you propose a ‘directive on consumer / patient information’ during your term in office (as one MEP suggested during your hearing)? 

Later this year I plan to launch an EU health portal. This will provide a single point of access to public health and health-related information produced by the EU and its agencies, as well as being a gateway to health information produced by member state authorities. My hope is that our health portal will improve the flow of information to patients and citizens, including in particular young people. I would like to see every EU country make some basic information available on-line about its healthcare system and link it to our portal. They should include practical information about how citizens from other parts of the EU can access treatment. Of course, we will have to rely on the individual healthcare system around the EU to publish this information on-line, and to keep it up to date. Having a directive on patient information would be one way of establishing a clear obligation for member states to do this – I certainly do not discount this idea. However, I believe we can persuade national healthcare systems to publish more and better information without resorting to legislation. I am very encouraged by the active role member state authorities are playing in our health portal project. 

There are disparities among the member states with regard to the quality and accessibility of care. There are also differences in this regard among social groups within individual countries. What can the Commission do to help reduce health inequalities? 

Health needs to be one of the priorities for the EU’s Structural Funds. We have already seen some member states, for example Portugal, using EU funds to invest in improving its health system. I want to encourage more countries to do so. Modernising its healthcare system can do as much to boost a country’s economic performance as building new roads and power stations. Similarly, some of the money the EU allocates to fighting social exclusion should also be invested in health. Illness, particularly mental illness, is often closely linked to social exclusion – either as a cause or a consequence. This needs to be recognised and addressed. 

Given its public health implications, can you comment on the recent scandal surrounding the safety of medicines and the pharma industry’s decision to make clinical trials data more widely accessible? How, in your view, could patient confidence be restored in the safety of medicines, in the interest of public health? 

Ensuring the safety of medicines is clearly of key importance from a public health perspective. Millions of people use medicines daily and they need to be confident that the products are safe, of high quality and effective. Generally, I think the rules we have in Europe for assessing the safety of drugs before they are put on the market work well. But we all know that medicines can have side effects or adverse reaction that are not picked up in this first assessment, and for that reason we also need to have a good pharmacovigilance system. This means that when patients have side effects or adverse reactions from their medicines, they inform their doctors who are responsible for communicating this information to competent authorities. The pharmacovigilance system we have in Europe works reasonably well, but we need to look at whether there are ways we can reinforce it. 

Finally, I think that the pharmaceutical industry has an important role in restoring the confidence of the general public. Transparency and provision of objective information on new medicines to health professionals is essential in this regard. In addition, patients should have access to comparative and objective information on what treatment options exist. 

Thank you for the interview