The European Semester: a tool to embed health, equity, and wellbeing across the EU – A roundtable discussion (EuroHealthNet event)
EuroHealthNet held a hybrid roundtable discussion on the 26 April 2023 which took place at the European Parliament and online via Webex.
Kindly hosted by MEP István Ujhelyi, our event gathered policymakers and experts from the local, national and EU level to discuss strengthening health, equity & wellbeing through the European Semester, the process of social and economic policy coordination.
Background
As Europe deals with the aftermath of the pandemic, the ongoing climate crisis, global conflict, larger demographic changes and the technological revolution, the wellbeing of our societies is threatened. At EU level, the European Semester is a key macro-economic process that can be used to help Member States to mitigate these crises through investments and reforms, while promoting health, equity and wellbeing.
EuroHealthNet has been analysing the European Semester process from a health equity and wellbeing perspective since its inception in 2011 - determining whether its outcomes have resulted in more equitable, resilient, ‘better’ societies, and how.
The approach taken by EuroHealthNet also means exploring how the European Semester process can contribute to reforms in other key areas important to health and wellbeing, like housing, early childhood development and care, social inclusion via skill building and literacy, the digital transition and climate adaptation as well as food system sustainability. Ultimately, we took this time to discuss and explore how the European Semester can contribute to the achievement of Wellbeing Economies, moving toward economic models that benefit people and the planet while ensuring human dignity and fairness.
Roundtable
EuroHealthNet has and continues to encourage national public health experts and professionals to engage more in the Semester process to incentivise governments to invest in measures that improve health (equity) and social/sustainable targets.
On the 26th of April 2023, we organised a stakeholder roundtable with the objective of exchanging perspectives on the potential of strengthening health, equity, and wellbeing in the European Semester.
Hosted by MEP István Ujhelyi, the event saw the participation of policymakers, national experts, and EU stakeholders (both online and in person) by stimulating a dynamic discussion among the participants. The meeting was opened by a short presentation of findings from our latest publication. This served to set the scene for the discussion among the participants, who were invited to provide short and targeted (3 min) feedback to react to both our presentation as well as each other’s interventions.
National public experts (health, social affairs, etc.) from EuroHealthNet’s Partnership, European Commission officials, Permanent Representations and other important EU stakeholders presented and spoke at the meeting.
Final Report
Policymakers and experts from the local, national and EU level to discuss strengthening health, equity and wellbeing through the European Semester.