Just three health ministers from European Union (EU) member states turned up in Budapest for Thursday’s informal health summit convened there by Hungary, which assumed the rotating EU Council presidency this month. That so many EU members opted not to send ministers to the summit has been perceived as a calculated snub, one reflecting widespread disapproval of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán‘s recent “peace mission” to Moscow and Beijing. Many suggest that mission was a deliberate attempt by Hungary’s unapologetically nationalist Prime Minister to exploit his country’s newly elevated status as EU Council President.
Italy, Bulgaria and Malta were the only EU member states to be represented at the full ministerial level in Budapest. The Czech Republic and Greece sent deputy ministers; while eight others, Germany and Slovakia among them, sent delegates headed by state secretaries. There was little doubt that in many instances the level of representation was an intentional downgrading. For example, Austria sent its resident ambassador, Denmark was represented by an EU affairs specialist, Belgium by an official from its EU office in Brussels, while France sent the deputy head of a delegation on European and international affairs.
Hungary’s health minister Péter Takács was adamant that the absence of senior government representation was in no way a reaction to Orbán’s ‘peace mission’ to Russia and China. Given the summer season, “these are by no means bad numbers”, he told reporters, after chairing the initial round of talks. Delegates share opinions “based on facts and not ideology” at informal ministerial summits, he insisted.
The EU member state health officials who did assemble in the Hungarian capital were there to review and discuss new EU action plans to combat cardiovascular health issues and to introduce new rules for sharing access to medical data. There was broad agreement on the need for concerted action on heart disease, and the importance of prevention and the promotion of health literacy. Topics reviewed and discussed are to be included into Council conclusions at a formal ministerial summit in December, he added. As for a European Health Data Space (EHDS), Hungary would likely propose establishing a structured joint platform for data sharing to help research and policy planning.
Declaring that there is a crucial need for greater cooperation if a new plan is to increase organ donations, Takács cited how the EU organ donation and transplantation action plan had resulted in a 21% increase in organ donations between 2009 and 2015.
