Pulling strings on cross-border healthcare

By pulling strings Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the Party of European Socialists, lobbied against a proposal on cross-border healthcare which was supposed to have been adopted by the European Commission last month. In a letter to socialist European commissioners he warned of the “political chaos” the proposal could cause in some EU member states if presented ahead of the ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
This attempt at political extortion persuaded the Commission to drop its proposal for the time being. Rasmussen managed to delay a directive that would have given Europeans a sought-after possibility to opt for healthcare in any member state. Socialists, keen to keep the supply of healthcare a prerogative of politically controlled monopolies, cannot accept such a reform. Patients' rights to healthcare without delay just do not matter if there is a risk that systems revered by the socialists might face competition.
By directly influencing the socialist European commissioners, Rasmussen has tried to politicise the Com-mission in an entirely new fashion. The Commission is supposed to be independent and is not supposed to give in to pressure from specific interests and definitely not from individual politicians or political parties.
Margot Wallström, the Commission vice-president, one of those targeted by Rasmussen's letter, has obviously led the resistance and thus shown less dedication to the treaty than to her socialist friends.
The political family represented by Rasmussen might be influential, but it is not the only one. If political pressure and language of force is allowed to determine the European Commission's agenda, Rasmussen and his socialists might find themselves in a less than favourable position.

Gunnar Hökmark MEP
Vice-chairman of the EPP-ED group
Brussels