Press Releases and Articles

The CPME Board and General Assembly met on 12 and 13 November in Gothenburg. The following statements were adopted:

The CPME Board and General Assembly met on 12 and 13 November in Gothenburg.  The following statements were adopted:

-           Concerning the proposal for a directive on services in the internal market: Although CPME supports opportunities for opening up freedoms for patients, consumers and professionals and welcomes the implementation of the rules for the assumption of non hospital health care, as well as the requirement of professional insurance and the role of the codes of conduct as proposed in the directive..

CPME nevertheless recommends exclusion of the health care sector from the draft directive. CPME will reconsider this position in case the (below mentioned) objections to the current proposal are addressed.

The major objections to the proposal concern:

1) On the freedom of establishment, CPME considers that the list of prohibited requirements should not interfere with the right of the Member States to require authorisation and registration procedures for regulated health providers.

2) On the free provision of services, CPME considers the application of the country of origin principle to be detrimental for the patients.

-           Revision of the Working Time Directive: CPME reaffirmed its position adopted on 27 March regarding the revision of the Working time Directive.  The CPME thus is of the view that: the time doctors spend on-call at the working place should be counted as working time as defined in the SIMAP and Jaeger judgements.

A unilateral extension of the reference period from 6 to 12 months should not be possible.

The possibility for individual opt-out for doctors in training should be abolished from the Directive. 

On the limit of 72 hours for the compensatory rest, the CPME agreed that as far as the Medical Profession is concerned, compensatory rest needs to be taken at times immediately following the corresponding periods worked unless otherwise decided by collective agreement.

-          Paediatric medicines: The CPME warmly welcomed the proposed regulation on medicines for paediatric use, and urged all those involved to support it and to ensure that it is adopted and implemented as rapidly as possible.  The CPME emphasises the essential role of academic research on paediatric medicines, which should always be subject to rigorous ethical scrutiny.

-           Bologna process: The CPME welcomes the Bologna Declaration and approves the decisions of the Bologna Process aiming at: the establishment of easy readable and comparable degrees; the establishment of a system of credits, the promotion of mobility, and the promotion of European co-operation in quality assurance. 

However, the CPME strongly opposes the implementation of a two-cycle structure bachelor/master) in medical education. The CPME also requires the consultation of the medical profession in the continuing process on national and European level.

All CPME Policy documents are available at: http://www.cpme.be/policy.php

For more information, contact:

Secretary General, Lisette TIDDENS-ENGWIRDA:               

CPME Secretariat :                 Tel.: +32 2 732 72 02

                                           Fax: +32 2 732 73 44

                                           e-mail:secretariat @cpme.be

For more information about CPME, consult our website: http://www.cpme.be

CPME is a membership driven association with members from the EU, EFTA and the wider Europe. The CPME represents about 2 million doctors within the enlarged EU. CPME’s aim is to promote the highest standards for public health and medical practice at the EU level.