What happens if we fall ill in Europe? Do we have the right to go to the country next door if the doctors are better or if the medicines are cheaper? What about our food? Are some Europeans eating genetically modified meals whereas others are not? What does the EU do for us as consumers in our everyday lives? Answering your questions in the European Parliament in Brussels is John Dalli the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy.

Q: Why are prices not the same across Europe?

Alex Taylor: “A very simple question. I for instance, live in Paris and in Berlin. Mouthwash costs 4 euros in Berlin and 7 euros in Paris for exactly the same product, the same brand of mouthwash. Why do I pay different prices?”

John Dalli: “Well in fact for many items, Europe has a single market. However we do not have price harmonisation. Different issues of transportation, advertising requirements, of cost of distribution, and other issues affect costs and therefore pricing in the different countries.

Alex Taylor: “But is that going to change? Are we going to have more price harmonisation?”

John Dalli: “I believe price harmonisation has to come through competition and basically this is what the single market brings. It brings competition.”

Alex Taylor: “Will you ever be able to impose it on different member states?”

John Dalli: “I don’t believe that we will be imposing price harmonisation everywhere in Europe. But we will be strengthening the single market to encourage competition.”

Alex Taylor: “Right, ok let’s have another question now.

Q: How we can be sure that the meat we buy is properly labelled?

Alex Taylor: “Traceability is a very difficult issue. Obviously issues of public health are involved. There are so many items within certain products we buy in supermarkets. How can we possibly know where it all comes from?”

John Dalli: “In fact on traceability we have now passed a Directive in Parliament, agreed also with the Council, on labelling of food and part of it is on origin of food.”

Alex Taylor: “So you can impose that on Member States?”

John Dalli: “We are imposing that on Member States and on other issues we will be enforcing labelling of origin on beef for example, imposing origin on poultry and pigmeat and then we will have voluntary schemes on other things.”

Q: “What you can do to make organic food cheaper?

Alex Taylor: “Organic Food costs much more (than ordinary food). That’s not normal, not natural. How can we get the price down?”

John Dalli: “Organic food costs more because the production methods are very labour intensive. In all countries. And this is one of the problems with organic food. We like our people to eat healthily and organic food is one way of improving the quality of food.”

Alex Taylor: “We’re sure of that, are we? I mean there have been some health scares recently in Germany recently about organic food.

John Dalli: “The health scares in Germany were not due to organic food production. It was due to infected seeds that were imported from Egypt. That scare, that event in fact, was well controlled because of European traceability.”

Alex Taylor: “In times of recession though, it isn’t easy to buy organic food. Nobody wants to pay more for their food especially when budgets are tight.”

John Dalli: “That is true but then we have to face the reality that costs are costs and producing organic food is more expensive than otherwise.”

Q: Would you eat genetically modified food?

John Dalli: “Well I can answer that very simply. If it is certified safe by our scientists, then the answer is yes.”

Alex Taylor: “But doesn’t it worry you, that we have a different policy than the United States on whether genetically modified food is safe. We’ve never agreed with them.”

John Dalli: “We don’t have a different policy, we have a different authorisation process, because we authorise our own GM foods, whether they are safe or not. We don’t take the word of the United States. Therefore we have our own processes which we are now solidifying quite rapidly and rigorously. And we go for a scientifically based decision. If anything is authorised in the European Union, then it must have gone through a very very tight safety filter and so if it is certified safe, then yes it is safe.”

Alex Taylor: “So do you think we will be eating more and more genetically modified foodstuffs in the future?”

John Dalli: “I believe that genetically modified foods are a reality that’s going to be with us more and more in the future. Also because the science is improving more and more and the risks attached to it are decreasing.”

Q: How we can reduce the level or fats served in school meals?

Alex Taylor: “So can you do anything in terms of harmonisation policy to make sure our children are eating more healthily?”

John Dalli: “It’s not a question of harmonisation here. It’s a question of assisted progress. And we do have an assistance programme in foods throughout Europe – through the Commission – by for example supplying fruit to schools, so we can accustom our children to eating healthy food.”

Alex Taylor: “But do they really want to eat healthy food? I mean give kids chips and broccoli, they eat the chips!”

John Dalli: “Well I tell you, when they get used to it yes they do eat broccoli! I have my own grandchild who comes home and demands healthy food because that is what he is used to.”

Q: Is it possible to have a common health system across Europe?

Alex Taylor: Can I hop over the frontier if I find the system is better in a different country?”

John Dalli: “In fact we have just also passed a new Directive on cross-border healthcare and the rights of patients to cross borders for healthcare. It is still limited in the way that in many cases people still have to get a pre-authorisation from the government. We have limited this pre-authorisation process a lot, but what we have also done is guaranteed reimbursement to the patient when he or she gets back home.”

Alex Taylor: “So you see in the future, people shopping for better healthcare elsewhere?”

John Dalli: “Well I can see that in the future but that is not the scope of this Directive. The scope of this Directive is to pressurise governments to give the best care for all patients in their own countries.”

Q: There are massive inequalities in healthcare provision for migrant women from third countries here in the European Union. How are you going to address that imblanace and ensure that all women have access to healthcare?

Alex Taylor: “Women’s healthcare is a vast issue obviously. Is there anything you can do about it at a European level?”

John Dalli: “I believe inequality is a big issue in Europe and this is something that we are attacking through investment, through structural funds which we have now opened up to the healthcare sector as well, so we can encourage Member States to invest much more in order to achieve this equality in healthcare. As far as women are concerned we also have a Communication. We are relfecting and discussing on this particular issue and we are trying to bring forward initiatives and measures that will assist equality in this sector.”

More about: Food crisis, Health, Nutritional health

Copyright © 2012 euronews