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Monthly Newsletter edited by Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network
Civic Activism   |   Patients' Rights   |   Consumers' Rights   |   Support ACN


Year 2th, number 12 - June 2013
Highlight

Make them informed! Ask your State to inform citizens on EU health rights!
Active Citizenship Network drafted a Manifesto for the implementation of the Right of European Patients to make an informed choice,  because we believe that the implementation of this principle, contained in the Directive on Cross Border Care, shall allow all patients to access services better adapted to their personal requirements, both abroad and in their own country/region. Read more and Subscribe it!

New charges in Cittadinanzattiva and Active Citizenship Network
Tonino Aceti, 33, in Cittadinanzattiva since 2003, is the new national coordinator of the Tribunal for Patients' Rights, and adds this nomination to as Head of the National Coordination of Associations of the chronically ill.
Mariano Votta, 40, is instead the new coordinator of the Active Citizenship Network, the European Network of Cittadinanzattiva. Both charges were named by the National Directorate of Cittadinanzattiva last 28 June in Rome. Read more

Special Focus: Justice

Judicial performance and its determinants: a cross-country perspective
Italy is black mesh of the OECD countries for the duration of the civil trial: in 2010 were employed 564 days for the first instance, against an average of 240 days and 107 days of Japan, which instead has the fastest civil justice in the world. This is indicated by the OECD Report "What makes effective civil justice?". Read more

Commission recommends Member States to have collective redress mechanisms in place to ensure effective access to justice
The European Commission has set out a series of common, non-binding principles for collective redress mechanisms in the Member States so that citizens and companies can enforce the rights granted to them under EU law where these have been infringed. The Recommendation aims to ensure a coherent horizontal approach to collective redress in the European Union without harmonizing Member States' systems. Read more

In the Official Gazette the new EU Directive on conciliation
At the same time, the new EU Directive on conciliation appears in the Official Gazette, and the mediation returns in Italy. It is not an accidental timing, the return to mandatory mediation was inevitable. Read more
By Liliana Ciccarelli, Counseland conciliation Office of Cittadinanzattiva

Amnesty International Annual Report: The situation of human rights in the world
The lack of global action in support of human rights is making the world more dangerous for refugees and migrants. This is the message released by Amnesty International on the occasion of the presentation of its Annual Report 2013, which describes the situation of human rights in 159 countries and territories, in the period between January and December 2012. Watch the video

Are young Turks occupying Gezi park model European citizens?
The massive street protests in Turkey over recent weeks – triggered by plans to build a shopping mall in Gezi park and spiralling into expressions of widespread discontent at authoritarian government and forceful attempts to quieten dissent – have solicited the European institutions to give a response. Read more
By Niccolo Milanese

Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes, Italy under EU infringement procedure
"The European Commission launched in 2012 an infringement procedure against Italy for failure to comply with Directive 2004/80/EC and is currently considering further steps of the procedure." It is the response of the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding to a question by an Italian MEP on the issue of compensation for victims of violent crime. In practice, the Italian state is not always fulfills its duty to compensate the victims of violent intentional crime if the offender does not have the means to do so, as stated in the Directive 2004/80/EC. Download the Directive

Prisons: Strasbourg Court rejects Italian appeal
Italy's overcrowded prisons close to collapse and the Country has a year to solve the problem of prison overcrowding. That was the decision of the European Court of Human Rights that has rejected the request for review submitted by the Italian government after the conviction suffered from Strasbourg in January. Read more

Three laws for justice and human rights in Italy: torture, prisons, drugs
Cittadinanzattiva is one of the associations of the organizing committee of the Campaign "Three Laws for Justice and Human Rights: Torture, Prisons, Drugs," three laws of civilization directed respectively to introduce the crime of torture in the Criminal Code, to amend the law on the Fini-Giovanardi drugs and restore the rule of law in overcrowded prisons. Read more

Justice that benefits its citizens
Cittadinanzattiva is an organization of citizens involved in both the everyday protection of individual rights and the promotion of policies to facilitate access to services, including that of justice, in order to contribute to improving the quality of the organization, the dialogue between the different actors in the field, and to encourage widespread public supervision on the administration of the services and the affirmation of rights, first and foremost for the benefit of those most vulnerable and most are excluded. Read more
By Laura Liberto, National Coordinator Justice Network for Rights-Cittadinanzattiva

News
Patients' Rights

Italy: Ministry of Health launches communication campaign on palliative care and pain therapy
The goal is to communicate the existence of the Law 38/2010, which guarantees and protects access to care for the sick, as well as inform them about local services. At the start a commercials on TV with the slogan "No longer alone in pain," an online map with 500 centers for palliative care and pain therapy in Italy, information and contact points available to the public. Watch the video and download the materials (Italian version)

Palliative care and pain therapy: the Italian commitment in Europe
During the presentation of the "XII National Day of relief", celebrated throughout Italy last May 26, the Italian Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin has issued an official statement related their commitment to promote a network among member countries to share best practices on palliative care during the Italian Presidency of the EU in 2014. Read more (Italian version)

Study links common painkillers to increased risk of heart attack
Some of the most commonly used painkillers can increase long-term users' heart-attack risk by more than a third, an in-depth study into their side-effects has shown. The study, published in The Lancet medical journal last May 30, it was realized by researchers of the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Unit in cooperation with the Institute of Pharmacology, Catholic University of Rome, and funded by Medical research council and by British heart foundation. Read more

Making Laws Work for Patients
Health care violations are still widespread in many Eastern European and Central Asian countries. At the same time, many countries in this region have engaged in extensive legal reforms and passed laws to protect rights. But these laws are rarely enforced, and they remain largely unknown by lawyers, health care providers, and patients. To help these laws work for patients, Open Society has produced a series of practical how-to manuals - Practitioner Guides - for lawyers to address human rights violations in patient care. Read more

Commission asks Italy to respect doctors' right to minimum daily and weekly rest  periods
The European Commission has requested Italy to respect the rights of doctors working in public health services to minimum daily and weekly rest periods, as required by Working Time Directive (Directive 2003/88/EC). Under Italian law, several key rights contained in the Working Time Directive, such as the 48-hour limit to average weekly working time and minimum daily rest periods of 11 consecutive hours, do not apply to "managers" operating within the National Health Service. Read more

Call for greater transparency in clinical trials
Members of the European Parliament's environment, health and food safety committee last 29 May voted for greater transparency in the European Commission's proposal to revise EU rules on clinical trials. The revision of the 2001 clinical trials directive is meant to tackle problems with bureaucracy. But MEPs want the revision also to require greater transparency in the way that pharmaceutical companies conduct their drug trials. The draft text approved by the committee would require companies to publish summaries of their trials on a database that can be viewed by the public. The firms would also have to publish a full report once a decision on product authorization has been taken. At present, reports are published on about half of the clinical trials conducted in the EU. Read more

Cancer incidence and mortality patterns in Europe: Estimates for 40 countries
There were an estimated 3.45 million new cases of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) and 1.75 million deaths from cancer in Europe in 2012. The most common cancer sites were cancers of the female breast (464,000 cases), followed by colorectal (447,000), prostate (417,000) and lung (410,000). These four cancers represent half of the overall burden of cancer in Europe. The research is published by European Journal of Cancer. Read more

The Health and Care of Pregnant Women and Babies in Europe
The burden of mortality and morbidity in the perinatal period – pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum – remains a major concern in Europe. The European Perinatal Health Report released by the EURO-PERISTAT project is the most comprehensive report on the health and care of pregnant women and babies in Europe and brings together data from 2010 from 26 European Union member states. Read more

European Medicines Agency issues six key recommendations to tackle the issue of medication errors
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued six key recommendations to tackle the issue of medication errors causing harm in the European Union (EU). These recommendations are described in the medication-errors workshop report. The Agency, in collaboration with the European Commission and the EU regulatory network, will now develop an action plan, which will publish before the end of the year. Read more

Childcare: Commission calls on Member States to do more
Member States will need to step up their efforts to improve childcare provisions if the EU is to reach its 75% employment rate target by 2020, said the European Commission. Figures for 2010 show that most EU countries have missed their own targets for childcare provision: only eight were able to meet the targets for both age categories (0-3 years; 3 years to mandatory school age): Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Read more

More information:
Nursery in Italy, Europe is far, by Annual Report of Cittadinanzattiva

Consumers' Rights

New country, new Commissioner. The European Commission Welcomes Croatia's Neven Mimica. as the new Commissioner for Consumer Protection
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved the appointment of the Croatian Neven Mimica as European Commissioner for Consumer Protection. Mimicry begins to perform his duties in July, when Crozia officially becomes the 28th Member State of the EU. His tenure will end 'on October 31, 2014, at the end of the mandate given to the team led by President Jose' Manuel Barroso. Read more

EU Food Additives: making our food safer
Since June 1 became effective a new list of approved additives at EU level, which includes only those additives considered safe based on a scientific evaluation. The main advantage of the new rules is transparency: the additives will be clearly listed according to the category of foods to which can be added. The most important condition for their use is that they are safe and justified from a technological point of view, that is not misleading to the consumer and indeed the benefits make changes. To ensure that the additives continue to be used safely, the European Food Safety Authority has adopted a comprehensive re-evaluation program, currently in progress. Read more

Consultation on the Review of the European Waste Management Targets
The European Commission has opened a public consultation on the revision of the objectives of waste management which is open to all citizens, organizations and public bodies. The results will contribute to a legislative proposal in the revised policy on waste. The consultation will expire on September 10, 2013. Read more

Vice-President Kallas launches new passenger rights information campaign
For the first time, millions of holiday-makers travelling in the EU this summer will be protected by comprehensive passenger rights – whether travelling by air or rail, and now also by ship, bus and coach. But research shows that two-thirds of passengers are not aware of their rights. For this reason, the Commission is launching a new campaign to inform the many people gearing up to travel this summer about their passenger rights, and how to claim them if needed. Read more

Good practices concerning mobility from a civic point of view
In your city is taking place a good practice in terms of public transport and sustainable mobility? Participate in the collection of good practices initiated in Europe as part of the Mobility. The best experiences will be brought to the attention of the European institutions at the end of 2013. Do you want to report on Good Practice? Read More. Sign in database

More information:
Good practice: the policy of Cittadinanzattiva

Civic Activism

European elections: two out of three young people intend to vote
Almost two thirds (64%) of young Europeans intend to vote in the 2014 European Parliament elections whereas around one thirds (35%) say they are unlikely to do so, according to a Commission survey on youth participation in democratic life. Read more

An active citizen against cancer in Europe!
A Greek partner of Active Citizenship Network, Kathi Apostolidis has been appointed Vice President of the European Coalition of Cancer Patients. Congratulations and good luck! Read more

A Good Life in Old Age?
On 15 June, the OECD, in collaboration with the European Commission and the UN, presented in Brussels a report on aging. According to the report, which involved 25 countries, over the next 50 years, the proportion of the population over 80 will triple, reaching 12%. A change that will have to be addressed through a common strategy to ensure that older people are an adequate quality of life. Download the Report

More information:
Active Aging citizens at the center of EU health policy, EU project led by ACN in 2012

Vice-President Maroš Šefcovic met stakeholders to prepare review of Transparency Register
This year there will be the launch of a review of the Commission's and European Parliament's Joint Transparency Register (of organizations involved in interest representation, advocacy, lobbying etc.). To ensure, on top of a previous public consultation, that stakeholders have a voice in this process, Vice-President Šefcovic met days ago representatives of several European-wide umbrella organizations which reflect different categories of the register. These include among others Transparency International and the Civil Society Contact Group for NGOs. Read more

More information:
EU transparency register riddled with errors

Events

5th-6th July 2013, Barcelona (Spain): 2nd Colorectal Cancer Patient Conference
The purpose of CCPC 2013 is to sustain EuropaColon's efforts to fight against the disease in Europe to engage, educate, inform and support colorectal cancer patients alongside all relevant stakeholders. Read more

4th-5th September 2013, Brussels: EPHA 4th Annual Conference 2013
On 4 and 5 September 2013 the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) will celebrate 20 years of helping shape Europe’s public health. EPHA is using this milestone as an opportunity to look at how we can foster an EU that is coherent in its decisions, in terms of fostering the health and well-being of people living in Europe. Read more

 

Credits
Director and Editor in chief: Mariano Votta
Vice-director: Alessandro Cossu
Editors: Daniela Quaggia, Charlotte Roffiaen
Coordination and Production: Giacomo D'Orazio 
We thank "Expert network EU4U" for collaboration

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