Introduction: the roles of the EU in health law

Since Diane Blood sought to use EU law to enable her deceased husband's sperm to be exported, so that she could begin IVF treatment, the influence of EU law on health law and policy in the Member States of the EU has grown apace. Although today there is no single body of “European health law”, the EU is having an ever-widening involvement in relation to health, which is, in turn, affecting the manner in which individual Member States regulate their national health policies. Some of this involvement may be regarded as incidental or reactive, and indeed EU health policy, in general, has been described as having progressed very much on a “muddling through” basis. However, it is also the case that, in certain areas at least, there is, currently, an increasingly structured involvement. This is particularly notable in the fields of public health and research, but may extend to further areas in the future. Indeed, as we were finishing this book, the health ministers of the existing and future Member States, the European Parliament and the European Commission announced the conclusion of the “High Level Process of Reflection on Patient Mobility and Healthcare Developments in the EU”. The Commission will respond to the recommendations made by the report from that High Level process with a Communication in 2004. It is intended, at least by the Commission, that this will develop into an overall EU health strategy.