Public Health in the EU: Is Europe Subject to Americanization‪?‬

1 Introduction Since the launching of the Single Market, the European Commission with the support of Europe's political leaders have sought to reach out to the people of Europe by promoting a "Europe of the Citizens" to neutralize the widespread disenchantment with the prevailing impression of a "Europe of Merchants". The first attempts to introduce a popular dimension to EU legislation dated from the 1984 summit at Fontainebleu where President Mitterrand of France and Prime Minister Craxi of Italy commissioned a report designed to identify areas where the EU could develop new policy dimensions closer to the concerns of ordinary citizens. In retrospect, this decision was the starting point for the gradual expansion of EU activities in the field of consumer protection, environment, and health. The EU's activities in these policy areas were given a large subsequent boost by the Amsterdam Treaty and Article 152, which extended EU competence to "promoting" in addition to "protecting" the health of EU citizens. The former Constitutional treaty did not focus on health per se, but it granted the Commission a stronger mandate to fight health threats such as tobacco and alcohol. In the new Reform Treaty Article 152 draws attention to the protection of public health concerning tobacco and the abuse of alcohol though fighting health threats, first mentioned in the defunct Constitutional Treaty has been deleted.