The EU’s Performance in the World Health Organization: Internal Cramps after the ‘Lisbon cure’

Abstract

This paper analyses the performance of the European Union (EU) in the World Health Organization (WHO). It looks at two core elements of performance: effectiveness and relevance. It also briefly discusses the financial viability of WHO’s activities. The article discusses the increased Europeanisation and internationalisation of health issues. These developments make it almost inevitable that the EU is becoming a more unified actor within WHO negotiations. At the same time, the EU’s performance is constrained by EU member states’ being cautious about ceding competences to the EU on health issues, having widely diverging preferences on issues such as reproductive rights, and not fully trusting the European Commission to take over external representation in WHO negotiations.

Key Words:

• EU performance
• World Health Organization
• EU external representation and coordination
• European External Action Service

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Roland Driece, Canice Nolan, Suzan Nollen, Klaas van der Tempel, Sarah Wolff, and the editors of this collection for their useful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. For further details on the specific findings on these cases, please see van Schaik (2009).

2. The WHO is composed of six regional offices which operate rather autonomously, something which is reinforced by their regional director being elected directly by the member states of the regional offices. The office of the European region (WHO EURO) is composed of 53 member states, which include the 27 EU states.

3. On 28 October 1982, the Official Journal L 300 published an ‘exchange of letters between the European Communities and the World Health Organization (WHO) laying down the procedure for cooperation between the two organizations – Memorandum defining the arrangements for cooperation between the World Health Organization and the European Communities’.