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Reinterpreting the health in all policies obligation in Article 168 TFEU: the first step towards making enforcement a realistic prospect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2020

Oliver Bartlett Open the ORCID record for Oliver Bartlett [Opens in a new window]  and
Anja Naumann
Oliver Bartlett*
Affiliation:
Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
Anja Naumann
Affiliation:
School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ollie.bartlett@mu.ie
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Abstract

The EU Treaties oblige the EU institutions to take health objectives and concerns into account in all policy fields. Nevertheless, this obligation is only marginally honoured in many EU policy areas at best. One problem is the lack of enforcement options to pursue further implementation. This paper examines the obligation to ‘mainstream’ health in Article 168 TFEU and demonstrates the difficulties in enforcing the obligation in more detail. It then offers a new, deeper interpretation of the contents of the mainstreaming obligation and discusses how this definition may be used to facilitate better enforcement in the future.

Keywords

Article 168 TFEUenforcementhealth in all policiesjusticiabilitymainstreaming

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Article
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Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 16 , Special Issue 1: SPECIAL ISSUE: The future of EU health law and policy , January 2021 , pp. 8 - 22
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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