European health policy: working within a paradox

This article gives an overview of the position of European health policy within the European Union. A general introduction as to what the European Union is, its structure, and its purposes is followed by an explanation of the status of an overriding European health policy. What is revealed through the debate is the situation in which potential conflict between member states and the European Commission has suppressed the establishment of an integrated health policy. The debate also reveals a paradox, however, because other drivers and policy decisions are creating health policy in a partly unofficial and nonintegrated way.