Microbial Threat--The Copenhagen Recommendations initiative of the EU

The Microbial Threat was the name of an invitational EU conference held in Copenhagen in 1998, which for the first time made antibiotic resistance an official EU issue. The initiative resulted in a set of conclusions, which together with a summary of the conference was published as The Copenhagen Recommendations. This was soon followed by an EU Council Recommendation in 2001 exhorting the member states to follow and enact the recommendations from the Copenhagen meeting. Funding from EU research funds was later provided for projects monitoring resistance as well as antibiotic use, both of which have been lacking in most EU countries until now. The initiative is a good example of a major health issue being lifted by a concerted and official EU action.