European Union

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for transplant patients.

In the European Union, 16 patients die every day waiting for the organs they need. Around 60 000 patients are on waiting lists. Organ transplantation is becoming an increasingly common way to save human lives or to improve their daily life, but its application is limited by the shortage of available organs. Kidneys are the most frequently transplanted organ.

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Transplant patients have been able to rely on EU quality and safety standards since 2010. The European action plan on organ donation and transplantation also strengthened cooperation between EU countries, therefore now those in need of an organ can benefit from the wider range of organs that cross-border donation can provide. Several EU initiatives help increase people’s awareness and willingness to donate. Recently, the European Parliament proposed the EUDONORG pilot project, which organises training for health professionals and other relevant groups, as well as national awareness events in EU countries.

The third EU health programme (2014-2020) funds projects and joint action with national authorities. One EU-funded project is FOEDUS (‘facilitating exchange of organs donated in EU Member States’) on cross-border organ exchange. The EU also finances the HOTT project, investigating the trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal.

The results are encouraging and shows that when Europe pools its resources and expertise, it can deliver real results for patients.

Further information

• European Commission, ‘Journalist Workshop on Organ donation and transplantation. Recent Facts & Figures’, https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/blood_tissues_organs/docs/ev_20141126_factsfigures_en.pdf
• European Commission, Health-EU newsletter 183, ‘Organ donation and transplant in the EU – progress but much more to do’, http://ec.europa.eu/health/newsletter/183/focus_newsletter_en.htm
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

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Following consultations with Member States, Federica Mogherini, the Head of the European Defence Agency (EDA), has appointed three new chairs for the EDA Steering Boards in R&T Directors, National Armaments Directors and Capability Directors compositions, with effect from 1 December 2018:

• R&T Directors: Dr Luisa Riccardi (Italy)
• National Armaments Directors: Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov (Bulgaria)
• Capability Directors: Major General Eric Schevenhoven (The Netherlands)

“I thank the outgoing chairmen - Deputy Minister Daniel Koštoval, Lt Gen Erhard Bühler and Dr Bryan Wells - for their commitment and outstanding work delivered over the past three years in these important positions”, Jorge Domecq, the EDA Chief Executive, stated. “I am sure that with their vast professional experience and personal qualities, the incoming chairs will continue on this path and be excellent chairpersons. Presiding over the Steering Boards at the level of R&T Directors, National Armaments Directors, and Capability Directors, both the outgoing and incoming chairpersons play key roles in supporting the EDA in the definition and implementation of the latest EU defence initiatives, especially the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund (EDF).”

Dr Luisa Riccardi currently serves as a Technology Innovation Department Director at the Italian Ministry of Defence where she is responsible for the overall military research and technology development strategy plans and policies. She is also in charge of harmonizing the objectives set forth in the National Military Research Programme with the Italian National Research Plan and the country’s overall research and technology policy. Prior to her current assignment, Dr Riccardi served as the first Director of the newly established litigation Department of the Secretariat General of Defense/National Armaments Directorate in the Italian MoD.

Lieutenant General Atanas Zapryanov is Deputy Minister of Defence of Bulgaria. He previously held several important command and staff positions in the Signal Troops of the Bulgarian Army, among others platoon commander, company commander, deputy battalion commander, chief of staff and deputy commander of the 95th Signal regiment of the second army in Plovdiv, chief of staff, deputy director and director of the Signal Troops Directorate to the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army. He also served as a Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army for resources (until 2006), and as the military representative of the Chief of General Staff in NATO military committees and the European Union (until 2010).

Major General Eric Schevenhoven has been Director of Plans of the Defence Staff in the Dutch Ministry of Defence since 1 September 2015. In this position, he also fulfils the role of Dutch Capability Director for NATO and the EU and is a member of the Defence Research Council (RDO), the National Aviation and Aerospace Centre Advisory Council (NLR) and the Coastguard Council. Major General Schevenhoven started his military career in 1980 at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. During his career, he served among others as Deputy Director Governance in NATO's ISAF Headquarters in in Kabul /Afghanistan (2011-2012) and as National Deputy for the Netherlands in the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office in Washington D.C. (2007-2010).   

More information

• EDA governance