Make your voice heard in Europe
In the run up to the election and in consultation with people with diabetes, Diabetes UK developed its manifesto for the 2009 European elections.
We sent the manifesto to all prospective MEP candidates, and our campaigners wrote to their prospective candidates highlighting the main points and asking them to specify what action they intend to take on them.
Diabetes UK will continue to lobby the newly elected Parliament, because although most decisions on healthcare and diabetes are made by governments in individual states, some issues are legislated on at the European Parliament level. It is therefore crucial that the voices of people with diabetes are heard in Europe as well as in individual member states.
The Diabetes UK manifesto is calling on the European Parliament to:
- Tackle the Diabetes Time Bomb - We need to stop people developing the condition and identify people who have diabetes early
- Introduce one standard, simple, front of pack, nutritional food labelling scheme across the EU, based on the traffic light model
- Pass legislation to make it an offence to discriminate against, or impose a blanket ban on, people with diabetes holding any category of driving license, and require individual assessment to ascertain an individual’s ability to drive
- Maintain the ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medicines
- Pass legislation to ban the sale of ‘diabetic foods’ in the EU.
If you would like to contact your MEP you can download the full manifesto here.
Download the Diabetes UK manifesto (PDF, 50KB)
Please forward a copy of any responses you receive to campaigns@diabetes.org.uk or by post to:
Raj Johal, Campaigns Team, Diabetes UK, 10 Parkway, London, NW1 7AA