19. 11. 2005
The Federation of National Academies of Medicine and similar institutions in the European Union - or, more briefly, the European Federation of Academies of Medicine - was founded in 1993. The Federation has its headquarters in Brussels where its statutes were promulgated by royal decree in 1995. Its principal aims are to promote co-operation between National academies of Medicine and to offer advice to the European Union on issues affecting medicine and public health. Neither has yet proved easy to implement. Membership of the Federation has yet to cover the whole EU, Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden still need to be brought on board and it seems likely that most will do so. The AMedSci became a member shortly after our foundation, taking over UK representation from the Royal College of Physicians. With the imminent enlargement of the European Union, further academies will be recruited and some negotiations have already taken place with the Czech Academy (note: became a member in 2004). The federation holds two annual meetings, one in Brussels and one in another member country. Symposia are held on topics with a European dimension; recent ones have included herbal medicine; antibiotic resistant tuberculosis; telemedicine; continuing medical education; food safety and vaccine safety. Recommendations have been presented to the European Commission but there has been little response. At the instigation of Sandy Macara, the Federation has recently approached the Standing Committee of European Doctors, which has formal access to the Commission, to consider collaboration with them in giving scientifically based advice. This proposal has been well received. The next Federation event will include symposia on Childhood Obesity and on Vaccine Safety. There is great opportunity for inter-academy collaboration in Europe but it will require a good deal of effort. I hope that our Fellows will continue to be as helpful as they have been so far - especially in the next two years while I am president of the Federation! My thanks go to John Martin who is a delegate and to Alasdair Breckenridge, Hugh Pennington and John MacDermot who have contributed notably to symposia.
Sir Peter Lachmann
P.S.
In November 19, 2005, Professor Luigi Frati from Rome replaced Sir Peter in his presidency. Professor Cyril Höschl, president of the Czech Medical Academy, was elected the next president (2008-2009)