European Policy Analysis
and control in Europe in the 1990s differs from the general context of health policy in the EU . The development of a health policy in the EU has been described as an incremental development likened to a spillover dynamic : since most areas linked to health are progressively integrated , health will be eventually integrated ( Greer 2006 ). If not relying on grand theories of integration , the assumptions have been that health policy was progressively Europeanized ( Böhm and Landwehr 2013 ). However , the case of disease prevention is particular in the sense that the Maastricht Treaty ( art . 129 ) gave , for the first time , legal competences to the European Commission to complement national policies , within the limits of disease prevention , health information , and education . The Maastricht Treaty paved the way for this opportunity for the fathers of the Charter group by asking the Commission to finance their initiative . This demonstrates that this policy idea emerged thanks to the realization of a problem that was recognized in the treaties , in line with the neo-functionalist or the Europeanization assumptions presented earlier . The problem is thus perceived as a consequence of the spillover of European integration : since borders are now open and microbes know no borders , transnational cooperation is needed to tackle potential transnational health problems .
Through the 1990s , there was a debate among experts and institutions on the possibility to create an agency . The problem was framed by the policy community and the institutions as follows : what kind of integration is desirable in the field of prevention and control of communicable diseases ? The terms of the problem were never properly defined by the Charter group or the proponents of the ECID beyond spillover considerations ; however , the institutional archives provide a clear understanding of how the problem was framed depending on the solution championed by the institutions . While the EP describes the problem of disease prevention and control as a matter of “ shortcomings in structure ” ( Cabrol 1997 ), the Commission and the Council are more restrained and , respectively , underline “ growing ” ( Draft Minutes of the 2131st meeting of the Council ( Health ) 1998 ) and “ increasing needs ” ( European Commission 1998 ).
Problem perception changed radically in the 2000s due to the persistence of health crises at the end of the 1990s , whereas food-borne disease (“ Mad Cow ” disease ) or bio-terrorism ( the post 9 / 11 anthrax contamination ) shifted the issue from a functional problem to the recognition of threats . This trend culminated in the early 2000 with the events of the SARS crisis .
The following part is dedicated to understanding how the Commission framed this focusing event in a way that led to bricolage . To draw a clear picture of the opening of the policy window and bricolage I first present reflections on the reasons why changes in the politics and the problem stream before the SARS crisis never led to coupling the streams .
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