Book review: EU Health Law and Policy
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Author | Jaan Paju |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262719890701 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
of advancing labour market crisis. The sections of the book presenting the degrading effects of
unemployment are certainly interesting, and they clearly show the benefits of supported employ-
ment (for instance, for the elderly).
The author emphasises the necessity of protecting human dignity during tough times of vast
technological advancements, not only those concerning the labour market. One might say that the
book is written in the spirit of European values, but it also fulfills UN Millennial Goals. The
Secretary-General of the United Nations has recently named the drastic reduction in workplaces to
be one of the most serious threats to the world.
Author biography
Irena Lipowicz is professor and Head of the Department of Administrative Law and Local
Government at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyn´ski University in Warsaw. She is a member of the
Management Board of Societas Iuris Publici Europaei (SIPE) and the Council of the United
Nations University (UNU). Her research interests are in the areas of the theory of administrative
law, local self-government, innovations in public administration and the internal sphere of
administration.
Hervey, Tamara K., Young, Calum Alasdair and Bishop, Louise E. (eds.), 2017, EU Health Law and
Policy (Research Handbook Series), Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 592 pages, ISBN 978-1-78536-471-6
(hardback)
Reviewed by: Jaan Paju, Stockholm University, Sweden
DOI: 10.1177/1388262719890701
Health is an issue that concerns Europeans in their everyday lives, irrespective of the level of
currently provided health care, which is, arguably at its most available and advanced stage ever.
One relevant question at this advanced stage is whether health policy should still be a national
affair or whether one should adopt a broader EU-approach for the good of all EU citizens.
Furthermore, what should the guiding principles for such an approach be: the market approach
or solidarity and universality? These questions cannot remain unanswered. This Research Hand-
book on EU Health Law and Policy provides timely discussions and analyses of health law and
policy from this broader EU perspective.
The Research Handbook on EU Health Law and Policy adopts a multi-disciplinary approach. It
looks at EU health law and policy from the perspectives of law, political science, policy studies and
sociology. In reviewing the book, this poses a challenge for a lawyer. These other disciplinary
perspectives challenge the obvious legal approach to health care, which, so far, has focused on the
cross-border movement of health care as a service. This is refreshing, although a constitutional
discussion of the outer boundaries of the EU competence is missing.
The reviewed anthology is organised into five parts. Historical and institutional contributions
form the first part. Mary Guy’s and Wolf Sauter’s ana lysis (chapter 1) discusses three broad
periods of EU Health Law development: the first stage from Rome to Maastricht with an
Book reviews 395
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