This was the main message that rapporteur and ECR NAT coordinator Adam Banaszak conveyed to fellow NAT members in today's Commission meeting. Up for adoption was his opinion on "The role of cities as health promoters" in which Mr Banaszak highlighted the "vital role that cities and regions have in the design, delivery or financing of healthcare systems".

 In the majority of EU member states the management of health systems is decentralised although the degree of decentralisation may vary. Mr Banaszak continued to say that it was "very disappointing" to not hear references to health in the State of the Union address in September by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. 

In his opinion the rapporteur calls for the "scaling up of action to promote public physical and mental health, prevention and equity and to retain health as one of the key priorities". If momentum is lost, the rapporteur states that we run the risk of "not finding solutions to our healthcare challenges" and thereby improving the health and wellbeing of people across the EU.

The opinion was adopted by a majority in the NAT Commission and will be up for adoption at the November CoR plenary session.