Naslov
The role of the European Union in health policies of member states – an example of the rare diseases policy in Croatia

Autori
Ivčić, Snježana ; Radin, Dagmar

Izvornik
Croatian medical journal (0353-9504) (2021), 6; 553-560

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
rare diseases, EU health policy, Croatia, neofunctionalism, Europeanisation

Sažetak
The aim of this paper is to explain the functioning of the EU health policy through the concepts of Europeanization and neofunctionalism, and to show what lays behind EU’s influence and mechanisms that shape health policies of member states. The role of the EU in transferring health policies to the national level is shown through the case of the rare diseases policy in Croatia in the period from 1992 until 2015. In this paper, several qualitative methods were used including actor analysis, policy networks, and semi- structured qualitative interviews with key actors at the EU and domestic level. This study demonstrates how, through the case of the rare diseases policy, a EU health policy was transferred to the national level of a member state with an underdeveloped rare diseases policy. Drawing upon the theory of neofunctionalism and the concept of Europeanization, this paper shows that the implementation of the EU health policy is complex, and that there are many indicators that need to be included in order to demonstrate this complexity. While the rare diseases policy is a developing policy area, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the implementation of the EU health policy, and it clarifies how national governments and the public may adopt a specific health policy.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Politologija, Interdisciplinarne društvene znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA