Abstract

The striking thing about European Union (EU) health policy is that it exists at all. It is an administratively and politically complex social and economic sector, which is immensely expensive, redistributive, and interwoven with national identities. Its development is a counterexample to theories suggesting that European integration has slowed or stopped. Rather, reflecting its history, EU health policy has three faces (or images), each with distinct politics: public health, health care and fiscal governance (Greer, 2014b).