After taking some holidays, which were very much needed for recharging batteries, the EFN Office is back to work at full motion!
We are looking at an exciting second half of the year ahead of us. The new President of the European Commission, Ms Von der Leyen, is building a colleague of Commissioners. They will set the political priorities of the EU for the next upcoming five years. Almost all EU Member States have already nominated their candidates for taking the top political posts. We still do not know who is going to be next Commissioner for Health, but the EFN will closely monitor the process. It is key that as soon as the new Commission starts meeting to set the new political agenda, the EFN is present there to ensure that nurses’ views are included in the new term of EU-policy making, with particular regards to issues such as the workforce and nurses’ education.
As for the European Parliament, the new President has already been elected. He is David Sassoli, an Italian politician member of the Democratic party. The EFN is looking to forward working with him, and to build alliances with all the MEPs who feel close to the nursing cause.
Finally, this second half of the year also marks a great opportunity for the EFN to keep making progress on its three EU-funded projects: Smart4Health and InteropEHRate, both on them on Electronic Health Records; and QualMent, a project addressing the clinical mentor’s lack in nursing education and develop the clinical mentor’s competence with mentor education for national and international nursing students.