Towards a mental health strategy for the European Union

The European Commission adopted its green paper on mental health on 14 October 2005, taking forward the Mental Health Declaration and Action Plan for Europe endorsed by the 52 member states of the WHO European region at the WHO Ministerial Conference on Mental Health in Helsinki in January 2005. Monika Kosinska interviews Jürgen Scheftlein, project and policy officer at the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection, who drafted the paper, about its implications for member states.