The Treaty of Rome which governs the process towards a more unified Europe, although mainly concerned with economics, includes important harmonizing provisions in the social sphere, which have direct bearing on health care.
By their nature and in implications these provisions are bound to attract the interest of scholars. They must, therefore, be subjected to the systematic rigorous evaluation and analysis which is a precedent to the deep understanding necessary for the changes which must eventually lead towards the fulfilment of the Treaty's objectives.
This book is presented as a contribution to this end and its impressive basis of scholarship should contribute towards an understanding of trends and the development of social policy in the health field in the future. It is hopefully the overture to a series of basic volumes from the Institute for European Health Services Research at the University of Leuven, likely to stimulate the rapidly developing forum on European health affairs.