Fibromyalgia Syndrome declaration for European Parliament

Five Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will today present a written declaration on Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) at the European Parliament.

The declaration, which will be presented by Ms Jolanta Dickute (Lithuania), Ms Kathy Sinnott (Ireland), Ms Frieda Brepoels (Belgium), Mr Nicolae Vlad Popa (Romania) and Mr Adamos Adamou (Cyprus), calls on the Commission and the Council to:

• Develop a Community strategy on fibromyalgia in order to recognize this condition as a disease.
• Help raising awareness of the condition and facilitate access to information for health professionals and patients, by supporting European and National Awareness campaigns.
• Encourage Member States to improve access to diagnosis and treatment.
• Facilitate research on fibromyalgia through the work programmes of the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research and future research programme.
• Facilitate the development of programs for collecting data on fibromyalgia.

Around 380 MEPs need to sign the declaration in order for it to be presented formally to the European Parliament. The declaration will be available for MEPs to sign for 3 months from today (1st September 2008).

Fibro sufferers around Europe are being encouraged to write to their MEPs asking them to sign the declaration. A list of MEPs for your area can be found on the website of the UK Office of the European Parliament.