The European Coalition for Diabetes yesterday thanked former MEP Simon Busuttil for his efforts to put diabetes on the EU agenda, in a reaction to his resignation from the European Parliament last week.

The Nationalist deputy leader presented his formal resignation so that he can take up his post as a member of the Maltese House of Representatives.

As an MEP, Dr Busuttil was one of the co-chairs of the EU Diabetes Working Group (EUDWG), a group of cross-party, cross-national MEPs strongly committed to the diabetes cause, the coalition said in a statement yesterday.

It added that, through this working group, Dr Busuttil brought together various institutions and stakeholders to put diabetes on the EU agenda.

In March of last year EUDWG pushed for a European Parliament Written Resolution to address the EU diabetes epidemic.

Adopted by an overwhelming majority, this was the first time that the European Parliament adopted a resolution specifically on diabetes.

Through his work, Dr Busuttil made sure the voice of the millions living with diabetes in Europe was heard, chairman Joao Manuel Valente Nabais noted in the statement.