Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-13-Speech-2-129"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030513.6.2-129"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, I should like to thank you for your report from the Council and I am well aware that messengers, or bringers of bad news, should not be shot, which is why that is far from my mind. Nevertheless, I do admit that I found the results of this Extraordinary Council meeting very disappointing, if we consider that where SARS is concerned all we have are questions. This is an unknown virus. We do not really know what the routes of infection are. We do not know of any way of treating it, and we do not really know anything about the mortality rate. There are so many questions that the debate about a centre is just a distraction. I may be happy to discuss it in six months' time, but at the moment that is a course of action that glosses over and covers up what is really necessary.
I feel exactly the same when I hear that the Member States have had a constructive exchange of views and are responsible for taking preventive measures. This is something that we have to change. It is high time that there was a Community competence for health policy, and I mean in the Treaty. If we do not recognise that now then I do not know when we will. We ought to have realised this even in the days of BSE. Much of what I am hearing today and have heard in the past is familiar to me: the economic impact – we said that too in the days of BSE. In the Minutes it says not to talk out loud about the dangers of BSE because heaven knows what economic consequences it will have. What consequences did it have in the end? What I would have liked from the Council is for it to have done something practical for once. Incidentally, I would have liked to see the Commission do the same.
Mrs Schreyer, I regret having to say this to you; I know that you are not responsible for this. I will repeat it to Mr Byrne; indeed, I have already said as much to him in this House. It is not acceptable for Mr Byrne to say, yes, research funding is a tricky one, the funds are tied up for such a long time. He should have gone straight to the Commission and said: come on then, chop-chop, release funds from the research framework programme, and do it now! We need money for research immediately, so that we can get things moving and mobilise all of our researchers so that we can establish what kind of a virus it is, whether it is possible to treat it and what vaccines are available. The Member States ought to have done exactly the same. When they were dispersing last week after the extraordinary meeting of the Council, I would have expected them to say: each of us is committed to putting x% or so many hundreds of thousands of euros on the table straight away for research.
I should like to make another unpopular statement: why are we not talking about restricting travel? Other countries are doing that. There are countries that have introduced entry restrictions. Why are we not doing so? Why are planes from my German airline and other airlines still able to travel around all over the place? We do not know anything about the infection channels. We have no idea how long the incubation period is. Is that as it should be? Why are we not having an honest discussion about quarantining? I think it would be responsible to do so, and I think that what the Member States have done and also what the Commission has done is both insufficient and irresponsible. I am denouncing that here and I would like you – that is those who bear the responsibility for this – to justify it to the people of Europe."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples