Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-13-Speech-2-142"
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".
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for your very interesting questions, which I shall try to answer. I cannot answer them all in detail because, as far as I understand, time is limited, but I shall try to do what I can.
To conclude, may I say that, generally, what happened at the Extraordinary Council on 6 May was a very good beginning. The ordinary Council of Ministers will meet on 2 June, by which time more facts will have been gathered, account will be taken of all the observations made by the honourable Members of the European Parliament and, I think, the Member States of the European Union will be in a position to be more coordinated and more specific about the measures which need to be taken at European level.
First, the general state of affairs as far as atypical pneumonia or SARS is concerned. As I said, we know from the Commission and from Mrs Brundtland herself, who has a global view of the matter, that although it has been identified – and this is a fact – in record time compared with what has been done in the past and we have identified the molecular structure of the virus on the one hand; on the other hand, however, no substantial progress has been made in the field of its natural history, in other words on how the virus is transmitted, and there is at present no visible progress on an efficient vaccine to prevent the disease or any anti-viral medication to treat it. Consequently, treatment is merely palliative and what we really need, for patients at least, is for them to be isolated so that the virus does not spread and cause hospital infections, meaning that we need to recommend that every country that does not have negative pressure chambers should acquire them. This is a very basic measure in order to restrict the spread of the virus and prevent hospital infections.
I would just like to offer some clarification on the cases in Holland and Greece. There has been a suspected – not a confirmed – case in Greece since yesterday, which is being investigated. In all events, the fact is that there are also cases in Europe. Luckily, however, as we said, no case has yet been fatal. I am especially pleased that there is a broad consensus about the need for public health to be given top priority in the EU Treaty and in all EU activities in general. I listened to Mr Panella talk of the paradox, and it is indeed a paradox, that we have protection from zoonoses and no protection for human health. This is something that must also be addressed at the Convention; but perhaps there could be joint actions in this direction even now. This prospect is now a possibility and we, the presidency, agree with – and we do not just agree, we are backing – the Commission's efforts to promote the foundation of a disease prevention and control centre in general, not just for communicable diseases. There are diseases which are as important and harmful as communicable diseases. Something like the Centre of Disease Control in the United States.
I should like to say something about what was to be expected from this Extraordinary Council and what ultimately came of it. To start with, I think that it was very positive that this Council was held and that, as a result of SARS, public health was the focus of attention not just of the ministers but of public opinion in Europe.
Secondly, as a text of commonly accepted conclusions had somehow to be drafted, it was only natural for this text not to contain contradictory positions. The text in general was the result of compromise. Nonetheless, there were recommendations on important measures, such as air travel. Emphasis was put, and is being put in the World Health Organisation, on departure controls at exit points. However, this does not mean that there should not be controls. The Commission and the Council recommended that there should at least be some sort of administrative – not public health or medical – control, as the Italian minister, Mr Sirchia insisted.
But however many controls we conduct at entry points, when we are up against a virus with a ten-day incubation period, it is only natural that we should have limited results, because people entering the country are healthy. Almost all cases in countries other than the basic countries, by which I mean China, Hong Kong and Singapore, are people who entered other countries as healthy people and later manifested the disease. Consequently, any entry controls will restrict considerably but will not wipe out the danger of bringing in the virus. A great many topics were touched on. However, everyone agreed on the need for a common European policy on the issue and on health matters in general.
The presidency believes that it is possible, on the basis of the specific conditions which prevail in the country and how the dangers which come from outside are perceived and evaluated, for every Member State to take the corresponding measures. However, there are some which should be joint measures for all the Member States of the European Union and, first and foremost, there is a need for coordination, at least at the information level. A common compulsory information centre, as is the case now with the network for compulsory registration of all probable and possible cases is, I think, an important step because this will give us the epidemiological picture on the basis of which certain measures can be taken to deal with the situation.
On the subject of research, the presidency agrees with maximum possible support for research activities at European level. There should be a common fund, in addition to the fund already set up in Directorate XII, a special fund to deal with this sort of emergency. However, we should not forget that most research is carried out in universities and large international pharmaceutical companies. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that we also need European research activity.
Another question arises, the question of support for those areas affected by the virus, so that they can take the necessary measures. As Mr Liese said, we must not overlook the fact that, if the cases in China had been reported promptly, we probably would not have reached this point. This is something that should serve as a lesson to us all from now on; that there are no borders and that, whatever happens anywhere in the world needs to be reported, there should be a reporting centre and that is precisely what the World Health Organisation is. However, we need similar centres at regional level, such as the surveillance network of the European Union, to which we should report."@en1
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