Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-18-Speech-1-207"
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"en.20070618.19.1-207"2
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".
Madam President, I would like to begin by saying that we acknowledge, understand and appreciate the seriousness of this disease. Not only is it a serious disease, but it also affects young men and women in Europe and all over the world in the most productive period of their lives; people who have usually already formed their own families, have young children, have all their life ahead of them and then have to go through these difficulties.
Finally, I would like to inform Parliament that the Commission intends to discuss with Member States a proposal for a large European consensus conference on neuro-degenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis, to be held in 2009 or 2010, and the Commission will be able (on the basis of conclusions endorsed both by public and private stakeholders at that conference) to propose a communication or other relevant policy initiative, including specific actions in all the fields of disease prevention, research and management of this group of diseases. We will, of course, keep Parliament informed of all the next steps.
Also, we appreciate the importance not only of the European Parliament’s resolution but also of the code of best practice, which was drafted by the Platform.
As I have already said, the Commission also participated in the first European conference on multiple sclerosis last month, and that conference was organised in the context of our public health programme. It was a project funded by the programme ‘Multiple Sclerosis – the Information Dividend’ and led by the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform.
Of course, many of the aspects relating to this disease have to be dealt with by the Member States, so it is a gradual process that will take some time, but the Commission is there to help, support and encourage.
At the conference, many essential points were presented concerning the follow-up to Parliament’s resolution of 2003, especially regarding the discriminatory treatment afforded to people with multiple sclerosis. The Commission is taking action in the main fields covered by the proposal regarding a code of good practice on the right of people affected by multiple sclerosis to quality of life. Some actions target multiple sclerosis directly; others are of a more general or, let us say, horizontal or generic nature but, again, they are of benefit to the issue of multiple sclerosis as well, for example, the issue of equal rights and access to treatment and therapies for multiple sclerosis. The Commission, within its more general framework of safe, high-quality and efficient health services, is reinforcing cooperation between Member States. It is helping create reference networks for diseases, exchange of best practice and centres of reference, and the objective of these will be to ensure equal rights to patients and equal level of treatment all over the European Union. So, once these networks are established, they can cover multiple sclerosis as well, especially with centres of reference and exchange of best practices.
On research, on the other hand, we have a more directly targeted agenda and initiatives. The seventh Framework Programme includes collaborative activities on research into brain-related diseases, human development and ageing, with particular emphasis on how to turn basic discoveries into clinical applications. One first call proposal for this topic was neuro-glia interaction in health and disease, which is of direct interest to the multiple sclerosis research community. Also, under the preceding programmes (the fifth and the sixth), the Commission funded 18 projects on multiple sclerosis, the largest of which, in the sixth programme, totalled EUR 11.4 million and related to neuro-protective strategies for multiple sclerosis.
On the issue of employment and discrimination, which is important for us, Directive 2000/78/EC already prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment, occupation and vocational training, and requires employers to put in place reasonable accommodation tailored to the individual case to enable a person with a disability to work or undertake training.
The Commission is committed to encouraging actions and promoting strategies for the adaptation, and reintegration into working life, of affected persons.
On the issue of participation and empowerment, the project I mentioned earlier, ‘Mutliple Sclerosis – the Information Dividend’, will facilitate consensus on agreed European quality standards on information about multiple sclerosis, which has to be accessible, delivered in a timely manner by appropriately skilled and experienced professionals and provided in an equitable and efficient way."@en1
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