Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-392"
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"en.20071023.28.2-392"2
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"Mr President, I am very pleased that we have been able to find a solution agreeable to all on the important issue of access to medicines for poor, developing countries. Our debate during the last months has been fruitful and I would like to thank Parliament for the intensity and the quality of our exchanges. The Commission has always been receptive to the concerns expressed by Parliament and, indeed, shares most of them. That is why the Commission was at the forefront of the debate on TRIPS and access to medicines in the WTO.
I have seen in this debate an opportunity for the Commission to clarify its position on a number of issues. We all agree that the amendment of the TRIPS agreement is one part of the solution among many others to the problem of access to medicines. Obviously, other measures are needed, in particular to improve health care systems and the infrastructures, notably in poor, developing countries.
Some Members fear that the mechanism will not work. This is certainly too early to assert. In our regulation implementing the waiver, and together with Parliament, we agreed to evaluate it three years after its entry into force, and we will do it.
We also support the work of the intergovernmental working group with the WHO to explore other measures to further improve access to medicines.
The Commission has been able to reaffirm its attachment to the Doha declaration on the TRIPS agreement on public health and its support for the flexibilities contained therein.
Similarly, this debate allows me to dispel any misunderstanding about what the Commission is doing in the economic partnership agreements with ACP countries. Let me confirm that, in those agreements and in other future bilateral and regional agreements with poor developing countries, the Commission is not asking and will not ask for provisions which could affect access to medicines or undermine the TRIPS flexibilities contained in the Doha declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health.
Thanks to this frank and direct debate Parliament is now in a position to give its assent to the Commission proposal. The European Community will then join the other WTO members which have already accepted the TRIPS agreement. This acceptance will enable the EC to continue to play a leading role in the WTO on the issue of access to medicines.
To conclude, I would like to insist that access to medicines remains a priority for the Commission and I am willing to continue to work in a constructive spirit with Parliament on this matter in the future."@en1
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