Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-21-Speech-1-163"
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"en.20080421.18.1-163"2
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".
Mr President, I am trying to put myself in the position of the parents of a three-year-old girl diagnosed with a heart defect, for whom a three-year-old donor heart – not easy to find – was not available in her own country. In another European country one might well be available, but that country was not interested in cooperating with the rest of Europe. In that case I would be demanding action from Europe. And there is good reason why European action is needed. We currently have 400 000 people on a waiting list for organs in Europe and about ten of these will die every day because there is a shortage of donor organs.
Regarding safety and quality criteria, the excellent Adamou report rightly warns against any further bureaucratic burden being imposed by legislation from Brussels. And the proposed legislation – I am glad that the Commissioner has just given it his blessing – certainly must not add to the red tape. If there is one sector that is vulnerable to red tape, it is this one. I was also very happy to hear you say just now that you want to open the way for as many transplants as possible and do not want to restrict the numbers. I think that is an important principle.
We do need guarantees of closer cooperation between Member States. Cross-border cooperation means that the transplantation process is handled by hospitals and doctors who are governed by different legal systems. Last year, former Commissioner for Health Markos Kyprianou argued for the introduction of a European donor card. And Cyprus, as we know, Mr Adamou, Mrs Vassiliou, is a fount of wisdom. This card, whether or not it is combined with the European health insurance card, can ensure that organs which become available are used as efficiently as possible. Eurobarometer surveys show that 81% of Europeans back the use of an organ donor card, but only 12% of them actually carry one. The Adamou report calls for a voluntary European donor card and so I would like to take this opportunity to urge the Commissioner to put forward legislation by the end of the year to introduce a card of this kind to complement national cards."@en1
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