Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-04-Speech-1-063"
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"en.20090504.15.1-063"2
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".
Mr President, it would seem that the flu pandemic is not as bad as expected. We have been lucky again, just as we were with SARS – yet this is not down to the decision-makers, Mr President. When the flu threat became known during the weekend, they agreed to meet for urgent talks on the Thursday – which strikes me as a redefinition of the word ‘urgent’. Subsequently, nothing much was decided. What happens if there is a real crisis?
What happens in the event of the ‘big one’ – which the World Health Organization is convinced is coming, and may well claim eight to 10 million lives? The ministers met to exchange information, and plans were made. Yet what was the quality of the plans, and of the exchange of information? What measures have been taken, and are these actually coordinated? Is the Commission receiving all the necessary information? I have my doubts. Taking the example of the antiviral drugs: who has, and who does not have, these? Also, are the ministers now prepared, at long last, to create a European emergency stockpile?
Although I am not convinced that France’s proposal to ground all flights to Mexico was a good one, the Council’s decision that everyone should make up their own minds whether to do this is, of course, crazy. With our open borders, what is the point of one country doing it if another does not? The countries should have taken that decision together. The only solution to this is to empower the Commission to take this kind of emergency measures. You, Commissioner, by order of the Council, should be able to take contingency measures within 24 hours on such issues as quarantine, disinfection measures at airports and travel restrictions.
I am not blaming the Commission, then. Commissioner, you and your officials acted correctly. Where was the Council, though? We look around the proverbial dusty Mexican square and there, in the sun, by the little station, sits the Council. We run towards it crying ‘flu, flu’, and the sombrero lifts slowly and the Council replies
and goes back to its siesta. It is hard to do anything with this Council."@en1
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"‘mañana mañana’"1
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