Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-13-Speech-2-128"
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"en.20030513.6.2-128"2
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"Mr President, today's second reading on serious acute respiratory syndrome comes, I think, at exactly the right time once again because, as we see, there are new cases every day and people are dying from SARS. What is important, as the Minister said, are the immediate measures that need to be taken to protect the public. He mentioned some of these immediate measures, but the main point is what the next steps will be to deal with these diseases, which have significant social and economic repercussions, because with current levels of mobility, with millions of people travelling all over the planet, tremendous potential has been given to communicable diseases. SARS is a typical example, with cases occurring from China, where the disease originated, to places a very long way from the original source.
The second important issue is that we are seeing sudden epidemics of new diseases. Thirty new infectious diseases or variations on old diseases due to mutating viruses have been reported over the last twenty years. Even old diseases, such as tuberculosis, are reoccurring. There is also talk of an imminent pandemic, an outbreak of influenza. We therefore need constant vigilance and monitoring and to find a coordinated response to health threats.
The Minister quite rightly stressed that there is the network set up under Decision 2119 in 1998, for the surveillance of communicable diseases but unfortunately, Minister, this network is inadequate for an organised and coordinated response to these health threats. I agree with you that you need to push for a monitoring centre to be set up in accordance with the Commission proposal, like the one in the United States. We need a monitoring centre at European Union level to coordinate the various national centres, because it is of course the Member States' responsibility, but also to coordinate reference laboratories, so that we can have a fast, coordinated response to communicable diseases and even to bio-terrorism, which is what threats with viruses or bacteria spores are.
You also quite rightly said that public health must take its proper place in the new Treaties for Europe. I am sorry to say that, so far, the constitutional Convention has not sent us this message or this position. As you quite rightly said. Just as the environment has an eminent position in the Treaties, so should public health. Health services are one thing – there is the question of subsidiarity – and public health protection is another because, as you know, viruses and various diseases and bio-terrorism do not recognise borders and can pass from country to country, from Member State to Member State and we must be able to respond in a coordinated manner. If we are to be able to do so, we need public health to have an eminent position in the Treaty of the European Union. So I agree with you and I would ask for you to persuade the other ministers to agree to set up this communicable diseases monitoring and control centre at European level and for us to persuade the constitutional Convention and the Council to give public health an eminent position in the new constitution of Europe."@en1
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