Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-26-Speech-2-194"
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"en.20041026.12.2-194"2
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"Mr President, if you ask our constituents what they want from Europe, they will probably tell us to do less. But they will also tell us that what we do, we must do better. Commissioner, if you ask them what sort of things they want us to do, they say 'the things that protect us, the things that help us'. Nowhere is that more true than in the areas of public health: in terms of the safety of medicines; in terms of food safety; and in terms of protection from diseases and health emergencies. That is why I want to follow what Mrs Haug said about these agencies. Some agencies are crucial to our citizens, and we are not providing them with sufficient funding to do the job we expect from them.
The first of these I would pick out is the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, where new drugs – orphan drugs, pharmacovigilance, herbal medicines and so on – are piled on top of its initial responsibilities, but the funding is static. I ask the House to support the amendment on orphan drugs that Mrs Haug has tabled on behalf of the Environment Committee, and to look very carefully at funding for the future in that area.
The second example is the European Food Safety Authority, which is expected to move to Parma. It is also being expected to take on new responsibilities, not least in terms of health claims with regard to nutrient profiling and so on. We are not funding that adequately either. That can fall flat on its face, and if does so, then public confidence is lost. That is true of both the bodies I have mentioned.
The third example is that of our new 'baby', the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is being set up in Stockholm. In Stockholm, it has already been found that costs are higher than anticipated. The value of the Krona has shot up against the euro, and the costs of employment and premises are both having an impact. As a result it will not be possible to implement the expected recruitment policies. I ask that this should be looked into as well, because if we do not protect people from health emergencies and from the dramatic increase in health threats, the public will not thank us. If we wish to pay for this – and we should – then we need to look at the budget for subsidies for tobacco–growing. That would pay for all those agencies. Moreover, if we removed these subsidies, we would also remove a health threat."@en1
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