Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-04-24-Speech-2-059"
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"en.20070424.5.2-059"2
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".
Madam President, I wish to begin by thanking the President-in-Office for her encouraging words made in Bremen – and I hope also here during our debate today – as well as for her continued commitment in the fight against HIV/AIDS. As the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel, stated in her keynote speech at the conference in Bremen, the fight against HIV/AIDS is the responsibility of all Member States. I strongly believe that every single national government should follow Germany’s example and take full political responsibility by putting the fight against HIV/AIDS on its list of top policy priorities.
Today, Parliament is being asked to vote on my report on combating HIV/AIDS within the European Union and in the neighbouring countries, 2006-2009, which contains many important suggestions on how to combat the disease. Various colleagues contributed to this final consolidated version, and I want to use this opportunity to thank all my colleagues who contributed to this report as shadow rapporteurs or by tabling amendments. Their input was of great value and is much appreciated.
As you know, after the vote in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, several new amendments were tabled by the political groups to be voted on during today’s sitting. The majority of those amendments have my support. However, I could not agree on some. If adopted, one of the amendments would, in reality, prolong the current situation where two Member States of the EU are not reporting data to the EU surveillance bodies concerning HIV/AIDS, especially to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Therefore, in my report I urged the responsible bodies in those two Member States to start reporting data. All the other 25 Member States report their national data anonymously, which does not contradict personal data protection.
I want to draw your attention to, and ask for your support for, amendment 4, tabled by the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, regarding equal access to medicines within the European Union. Let me briefly explain the motivation for tabling this amendment. As already stated in the report, access to anti-retroviral treatment and anti-retroviral drugs are different and varying among the Member States of the European Union. At the same time, let me remind you that Article 300 of the EC Treaty provides a legal basis for the Commission to conduct negotiations on behalf of all Member States if the Council authorises the Commission to do so. In such a case, if the European Parliament and the Council were to decide in favour of this proposal, the Commission’s mandate would be limited in scope and duration only to those particular negotiations, namely for equal access to anti-retroviral medicines. Negotiating on behalf of 27 Member States, the outcome could be beneficial for everyone and provide all citizens of the EU with equal access to those medicines.
To conclude, I should like to thank once more all my colleagues who contributed to the work done in this report. The work combating this pandemic will not stop after today’s vote: it will continue in the field. Therefore, I should like to call on all the national governments and the Commission to support non-governmental organisations, social organisations and society as a whole to fight against HIV/AIDS. I call for them to be empowered by allocating the necessary financial resources to strengthen those who fight this epidemic in the front line. The role of civic society in this fight is not to be underestimated, and we need to guarantee our full political support."@en1
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"Georgs Andrejevs (ALDE ),"1
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