Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-379"
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"en.20070711.32.3-379"2
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Mr Susta and all my fellow Members who have enabled this work, which covers many areas, to develop, and who have made it possible to launch this political initiative aimed at guaranteeing the residents of the world’s poorest countries access to medicines at prices that are reasonable and affordable for those people. While extreme poverty is a serious social hardship, when it is accompanied, as it often is, by serious diseases, it constitutes utter misery: that is the central message that we want to put across.
The agreement achieved within the WTO, which is probably the only practical legal way within the context of multilateralism to facilitate access to medicines at low prices, creates great confusion on many scores. An exemption mechanism is set up, certainly with laudable intentions, but it is not operational: this is because of the restrictive clauses accompanying it, the numerous and complex administrative formalities that make it difficult to put into practice and the inability in practice to access the benefits of the proposed mechanism by countries that are potential beneficiaries.
Few countries have ratified it so far and – even more worryingly – no country has requested the help of this instrument. We need to calmly verify that something is not working, and work out how to put it right. We need to have the courage to go further and to realise that the
agreement is only a partial solution to the fundamental problem, which casts doubt upon the effectiveness of the WTO’s multilateralism rules. We need to put forward measures at European level that go beyond the agreement and that are able to offer a sound contribution to access to medicines at affordable prices, thus helping to save many human lives.
We must encourage the transfer of research and technology to facilitate the production of medicines in poor countries. We must be vigilant – and this is the Commission’s task – because too often counterfeit medicines are sent to poor countries, and this is why we must also act decisively to combat this distortion of international trade. Above all, though, we must undertake to be vigilant to ensure that the citizens of poor countries do not have to suffer this insult also."@en1
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