1.
COMMISSION AND MEPS MAINTAIN PRESSURE ON PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
FOR A GLOBAL STRATEGY IN FAVOUR OF ACCESS TO MEDECINES IN POOR
COUNTRIES
During
a meeting on the 29th of May between Commissioners
Paoul Nielson, Pascal Lamy and representatives from six
pharmaceutical laboratories (BMS, GSK, Merck, Roch, Novartis and
Pfizer), the Commissioners confirmed the Union commitment to
adopt, with the industry counteparts, a real common strategy
in favour of access to medicines in the Least Developed Countries.
In this context, Mr. Lamy underlined the need to clarify
certain aspects of the TRIPS agreements on intellectual property,
especially in connection with the obligatory licenses that
allow for the local manufacturing of vital medicines.
On
the 31st of May Commissioner Lamy once more called on
the northern industries to make gestures in favour of the
development of poor countries showing a certain irritation on the
behaviour of the pharmaceutical industries which are not always
easy to accept these initiatives.
Commissioner
Lamy seems decided to maintain pressure and a new meeting will
be held on the 11th of June, with
the participation of the Presidents of Aventis and
GlaxoSmithKline. This meeting will arise one week before the next
TRIPS council at the WTO, on 18th of June.
By
adopting an opinion from the Dutch Socialist Dorette Corbey,
also the EP Industry Committee showed its impatience about the
absence of a global strategy on the access to medicines. The
document moves in favour of a reduction in the protection of
the patents granted for a duration of twenty years and set within
the TRIPS agreement for an average duration of ten years for a
series of patented medecines, only in the field of transmissible
diseases. Moreover it supports the position of the European
Commission according to which the pharmaceutical industries
must apply differentiated prices. It calls on the Commission to
set rules governing the pricing policy of each medicine to be
based on the production costs. However the EP Committee
underlines that it is necessary to foresee the safeguard clauses
so that the products sold at favourable prices in the poor
countries are not resold in the rich ones. To do this, it
proposes a separate packaging and a clear labelling of medicines
aimed at LDC. The differentiated prices should be adopted
before 2006 when the TRIPS agreement will enter into force in the
LDC.
2.
MORE COMMENTS AND ACTIONS FOLLOWING THE EU DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
This
week the Council President Maj-Inger Klingvall gave some
more comments on the conclusions of the Development Council of
last week. She stressed that European Union is the leading aid
donor in the world but it must improve its aid efficiency
by targeting it more on eradicating poverty and simplifying
decision-making procedures to implement the new Union
development policy defined in November.
The
Council President welcomed, as progress along the road to greater
effectiveness in development cooperation, the guidelines to
enhance coordination between the European Union and the United
Nations, to strengthen the link between emergency aid,
rehabilitation and long-term development, and to integrate the
environment dimension in the development cooperation policy. Regarding
the commitment taken by the Commission to present each year to
the Council a report on the assessment of progress in the reform
of aid management, a first report will be presented in
November as Commissioner Paoul Nielson has confirmed
this week.
Moreover,
following the Development Council’s conclusions on the UN
idea to create a world fund for health and action against
AIDS, a meeting between the donor community and the countries
concerned was held during the Whitsun weekend to draw up the
broad lines of the fund, the way it would be used and its
financial mechanisms. Commissioner Paoul Nielson specified
that it will not be a fund for AIDS alone, but for the provision
of medicines against AIDS, malaria and tubercolosis.
The Commissioner
also answered questions on the state of progress of ratification
of the Cotonou Agreement, another point discussed by the
Council, stressing that he has invited the Member States to speed
up the process. In his words ten Member States have given their
assurance that ratification will be settled within one year.
3.
THE COMMISSION ASKED FOR PALESTINIAN JUDICIARY REFORM IN
RETURN FOR AID PACKAGE
At
a meeting with the European Union President Romano Prodi and
External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, Arafat signed an
agreement which will see the EU cover part of the gap in the
Palestinian budget.
Under
the deal the Palestinians have agreed to a strictly controlled
austerity budget in return for direct aid which will help the
Palestinian Authority to pay salaries and keep basic education
and health services going. This aid will be released in stages
over the next six months, subject to controls ordered by the
I.M.F. to ensure it is being properly spent.
But
the Commission exacted a tough price from Palestinian leader
in return for the EU aid of EUR 60 million. Arafat
sealed the deal by promising to approve laws to enshrine the
indipendence of the Palestinian Authority’s judiciary.
The Commission believes he will now have to abolish the
territories’ military courts, which have ordered the
execution of five Palestinians accused of collaboration with
Israel since January.
The breakthrough
came during last week’s visit to Brussels by Arafat and his
minister for International Cooperation.
4.
IN BRIEF
Human
rights activists have claimed that EU’s Sweden Presidency
has not taken action against a Scandinavian oil company accused
of aiding Sudanese troops waging the country’s civil war. A
coalition of 40 development and peace groups is urging a
temporary EU ban on oil investments in the African state after
the Kharthoum government admitted it was using revenue raised
from oil exploration rights for military expenditure. The Swedish
government defended its record, contending that is waiting for a
full report on the war, to be then presented to the UN General
Assembly, before deciding how it should address its concern over
oil exploration.
The
Commission has adopted a new extreme urgency procedure that will
enable it to answer nearly immediately to emergence of new
humanitarian disasters. Up to now, the Commission didn’t
have a quick response capability. It was only capable to mobilise
its aid, at best, within 15 days. In the framework of the
provision adopted on the 6th of June, it will be able
to take financing decision and to mobilise funds within 25 to 48
hours, for a maximum of € 3 million per crisis.
The new Italian
government may change its position on the ratification of the
Kyoto Protocol. In preparations for the Environment Council of
Thursday 7 June, the Italian delegation submitted a
"footnote" contradicting the EU position to ratify
Kyoto even without US support. It also expressed its wish that
the EU should discuss constructively possible new proposals from
the US. However the Council confirmed the Union’s desire to
ratify the Protocol in 2002 and its scepticism over the
possibility of a compromise with the USA on this issue.