Brussels, 14/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU should put pressure on the European Commission to respect its commitments, particularly with regard to endocrine disruptors and alcoholic drink labelling. This was the message delivered by MEPs on the Environment and Public Health Committee (ENVI) on Thursday 14 January to the Dutch Minister of Health, Well-Being and Sport, Edith Schippers.
The Netherlands took over the reins of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2016. During her speech, Minister Edith Schippers indicated that the Presidency would prioritise the fight against antimicrobial resistance, access to innovative medicines and improving the quality of foodstuffs. It will also be working on the question of dementia and qualifications for nursing staff. At legislative level, it will be working on two legislative proposals on medical and in vitro medical devices, revision of legislation on veterinary medicine and animal health.
During the exchange of views that followed, many MEPs highlighted the need to put pressure on the European Commission to comply with the Court of Justice ruling on endocrine disruptors (see EUROPE 11455) and to define the criteria that would help to identify these substances. Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, the Netherlands) told Minister Schippers “We can't wait six months for the Commission to publish its impact study”. Glenis Willmott (S&D, United Kingdom) displayed impatience with the study on alcoholic drink labelling, which should have been out in December 2014, as well as the strategy against the damaging effects of alcohol, which the Commission is refusing to publish. Giorgos Grammatikakis MEP (S&D, Greece) deplored the fact that the Presidency is not taking more into account the cuts in health care spending and the need to encourage generic medicines. Françoise Grossetête (EPP, France) highlighted the need to establish the link between the work carried out by the previous Presidencies. She is concerned by the lack of transposition of the directive on cross-border healthcare (2011/24/EC), the decrease in vaccinations and called for legislation to be adapted on paediatric medicines (before 2017, the date set out by the Commission).
MEPs used the visit of Schippers as an opportunity to look at the way in which she sought to achieve her main priorities.
Antimicrobial resistance. Jasenko Selimovic (ALDE, Sweden) said “Currently, 24 out of 28 member states have an action plan for combating antimicrobial resistance. The problem is the producers in China and Mongolia, which do not have the same standards as us”. Julie Girling (ECR, United Kingdom) said that this phenomenon was due to over prescribing medicines and her colleague, MEP Eleonora Evi (EFDD, Italy, said that it was also due to “intensive animal rearing”.
The Dutch Minister explained “my goal is to make progress at a European and global level, without penalising farmers on the export markets… The only approach possible is one of a 'single health'. We need cooperation between the human and animal medicines sector by way of a platform. A mechanism is subsequently needed for peer reviews of national plans. Finally, an agenda is needed for research and replacing medicines”. She added that “The Presidency will organise a conference in Amsterdam on 10 February, which will bring together ministers from the departments of agriculture and health. On the basis of this conference, we will see if we are able to put forward conclusions to the Health Council and we will be calling for a new European action plan”.
Access to medicines. The Minister for Health, Well-Being and Sport also spoke at length about the high prices of new medicines “that have a monopoly and which jeopardise the viability of health systems”. According to the minister, three questions arise: access, prices and innovation. With regard to access, the minister called for the complaints by industry to be tackled, which sees regulation as a barrier and for trade rules to be made more flexible by increased interaction to reduce waiting time between those responsible for authorisations and those in charge of discounts.
With regard to price increases, the minister suggests that the member states share the information they possess and that on a voluntary basis, they carry out, negotiations regarding prices. In response to Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE, Netherlands) who called for binding measures, the minister explained “binding measures would prolong things and make them more complicated. I prefer a voluntary approach, in the form of a 'coalition of good intentions'”.
Finally, she called for the rules to be analysed in an effort to see how innovation could be further supported. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)