The European Parliament adopted by 333 votes in favour, 328 against and 26 abstentions an amendment explicitly calling for the temporary lifting of patents on Covid-19 vaccines. This amendment is in addition to the resolution setting out the European Parliament’s expectations for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held from 30 November to 3 December. The Parliament still has to vote on the whole text on 25 November.
When the resolution was voted on in the Committee on International Trade (INTA) on 9 November, MEPs only called on the Commission to “actively engage in proposal-based negotiations” (see EUROPE 12829/21).
The Left and Greens/EFA MEPs tabled an amendment for a temporary derogation from intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, which was adopted by a narrow majority. Part of the Renew Europe group, including the majority of the French delegation, voted in favour of the amendment, as did the S&D group.
This position is incomprehensible to the co-rapporteur of the text, Sven Simon (EPP, Germany): “The left wing of the European Parliament has once again decided to make the lifting of patents a priority. This risks torpedoing the resolution. This will do nothing to advance immunisation and may harm research”, he said at the debate on 23 November.
The Commission, for its part, maintains its position on the issue. “Intellectual property is only one piece in a big jigsaw. Collaboration with industry and investment in production capacity plays a much bigger part”, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told MEPs.
At the WTO, he will continue to defend the European proposal to simplify the use of existing flexibilities in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreements.
The debate in the Parliament mirrors the one currently taking place in the WTO between members. They have still not reached agreement on this issue a few days before the CM12 (see EUROPE 12837/22). On this issue, as on the others on the agenda, Valdis Dombrovskis admits: “The situation is both complex and challenging”.
See the resolution: https://bit.ly/3j5Wrrw (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)