Brussels, 04/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - "Going on the principle of 'operation successful, patient dead', the Council has succeeded in shrouding the European Patent in confusion ," says CDU MEP Klaus-Heiner Lehne of the political compromise reached in the Council on Monday (see yesterday's Europe, p.8). The European Parliament had requested that it be left up to national tribunals to dispose of the substantive issues on the European patent, he points out, criticizing the Council compromise which provides for the setting up of a new tribunal from 2010, which is "unnecessary and will cost the taxpayer many millions extra". Mr Lehne has also condemned the costs entailed by the planned linguistic regime. The European Commission was talking in terms of three languages, French, English and German, the Parliament added two (Italian and Spanish), but at the end of the Council "we find ourselves once more with eleven official languages, and even more to come after Enlargement", he protests. According to Mr Lehne, it is already obvious that the old European patent would be cheaper than the new version. "What is the aim of the exercise?" he asks.