Council's views on setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases came under heavy fire in Parliament. The House unanimously insisted instead on the establishment of a European Centre for the surveillance of these diseases - on the grounds that the microbes responsible for infectious diseases knew no borders. Such a centre had been ruled out in the common position and Commissioner Padraig Flynn told MEPs that he was still opposed to it. The diseases in question include sexually transmitted diseases, viral hepatitis, foodborne diseases and diseases of environmental origin.
Reporting on his recommendation for second reading under the co-decision procedure, Christian Cabrol (F, UFE) emphasised once again that the establishment of such a centre was the sine qua non of any effective action at EU level. Therefore, he had retabled amendments including the incorporation of an early warning system into the Community level structure, the need to use consistent definitions and compatible technologies, the establishment of pre-arranged methods for data collection and the co-ordination of measures relating to communicable diseases.
Anetwork, not a centre
The commissioner rejected the proposal for a European surveillance centre. He pointed out that account had to be taken of the work which had already been undertaken and the structures which already existed in the Community. There were already national centres, many of them with considerable experience and expertise in this field. Mr Flynn said that it was much better to build upon and strengthen what already existed and worked than to start from scratch. Moreover, the era of centralised organisations was coming to an end. The Community was investing heavily in linking the national administrations for a variety of joint functions - communicable disease surveillance and control included. The EU needed this network, said the commissioner.
Although the new Hong Kong chicken flu had, until now, only affected a limited number of people, it appeared that nobody was immune from this particular strain. Without an EU network, said Mr Flynn, there would be no possibility to monitor new cases at Community level and no possibility of defining and co-ordinating control measures for travellers coming from the Hong Kong region.
Should there be an epidemic, the authorities in the member states did not know how quickly a vaccine could be produced on a large scale nor how they would be able to distribute the only specific drug available.