§ Ms QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Health Council on 14 May. [29655]
§ Mr. MaloneThe Council took note of a working document submitted by the Commission on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and, after an extensive and constructive debate, agreed conclusions on action to be taken to understand better the pathogenesis and transmissibility of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and to extend epidemiological surveillance of the disease.
The Council agreed a common position text based on the Commission's proposal for a decision adopting a programme of Community action on health monitoring, taking account of the European Parliament's opinion on that proposal.
The Council confirmed that, as a number of European Parliament amendments to its common position text could not be accepted, the Conciliation Committee should be convened to reach agreement on a joint text for a decision adopting a programme of Community action on the prevention of drug dependence.
The Council had a short orientation debate on the Commission's proposal for a decision creating a Community network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases and took note of action in hand to develop a global early warning system and response network for communicable diseases, within the context of the EU-US action plan which was agreed in December last year.
There was a short discussion also of the Commission's amended proposal for a Council directive on the approximation of laws relating to the advertising of tobacco products and of a paper from the Italian presidency that explored possibilities for making progress with the proposal. The presidency concluded that it had not found the basis for a compromise.