Madam President, I am pleased to be able to speak this evening about this particularly important, even vital, matter, in the true meaning of the term. I am pleased on behalf of my group, the Group, but also personally, as someone who has long been a staunch advocate of blood donation and a blood donor. Blood donations, as many will know, have an incomparable human dimension, which concerns us all. First of all, I shall state some telling figures. They only concern France, I am afraid, but I would imagine they could generally be applied to most of the Member States of the Union. In France, 8 000 donations are required every day to save 60 000 lives each year and carry out 800 000 transfusions. The victim of a road accident might need the participation of ten to thirty people to ensure their survival, and yet only 5% of people give blood. We are therefore entitled to ask why there are so few blood donors. I know the European Commission understood – and I thank it for that – a fundamental part of the problem when defining the objective of its proposal for December 2000. Its aim is to increase public confidence in the safety of blood and blood products and thus achieve self-sufficiency within the European Union. I shall not speak tonight about the contaminated blood scandals, which understandably shook this confidence and which, furthermore, brought down some political leaders who sinned through lack of vigilance, not to say incompetence. Without forgiving or forgetting anything, I would prefer to concentrate on three questions. What must we do now to restore this confidence? How can we encourage people to give blood more frequently and persuade more people to give? Thirdly, does the solution not lie in the remuneration of donors, as certain European States already practise this system? In response to this last question, I would say straight away that the answer, for me, is ‘no’. Definitely not. Blood and blood products are not goods. Incidentally, I would note that some people, here and there, and even in this Parliament, who vehemently defend ethical principles on matters relating to human genetics, have no problem defending the option of payment being given for blood, and therefore payment being given for the human body. I shall say no more for now, as I do not want to get angry. I must also, however, refer to the sickening trafficking that takes place in countries where people have no other means of survival but to sell blood or other organs. That is why we must stand firm on this matter, in order to avoid any deviation, scandal or attack on human dignity and the ethical principles we share and hold dear. Blood donations must therefore remain based on the principles of free consent, anonymity and benevolence. I feel this is something that should not even be up for discussion. Of course, we must distinguish between remuneration for blood as such and reimbursement of costs incurred in order to give blood: refreshments and snacks, reimbursement of transport costs, and time taken from work to give blood. The proposal put forward in this area is along the right lines. It has been strengthened and clarified to very positive effect by the European Parliament. I shall take this opportunity to congratulate Professor Nisticò warmly on the quality of his work. Lastly, it is important to emphasise certain essential points: blood quality and safety standards, more stringent specifications on the acceptability of blood and plasma donors, and testing of blood donations in the European Community. In conclusion, I would say that, in terms of the points that were the subject of contention, I can accept the results obtained through the conciliation procedure with regard to the guarantee of traceability and the quality of the staff directly involved in collection, testing, processing and storage. For all these reasons, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I can vote in favour of this report and would call on you to do the same. It is our responsibility to help increase public awareness of this gesture, which saves the lives of tens of thousands of people each year, a gesture that could be more common in future, so that our needs can be met in a human and ethical manner.

Political group: GUE-NGL