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 Bulgarian nurses leave Libya in French presidential plane
A French presidential plane carrying the five Bulgarian nurses and the
Palestinian doctor took off from Tripoli in the early hours of Tuesday
(24 July 2007), bringing the group safely back to their homes in Bulgaria
after more than eight years spent in prison.
French First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy and External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner arrived in Tripoli on
Sunday (22 July) to hold a series of secretive talks to secure the
repatriation of the health professionals. They were accompanied by Claude
Guéant, a top aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In a statement, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and
Nicolas Sarkozy said they "salute the humanitarian gesture of Libya
and of its highest leader", Moammar Kadhafi, adding that they
"commit themselves to do everything to help the AIDS-affected
children" in Libya.
Barroso and Sarkozy also expressed their "profound gratitude to
the Emir and the State of Qatar whose mediation has allowed for this
happy solution".
However, Sarkozy's personal involvement in the nurses release has
caused tensions with Brussels, which had been steering negotiations with
Libya since 2004. Commission officials had not been informed when
Sarkozy's wife, Cecilia, first arrived in Tripoli on 12 July to
offer assistance in the negotiations.
But in the second and decisive visit ten days later, Cecilia appeared
flanked by Ferrero-Waldner, suggesting that Paris and Brussels had mended
their differences and stepped up co-ordination.
"This solution would have not been possible without the efforts
and the determination of the European Commission, in particular the
member of the Commission in charge of external relations, Ms Benita
Ferrero-Waldner throughout the whole process," the Commission said
in a statement that also praised "the personal commitment of Ms
Cecilia Sarkozy".
Libya has requested a complete normalisation of relations with the EU
in exchange for the nurses’ liberation, Reuters reported on Monday
(23 July), citing an official source in Libya. The French president, who
has been championing talks for a 'Mediterranean Union', is said to be
scheduling an official visit to Libya on Wednesday.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor
were accused of having deliberately infected children with HIV/AIDS in
Lybia and have been held for trial since 1999. They have all denied the
charges against them, saying that their confessions were extracted under
torture.
 Call for expression of interest in
the SANCO Stakeholder Dialogue Group
The European Commission's Health and Consumer Protection
Directorate-General (DG SANCO) has opened a call for expression of
interest for the Stakeholder Dialogue Group that will close on 27 July
2007.
The Group's objective is to help SANCO improve its contacts with
stakeholders. The participants will be selected on the basis of their
overall working experience in the field of DG SANCO consultation
processes. The group will include 20 experts from different policy areas
and across Member States.
The decision to establish the Group is a recommendation issued by the
Peer Review Group established in June 2006 to advise DG SANCO on how to
review its experience on stakeholder involvement and how to identify best
practices in the existing consultation system.
The primary task of the Stakeholder Dialogue Group will be to ensure
that DG SANCO stakeholder involvement procedures are better suited to fit
stakeholders' needs and to support mainstreaming best practice in DG
SANCO's consultations.
Furthermore, additional issues will be discussed by the Stakeholder
Dialogue Group: the definition of stakeholder representativeness,
stakeholder negotiating power, more flexible consultation deadlines the
role of national platforms (especially in new Member States) as well as
the role of Member States in going local.
For further information, please visit:
http://www.sanco-stakeholderinvolvement.eu/
Services
Directive: Commission consults service providers on
codes of conduct
The European Commission is asking professional associations in the EU
to provide information on their codes of conduct, either existing or in
preparation, and to give their opinions on how best to develop codes of
conduct at European level. Encouraging the development of such codes of
conduct could contribute to the improvement of quality of service, which
is an important aspect of the Services Directive, due to be implemented
in Member States by end 2009. The consultation, which is in the form of
an online questionnaire, is open until 30 July 2007.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?
reference=IP/07/753&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
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