The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has just recommended conditional marketing authorisation for Pfizer's Corona drug Paxlovid. Official authorisation by the European Commission is now only a matter of hours. "This is good news for now. We now have a new possibility to help sick and vulnerable people in the early stages of an infection," said MEP Peter Liese, EPP spokesperson for health.
"Paxlovid has shown in clinical trials that, when used correctly, almost 90% of severe courses can be prevented. Paxlovid is a tablet, which is why it can be used in GP surgeries. It prevents the spread of the virus and is particularly helpful for people who are known to have a weak immune response, for example, kidney patients or cancer patients, and are at high risk of developing a severe course if they become infected. The authorisation of Paxlovid is therefore a real ray of hope," said the doctor and MEP. However, Liese cautioned that Paxlovid should in no way be seen as a substitute for vaccination. "These are not M&Ms.
Read more: European Medicines Agency recommends marketing authorisation for Corona drug Paxlovid
The European Parliament's rapporteur for the Emissions Trading Scheme, MEP Peter Liese clearly ruled out spending money from the EU scheme on nuclear energy in the draft legislation he presented on Friday. This was Liese's reaction to the debate in recent weeks.
"Personally, I believe that the European Commission's proposal on taxonomy is not acceptable as it stands. Irrespective of this, however, we have to be very strict when it comes to EU funds for innovation. The European Commission has proposed that all fossil fuels be excluded from the modernisation fund, which is intended above all to help Central and Eastern European Member States make the transition to climate neutrality. This means that it cannot be funded if a company invests in the most modern gas-fired power plant in the world and converts it to CO2-neutral fuels in the short term. For nuclear energy, however, there are no requirements at all. In my view, this is completely unacceptable. I therefore propose that money from those the funds can only be spent on renewable energies, energy efficiency and other indisputable measures. I propose the same for the Innovation fund. The funds together comprise about 72 billion euros until 2030 (with a CO2 price of 50€).
"Perhaps the best thing to do is to scrap this delegated act. After the report of the expert panel, I can hardly see any possibilities to come to a sensible provision", said the environmental spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Dr. Peter Liese on the occasion of the presentation of an expert report on the delegated act.
"In the European Parliament, the rejection of the delegated act on taxonomy is growing across the political groups. There are different reasons among the colleagues. From my point of view, especially the rules for nuclear energy are unacceptable. Not only the construction of new nuclear power plants, but also the retrofitting of old nuclear power plants (including those of Russian design) are to be classified as sustainable transition technology. Like many other colleagues, I consider this unacceptable. Moreover, I do not think it is right to call something a transitional technology when it is so far in the future.
Read more: Perhaps it is best to scrap the delegated act on taxonomy
This decision is right and long overdue / Unfortunately, vaccination protection is on the wane / Boosting is the order of the day, also because of Omikron
"This decision is right and long overdue. I will recommend my group to accept the proposal as quick as possible," said the health spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), Dr. med. Peter Liese, commenting on the European Commission's proposal for a delegated act, which includes limiting the validity of the Covid-19 certificate to nine months as of February.
“Unfortunately, we see that the protection of the vaccination decreases significantly after a few months. Basically, we can say that protection against Covid-19 is only really good after the third vaccination. That is why the certificate has to be adapted. I had advocated such a solution to the European Commission in advance," said the doctor and MEP.