Charles Tannock, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, last week, barely two months after it had begun, the WHO described, to our great relief, that the Congo’s latest Ebola epidemic is largely contained. The rapid eradication of this bout of Ebola is indeed remarkable. The Congolese authorities and the international health community deserve much praise for their impressive move to contain the outbreak, leaving it far from the international health disaster that was seen back in 2013 as the West Africa Ebola crisis.

While I applaud the success of the response, I am also aware of concerns that Kinshasa—imposed emergency measures implemented to contain the viral epidemic might be misused to further restrict the rights and freedoms of the Congolese people, in what can already only be described as a generally very repressive political environment. Looking ahead, I therefore urge the Congolese authorities to remain responsible and transparent in their use of emergency public—health measures responding to the outbreak. It would indeed be a great shame if such a fast and remarkable crisis response were abused by the government’s use of emergency powers ahead of democratic elections.