Rapporti verbatim tad-dibattiti

It-Tlieta, 7 ta' Settembru 2010 - Strasburgu

18. Kura għal perjodu twil ta' żmien għall-persuni anzjani (dibattitu)

  Presidente. − L'ordine del giorno reca la discussione sull'interrogazione orale alla Commissione sull'assistenza a lungo termine per le persone anziane, di Elizabeth Lynne, Pervenche Berès, a nome della commissione per l'occupazione e gli affari sociali (O-0102/2010 - B7-0457/2010).

  Elizabeth Lynne, author. − Madam President, the reason for putting this oral question and resolution on the agenda is to try to achieve an EU-wide code of conduct on long-term care for older people. I am not talking about legislation here, but an exchange of best practice between Member States.

For too long the treatment of older people has been inadequate in many areas. We need to know, first and foremost, what data the Commission already has on the provision of care in Member States. Does the Commission see itself playing a role in the dissemination of best practice?

A key area I have been concerned with for a number of years is elder abuse. It can take many forms – physical, mental, emotional and financial. Take the case of a 93-year-old woman who went into a care home for respite care for one week, one week only, only for her to return home completely dehydrated; obviously no attempt had been made to help her to drink at all.

This is not an isolated case. There are many cases of malnutrition and dehydration, but it would be useful if we could have facts and figures. Has the Commission got any data on the number of deaths attributable to dehydration or malnutrition?

Just as worrying, of course, is the more frequent use of Do Not Resuscitate orders. It should be up to the medical practitioner, in consultation with the patient, to decide on whether DNR should be on someone’s notes. I know of cases where either the nursing home itself decides which person is to be resuscitated or not, or the relatives are told that they must sign up to the document, which is a complete abuse of the person’s right to choose.

What is the Commission doing to look at the use of so-called Do Not Resuscitate orders? I am not talking about living wills here, I am talking about Do Not Resuscitate orders. Does the Commission agree that it violates the right to life under Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights?

I am pleased that the World Health Organisation has adopted a broad definition of elder abuse. We need now at EU level to clarify the extent of that abuse. I hope that the Commission will bring forward a Green Paper on elder abuse; I know that the Commissioner has talked about that himself.

Over-prescription of medication, particularly anti-psychotic drugs, is also abuse. Quite often they are used for the benefit of the staff, not for the resident in a care home. Also, conversely, older people are denied medical treatment on the grounds of age alone. This is another reason why I believe pressure should be put on the Council for a decision on the equal treatment directive to outlaw discrimination in access to goods and services, and that would include health care.

More must be done as well by each Member State, to make sure that older people can be supported in their own homes if that is what they wish, and to regulate qualification requirements for people caring for older people, with adequate training mechanisms in place.

Many Member States have cut back on specialist geriatric medicine and we need to know what the real effects have been on older people. We must not forget, either, the support and recognition that informal carers need. Quite often they are the ones who care for their relatives day in, day out with little help.

The whole area of long-term care for older people has been ignored for many years. I hope, with this oral question and resolution, that all of us together can start to really give this matter the attention it deserves. Quite often older people who require long-term care find it very difficult to speak for themselves. It is up to us all, working with them, to make sure their voices are heard and not forgotten.

  László Andor, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, with Europe’s societies growing older over the next few decades, we need to find ways of ensuring that older people are given the quality care they need.

That is the goal the Member States set themselves in the objectives they agreed for healthcare and long-term care at EU level. In addition, the Council conclusions of 30 November 2009 called on the Commission to develop ‘an action plan for further activities in 2011, which will promote dignity, health and quality of life for older persons’. I am pleased that the forthcoming presidencies, including the Hungarian and Polish Presidencies, intend to take this work forward.

The Commission has already taken a number of initiatives to step up work on the quality of long-term care services, increase knowledge in this area and promote debate at EU level. It has long supported work on long-term care provision as part of the open method of coordination in the area of social protection.

The 2009 Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion confirmed the importance of addressing the issue of workforce shortages in the long-term care sector. Identifying and disseminating best practice is one of our main objectives. The Commission can act as a catalyst for change and can support national efforts.

A Commission staff working paper is currently being prepared on long-term care in connection with efforts to promote active, healthy and dignified ageing, and a Commission communication is scheduled for 2011.

Yesterday, the Commission adopted the proposal for designating 2012 the European Year for Active Ageing. The Year will serve as a framework for raising awareness, identifying and disseminating good practice and, more importantly, encouraging policy-makers and stakeholders at all levels to facilitate active ageing.

The aim is to invite these players to commit themselves to specific actions and goals in 2011, the run-up year, so that tangible achievements can be presented during the European Year in 2012.

I want now to talk about people more concretely. You have rightly pointed out that, in most Member States, the bulk of support and care for dependent persons is provided by family and friends, and this will continue to apply over the next few decades. In all countries, women are far more likely to be carers than men. Inadequate recognition of the role of informal carers and inadequate support for their contribution can lead to risks of social exclusion.

To help remedy this situation, the Member States, together with the EU institutions, could consider moves to assess and certify caring skills, including those acquired while caring for dependent relatives, and in household management, which are activities mainly performed by women.

Progress will depend on efforts by many stakeholders. The Commission warmly welcomes the work on care issues carried out by Parliament’s Interest Groups on Ageing and on Carers and by civil society organisations such as AGE and Eurocarers.

The Commission is not planning to set up an Active Ageing Observatory, but mutual learning covering active ageing is one of the aims of the European Year of Active Ageing, for which a dedicated web site will be set up.

I also want to mention the contributions of the Grundtvig programme for adult education, the public health programme and the 2011 European Year of Volunteering.

Mrs Lynne, you rightly underlined the importance of ethical issues such as those involved in ‘do not resuscitate’ orders. While the Commission acknowledges the importance of this issue – and I fully share the moral substance of your question – we sometimes have to express ourselves in legalistic terms, and if we do that in this case, we must say that such matters are exclusively a Member State competence and that we do not have the capacity, from the viewpoint of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, to interfere with that Member State competence.

The Commission has taken a number of initiatives – including the major conference it held on 17 March 2008 – to increase knowledge of the elder abuse issue and to promote debate at EU level on how to prevent it.

In 2009, the Commission implemented a pilot project which led to the selection of two projects. One project investigates how elder abuse can be monitored through public health and long-term care systems. The second seeks to map existing policy approaches and policy frameworks in the European Union. Both projects started in December 2009 and the findings will be presented in autumn next year.

The Commission also continues to co-finance a number of actions under the Daphne programme and the Public Health Programme.

The Commission is actively supporting work under way within the Social Protection Committee on a voluntary quality framework for social services. That framework needs to be flexible enough to apply in all the Member States at national, regional and local level and to a variety of social services.

One big sector where the framework could apply is long-term care. But delivering long-term care is not an easy task on a daily basis, and it is the sad truth that people with heavy care responsibilities often have to give up, or reduce, their hours of paid work because of these commitments. In turn this affects their attractiveness on the labour market, their current income and their future pension rights.

Our longstanding work with the Member States on reconciling family and working life has revealed the importance of adjusting the working conditions of persons who provide informal care.

Establishing social services that allow for respite care and care leave, and granting specific rights to informal carers in social security schemes, in particular as regards pension entitlement, would also help to encourage and enable more people to provide informal care.

As you suggest, poverty, access to care and longevity may be interlinked. We looked at such links in a recent communication on health inequalities. The evidence clearly confirms that differences in income, working and living conditions are reflected in the average health status at all ages.

However, we are only at the beginning in terms of policies that effectively break or modify the links between the social hierarchy and the hierarchy of health statuses.

What we are calling for is therefore more awareness and research, and more innovative policy development. In addition, we need to promote a health-in-all-policies approach, which is a vital component of any successful strategy.

  Csaba Sógor, a PPE képviselőcsoport nevében. – Az európai társadalmak elöregedésének jelensége komoly problémát jelent mindegyik tagállamban, így az egyre nagyobb számú idős nép gondozására a továbbiakban a jelenleginél is nagyobb hangsúlyt kell fektetnünk. Az idősgondozásnak más a hagyománya, a kultúrája a déli tagállamokban, ahol a többnemzedékes együttélés a problémát a családon belül oldja meg, illetve az északi államokban, ahol az intézményesített gondoskodás az elterjedtebb.

Ez utóbbi költsége és fenntarthatósága viszont a gazdasági helyzet, illetve hangsúlyozottabb mértékű elöregedés következtében egyre inkább megkérdőjeleződik. Kelet-Közép-Európában a civil szervezetek, illetve az egyház szervezésében sok esetben rendkívül hatékonyan működik egyfajta intézményesített eljárás. Ez azonban még mindig csak szórványosan érhető tetten, illetve az állam nem támogatja az idősgondozási rendszer ebbe az irányba történő fejlesztését.

Az Egyesült Királyságban a bevándoroltak körében kialakított képzésrendszerrel sikeresen oldották meg az egyébként korábban munkanélküli nők munkába állítását az idősgondozással. Ez a gyakorlat nyilván más tagállamokban is hasznos lehet. Üdvözlöm Berès és Lynne kolleganők állásfoglalási indítványát. Külön kiemelném a szövegnek azt a részét, mely felkéri a Bizottságot, hogy állítson össze a tagállamok legjobb tapasztalataiból és modelljeiből egy zöld könyvet, hogy annak alapján minden tagállam saját lehetőségei szerint a legmegfelelőbb megoldásokat foganatosíthassa az időseket érintő rossz bánásmód, illetve a velük történő visszaélések kizárásával.

  Kinga Göncz, a S&D képviselőcsoport nevében. – A növekvő várható élettartam egyrészt eredmény, lehetőség is. Büszkék is lehetünk arra, hogy nő a várható élettartam Európában, de egyben kihívás is. Kihívás részben amiatt, hogy hogy tudjuk biztosítani az aktív idősödést az idősödő társadalmunkban. Mennyire tudjuk biztosítani a társadalmi részvétel lehetőségét az idős embereknek, a diszkriminációmentességet. Tudjuk, hogy ezen a területen sok tennivaló van még. El tudjuk-e érni, hogy nőjön az egészségben eltöltött évek száma? Mennyire tudjuk biztosítani az időskori jövedelembiztonságot, az élethosszig tartó tanulást?

Talán az a bizonyos európai év, ami az aktív idősödés éve lesz segíteni fog abban, hogy erre ráterelje a figyelmet. De mindenképpen elkövetkezik egy olyan időszak, amikor az idős emberek rászorulnak a szociális és egészségügyi ellátásokra, kevésbé tudják saját magukat képviselni, és itt még fokozottabb a felelősségünk abban, hogy ők is hozzáférjenek jó minőségű szolgáltatásokhoz. Különösen fontos ez az alacsony jövedelmű, szegény idősek számára, hogy megfelelő szolgáltatások álljanak rendelkezésre, illetőleg a tartós ápolásra, gondozásra szoruló kiszolgáltatott idősek esetében, akár otthon ápolásokról, akár intézményekről van szó. Van néhány konkrét feladat is, amiben kérjük a Bizottság segítségét. Részben fontos adatok kellenek a szükségletekről, az ellátásra szorulókról. Kiemelt figyelemre van szükség a legsérülékenyebbek esetében, ellenőrző mechanizmusok kellenek és a jó gyakorlatok összegyűjtése is minimum standardok.

  Jean Lambert, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, I would very much like to thank Mrs Lynne for the opportunity for us to be debating this tonight, and I welcome a lot of what the Commissioner has said. Indeed, I found quite a lot of it quite encouraging in some ways.

You will have recognised, of course, that a number of our questions concern the issues about the vulnerability of older people and a very strong feeling that we have that it is crucially important that people can feel safe with those providing care.

While I take your point about the issues about what is a Member State competence, nevertheless the open method of coordination exists to help Member States work together on something which, while it is not a competence of the European Union, nevertheless is seen as something of common importance.

I think certain of the issues, even about basic care, nutrition, etc., are very important within this. I am also wondering what further steps the Commission might take to persuade Member States of the cost-effectiveness of supporting informal carers. There are certainly figures from the UK that recognise that this is a contribution of billions saved in our economy, because the care is being given by close friends or relatives rather than by the state, and that in fact investing in something like a carer’s allowance and support mechanisms for carers really is worth doing, rather than having people totally worn out, isolated and suffering their own health and mental health problems because they have been caring for hours without background support.

I am also interested in what you are saying about the possibilities of improving the qualifications of carers. Part of that issue, of course, is not only that this concerns women, it often concerns migrant women, and therefore a particular sort of investment is needed. But our resolution also talks about the need for contracts to stipulate at least a minimum income, a minimum wage. I would welcome your comments on that.

  Димитър Стоянов (NI). - Благодаря. Прабаба ми е на 69 години и съм живял дълго време заедно с нея. Затова знам от опит, че най-добрият начин да се погрижим за възрастните, е като им подсигурим те сами да се грижат за себе си, доколкото е възможно. Но дори тези, които са в добра психическа и физическа форма за възрастта си, са поставени пред непосилна задача. Партия „Атака“ е повдигала този въпрос през предишния мандат, ще го правим и занапред.

Средната пенсия в България едва минава 100 евро. 100 евро на месец, колеги. С тези пари пенсионерите трябва да си купят лекарства, да си платят сметките, обикновено най-накрая да си осигурят храна. Причината за това състояние е в огромното ограбване на страната ми, извършено последователно от предишните три правителства. Това ограбване има име: „масова приватизация“. И трябва да отбележа, че то беше проведено под одобрителния поглед на евро институциите и на Международния валутен фонд. Активи за милиарди евро бяха откраднати от България и сега не е странно, че страната ми е с най-ниските пенсии в Европейския съюз. Тази трагична ситуация трябва да ви бъде за пример, когато се питате как да се погрижим за възрастните хора.

  Thomas Mann (PPE). - Frau Präsidentin! Die Kommission hat soeben 2012 zum des Jahr aktiven Alterns ausgerufen. Damit hat sie einer Forderung des Ausschusses für Beschäftigung und soziale Angelegenheiten und dem Bericht zur Generationengerechtigkeit entsprochen. Meinen Glückwunsch dazu! Diese wichtige Botschaft kommt zur richtigen Zeit.

Die Anzahl der Menschen über achtzig Jahre, die gesund und leistungsfähig sind, erhöht sich ständig. Für den Zeitraum von 2010–2030 wird eine Steigerung um fast 60 % prognostiziert. In der Anfrage unseres Ausschusses fordern wir die Kommission auf, die positiven, aber auch die negativen Wirkungen in den Bereichen Pflege und Betreuung älterer Menschen zu analysieren und Konsequenzen vorzuschlagen.

Wir wissen, dass immer mehr Familien die Betreuung ihrer Angehörigen nicht allein bewältigen können. Pflegekräfte werden knapp. Es reicht aber doch nicht, wenn gut geschultes und kompetentes Personal ersetzt wird durch geringbezahlte Beschäftigte mit Primärkenntnissen im Schnellverfahren. Die Pflege ist vielerorts ein einziger Pflegefall.

Als Berichterstatter zum demographischen Wandel und zur Generationengerechtigkeit habe ich die Mitgliedstaaten aufgefordert, transparente und nachhaltige Kontrollsysteme einzurichten. Die Pflegebedürftigen müssen doch in ihrer Würde geschützt werden. Wir brauchen einen EU-weiten Verhaltenskodex mit Mindestvorgaben und Mindestleistungen zur Bereitstellung der Langzeitpflege. Unabhängig von Einkommen, Alter, sozialem Status und Gesundheitsrisiko müssen die Menschen eine erschwingliche und dabei gute Pflege erhalten.

Ältere Menschen sind auch keine Last. Ihre Erfahrungen, ihre Lebensleistung haben unsere Gesellschaft geprägt. Wir dürfen sie mit ihren Problemen nicht allein lassen. Nutzen wir die Zeit bis 2012, um viele Voraussetzungen zu schaffen, damit sich Politik, Medien und Öffentlichkeit intensiv mit dem aktiven Altern befassen. Hier müssen vor allem die Betroffenen zu Wort kommen. Die Einstellung von uns allen muss sich zugunsten einer nachhaltigen, stets am Menschen und nicht nur an den Kosten orientierten Pflege ändern.

  Συλβάνα Ράπτη (S&D). - Κυρία Πρόεδρε, όταν μιλάμε όλοι εδώ στην αίθουσα αυτή για τους ηλικιωμένους, ίσως να μην αναλογιζόμαστε ότι κάποια στιγμή μπορεί και εμείς οι ίδιοι να βρεθούμε στη θέση αυτή των ηλικιωμένων και να φτάσουμε στην ηλικία των 80, των 90 και των 100 ακόμη χρόνων. Έχουμε φανταστεί ποτέ πώς θα θέλαμε να μας συμπεριφέρονται τότε; Οι άνθρωποι που βρίσκονται σήμερα σε προχωρημένη ηλικία είναι οι άνθρωποι που μας έδωσαν ζωή, είναι οι άνθρωποι που μας έδωσαν πολιτισμό, είναι οι άνθρωποι που αποτελούν την «προσωπική μας περιουσία».

Η μακροπρόθεσμη φροντίδα των ηλικιωμένων δεν έχει μόνο ηθική και κοινωνική διάσταση αλλά έχει και μία οικονομική πτυχή διότι η φροντίδα που χρειάζεται ο κάθε υπερήλικας συνεπάγεται μείωση της παραγωγικότητας των εργαζομένων μελών της οικογενείας του. Εάν όμως θεσπίσουμε παράλληλα και ένα πρόγραμμα φροντίδας, θα ήταν δυνατόν ακόμη και να δημιουργήσουμε θέσεις εργασίας. Αυτά όλα ας τα σκεφτούμε κυρία Επίτροπε και ας δώσουμε την ανάλογη κατεύθυνση στα κράτη μέλη.

Κλείνοντας, θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω τους διερμηνείς και τους μεταφραστές που μας προσφέρουν την ευκαιρία να εκφράζουμε τις απόψεις μας ακόμη και μετά τα μεσάνυχτα.

  Silvia-Adriana Ţicău (S&D). - Conform statisticilor recente, până în 2050, în Uniune se preconizează o creştere cu 70% a numărului persoanelor cu vârsta de cel puţin 65 de ani, şi o creştere cu 170 % a numărului celor cu vârstă de peste 80 de ani.

Astfel, în 2060, procentul cetăţenilor din UE 27 cu vârste peste 65 de ani va ajunge la 30%.

Uniunea Europeană trebuie să găsească soluţii pentru satisfacerea cererii din ce în ce mai mari de îngrijiri medicale, adaptarea sistemelor de sănătate la nevoile unei populaţii în curs de îmbătrânire şi menţinerea viabilităţii acestora pe fondul creşterii deficitului de forţă de muncă.

Comisia, statele membre şi, în special, autorităţile locale trebuie să găsească soluţii pentru adaptarea locuinţelor, a mijloacelor de transport în comun şi chiar a unor sectoare, cum ar fi turismul, pentru a fi capabile să răspundă necesităţilor specifice ale persoanelor vârstnice.

Salut adoptarea regulamentelor europene privind drepturile pasagerilor, în special a persoanelor cu mobilitate redusă, cum este cazul multor persoane vârstnice care călătoresc pe mare, cu avionul sau cu trenul.

  Miroslav Mikolášik (PPE). - Jednou z aktuálnych výziev pre európsku spoločnosť sa stáva vyrovnanie sa s demografickými zmenami zvyšujúcimi tlak na štátne rozpočty. Cestu vidím v zavedení progresívnych a trvalo udržateľných politík poskytovania adekvátnej dlhodobej starostlivosti v duchu medzigeneračnej solidarity, odstraňovania vekovej diskriminácie a plného začlenenia do spoločnosti aj v pokročilom veku.

Považujem tiež za dôležité, aby v zmysle solidarity a ocenenia nezištnej obety boli opatrovateľom, čo sa starajú o staré osoby, priznané určité právne vymožiteľné výhody, resp. platená odmena. Z tohto dôvodu kladiem dôraz na výmenu osvedčených praktík a skúseností medzi členskými štátmi v tejto oblasti.

A na záver možno toľko, že ako lekár si dovoľujem vyjadriť ostrý nesúhlas s tzv. príkazmi o nevykonávaní resuscitácie na základe vyššieho veku. Takýto postup považuje za hrubé porušenie základného ľudského práva na život.

  Anna Záborská (PPE). - Autori položili Európskej komisii desať otázok. Medzigeneračnej solidarity sa však dotýkala len jedna, predposledná. Pre komplexné poňatie problému by som ich rada doplnila o ďalšie.

Pred chvíľou sme hovorili o tom, ako má Európska komisia vplývať na členské štáty. Prečo Európska komisia nenavrhne členským štátom, aby ocenili starostlivosť, ktorú starším, nevládnym osobám poskytujú ich rodinní príslušníci? Prečo, ak člen rodiny sa stará o svojho príbuzného, nie je finančne ohodnotený, zdravotne a sociálne zabezpečený a po skončení tejto opatery sa nemôže vrátiť na svoje pracovisko ako žena po materskej dovolenke? Prečo muži a ženy, ktorí sa angažujú v medzigeneračnej solidarite, sú v našej spoločnosti diskriminovaní?

Keby sme sa v Únii pokúsili túto diskrimináciu odstrániť, bolo by v nej oveľa viacej obyvateľov spokojnejších a šťastnejších.

  Seán Kelly (PPE). - Madam President, the fact that we are having this discussion is very timely, because this is a big problem on our doorstep. I would like to thank Ms Lynne for outlining in particular the problems that exist in this so-called civilised society in the abuse of the elderly. The Commission has also given a very rounded contribution, outlining the goals, the challenges and the solutions.

Firstly, I think we should look at this as an opportunity, an opportunity to allow people to work beyond the normal time and age as of now, and secondly, particularly to travel and to contribute to tourism in the off-season. Then of course we have the challenge of caring for people in their homes for as long as possible, and then in institutionalised care. But the financial provisions have not been factored in at all yet, and a huge amount of work must be done if we are to reach a situation where the elderly are cared for properly in the years ahead.

  László Andor, Member of the Commission. − Madam President, honourable Members, let me start by repeating what has been said at the beginning of the discussion about the diversity of Europe.

We have 27 Member States with different social conditions and material conditions and this is the main reason why the Commission is now working on a quality framework, not something stronger in terms of legislation. We believe this is now the right concept and we should see how it works together with Parliament, with which we have discussed these issues repeatedly in the recent period.

One key point where I think we can draw strong conclusions is how long-term care connects with our jobs agenda, how we see a strong capacity for job creation, but it also sets us the task of including this into our skills agenda and finding out how we can do more to train and develop a larger pool of carers who can provide professional services in this area.

It is indeed an open question how far we have to formalise these services because, as has been said, much of the work that is being done is informal. It is done, or can be done, by relatives and within families. Regulating issues, raising standards or demanding certain conditions within the framework of families and relatives is clearly something which would be highly problematic. Meanwhile formalising these services and this work would add to costs and raise taxation issues, and we would easily find ourselves in a dead end in a different direction.

So there is no easy answer, while there are indeed compelling grounds to improve the conditions of those who need these services and are dependent on long-term care, but also to recognise those who provide this work. What we certainly can do is collect and disseminate best practices, for example by using the open method of coordination.

I can say, at this late hour, that in a few hours’ time I will meet some ministers from the Belgian Government in Liège at a conference on pensions. This will be a good opportunity to convey the words of Parliament on this question and connect it with our work on pensions, because these subjects are clearly interlinked in terms of both social security in general and an adequate income for the elderly.

We have a longer-term plan to follow up our work on pensions with a serious effort on demography. The forthcoming Hungarian and Polish presidencies are equally interested in this subject, and we are exploring the right framework for the deliverables involved. This work will be followed by the European Year on Active Ageing, which is not only about employment – and definitely not simply about extending the pensionable age – but is also about doing more to preserve health and to upgrade lifelong learning, lifelong teaching, capacities and institutions in order to improve the quality of life.

So this is fundamentally a framework in which we can, I think, continue our work. It is full of challenges, but with the ethical commitment we all share, I think we can produce results.

  Elizabeth Lynne, author. − Madam President, I would like to thank everyone who has spoken, and the Commissioner for the things he has said tonight. These have been very useful. What has come out of this discussion also is the importance of having a code of conduct. This is something I called for in the oral question and resolution, and to which Thomas Mann and various other people have referred.

As I said before, we are not talking about legislation. The good example from Bulgaria of someone living on EUR 100 a month and having to pay for long-term care is just one of the reasons why we need that code of conduct, so that Member States can meet a minimum standard.

The same applies to ‘do not resuscitate’ orders. I am not saying that the same sort of legislation should be rolled out across all the Member States, but that we should actually have benchmarks for people to try and achieve best practice. That is where the Commission can do a lot of work in helping us to roll out the good practices acquired from different Member States.

Thank you once again, Commissioner, and thank you to the interpreters for staying beyond the 24.00 deadline.

  Presidente. − Comunico di aver ricevuto una proposta di risoluzione1 conformemente all'articolo 110, paragrafo 2, del regolamento.

La discussione è chiusa.

La votazione si svolgerà giovedì 9 settembre 2010.

Anch'io mi associo ai ringraziamenti agli interpreti.

1 Vedasi processo verbale.