DISY DEPUTY Eleni Theocharous blasted the Health Minister for amending a law regarding drug labelling. The law was amended last October despite warnings from both the Attorney General and the EU that the move was illegal and could lead to heavy fines.
EU law requires that drug labels be printed only in the member state’s official language – in Cyprus’ case, Greek. The inclusion of English in the labelling is, therefore, illegal.
Last October the House voted to amend the law so that English could also be included on the drug label. The inclusion of English would naturally be helpful to the substantial population on the island that is not Greek-speaking.
Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides defended the amendment yesterday on state radio, claiming that it was a “political decision” taken for the “public good” to ensure there was a sufficient supply and range of drugs in Cyprus.
“If for any reason the EU tells us ‘you have done badly’, we have all the time to explain ourselves and defend our positions,” Gavrielides said. “The purpose, the spirit, of the EU Directive is not that there be no medicine in the market.”
Gavrielides did not deny that the Health Ministry received a letter from the EU shortly before the House Health Committee convened to vote on the law, and admitted that the letter was not presented to the Committee.
But the Health Minister dismissed the allegation that the document was deliberately withheld from the Committee, claiming that with or without the letter, the law would have still been amended since it was for the public good.
DISY’s Theocharous condemned the Health Minister, not only because he ignored the Attorney General’s warnings that the amendment would be illegal, but also because he “hid in entirety” from coalition and opposition parties the letter sent by the EU.
“If public good was served, then how come we don’t have drugs as required by the law,” Theocharous asked. “If the public good of Cyprus is being served, then who will pay the fines?”
The DISY deputy said that Cyprus does not come across as a serious member state when it “breaks the law once we’ve entered the EU”, and when House members “suggest, chuckling, that we will trick them [the EU].”
“This has no seriousness.”
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