European Union" "
The vote of the Commission for development and cooperation of the European Parliament on reproductive health, scheduled for 2 October, has been deferred to its next meeting in November. The vote in question is on the “draft regulation of the European Parliament and Council on support for policies and actions regarding reproductive and sexual hygiene and connected rights in the developing countries (cf. SirEurope no.33 of 19 September 2002). The 101 amendments presented to the controversial report of Ulla Margrethe Sandbaek have not permitted an immediate agreement. On 8 October a meeting will be held at the secretariat of the Commission for development in an attempt to reach a consensus, so that the meeting in November may only put to the vote a limited number of compromise amendments accepted by everyone. In the event of no such compromise being reached, the question would return to the Council of Ministers for arbitration. Contacted by SirEurope, Sandbaek said she was confident that agreement would be reached between the political groups and that her report would have a favourable outcome.
