madam president first of all i would like to thank both rapporteurs who have worked very hard on these reports and have produced between them an excellent body of work and within a real plan for organ donation and transplantation throughout europe
we are all well aware of the figures thousands of people across europe require organ transplants every year
in light of this i am glad to see that we are going to make concerted efforts to boost the numbers of organ-donor registers by encouraging different forms of registration schemes and strengthening our cross-border cooperation so that the best matches between donors and recipients can be made
for me the key issue is raising awareness and i believe these reports will help achieve this
can i also say that i am glad to see that we have highlighted in these reports the key principles that organ donation should always be altruistic voluntary and unpaid
this is important if we are to encourage people to donate and ensure the quality and safety of the system as a whole
many lives have been saved
many more can be
i commend this report
