Instead of fighting against AIDS, Europe fights against foreigners.

Tomorrow, European-Union is supposed to elaborate a global agreement about immigration and asylum issues. Act Up-Paris denounces the priority E.U. attaches to the only objectives of "security" and "immigration control", whereas it is supposed to guarantee foreigners, among others those who are affected by serious pathologies, the elementary rights.

Within European Union, only one country (France) has adopted laws in order to protect affected foreigners from expulsion and to permit them to stay and access to cares - articles 25-8 and 12bis-11 in the edict of 2/11/45.
And yet, even in France, this elementary right is thrown back into question by the non respect of these laws as several recent affairs show it.

If an "harmonisation" of the laws has to be settled, then European-Union must do it notably by assuring affected foreigners the unconditional inexpulsion and the right to stay in Europe as in France.

At the same time, European-Union must accelerate the grant of compulsory licences and the parallel importations and must help the access to generic drugs in countries which need it. European-Union has the power to do it. They doesn’t do it.

Consequently, we won’t let Aznar, Blair, Raffarin or others despise affected people by hiding away in a miserly protectionism, fed by the amalgame between insecurity and immigration.

Press contact : Julien DEVÉMY - (00 33) 1 49 29 44 75

 ! ! ! Height of the protectionism : we learn today that Spain refuses to grant visas to several participants from "developping countries" who are supposed to come to the XIVth International Aids Conference in Barcelona. A really nice way for Spain to end its 6 months presidence of E.U.