The President of Tunisia addresses MEPs and the big votes on the Common Fisheries Policy and prices of medicinal products for human use.

Presidential address / Voting on reform

Some 1.3 million tonnes of fish like this  are simply discarded

and thrown back into the sea  because of EU quota restrictions.

Wednesday was the big vote  on the Common Fisheries Policy.

But an amendment tabled  by the European People's Party on discards

threatened to derail reform  and push it back to 2019.

At the vote on Wednesday  MEPs rejected that amendment

We will not have bycatch anymore  from 2014 onwards.

This is written in stone.  There'll be no more in 2017.

But this is just the beginning of the battle.  Next comes trilogue

and France and many Member States  are in favour of that very EPP amendment.

It was a speech that had MEPs  up on their feet

and a standing ovation  that lasted for over a minute,

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki's  speech couldn't have come on a worse day.

On Wednesday back in his own country,  a leading opposition leader had been killed.

But Moncef Marzouki  said the West had nothing to fear,

revolutions need time,  Democracy will work.

We have many enemies  of this peaceful revolution

We refuse this message and will continue,  first unmasking the revolution's enemies.

Also under scrutiny was the way  in which pharmaceutical companies

determine pricing of consumer products.  Prices can vary by up to 25%.

Delays in pricing and reimbursement  are creating barriers to trade.

which will bring needed transparency  and regulation.

The sooner the generics enter the market,

the sooner they will be included  in the pricing and reimbursement list

and the better it will be in terms  of affordability for elderly patients

so they have access to modern treatment.