GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Commissioner Schreyer, Commissioner Fischler, I want to focus on rural development. By topping up the funds for this area, the committee has made it clear that it is to this that we attach a higher value and that the cutting back of the market organisations demands that there should be compensation for farms that take themselves to market. We note with concern the evidence that the groups – and, so one gathers, the Commission – are discussing how to use long-term financial planning as a means of trimming this area rather than extending it, or the possibility of putting it under the Structural Funds. Commissioner Fischler, I see the fact that there is now a structural line devoted to ‘rural areas’ as a great triumph on your part. It would be fatal if the forces that want to put things back the way they were were to prevail, as the Structural Funds criteria for rural areas are not very favourable. When expressing your view of the ‘Leader East’ issue, you pointed out that you wanted to adjust the SAPARD programme accordingly. We have had this discussion before. I hear what you say, but I lack the faith to believe that the administration will actually put it into practice and that a sensible practice will be the result. A ‘Leader East’ programme should therefore be set up for Bulgaria and Romania, in order to involve the ordinary population in the development of rural areas. Let me conclude by saying that it was also with great disquiet that we heard – as we shall shortly do in the committee, when you will give us your comments – that the offer was made to make the Green Box a subject for negotiation. Such a development we really would regard as crazy. If something that is necessary from the point of view of rural development is now to be seen as a subsidy currently laid off and liable to be cut back, then we should discuss that in this House and make our position clear in the next round at the WTO.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, I would like to present a communiqué concerning our colleague Patricia McKenna. She took part today in a peaceful demonstration at the nuclear weapons base at Faslane, Scotland, and was arrested at eight in the morning along with twelve Irish students. She asks you to give your attention to the fact that a Member of the European Parliament may not be arrested when he or she is on the way to or from meetings of the European Parliament. She also hopes that this request will bring about a debate concerning the unlawfulness of nuclear weapons. Quite recently, the International Court of Justice has stated that the possession of weapons of mass destruction contravenes international law. Madam President, I am aware that some here will find themselves thinking that it is not possible to travel to Strasbourg via Scotland; but I would merely like to say – in Patricia McKenna's native language – that 'what goes up, must come down'. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this is surely an extremely important report on what is without doubt a serious issue. My own opinion of the legal basis notwithstanding, I really have the greatest respect for the proposals submitted and, above all, for the work carried out by Mr Maaten, who had to process an unbelievably large number of proposals, both in committee and here in Parliament for plenary, in an unbelievably short space of time. I think that we shall not do justice to the significance and importance of this issue if we complete this procedure in such a short space of time. There are so many proposals – 120 in all – that I fear that majorities will be reached and results will emerge which are not compatible with each other. We really do need more careful voting and coordination both in and between the groups so that we achieve a result which is worthy of its name. With the best will in the world and with the greatest respect for this issue, we must not forget that we really are not under any pressure and we should use the time available to us for careful reflection and review.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, there is major disquiet within the peace movement that the incredibly rapid build-up of military capabilities will hinder the work on long-term preventive measures, some of which were presented by around forty peace organisations to the Swedish and Belgian Presidencies last year. One example is the renowned civil peace corps which Parliament has requested a number of times and which is mentioned in paragraph five of this proposal for a resolution. I have been nagging the Swedish Presidency for a long time to address the issue, as I believe that this should be an important matter for the image of Sweden – Sweden wants to be a country of peace. I received a negative reply for a relatively long time. However, I suddenly received a letter from the Council’s President-in-Office before she set off for Murmansk. In it, she writes that: ‘I hereby promise in writing that we will take up the issue of the peace corps once we have the structures in place’. This is perhaps a rather unusual way for a President-in-Office to inform Parliament of something. Even so, I have to accept it and so predict that something will happen regarding the peace corps. If not, I trust that my colleagues in Parliament will seriously address the issue.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, it is always a pleasure to hear a committed rapporteur and a committed Commissioner speaking on their common concern in this matter. That, of course, has made the whole debate briefer because it is not interrogatory. I want to say two things. Firstly, it is extraordinary that a Directive promulgated in 1986 has still not been properly implemented in some Member States. If Ms Evan's report does nothing else, it has brought to our attention the need to speed up the process, because that is at the heart of the reform of our procedures generally: implementation, how it is done, rather than innovation, is now always the motto. I agree with Mr Lund about Mr Nisticò's amendments. I have to say with great respect that I do not think I can support Amendments Nos 1 or 2 which he has withdrawn. The reason, very simply, is that it seems to me to devalue animals caught in the wild, as though they are a cheap supply that can be brought in whilst all our concern goes towards zoo-bred animals and the contents of laboratories. I also feel that we need to look very carefully in this Directive at exactly how the process of experimentation will go in the future. We have this triptych here neatly from Ms Evans: replacement, reduction and scaling down. I would add reflection – we ought to reflect before every experiment is carried out. Why are we doing this? Is it being duplicated? What will the results be? It will be a good day for Parliament if we can do this as well as for the animals under consideration.

Political group: PSE
I thank the Commissioner for the detailed reply which he has given to my question. I should like to ask him if, apart from the Egnatia Road, there are other projects which are subject to controls at the moment.

Political group: PPE-DE
One of the hallmarks of capitalism is that companies are also commodities in their own right. Large, profitable companies can buy up other companies. In some cases, a purchase of this kind takes place in order to close down this other company and take over its share of the market. It is also possible for a company to use its own profits to reduce its prices temporarily. It can subsequently elbow competitors out of the market and cause them to go bankrupt. Concentration of wealth and power is part and parcel of capitalist logic. We can therefore expect fewer and fewer large companies to survive, and those that do will become even bigger and more international. It should, in itself, not always be problematic for a company to adopt a monopoly position. Monopolies that provide for one region, and whose selling prices, environmental policy and social policy are democratically regulated by the relevant people’s representatives and concerned citizens' organisations, can work very well. Following the American example, such monopolies are now being condemned in the EU because they harm free competition, while large, powerful concerns, on which no democratic control is possible, simply continue to grow. Twelve years of Regulation No 4064/89 have not managed to break this cycle, and neither will the forthcoming review and cooperation with national competition authorities. Despite this, I do not reject this Green Paper, because doing nothing is even worse. - Busk report (A5-0176/2002)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, in the vote on amendment 7 of Mr Smet’s report, it is recorded that I voted against. This is an error and my vote should be recorded as being in favour.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, I should very much like to congratulate Mrs Langenhagen on her report. I think that, in every way, Mrs Langenhagen has provided a clear description of the very major problems there have been in putting the FAIR Programmes into effect and, at the same time, in also checking up on how the programmes were operating. In that connection, I should like to make it clear that, in view of the very great degree of expertise possessed by the Commission, we cannot accept that so many of the things we adopted in the decisions have not been implemented. On behalf of the Committee on Fisheries, I should like to call attention to a fairly small number of points. Before new programmes are put into effect, the previous programmes ought to be assessed. With the help of the scientific research which is, of course, an important part of our policies – in this case, fisheries policy – a prior assessment needs to be carried out of what is wanted and of how the resources are used, so that existing resources can continually be adapted to catch techniques and catch opportunities. Against the background of what has happened, those of us in the Committee on Fisheries also believe that, whenever three Directorates-General are to coordinate and direct actions, it ought to be completely clear which Directorate-General is ultimately in control, with responsibility for putting matters into effect.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, we should begin by saying to those watching us, who have found their way here in greater numbers than we MEPs, that we do not differ as regards our objective. We all want the best possible local public transport at the lowest cost to taxpayers and passengers. That is our common objective. We now have to deal with the question of how best to go in that direction. If your proposal is propaganda from the left of this House for the right of communities and regions to exercise free choice, then I can only say that the past fourteen years have demonstrated that free choice is to the citizens' disadvantage. What, then, is the position? In most towns and communities, services by the communities are being reduced and the subsidies are on the up and up. So the reality is that we cannot carry on with the present system if we want a good, efficient, public transport service at local and regional level. So we say we must put them out to tender, so that citizens get the best modern buses at the best price, with the best quality, and arriving as often as possible. That is the objective we have set. I can tell the gentleman from the Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities that, secondly, there is the Community Treaty, the Treaty on the European Community, in which it is stated that everyone shall have the right to provide services. Freedom of services can be restricted only on the basis of a greater good. The free will of a village community is not sufficient to say that one should limit the freedom of services under Community law in village A or village B. You need carefully-controlled legislation to be able to limit the freedom of services by reason of a higher good. That is what we are doing. If, though, you give communities back their free choice, you are suspending the justification for limiting the freedom of services, so, no matter what we agree on, be it journey times or whatever else, we need a proper framework for a controlled competitive order, and the free choice you propose undermines that, as we need sensible Community regulations to limit the freedom of services. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President, naturally, what I have to say is in line with the comments made by the previous speakers. The Commission has already given a statement at a point when the matter did not appear to be so serious. There was no vote for a resolution. In this instance, are we going to have both a statement as well as a resolution? Personally speaking, I would be in favour of this.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, we welcomed the installation, or election, of Vojislav Kostunica as the new President of Yugoslavia. We very soon had him here before the House, as you all know, and we have naturally become aware, as he too is aware, of the dreadful legacy he has inherited, of the economic situation confronting Yugoslavia, and we hope, of course, that he will be able to surmount all these difficulties with our help. But there is another point to be made: we must judge Yugoslavia by the same standards that we have applied to its neighbours and that we shall continue to apply to them. That is why we simply must ensure that the problems arising there are not simply settled with a nod and a wink or put on the back burner for possible consideration in the distant future but are resolved in an appropriate manner as soon as possible. There are still political prisoners in Serbia today; they are actually the prisoners of Slobodan Milosevic. There is surely no reason at all why Milosevic's political prisoners of yesterday should be Kostunica's prisoners today. Sadly, Mr Kostunica missed his opportunity, on becoming President, to free these political prisoners – the Albanians in particular, but the Serbs too. He let the opportunity slip, but at least the Albanian political prisoners from Kosovo could have been released if he had handed them over to UNMIK in Kosovo. In that way he would have been able to comply with Resolution 1244 and release them from Serbian prisons, and Dr Kouchner and his people would have had to take care of them. Now President Kostunica has tabled an amnesty law, but our House is not the only place where legislation takes time, and while the legislative wheels are turning down there, hundreds of young people – innocent young people – remain in custody. We expect this problem to be solved quickly. We also expect joint efforts to be made so that the many missing persons – Serbs and Albanians from Serbia and Kosovo – can soon be found; whether they are dead or alive, people want to know what has happened to them. That is the second problem. And the last problem to which I wish to refer relates to the dreadful occurrences at the border between Serbia and Kosovo. The fact is that we have a confrontation there between two adversaries, neither of whom has any desire for peace. On the one side there is the Albanian UCK reserve, and on the other there is Slobodan Milosevic's secret service. Neither side wants peace, but we must help to ensure that peace is established in that region. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, like the previous speakers, I hope that this initiative will not be seen as the umpteenth European organisation, but that people will take this initiative seriously and, as a consequence, will give it enough of a chance. I just have a few reservations with regard to the name. The term ‘police academy’ makes me think of a humorous American TV series about the police. What is more, I find the word ‘academy’ is not assertive enough when it comes to police operations. That is just a minor detail, of course. I think that it is more important to confine ourselves to the essentials. Social conditions in most Member States of the European Union are now such that there is indeed a great need for cross-border cooperation between the various police forces. Cross-border cooperation can only lead to results if a number of conditions are met, if the greatest care is taken over appropriate, goal-directed programmes for ongoing training, if attention is paid to training regarding the Member States’ response to crisis situations in third countries and if exchanges and secondments are made possible in a professional way, with the emphasis on the professional aspect. Special attention must also be paid to training at European level with regard to crime prevention, maintenance of public order and efficient border control. On the other hand, a European Police College needs to become the forum for gaining an understanding of the various national police systems and defending the knowledge they have. In short, I hope that there will be no delay in giving concrete expression to this initiative which, to my mind and also in my Group's opinion, answers the need to bring about a European training structure.

Political group: ELDR
As a consequence of the decline in the telecommunications sector and the tough competition surrounding launchers, the European space industry is now in such a serious economic position that its survival is threatened. This, together with the fact that the EU is facing its biggest enlargement ever, involving ten new Member States, and the fact that its resources are limited, shows that the EU should focus its activities better and devote itself to fewer specialist areas. For that reason, I have voted against the report. - Della Vedova report (A5-0257/2003)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, Mrs Flemming, ladies and gentlemen, the senior citizens' card really should also be a symbol of the tremendous purchasing power enjoyed by senior citizens in Europe. We are all aware of the current strikes about the pensions reform. I think that the best practice model would be appropriate here too. We should demonstrate which kind of best-practice reforms have achieved the target most effectively. I would therefore like to ask you this: does the Commission have any thoughts on how to promote pensioners' power as consumers in future through best practice and benchmarks?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I was privileged to visit Lebanon for the first time some 20 years ago as a journalist, and have followed the unhappy events in that country over the years. It was the occasion when the Palestinians were expelled from Jordan by King Hussein and swept into the Lebanon, destroying what had been up till then a haven of relative peace and civilisation in the Middle East. It had, from the point of view of the visitor, whether a journalist or a tourist, three great advantages: the charm of the Lebanese people, the fact that the electricity and water had been put in by the British and that the cuisine had been installed largely by the French. On my most recent visit there I was encouraged to see that those three great traditions are reasserting themselves in the rebuilding of that country. It is, as the Commissioner has said, undergoing this process of rebuilding in possibly the most difficult times, especially from the economic point of view. But I am confident, as are many other Members of this House who know the Lebanon well, that the energy and the determination of the Lebanese people will win through. They have survived the past in an extraordinary fashion and remained civilised and perennially charming. It is very important that we maintain the closest links, as the previous speaker mentioned. The francophone connection is only one of many which we have between the members of the European Union and the rest of the Middle East. The Lebanon is a focal point from which we can operate and through which we can operate. I look forward in the not too distant future to returning to Beirut, a city of which I have the fondest memories, but also to welcoming more people from the Lebanon, especially parliamentarians, here. We can do so much by example that it is important for this House to maintain these links. Finally, I would point out that it was always through the Lebanon that many of the contacts were made with the other Middle Eastern countries. With the tensions that we have in the Middle East at the moment, it is essential for us to maintain those links, especially for the Commissioner who, no doubt, has fallen in love with the Lebanon in the same way as many of us have, and for the Commissioner to be able to use the Lebanon as a bridge through which he can talk to sensible, democratically-minded people in the other countries of the Middle East.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, the – apparently essential – aim of the proposals for a regulation and directive put forward by the Commission is to strengthen the short-term competitiveness of pharmaceutical companies. It is proposed, in particular, to extend the length of time that clinical data is to be protected, to increase the flexibility of and accelerate the market authorisation procedure and, above all, to lift the ban on pharmaceutical companies advertising prescription-only medicines to the general public. What is essentially being proposed is the model used in the United States, where this ban was lifted in 1997. Based on an exclusively market-driven approach, these proposals consider medicinal products as an everyday, consumer article, almost a product like any other. This approach is combined with that which is increasingly common in international trade negotiations, which seek to subject health and education to the laws of the market within the framework of the liberalisation of services. In the light of this deteriorating situation, a group was set up at European level, bringing together consumer organisations, family organisations, patients’ associations, insurance companies, and health insurance bodies. The ‘Europe and Medicines’ group has been working to provide information and clarification to European bodies and governments. This action, which enabled us to get a better feel for the economic, political and ethical challenges of this dossier, has delivered results. Due to this, the majority of members of the Committee on the Environment approved the reports which are not in line with the Commission’s approach and I welcome, in particular, the fact that the reports are opposed to the advertising of medicinal products. My group, in conjunction with the ‘Europe and Medicines’ group, will pursue its efforts to have a responsible policy applied throughout the European Union, one which improves public health, therapeutic progress and consumer protection. In order to do this, three principles should be strengthened in the European medicines regulation system: harmonisation between countries in order to guarantee evaluation and monitoring of a high quality, the independence of institutions responsible for medicinal products, and the transparency of the system for all.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we should be extremely careful. If the letter we have received today, or the memorandum, call it what you will, is correct, there are some genuine problems, some very serious problems. First of all, then, the competent committee will have to discuss these problems, and depending on what it then decides, Parliament will need to submit a proposal for a report, particularly since we are to hold a debate on the discharge procedure at the next Brussels part-session. I cannot see why we should debate an issue without first having discussed it within the competent committee and I really have had enough of dancing to the tune of journalists’ so-called discoveries. Parliament is not at the beck and call of the media and Parliament must have its own rhythm of working, or we will end up putting any old thing on the agenda. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE