GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to join in warmly congratulating the rapporteur on the quality of her report. If we were to analyse the changes in employment figures in the various economic sectors, we would soon see a rapid and significant reduction in the number of people carrying out their activities in the agricultural sector, a different trend towards job losses in the industrial sector and, in contrast, a clear positive increase in the numbers of people working in the services sector. Perhaps, amongst other things, as a result of the skill and the technical, professional and intellectual capacity of the people who carry out their activity in the services sector. Furthermore, the range of services is extremely broad, from transport to education, from commerce to hotels and catering, from tourism to leisure activities and, furthermore, the services are greatly affected by demographic changes in society. Activities relating to care of the elderly, or those stemming from the need to reconcile professional and family life are clear examples. At the same time, this sector creates the conditions for the others, including agriculture and, also in the knowledge and information-based economy, the skill of the service provider generates new jobs. It is necessary to stress the possibilities arising from the whole, from cooperation between the different administrations, since local administration – the closest – has the best knowledge of the needs of potential job seekers and the means to satisfy them. Furthermore, I believe it appropriate to ‘horizontalise’ policies such as health and safety at work, equality for women and non-discrimination, as laid down in Articles 20 and 21 of our Charter of Fundamental Rights. Mr President, we must not forget ongoing training, since, as the rapporteur says, a services sector with low salaries means a low level of quality, qualifications and productivity, and that means a reduction in the economy’s capacity to generate innovation, sustainable wealth and social cohesion.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, the Seattle demonstrators argued that free trade is bad for the less- and least-developed countries, it is purely a rich country selfish interest. Yet we might consider the rate of economic progress and the rate of eliminating poverty in countries such as India and Tanzania over the 40 or 50 years since they became independent. There the theory went that protectionism and state intervention would preserve jobs, allow industry to adjust gradually and without pain. It did not work; poverty became worse than ever. The medicine may not taste too good in the short term, but opening one’s economy to competition at home and abroad forces optimal application of resources and leads to a higher standard and quality of life in the not so longer term. Is that not the lesson of the European Union itself and of the single market in particular? As Mr Nielson said, this is a fine example to those countries and regions aspiring to greater prosperity. Yet preaching the benefits of free trade to the developing countries is not enough. We also have to practise what we preach in our own accessibility for imports from these countries. Parliament’s resolution on the WTO negotiations advocated a free import policy by the EU. Eliminating all remaining barriers to imports, tariff barriers and quotas and, just as important, non-tariff barriers, such as Mrs Maij-Weggen mentioned in her speech – eliminating these barriers would do more than any amount of development aid to secure for developing countries the economic progress which both we and they desire. It is quite clear that a lack of coherence of development policy with trade policy diminishes our development efforts and must also diminish the political regard of the developing countries for Europe and our fine words.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, the mine is an economic weapon, which has effects that are both physical and psychological, the latter being increased because of the insidious nature of mines. Easy to put in place and relatively cheap, mines are a recurring threat long after the end of fighting. Although the Ottawa agreement banning anti-personnel mines has now entered into force, only future conflicts are affected. The fight against the approximately 110 million mines across the world sadly remains a reality. There are stocks that pose a threat of proliferation, and several Phare countries, such as the former Yugoslavia, the United States, China and Russia, should be encouraged to ratify this treaty. Nor, unfortunately, has the time come to bring an end to the humanitarian action, carried out either by NGOs or the UN, to combat this scourge. I also welcome the preparations for the Ottawa Conference. Six years after the signing in Ottawa of a convention banning the use, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel mines, let us remember that it is said that, every year, there are still between 15 000 and 20 000 people in the world who are victims of such mines. In particular, children continue to pay a heavy price for the spread of the poor man’s weapon, and children make up a quarter of the victims. This is why it is our duty to continue the battle and, above all, to do everything possible to ensure that, finally, production of these mines comes to an end.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I would like to thank not only Mr Koch, but also the Vice-President of the Commission for the clear and unambiguous way in which they have declared their support for safety in the transport sector and acknowledged it as a priority. The reason Mr Koch produced his sound report was because the work in the CEN and within the United Nations Economic Commission was proceeding none too expeditiously. I would like to ask the Vice-President if she is in a position to tell us today what the state of play is with regard to the efforts towards harmonisation being made by these two organisations, and whether the EU is in a position to hasten these harmonisation efforts, in accordance with principles that are as simple as possible. For one thing is clear: even if we come to an excellent arrangement within the European Union, traffic does not stop at our borders, it goes beyond them. Hence there is certainly every reason to introduce more far-reaching regional provisions. If the Commissioner is unable to do so today then would she be prepared to inform the committee in writing of how matters stand and what stage negotiations between the CEN and the Economic Commission are at?

Political group: PSE
I welcome this report by Mr Averoff on a proposal to grant funds to Greece in order to relieve the interest burden on EIB loans for the reconstruction of the Attica region which was devastated by the earthquake of September 1999. This aid is more than justified in the light of that tragedy. - Eriksson Report (A5-0294/2000)

Political group: PSE
I have voted today against the Junker report which calls on the European Union and its Member states to integrate sexual and reproductive health and rights into their development policies. The Cairo conference term 'reproductive health' was defined by the World Health Organisation as including the term 'fertility regulation' which includes the term 'interrupting unwanted pregnancy', i.e. abortion. Since the provision of abortion is not an EU competence and since the principle of subsidiarity is enshrined in the Treaties I have no choice but to reject this report. I believe that true women-oriented development would support women with safe gynaecological and obstetrical care, maternal care and childcare. Food, safe water and health care are the prerequisite for education which, alongside sufficient energy supply and fair trade, will foster the long-term sustainable development of the individual and the society. - Report: Medina Ortega (A5-0118/2004)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, only the discrimination suffered by the fleets of southern Europe, from Portugal and Spain – particularly Galicia – can explain the tangible discrimination we are now discussing. The European Union’s institutions still consider these fleets to be intruders in seas that belong to all of us. This discrimination manifests itself in the application of the principle of relative stability which, for example, grants a country from northern Europe 40% of catches taken in Community waters, whilst Spain and Galicia receive only 6%. As a result, we must ask once again: what is the Council’s position on the necessary communitisation of fishing rights in European Union waters in accordance with the principles laid down in the Treaties?

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, since the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Tampere Justice and Home Affairs Summit, things have really got moving in Europe. It is very pleasing to see this. The action programme against discrimination, the Commission’s two proposals for directives, the opening of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, and lastly the adoption of Article 13 of the Treaty all give an irrevocable signal. There was no anti-discrimination provision of this kind in the treaties before. The European institutions can now, on the basis of Article 13, take appropriate steps to fight certain kinds of discrimination. The European Parliament has also made its own contribution. My colleague, Mrs Buitenweg, has, under considerable time pressure, prepared a well considered report on this anti-discrimination package on behalf of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, and we are now voting on that report. In general, Mrs Buitenweg’s 55 or so amendments make the Commission proposal much more substantial. She has achieved a great deal. The proposal before us is the first implementation of Article 13. It concerns equal treatment irrespective of the colour of people’s skin or their ethnic origin. It does not only tackle the most important areas of life, such as access to employment and equal treatment at the workplace, education, social protection and social security. The Commission is also attempting to build on experience gained in the Member States. The reversal of the burden of proof will make the directive a very important instrument. The defendant will now have to provide convincing proof that there is no discrimination. The scope of the directive has also been widened, with protection against discrimination being extended to associations and groups of persons. A large majority of the committee went along with the rapporteur, and the vote today allows us to take that decision further in a consistent way. I would like to expressly thank Mrs Buitenweg for her excellent work and I assume that we will adopt this report by a clear majority today, even if the Commissioner responsible has let it be known here today that she cannot accept half the amendments. Nevertheless, a very important step is being taken today and we are giving a signal.

Political group: Verts-ALE
The Group voted against some of the amendments proposed by Mrs Angelilli and decided to abstain on the final vote since we believe that giving the EU the power to act in combating all forms of crime transgresses the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Tackling cross-border crime together is essential. Indeed, internationally organised crime is one of the most serious challenges we face. Petty local crime and vandalism however, have no cross-border implications and do not require EU action. Marinho report (A5-0073/2001) President. – As it is your birthday, Mr Fatuzzo, you can have another ten seconds.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, an essential requirement in parliamentary work is rigour. For the sake of this rigour, I would like to remind you of four facts relating to the case of the falsification of manual measurements of the diameter of MOX fuel pellets at the British Nuclear Fuels installation at Sellafield. Firstly, we are talking about secondary and superfluous controls at the request of a client, not a safety requirement; secondly, no nuclear safety requirement was violated; thirdly, there was no risk of radiation whatsoever; fourthly, no safeguard clause of the Euratom Treaty was violated since the measurements of the weight of the pellets were correct. We are therefore talking about a dreadful case of a lack of professional ethics, which has done enormous economic and public relations damage to the company concerned, but this case had no implications whatsoever in terms of the safety of workers or the public. Nevertheless, a mishap like this reminds us, despite its trivial nature, of the need to give utmost priority to the constant control and improvement of the procedures in an installation such as the Sellafield reprocessing plant. This is the view of the British regulatory authority. This is clearly demanded in the resolution supported by our Group and we hope that this will be complied with in the future.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are on the eve of the European Union's greatest political project – the overcoming of Europe's enforced division into two parts. Tomorrow, we will be deciding on the enlargement of the European Union by the addition of ten new Member States. Despite this success for the European Union, the Eurobarometer published in March 2002 clearly shows that fewer than one-third of the members of the public questioned regarded themselves as well informed about the European Union. Most indicators confirm that a large section of the population – 50% – is completely ignorant of the European Union or indifferent towards it. Voter turnout has fallen from 63% in 1979 to 49% in 1999. There is something not quite right here. I believe one of our main problems to be the fact that we speak of the European Union as a distant structure. That also came across from what Mr Ilgenfritz said. The European Union is made up of all of us! I do believe that the main cause of our problem is the mental and emotional distance between people, wherever they live, and the European institutions. The political will to make European policy into internal policy is lacking. The political will to reduce the distance between Europe's citizens and its institutions is absent – not from the European institutions, but from the Member States. Does, for example, every government state that there is no EU competence without the Member States' consent? Are people in the Member States told about how no directive can be enacted without the Member States' consent? Is it being stated openly that enlargement of the European Union cannot go ahead without the European Parliament, the Heads of State and of Government, the Member States and the candidate countries agreeing to it? No: whenever there is any doubt, people are told, ‘Brussels is doing it to us!’ The public do not know about the shared responsibility of the Member States for all European decisions, because this is not lived and communicated. Let me end by asking whether the regional parliaments are performing their task of exercising parliamentary control over their representatives in the Committee of the Regions. No, they are not! Are the national parliaments performing their task of exercising parliamentary control over what the Council does? No, they are not! Is the European Parliament adequately discharging its duties in exercising parliamentary control over the Commission and in working on legislation? Not satisfactorily so! If we do not fully perform our parliamentary functions at regional, national and European level, the connections between them and the interlinked decision-making mechanism cannot be presented in a transparent way. The best public information campaign is of no use if the public are not aware that they, through their governments, have a part in every decision. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
Chairman on the Committee on Budgets. – I feel that I need to give you some information in light of Mr Dover’s speech. Earlier, you called Mr Heaton-Harris to speak for the Budgetary Control Committee and he was not here, and he is still not here. I think I know the reason why – because he is knackered or should I say ‘physically exhausted’ following a football match this afternoon between British Labour Members and British Conservative Members which the Labour Members won by 7 goals to 1. However, Mr Dover and so were also involved. You expect Labour members to stand the pace! Since he is here, I think Mr Dover should be congratulated, not for what he said, but because he is present here tonight when Mr Heaton-Harris is not, and he is a much younger man. (Mixed reactions)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I am very glad to be here this evening. I was a Member of this Parliament in 1993. I must say that we had the impression then that this would take some time. In those days proposals did not make such rapid progress as they do now. Perhaps we did not imagine that it would take as long as is now the case, but it has taken a long time. Really this should be a reason for great joy. Everyone has said how important the cooperatives in the different European countries are and it is also very good of course that we can bring about a European Statute for them. This we have always supported. I should also like to warmly thank the two rapporteurs for their efforts. The whole thing is, of course, not entirely problem-free. That cannot be denied. Because of the difficulties with the European Company we are still confronted by some old frustrations and these frustrations will have to be cleared up at some point. The problem is that the Council never learns. If the Council were to learn, this would of course be an easy debate. We gave it the benefit of the doubt with the European Company and what does the Council do the next time? At the first opportunity it abuses its position again! Mr President, there are of course very many people who are then glad to give way, who say that it is an important matter. I agree with that, but I nonetheless think that we must not allow ourselves to be led astray by the Old Testament story of Jacob who sells his birthright for a plate of lentils. I agree with Mr Mayer who says that we must keep it reasonably tight here. I am also totally astonished that the are now suddenly calling on us not to remain true to our principles. I reproach the for actually being too principled, but I am glad that this time we in the Group are more principled than the . I think that it is possible and in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs we have done everything to avoid making this just a debate on a matter of principle. The possibility exists that it will be fought out on principle, but the amendments submitted by us mean that this may not be necessary. The Council can simply adopt our amendments. I regret that the Commission has actually rejected all the amendments to the Regulation, and do not think they have been sensible in doing so. I think that they will have to come back to this at some future time, but the opportunity now is with the Council. This I find quite proper. Let him who sets calamity in motion do the clearing-up afterwards. That is what we are letting them do, Mr President. I think that it could ultimately come to a solution if the Council is sensible, but I personally always refuse to go along with those who keep on wanting to give way. The next time we will have to fight the same fight again because, unfortunately, the Council never learns. The Commission learns with difficulty. The Council never learns. This Parliament learns, but not always.

Political group: PPE-DE
We voted against the joint motion for a resolution because it means granting a full discharge to the European Commission in advance and we disapprove of that in terms of both form and content. We abstained on the GUE resolution because, although we agree with a number of its criticisms of the Commission, in the recitals the Commission is described as an “indispensable interinstitutional instrument”, which is not how we see it. – Duff/Voggenhuber report (A5-0064/2000)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I voted for the establishment of the European Year of Languages 2001. This is, without any doubt, a major, positive step, although, in my opinion, every year should be a year of languages. It is of paramount importance for the European Union that the citizens of the 15 States learn to speak the languages of their fellow citizens of the European Union. I would like to take this opportunity to call for language teaching for the elderly to receive just as much attention and funding as language teaching for young people, which receives an extensive amount of aid. In this respect, the elderly are all too often forgotten and they would love to visit the other States of the European Union.

Political group: PPE-DE
Despite Mr Tajani’s conclusions, I must turn to you, Mr President-in-Office, to say that in your statement you tended to minimise the failure of the Intergovernmental Conference. This is the second time in just a short while that the intergovernmental method has failed, and this time it had behind it a complete, widely supported draft prepared by the Convention. What is even more disconcerting is the lack of prospects that can be inferred from your terse statement handing over to the Irish Presidency. In this context, there is a real risk of facing both the European elections and enlargement without a constitutional treaty, but it does not seem to worry you very much. If you would like to dwell a little on the prospects in your reply, I should be very grateful. The end of a presidency period is also a time for weighing things up. In foreign policy, no attempt was made to secure an active political role for the European Union and the United Nations: there was coolness towards the important Middle East peace initiative at Geneva, which you did not even mention; the commitments made here were ignored, such as the acceptance of the arrest warrant and the moratorium on the death penalty. We welcome the growth initiative but it will not be enough because only control of the economy, at least in the euro zone, can ensure the recovery and quality of the European economy. Lastly, Mr President-in-Office, information. You are aware that, during the six months of your presidency, this Parliament decided to enhance the status of media freedom and multiplicity in Europe, particularly in Italy. The fact that the President of the Italian Republic sent back to parliament the dreadful, dangerous law on this issue that was presented by your government and voted for by a majority in it confirms these concerns. In short, apart from the quite commendable conclusion of certain dossiers mentioned by you and Mr Prodi, how would you describe what the six months of this Italian Presidency have meant?

Political group: PSE
My tongue is a bit slow this early in the morning. We are against.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, I simply wish to update the information I communicated to the House a few moments ago. The accident which has taken place in Spain is really very serious. The number of children who have died has risen to 27, and their families, to whom we wish to send our condolences, are from Cerdanyola del Vallés and from Viladecans, in Barcelona.

Political group: Verts-ALE