GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, European solidarity is within our grasp! Now and in the future, aid can be given at once when disasters strike. It is with gratitude that I, as a MEP from Saxony-Anhalt, see with what speed and unanimity the Commission and Parliament act. I have also found, among the flood victims in my region, that the European ideal can hardly be more clearly communicated than by aid. It is perhaps auspicious that we find ourselves debating this solidarity on this historic day when the enlargement of the Community has taken on a definite shape, for the Solidarity Fund is already open to the candidate countries and our solidarity is already being extended to them. My group's concern is to retain as far as possible the precision of Commissioner Barnier's fine proposal for a regulation. The Solidarity Fund is an instrument of aid, one that makes immediate aid possible and whose tasks must be clearly distinguished from those of the Structural Fund. I would like to highlight two amendments to the Commission draft. Firstly, I wish to follow Mr Berend in highlighting the more comprehensive definition of a disaster, which we wanted, and which will allow us to respond flexibly to future catastrophic events that would otherwise be hard to include under the Commission proposal, for example droughts or the fallout from acts of terrorism. Secondly, the extension to three months of the period in which application to the Fund must be made. This gives an appropriate response time to those candidate countries that are as yet less well equipped to deal with administration and does justice to a situation in which important parts of the administration have also been destroyed. Although this is not relevant to the Solidarity Fund, our discussion today should make reference to the call for a future European civilian emergency force. The flood disaster has shown that, whatever the efforts made, there were significant deficiencies in the leadership of operations, in materials, logistics and communication, at any rate as regards the cross-border dimension. This needs to be remedied. The Commission should start by encouraging or supporting joint exercises by fire brigades, by the agencies for technical aid, by the rescue services and so on in border areas. In the medium term, this could give rise to a logistically unitary aid network or even a civilian solidarity corps, which could indeed be deployable in the event of disasters outside the Community, for example after an earthquake such as that which recently struck Turkey. It is a vision such as that on which we should be working, and we should not wait until after the next disaster. My thanks – for I must not forget him – to the rapporteur for his excellent cooperation!

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, initial indications of the election result in Zimbabwe seem to point to a majority for President Mugabe. This was to be expected. No effort has been spared to achieve this result, although the majority was smaller than anticipated. Nevertheless, I see this as a moral victory for the opposition, which itself uses the term ‘stolen elections’. Following the stolen elections in Chad and the rigged elections in Zambia, this is the third round of elections which, with the best will in the world, cannot be considered free and fair according to international standards, no matter how moderate a view some other African countries, for reasons probably known only to themselves, still take. After all, the writing was on the wall: 4.5 million voters expected and 7.5 million ballots printed so as to be prepared for every eventuality; too few polling stations to enable everyone to vote properly; and the inevitable confusion about who had to vote where, since different elections needed to be held for different levels on the same day but at different locations. These are only the technicalities which typify Mr Mugabe’s craftiness. More important was the terror which preceded this, the obstructions put in place by the ruling elite in order to prevent the opposition from meeting, the monopoly of the state channels, the prevention of journalists from doing their job, the obstacles placed in the way of observers, the incidents of torture and the abductions, including even the abduction of important union leaders. The list goes on. Even the ploy involving the distribution of corn, far away from the polling stations, was predicted by the opposition. The performance about re-opening the polling stations was the icing on the cake, and yet we need to ask ourselves: what now? The elections were not conducted freely and fairly, but do we need to condemn them altogether? The elections in Zambia and Chad were not free and fair either. However, we do need to maintain the sanctions. I am not in favour of extending these, but they do need to be applied and monitored. I do call for negotiations between the members of the majority and the opposition, for the country is anxious about a civil war. Finally, I hope that a government of national unity, involving the opposition, will be set up.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, it was 4 June in Aqaba. Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas were talking about peace, making pledges and embarking on the road marked out by the Quartet, a difficult road, without doubt, but one without any alternative. Remarkable things were said. The Palestinian Prime Minister referred to Palestinian terrorism, not political activism but the terrorism and suffering of the Jewish people. The Israeli leader, for his part, confronting some of his cabinet, expressed his clear desire that two peaceful States should coexist side by side in order to end the suffering of the Palestinian people. Europe and the United States must now use all their weight to ensure that this fragile window of opportunity, which opened slightly two weeks ago, does not close again on cruelly dashed hopes. There have already been 50 deaths since this summit, affecting both sides, the most recent victim a seven-year-old girl killed yesterday evening by the violence of men. Noam was Israeli, but that is not what is important here. When a child dies, a part of each of us is extinguished. So here, in such a short space of time, we have to say that Europe must make every effort to support the actions of these two men and to prevent the extremists on both sides from continuing to set fire to peace, so as to ensure that Aqaba does not become another Taba.

Political group: ELDR
I shall speak later on the subject of Iraq but, while our attention is focused on that country, there are atrocious activities going on in other parts of the world. I refer in particular to Zimbabwe, where in the last few days police have arrested over 500 people – including Members of Parliament – and hospitals have treated more than 250 people with serious injuries. This is another instance in which the failure of European Union governments to speak with one voice and to implement policies with resolution has given licence to another tyrant – in this case, Mugabe. I ask Council to redouble its efforts to bring about change for the better in Zimbabwe. ***

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, we must also draw conclusions as regards civil aviation. We need to take steps to prevent similar terrorist attacks again taking place in or from the air. In the immediate future we need increased security for air travellers, preferably at international level. Let us each, though, start with our airports at home. We need stricter checks on luggage and hand luggage. We need tighter checks on airport workers. Above all, it will not be enough for controls at airports to be more stringent today and tomorrow if, in six months' time, they have been relaxed again in certain parts of Europe. No, we need strict controls on a permanent basis. Looking at specific cases, there is probably a need for armed flight attendants on certain routes, and we must consider the need to secure the cockpit against terrorist attacks, for we must prevent aircraft becoming the biggest weapons in the world. Although the safety of passengers is our primary concern, our secondary concern is that, at present, the number of passengers carried by airlines is showing a massive decrease. We must keep an eye on this situation. Is the number of passengers falling as a consequence of the terrorist attacks, or because of market conditions or structural factors? As we read in today's newspapers, certain governments are demanding subsidies and yet more subsidies, but these cannot be the solution. My group rejects subsidies for airlines. We must give thought to how we can help them. We can do this by coming to an agreement on code sharing and by permitting the restructuring of the companies, along with mergers and acquisitions. This would be a more elegant solution, keeping them competitive, but we must not pay out subsidies indiscriminately The situation can, of course, change. If the USA supports its airlines to the tune of massive amounts, then we will have to see what effect that has on the transatlantic market. Under such circumstances, we will not be able simply to leave our airlines on the outside looking in, but let us be clear-sighted about this. First of all, however, we need increased security for passengers.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I would like to thank the rapporteur for her invaluable work. On account of the amendments tabled in committee, this report ended up being more wide-ranging; when dealing with issues related to research areas, we must not focus solely on scientific communities. The role of the SME sector as a locomotive force for innovation and research work must also be clearly borne in mind. The Commission’s communication provides an unnecessarily one-sided view of the challenges of European research. It is obvious that, in the preparation of this communication, there has been no horizontal utilisation of the expertise of the various directorates. Since the discussion on the research area touches, for example, on the enlargement process of the Union and on the vitality of the SME sector, one would have wished that the Commission’s communication had presented more visions and concrete content. It is not enough to talk in broad terms about the competitiveness of the Union. Keywords in research policy are flexibility, global thinking, and the more effective use of resources than at present. The self-directed nature of science and the Member States’ own research policy priorities must be accorded sufficient space. It is therefore necessary to give careful thought to what will be required in the future of the joint research centres highlighted in the Commission’s proposal. On no account is it appropriate to enlarge the role of the Union’s research centres in such a way that the operations of national research centres are made more difficult in the context of resource reallocation. Most of the added value of the internal market approach in research will be acquired specifically through the more even distribution of the research and know-how which is funded by non-public resources. Practical experience has shown that by working within framework programmes it is not possible to react sufficiently flexibly to problems which demand rapid action, such as the BSE crisis. Increasing, for instance, the mobility of researchers according to need and enhancing the cooperation between the scientific communities of the EU and Eastern Europe will create a reliable and credible basis for research projects. In this discussion, particular attention must also be paid to the position of women in European research policy; the body of technical experts in particular – which actually suffers from a labour shortage – is alarmingly male-dominated. The EU must accept that one of the most important challenges for its training and research policy is to awaken women’s interest in this sector.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, nature has, once again, been merciless and the fury of the torrential rain and the unruly rivers has spread destruction and suffering. We have seen enormous material damage, families made homeless, injured and even killed. Once again, an appeal to European solidarity is being made in this Parliament and it is the Commission’s duty to find ways of putting this into practice. The Commission must not hide behind a lack of funds – the people who have been affected do not want to hear administrative excuses. It is our duty to prove that Europe is not only a generous idea but also an efficient organisation. There are, however, two fundamental issues that are worth recalling. The first, broader issue is that of environmental protection and climate change. Only a few years ago, anyone who mentioned these matters was dismissed as being utopian, alarmist and even a little mad. Today, the evidence is clear for all to see and we have to act effectively to prevent the situation throughout the world from deteriorating. The second issue concerns my country, Portugal. Let no one be in any doubt; I do not intend to give in to demagogy: my country’s government and local authorities are not responsible for the rains that fell, but they do have a responsibility from which they cannot shy away. They must show greater rigour in regional planning and greater resistance to urban speculation, they must refuse permission to build in areas at risk from flooding and establish better management of river beds and dam outlets. We must all work together, not only in order to help the people who need urgent assistance, but also in taking precautions with the measures and actions that predict and reduce the probability of similar disasters in the future.

Political group: PPE-DE
I thank the Commissioner for the points he has made. I would like to ask specifically whether he, or the Commission, has been in contact with the government of Sierra Leone and whether they have asked them to condemn publicly these rapes and acts of sexual violence against women and young girls by the RUF? Does he accept that the government of Sierra Leone needs substantial support from the international community, particularly the EU, to include – amongst what he has said – training for the army, the police force, prosecutors, judges and other law enforcement officials involved in human rights observance? Should the UNAMSIL forces be strengthened with equipment and other logistics to provide security for civilians, especially women and children? Finally, Commissioner, perhaps you could respond to the related, but different, issue of the alarming reports of the sexual abuse of nuns by priests in 23 countries, especially in Africa, including Sierra Leone, and the hopelessly inadequate response over a long period by the Vatican. Has the Commission, at the very least, insisted on an adequate response from Rome concerning this other example of sexual abuse of women and girls?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, we might be inclined to think that when new countries join the EU, this automatically means that they will have to introduce more stringent rules to protect the environment and nature. This may be true in part, where the protection of the environment is concerned, but when it comes to protecting nature, it is a different matter. The candidate countries want to experience quick economic growth, even if this is at the expense of previously stipulated nature protection policy. Of those candidate countries, it is mainly the Eastern European countries which have a rich tradition of identifying and protecting nature reserves. Accordingly, their decision in favour of rail transport, which takes up less space and emits less polluting substances than road transport, was a sound one. This head start has been put at risk over the past decade, mainly by the impoverishment of a large section of the population and by the wish for a new, car-oriented infrastructure. Some candidate countries would like financial support from the European Union for projects which will need to be abandoned once they join the Union. One example is the motorway in Bulgaria between Sofia and Thessaloniki, which cuts right through the vulnerable Kreshna gorge. In some countries, the state of the natural world and of the environment is treated much like a state secret. This is why it is important for the citizens of those countries to become actively involved. The fact that non-governmental organisations for the protection of nature, the environment and animals are set up and developed, therefore, deserves our active support. Any transitional periods which postpone compliance with nature and environmental requirements could also freeze and obstruct the policy within the EU’s current Member States. The next few years in Eastern Europe might well see the depopulation of rural villages and the large-scale purchase of agricultural land for mechanised production-intensive farms. In addition, new industrial sites are being built. And the transport of arable produce and stock breeding products over long distances will take off in a big way. This also applies to the inhuman transport of live animals to slaughterhouses. Watercourses, hedges and stone walls, which are the traditional land dividers in the countryside, have already been partly destroyed by large-scale collectivisation, but the remainder thereof is now also at risk. The habitat directive and bird directive will not apply to the new Member States until the areas and animals to be protected have been listed in an appendix. This requires swift action so that these directives can enter into effect as from day one. We need to try to protect the countryside and the natural areas from any negative impact. I welcome the broad approval from the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy and I hope for the same from Parliament as a whole.

Political group: GUE-NGL
The European Commission and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy largely agree on a greater military role in the world for a united Europe, that is to say, intervention outside its own borders. That role should be backed up by a European arms industry producing standardised products. The Member States should spend more money on it. This report goes that little bit further again by calling for even deeper integration of the EU and NATO, by demanding money from the Structural Funds – which were intended for regional development – to fund arms programmes, and by proposing that the European arms trade no longer be held back by national controls. I note this with horror, partly because the envisaged combination of a strong European arms industry and free-market competition will result in people no longer wanting to remain dependent on European armies’ fluctuating need for new arms. New markets outside the EU will therefore be sought. A recent example of this is Belgian arms exports to Nepal, which enable the Nepalese army to commit preventive murders of poor farmers who might possibly at some stage be in a position to offer armed resistance. Even if employment and economy are allowed to take precedence over everything else, there are better ways to spend our tax revenues.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I would like to begin by congratulating the two rapporteurs on the work they have done, which, while certainly not reaching the zenith or the high point which the studious amongst us may have wished for, nevertheless represents important progress in the development of what in the future will be a genuine European company with all the characteristics appropriate to that concept. Max Weber defined the company as an organisation which, while controlling them, is intended to produce goods and services for a market. Obviously, a company can be owned by a physical person or by a legal person, and it is general practice, also derived from the will of the individual businessperson to restrict their responsibility – particularly relating to property – towards third persons, that the businesses of certain economic entities adopt the form of companies. Of course, the company means plurality, the organisation of goods, but above all of services. It is therefore logical – and I am referring essentially to the social aspects – that there be particular study, analysis and regulation of the involvement of workers in the European company statute and that in a dual system, with a general council and a management and supervisory body, or in a single system, with simply an administrative body, the feelings and knowledge of workers be taken into account, listened to and accepted by means of their representatives, and that workers understand the progress of the company, the risks, the vicissitudes and the objectives it is pursuing. I do not have time, and I believe it is unnecessary, to refer to the methods and degrees of participation, to the negotiating body or to the role of the European company in the structuring of European social life. However, please allow me to refer to the role of the representatives of workers at the point of closure of all or some of the establishments in one or various nations, staff relations, the creation of subsidiary companies and, in general, to all the decisions which are essential to the ordinary life of the company. Also important are the transitional period of three years, a high degree of uniformity in the application provisions of the regulation and the transposition of the directive, which would endorse the raison d’être, facilitate the nature of the European company and help to create more Europe, to the benefit of companies, employment and consumers.

Political group: PPE-DE
Space science and technology have offered mankind a great deal, in the form of both new knowledge and advanced technology and everyday applications (telecommunications, surveys of the earth and the atmosphere, navigation). European countries have made a particularly important contribution along the way: to launching systems, to research, to applications. However, further development is threatened by the fact that the driving force is the commercial exploitation of space services and applications. Thus, operating under the conditions and the rules of the free market and liberalisation, the aerospace industry in Europe is in danger of shrinking as the result of competition from mainly American companies. Many people forecast the development of military space applications within the framework of the EU's common defence and security policy. The ΕU also often cites the requirements of the space industry in order to justify the military use of space. The Communist Party of Greece is categorically opposed to any such prospect, which will result in further militarisation of space with the ΕU leading the way. We are in favour of the exclusively peaceful use of space and public funding for the relevant activities. Further development cannot be accomplished within the framework of the market; it must have as its incentive not commercial profit but the development of activities for the benefit of mankind as a whole.

Political group: GUE-NGL