GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Commissioner, I know it is very late and not a lot of people are here. That should be no surprise to you, however. It happens not only, thank heavens, where cultural and educational matters are concerned but also in many other areas. I think, though, that, as you yourself have already said, quality speaks for itself. You have briefly commented upon your report and your amendments yourself. I am an Austrian and know from experience that, in Austria, there is very good access to all universities and courses of study. I should also like to make it clear that we have no problem giving ethnic minorities access to these, either. We certainly do not lag behind England, or Great Britain, in that area. On the subject of the Erasmus programme, which is, after all, a part of the Socrates programme, I should like to say that – given the need not only to set up the programme but also to evaluate it – it is quite important to examine the efficiency of what is being offered and to carry out an assessment of the resources, if new knowledge is to be obtained and, above all, the defects in the programme removed. It has already been said that new knowledge of this kind will unfortunately not have any impact upon the Socrates II programme. I think we could have done to update things in this area, since 40% of the Socrates budget is, after all, being allocated to the Erasmus programme and, in that way, to students at European universities. It was, and remains, the goal to make it possible for 10% of students to spend a part of their degree courses in other Member States. Unfortunately, a figure of only 1% was achieved in the first year. The participation rate has risen and is now just under 50% of the figure aimed at. The report has shown that the reasons for this are both structural and cultural, as well as economic to quite a significant degree. So far, there has been no success in complying with what is also laid down in the Socrates programme and giving a special boost to groups that are weak in socio-economic terms. On the contrary, the programme is instead used by students whose parents have both a high level of education and a corresponding level of income. Fifty-seven percent of Erasmus students had considerable difficulties financing their stay abroad. I think there needs to be coordination between the Erasmus scholarships and the countries and the universities concerned. In that way, reform can be implemented and an information campaign launched in order to question, and shed some light upon, why so few people are able to participate in this programme. Above all, it is a question of preserving equality of opportunity in all countries. That is why it is worth showing some commitment. I think that making equal opportunities available to young people is quite important for us all.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, some 15 years ago, as a young academic, I applied for and was offered a post at the Free University of Berlin. As a result of the problem of mutual recognition of qualifications, many months passed before I was able to take up my position. This directive must, I believe, ensure that professionals do not face the same uncertainty and obstacles I encountered in exercising the right, as an EU citizen, to exercise one's profession in the single market. Moreover, if the Commissioner's new plan for a radical freeing-up of the market for cross-border services is to succeed, the free movement of skilled professionals will be vital to it. Specific safeguards are necessary in the health care sector. I too tabled amendments to abolish the 16-week rule. I thank the rapporteur and the committee for supporting those amendments. It is true that the rule would possibly have allowed bogus health care professionals and those struck off for malpractice to work in another Member State without having to register with the host country's regulatory body. Mr Bowis mentioned the case of Dr Shipman, a doctor in my constituency who may have murdered up to 200 patients after forcing some of them to change their wills in his favour. However, Dr Shipman was not struck off for malpractice and he was never identified as a problem by the UK's own regulatory body. Patient health and safety must be paramount, but it must not be an excuse to block the free movement of professionals. I know that Commissioner Bolkestein is sensitive to this issue. In the UK, the legacy of a Conservative government is an acute shortage of doctors. It makes no sense to have barriers to free movement, but I hope that the final directive gets the balance right between allowing and encouraging the free movement of health care professionals, plus automatic recognition of rights for more than 50 categories of medical specialist – in particular much-needed cancer specialists, and continuing to safeguard patient health and safety.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I would like to speak on both the Hudghton report and the Stevenson report. On the Hudghton report the position taken by the EPLP relates to our political support for regional advisory councils, subsidiarity and scope for some decentralised management measures. On the Stevenson report – formerly the Ó Neachtain report – on western waters concerning the Irish Box, the position has been taken on conservation grounds relating to a vulnerable spawning area and in line with longstanding regional support for the Irish Box. Amendment No 20, which effectively gives a 10-year derogation to the Irish Box, is a vital conservation measure and we support it. That is why I am delighted that Amendment No 20 was adopted with such a majority today. All other amendments fall, as Amendment No 20 was adopted, allowing us to support the report as amended. – Hudghton report (A5-0168/2003)

Political group: PSE
We have now reached the end of a long process leading to the adoption of a Directive on the incineration of waste. The Commission proposal goes back to 1998, but, because of the many points of disagreement between Parliament and the Council, the Conciliation Committee had to be convened on 11 October. So today we are deciding on the text that has emerged from the conciliation procedure. Let me remind you that the directive covers the incineration and co-incineration of waste. These two treatment methods must form part of a global strategy that covers the prevention, re-use and recycling of waste, a strategy that is coordinated at European level. In the course of the debates that marked the two readings by the European Parliament, I expressed my doubts and fears about lumping hazardous and non-hazardous waste together in the same directive. These are very legitimate concerns and they have led Parliament to be very vigilant and to table amendments aimed at establishing very stringent controls over everything connected with the process of incineration and co-incineration. After extensive discussion with the Council, we achieved what we wanted on several points. On co-incineration, for example, which is generally carried out in cement kilns, the limit values for emissions are specified in an annex. However, if more than 40% of the waste incinerated in plants of this kind consists of toxic waste or untreated, mixed municipal waste, the plant will have to comply with the more stringent standards of another annex on incineration. The European Commission wanted to exclude vegetable agricultural waste and waste from the forestry and food industry. At second reading, Parliament added fibrous waste from the production of raw pulp and pulp-based paper where this waste is intended for co-incineration. It managed to get this point through during the conciliation procedure. Parliament also succeeded with another point: plants in which radioactive waste is incinerated must be expressly excluded from the scope of the directive. Parliament also succeeded in obtaining stricter rules on the operation of incineration plants, together with improved public access to information. I will conclude by emphasising once again that the widespread treatment of hazardous waste must not lead us to tolerate the production of such waste. Our priority is and must remain to prevent the production of waste, in accordance with the line adopted in the European Union’s strategy in this field.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, what we are discussing here is the 1995 Association Agreement. I have absolutely no objections to this agreement in itself. It contains fundamental standards and values that demonstrate respect and, in itself, we can support Israel as a democracy. That is not where the problem lies. What I find incomprehensible, however, and the reason I have asked these questions, is that the European Union has been allowing Israel to violate the rules of origin in the agreement for years. These rules of origin – this is child’s play for you, of course – state that Israel is not permitted to sell products from the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as though they originated from Israel itself; otherwise, the products from the illegal settlements would wrongfully benefit from favourable import duties in Europe. As Mr Lagendijk said, this is a political matter. I also know that the European Commission addressed Israel in this matter and, in reply, was told of Israel’s adamantine position that it considers the settlements to be Israeli territory. European governments are not responding, and are thus acquiescing in the violation of the agreement that they themselves adopted. This makes us jointly responsible for the continuation of the policy of colonisation, one of the greatest obstacles to peace. This is the crux of the matter, in my opinion. We must not share responsibility for this. Under the EC Treaty, the Community Customs Code and the Association Agreement, Member States are obliged to refuse to give preferential treatment to the import of products from the settlements. As the Commission and as guardian of the treaties, you must monitor Member States’ compliance with these obligations. These problems must be solved, and without delay, and so I ask the Commissioner whether he now genuinely intends to put an end to these matters and come up with a genuine legislative solution, so that a uniform verification procedure can be followed in the Member States. The Member States’ customs authorities will then be able to collect ordinary import duties for products from settlements without the importers being able to contest this. This would seem to me an extremely neat solution: not for or against Israel; not for or against the Palestinians. The issue is merely that we do not want to be jointly responsible for the problem of settlements, and I ask, therefore, that you submit any solutions to Parliament.

Political group: ELDR
First of all I should like to thank Mr Viceconte for all the work that he has done on this report. It is a very extensive report. We greatly welcome it, just as we welcomed the original report that it was based on, the report of the high-level working group which was set up by the European Commission. I hope that the Commission will not forget that. Having set it up, I hope the Commission actually makes use of it and therefore does not just allow it to sit around in the corridors and gather dust. Tourism is basically small businesses and therefore a very fertile area for job creation. As has already been said in this debate, three million potential new jobs within the next ten years is something well worth going for. Europe can no longer refuse to give the recognition – both political and in terms of policy-making – that the fastest growing sector of its economy deserves because of its economic and social position. We need a more dynamic vision based on tourism’s contribution to job creation. We must recognise a sector that is predominantly engaged in cross-border activity and therefore deserves a European policy with a stimulating, innovative and proactive approach to sustainable business development. I know the Commissioner is very keen on information technology. He has convinced me of that. But his portfolio of information technology and tourism actually go very well together. There are several reasons why the tourism industry is an ideal test-bed, therefore, for integrating job creation strategies. Let us look at some of these reasons. The importance to the economy of tourism and its growth potential is obviously one. Various sectors of the population are employed by the tourism industry, particularly the more vulnerable groups, such as young people, women and the unskilled. I am not saying that we do not need to raise the skills within the sector – of course we do – but let us get the jobs established first. The availability of unskilled, temporary and seasonal work is very important in some of the economic areas of the Community. Tourism contributes to regional development – in rural areas that are maybe trying to diversify – and tourism contributes to urban areas that aim to raise the profile of their own cultural heritage. If we take all these aspects together we have the potential of really doing something in Europe and maybe extending the tourism season by staggering holidays right across Europe. We must not lose sight of the fact that with enlargement we have the potential to increase the number of visitors who come to Europe’s shores to see some of the traditional cultural heritage that has not been opened up to the world for quite a number of years – in fact, about forty years. We are losing market share. I believe we have to do something to make ourselves more competitive. I hope you will help us.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I would like first of all to express my pleasure that things have now got moving in connection with Croatia’s application for membership of the European Union and that there are definite prospects for the opening of negotiations. I can only agree with what Mrs Pack has said and confirm the great efforts Croatia is making to come closer to the European Union. I have followed developments in Croatia since 1995, first as a delegation chairman and then as chairman of the EU-Slovenia Joint Parliamentary Committee, and have found that steadily increasing efforts have been made in the right direction. Of course, things moved very hesitantly and with great difficulty in the early stages, but eventually they gained momentum. The new government under Ivo Sanader has really advanced by leaps and bounds, especially in policy towards minorities and the coexistence of ethnic groups. I say that as a representative of a minority. The approach taken by the new government, and by the prime minister in particular, calls for our utmost admiration. It could be considered an example for other countries wishing to join the EU and be held up as exemplary in terms of a new intake and new opening between majority populations and minorities of any kind. Positive considerations have also prevailed as a result of international arbitration in the border disputes or differences of opinion over the border in the Piran Bay. I believe that is the right way when both states have legitimate interests and this question need not therefore be a stumbling block any longer. I would therefore like to thank Mr Baltas for this good report and I hope that the Commission will do what it can to get negotiations started.

Political group: PPE-DE
At a time of huge food scares, with dangerous consequences for the health of consumers, some of whom have even died, one would have expected greater sensitivity on the question of food safety. Yet, the report calls for veterinary medicinal products for which no maximum residue limits have been established to be excluded from the ban on the use of these products in feeding and fattening food-producing animals. We disagree with this derogation, nor do we accept the spurious argument that pharmaceutical multinationals supposedly have no interest in developing suitable veterinary medicinal products. On the contrary, we emphasise the need to adopt and comply with ever stricter control procedures throughout the entire animal food cycle (feedingstuffs, medicinal products, processing of foods of animal origin etc.) so that the system for producing foods of animal origin can be controlled as tightly as possible. Not, of course, that we are labouring under the misapprehension that controls which fully guarantee the safety of the food produced are possible in a capitalist system. Nor do we agree with the rapporteur’s call for a pan-European licensing system for medicinal products. Such a system would basically abolish the control mechanisms and services of the Member States, which are responsible for controlling marketing applications for medicinal products, as they will be forced to accept licences issued by another Member State. For these reasons, the MEPs of the Communist Party of Greece will be voting against the Doyle report. – Katiforis report (A5-0127/2001)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I would like to ask Mr Bolkestein to go ahead with this initiative and that the work relating to the study and the proposed directive begin as soon as possible. We must remember that SMEs are the greatest providers of work in the European Union and, specifically in my region, Valencia, are the biggest employers. We believe that all measures aimed at enhancing the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the European Union are necessary and we would therefore ask the Commission that this proposed directive – which, amongst other things, should deal with the tax differences between the Member States, with a view to harmonising them – clearly benefit small- and medium-sized businesses, which, I repeat, are the biggest employers in our European Union.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, I too should like to congratulate the rapporteur for this. The rapporteur has produced two excellent reports. He makes a first-class contribution to the work of the committee which I have the honour to chair. I would like to talk very briefly about the first of these reports to do with the freedom of movement of people. It is essential that we have a European legal space and that we pursue its development with judicial cooperation in civil matters. The rapporteur quite rightly identifies the problems here and recognises that just as the single market required a massive benchmarking exercise, a massive exercise in approximation and mutual recognition, so too will the development of a European legal space require this. In the second report the rapporteur looks at the problems that have emerged with the Schengen Information System and the opportunity to move forward to the second version of it, which clearly will be needed with enlargement. We have here, in Strasbourg, with the central Schengen computer system, the most comprehensive databank in Europe. It must be financed from our budget. Sadly, the Belgian and Swedish initiatives, which propose a regulation for the First Pillar and a decision for the Third Pillar, show how ridiculous it is still to be operating with these two pillars. In particular, Article 96, which is the article governing the data on those refused entry, must be in the First Pillar. It contains the personal details of 1.3 million people and will contain substantially more with enlargement of the Union. In conclusion I would draw the House's attention to the report from Justice last year that found significant defects in data protection, poor quality of data and obstacles placed in the way of individuals seeking to correct mistakes. We must take account of this.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, could I start my contribution by offering my congratulations to Commissioner Monti and his officials for the scrupulous and professional way in which they dealt with the proposed MCI Worldcom – Sprint merger. I would particularly to thank him and his officials for trying to see trade unionists from all over the European Union and indeed from the United States of America, who had an opportunity to put their views. Without doubt, one of the consequences of mergers and takeovers is the effect on employment and I know that the Commissioner, within the confines of the Treaty, is sensitive to this. What also needs to be stressed is that there are special technological reasons why a concentration of ownership, the potential abuse of a dominant position, is so serious. In most other industries such a concentration or potential abuse might be temporary, but in this field if any one company does secure such a strong position it will almost certainly have it, if not forever, then at least for a very long time. In your presentation, Commissioner, you mentioned the danger of one company gaining control over these markets. This really is a dilemma for Parliament and for the Commission. We accept the near inevitability and in many cases the desirability of mergers and takeovers, but we also see the potential and actual dangers. Parliament is consistent in its view that we do not want to put any obstacles in the way of competitiveness and innovation. We welcome the position that you have taken on this particular issue. One other small point: much of this competition is between the European Union and the United States of America. I know you are well aware how crucial it is for Europe to lead in the two important spheres of third generation mobile telephones and digital television and I hope that you will continue your efforts to keep that lead, which is so crucial to jobs, employment and prosperity in the European Union.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, the dramatic events of the weekend should not go unnoticed in this Parliament, so let us send our congratulations to the forces of the United States and Britain and other coalition countries whose valiant efforts have ensured over the weekend that the tyrant Saddam Hussein is now in custody. Those two countries and others have ensured that democracy and freedom can flower in Iraq, where perhaps in the past they would not have done so. Secondly, echoing the comments made by Mr Helmer, we should congratulate the Polish and Spanish Governments on ensuring that this wretched Constitution may be delayed. (Mixed reactions) Perhaps that view may not get cheers inside this Parliament but it will get many cheers in the homes and streets of the countries we all represent. Let us welcome that move and congratulate them on their achievement.

Political group: PPE-DE