GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
The next Spring European Council will hinge on two key documents published in recent months: the Commission’s Joint Employment Report and the report by the Employment Task Force that is mentioned in paragraph 19 of the current resolution. The resolution was presented by our political group and others, and I totally support it. These two documents state that a more determined and active implementation of the Lisbon Agenda and the European Employment Strategy is essential to strengthen an economic recovery in Europe. The six million jobs created since 1999 prove that we must continue down this route. As Mr Wim Kok pointed out, partnerships at all levels, as well as governance must, however, be improved, in order to ensure that the reforms are implemented still more effectively. The acceleration of technical innovations and globalisation of trade make it essential for all Europeans and all policies to be mobilised. As rapporteur for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on the 2004 Employment Guidelines, I hope to see a growth trend emerge in Europe, as well as a culture of economic development. Community funding aimed at supporting the creation of employment, in particular through the European Social Fund, needs to be made clearer in the eyes of our citizens so that the European Union will appear as the ‘bearer of projects’.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, we are voting on the Paulsen report today. It was only this morning that the amendments to this report became available in all languages. I regard this as a very important report and there are a great many amendments. I am not in a position to adopt a clear position on this report today, and I therefore request that the vote should be postponed until tomorrow.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it has to be said that the European Commission’s current strategy for bringing about the actual realisation and improvement of the internal market has already been the subject of debate in this House on quite a number of occasions. This ongoing discussion process is now encapsulated in the report by Mrs Palacio Vallelersundi, and I would like to thank her very much for this work, particularly as I am aware that it is often a thankless and less than exciting task to have to work on existing projects. One tends only to make the headlines when one brings new ventures in to the world. However, we must not discard the internal market as if it were an old hat. The introduction of the euro has already brought all the shortcomings of the internal market into sharper relief and it will accentuate them even more clearly in the future. Any failing on the part of the internal market weakens Europe economically and in terms of its credibility vis-à-vis the citizens. If it helps to give the internal market project renewed impetus then we should in fact welcome the new packaging that the Commission has come up with, even if it appears slightly over-contrived and complicated for my taste on many issues. It is important to get the proposed measures underway quickly. In common with Mr Harbour, I believe that in adopting the common position Parliament has made an important contribution to electronic commerce. The Council has been dilatory in many areas. I am thinking mainly of such fundamental draft directives as those pertaining to “copyright in the information society”, “distance selling”, and “financial services”, where we have already been kept waiting for the common position for a very long time. If we want to bring the internal market closer to the citizens and make it relevant to their lives, then we should also give the same amount of attention to all issues connected with it. We will only strengthen the internal market and enable it to function at long last if issues such as consumer protection, employment policy, social security, taxation policy, environmental protection and regional policy are included in the debate from the outset, rather than being regarded as incompatible. To this end, we have taken the liberty of tabling a number of amendments supplementary to Mrs Palacio Vallelersundi’s report. Finally, I have a request to make of Commissioner Bolkestein. We gathered from the Commission’s statement on the Echelon case that, in at least one Member State of our Union (I suspect it is not the only one and that this applies to several) secret services undertake activities with the aim, as permitted under national law, of protecting the economic well-being of a nation, a Member State that is. I believe it would be worth looking at these legal provisions in the light of the fact that we have an internal market and a common European economy, i.e. a common European economic area.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, last night I dreamt of the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, whose name has been given to the Socrates programme admirably outlined by Mrs Pack. I voted for the report. However, in this dream, Socrates seemed very angry, very upset and very annoyed, and he said to me: ‘What is this programme you have given me? Why have you named this programme after me? I deserve a more important programme. And above all,’ said Socrates, ‘I am not saying I want poison to be administered to others as it was to me, but I want a programme bearing my name to concern itself, not just with young people, but with the elderly too. I was prevented from becoming a pensioner by being forced to drink hemlock, the poison I was given in prison. I would have loved to be able to grow old and become a pensioner and go sightseeing around Europe! But you are not interested in the elderly. Tomorrow morning, tell them what I have said in your explanation of vote.’ This is what I have done. Report Graça Moura (A5-0018/2002)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the great merit of Mrs Izquierdo Rojo's report is that it has triggered another wide-ranging debate about the influence of religious fundamentalism on the emancipation of women. On behalf of the Socialist Group, I welcome the report, which emphasises Europe's responsibility for ensuring respect for fundamental rights and democratic principles as well as the secularity of nation states. Throughout the world, however, women's rights are being restricted or breached on the pretext of religious or cultural traditions or the law. This does not apply only to Islamists, but also to other religious groups. After difficult negotiations, the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities is proposing more than 30 paragraphs of specific measures, which have met with the agreement of four groups. We deeply regret the fact that of all groups the Christian-Democratic Group was not prepared to take part in compromise negotiations. The rapporteur was willing to do so. The need to fight against the suppression mechanisms of the fundamentalists should, after all, be the subject of a consensus. The Afghan Taliban provided us with an example of how they first jettisoned women's rights, then forced women to wear the burka, and finally denied them education and medical care and cut them off from any kind of paid employment. In a joint declaration, the Women's Rights Committee in the European Parliament and the women of the Council of Europe call for an international group of female observers to be set up to see that Afghan women have their unrestricted human rights restored to them. We condemn any kind of fundamentalism, offence or crime for reasons of so-called honour, such as stoning or genital mutilation or withholding reproductive rights, and that includes in Europe. Within the EU, we need to influence immigration laws and asylum policy so that reasons for persecution which are gender-specific or not related to a particular state are recognised. In my country this is the subject of a major debate and there too it is the Christian-Democratic Group which is refusing to compromise. (Applause)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I would just like to table an oral amendment to Mrs Boudjenah’s amendment inserting the word ‘Notes’ at the beginning: ‘Notes that the Action Plan for Africa announced by the G8 in 2002 has still not been reflected by precise commitments; calls on the G8 and the EU swiftly to help to make the necessary resources available so as to help achieve the aims set by NEPAD’. (Parliament agreed to the oral amendment) (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** Report (A5-0477/2003) by Christa Prets, on behalf of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, on preserving and promoting cultural diversity: the role of the European regions and international organisations such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe (2002/2269(INI)) (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** Report (A5-0481/2003) by Joke Swiebel, on behalf of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities, on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union (2003/2011(INI)) (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** President. – That concludes the vote. EXPLANATIONS OF VOTE Report: Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (A5-0412/2003)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner Patten hit the nail on the head when he said that the danger of these Summits is that they might turn into talking shops. We hope that the Summit will achieve real results, but I agree with Mr Salafranca that the presentation by the Commission of a budget in which the contribution to that region is reduced by EUR 30 million is not the best message to send at this point. However, I would like to refer to another issue: the issue raised by Mrs Frassoni, who has asked us, on behalf of her group, not to include an amendment condemning terrorism. I believe that this could prejudice the hostages of terrorists and that is a mistake from the methodological point of view. We cannot become hostages to terrorism, because if we give in at this point, then we are actually inciting terrorists to kidnap our nationals and our representatives. The Spanish police have just countered a terrorist operation which was apparently aimed at overshadowing the Madrid Summit. I believe that this should reinforce our desire to combat terrorism both on this side of the Atlantic and on the other, and to cooperate with the democratic governments of Latin America in order to consolidate the democratic options.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the AIDS epidemic in Africa is acquiring increasingly dramatic proportions. The recent conference in Lusaka showed this quite clearly. Every year, two million people die of AIDS and another four million are infected. In total there are today in Africa 25 million people who have contracted AIDS and who are virtually programmed to die. In one tenth of the countries of Africa, life expectancy will not reach 60 or 70 by 2010, as might be expected, and will drop to 40, a rate similar to that we experienced in Europe in the Middle Ages. This endemic is not just a catastrophe in humanitarian and health terms, it is also a threat to social and economic cohesion and to the demographic balance of the countries of Africa. In Kenya, therefore, 43 of the 50 employees of the tax department who died last year died as a result of AIDS. According to the Farmers’ Union in Zimbabwe, the virus is responsible for a drop in production of 60% for corn and 30% for animal husbandry. In Zambia, if projected figures are substantiated, in 2010 there will be a million fewer children than there are today. In this situation, how can we accept reducing by one third, in the year 2000, the appropriations allocated to the fight against AIDS in developing countries? How, Commissioner, can we accept that the pharmaceutical companies have a virtual monopoly on manufacturing and distribution? We must re-negotiate the agreements signed on intellectual property. Solutions do exist. The pharmaceutical industry must no longer be content just to calculate its profit margin in relation to its profitability on western markets alone, and must urgently provide poor countries with triple-combination therapy – at cost price too. Right now, it is essential for the countries of the South to have the possibility of producing and obtaining for themselves the necessary medicines. In a few weeks’ time, in Seattle, the forthcoming WTO negotiations may constitute a significant stage. We must do all we can to ensure that free and anonymous screening centres are set in place. This is an effective means of curbing the disease throughout the world. We must also intensify the use of condoms because, in countries such as Senegal, it is known that condom use has played an important role in the decline of the illness. But how many of us would agree to give half our daily wage for one condom? Because, for a farm worker in the Sahel, a condom costs 150 CFA francs, that is 1.50 Francs, half of his daily wage? I invite you, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, and you too, Commissioner, to together call upon the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union to create a world fund for medical solidarity. What could be more urgent than to save 25 million people from programmed death?

Political group: GUE-NGL
The President of the European Parliament, in his interview in the Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros, appears to have commented on the Cypriot leaders by saying that he personally was disappointed by what he considered to be a failure in the fields of the imagination and courageous leadership which needed to be demonstrated at this time. He concluded by calling on the Cypriot people to seize the opportunity. I consider it unacceptable and inadmissible that the President of the European Parliament, even at a personal level, should throw all his weight behind and add to the unbearable pressure, coercion and threats to which the Cypriot people are subject from the UN Secretary General and his entourage, from the US Government, from the European Commission and Council, from Turkey and from numerous others, including the political forces in Greece. His intervention is an insult and, if I may say so, is unseemly towards the political forces of Cyprus and the Cypriot people as a whole, who do not need lessons in good behaviour from the President of the European Parliament or anyone else. In addition, his comments contradict what he says at the beginning of the interview about the choice of the communities of Cyprus in the two referenda being a choice by free and sovereign peoples. Do the President and others perhaps consider that the only free choice which the Cypriot people have in the referendum is to say 'yes'?

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, on a point of order, I made quite a serious allegation that there was an attempt to rewrite the regulation. That has not been addressed. I maintain that allegation in that both the Council and Commission have introduced a new mandatory and blanket exception on the basis of opinions or individual opinions. This is not contained in the regulation. I direct honourable Members to Article 4(3) – public interest disclosure. It has to be proven that such disclosure would undermine the institution's ability to function.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, I also wish to thank Mr Andersson for his very clear and well set-out report, and the Commission for a very interesting report on European pensions systems. How countries organise their pensions systems falls within the sphere of national competences, but I think that the report, with its objectives of adequate, sustainable pensions and flexible pensions systems may provide inspiration and give rise to sensible debates at national level. I also think that an interesting conclusion has been reached, namely that, in general, there is a high degree of redistribution and solidarity in the Member States’ pensions systems, but that women are disadvantaged in many countries because of their special position in the labour market. Something needs to be done about this, and I am pleased about the strong emphasis placed here upon the need to press for something to be done about the matter. I therefore very much agree with the overall conclusion of Mr Andersson’s report. On the other hand, I disagree with a number of the amendments before us from the left side of the House where the investment of pensions savings in shares and bonds is clearly seen as an evil in itself. It is true that there have been problems with pension funds, which have suffered large losses in connection with the large falls in share prices, but I do not think that the answer is to stop introducing savings schemes for pensions. On the contrary, I think that better control of the risk in connection with pension funds’ investments must be ensured and that there must be stronger supervision on the part of the authorities. That is also something we can cooperate on at EU level in order to guarantee better risk management. We are all, of course, getting older, and it is not too much to ask that each of us take joint responsibility for saving up for old age and help ensure that future generations do not have unreasonable burdens placed upon them, for it is also a question of distribution between the generations.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I had really prepared myself for making a positive speech about higher quality European blood products, but I have to say that the way in which Mr Nisticò has acted as rapporteur on this matter is beneath contempt. As late as last week, we made an agreement with Mr Nisticò while the Commission and the Council were present, and this agreement led to our compromising by tabling Amendment No 19 through which the definition of unpaid blood donation is transferred to the recitals. This was a compromise, even though Mr Nisticò is now shaking his head. What is happening in this case is simply dishonest. What Mr Nisticò is doing is beneath all contempt, and I should therefore like to say that, in connection with the vote later today, you should be prepared for our requesting a postponement. I will not tolerate this approach. It is not the way to treat fellow MEPs in Parliament. Both the Commission and the Council, whose presidency was represented at the meeting in question, accepted this draft compromise, as did Mr Nisticò on behalf of his group and as rapporteur. To come here to the second reading in Parliament and, in spite of everything, state an unwillingness to stand by the agreement we had entered into is therefore quite extraordinary. That is in any case the last agreement I enter into with Mr Nisticò and, as I say, we shall do what we can to have the vote on this matter postponed so that we can have it debated in detail with the leaders of the Group of the Europe People’s Party and with the coordinator of that group in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy. What has happened in this matter is simply awful, and we shall not tolerate it.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, given that 826 million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition, I welcome the fact that this House is aware of the situation and is adopting a resolution on the forthcoming World Food Summit in Rome. At the World Food Summit in 1996, four priorities were set: food security, international agricultural trade, sustainable management of natural resources, and rural development. These commitments by Member States should now be reaffirmed and action taken to achieve the goal of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015. A further key point will be the approach to, and management of, water resources. The EU must continue to focus in particular on poverty reduction and sustainable development. Democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, a sound economic policy, gender equality and environmental aspects must be at the forefront of development. There is a clear link between hunger and poverty, and hunger can be both the cause and the outcome of poverty, conflicts and war. The development of entire regions, and rural regions in particular, depends on this. Then, of course, there are natural disasters such as draught and floods, which simply deepen poverty. The international community has a responsibility to provide relief in these situations. Commissioner, the EU's policies should be shaped in a way which enables us to move away from short-term food aid towards long-term support which provides farmers with the necessary technology and know-how at local level. Our goal should be to promote agriculture in the developing countries vigorously so that it is capable of sustaining its own population and is no longer dependent on international food aid. In this context, I should like to mention the EU's trade restrictions and export refunds which are often sharply criticised. The European Union has developed an agricultural model which is designed to establish framework conditions for all farmers in Europe, regardless of location – even in less-favoured and peripheral regions – to operate effectively with a secure income. The job of the farmers is not only to produce food; they also play a key role in protecting and preserving natural resources and landscape. With its multifunctionality, all its specific features and social significance, our European agriculture model could set an example to others. Agriculture is not directly comparable with other economic sectors. Given that the EU is also the world's largest importer of agricultural products, I do not think we can continue to voice criticism of the CAP in this way. I would therefore urge the critics to adopt a more creative approach.

Political group: PPE-DE
Flying used to be expensive. The spectacular growth of air traffic over the past couple of years is the direct result of the proportionately lower price which consumers pay for this mode of transport. Not only reduced staffing levels and other cuts, but also government policy have brought the prices down. From a taxation point of view, air traffic is given preferential treatment compared to land-based transport. If those effects had been foreseen in the year I was born (1944) when the Chicago Convention was concluded, it is unlikely that tax exemption for fuel and other aircraft necessities would have been agreed upon. The growth of air traffic is at the expense of rail traffic and the environment. It would be desirable if aircraft were no longer used for relatively short distances up to 1 000 km and if air traffic were restricted to intercontinental transport. I am indignant at the largest group and its attempt, within the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, to keep taxation on air traffic out of the equation as much as possible at a time when other groups were under-represented, because this did not do justice to the actual relations within that committee. - Patrie report (A5-0352/2000)

Political group: GUE-NGL
The summer heatwave and the thousands of deaths it caused confirmed one thing in Europe and the developing countries, something of which the 30 000 people who die each day of illness linked to a lack of drinking water remind us: water is the most crucial problem threatening humanity. Climate change will make this situation worse. It is therefore urgently necessary that mass action plans are drawn up, targeted and financed. Mr Lannoye and the Committee on Development and Cooperation have given us some minimal proposals, which we must quickly implement.

Political group: GUE-NGL