GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, the Group of the does not have a common position on this issue. The latter part of the group, representing, as you know, groups which regard themselves as defenders of nations and regions internal to the European Member States, take a different view and, of course, members of the group are free to adopt different positions. Obviously we share a basic concern about everything relating to human rights and sustainable development, especially in a context which leaves no room for social exclusion. However, many of us feel we cannot realistically and sincerely oppose an agreement like the one before us today, primarily because we believe it will create objective conditions for further development and greater democracy and because, in addition, this agreement includes a suspension clause for non-respect of human rights. I also think measures can be introduced to monitor its effects at all levels, not just on tariff changes and so on. I am more worried about the points Mr Sánchez García made: for example, that the agreement we are signing cannot be implemented because there are insufficient resources and services; that it will have perverse effects because we have not provided financial instruments for companies. So let us do all that and let us be vigilant about preventing what we want to prevent: the continued violation of human rights.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, I am pleased to be able to say that I am glad to hear this. I have not yet had the opportunity to read the report, but I liked what you had to say about it. I would like to ask you whether the Commission is prepared to fight to see the Community budget increase from the current 1.04%, to 1.27%, as has been approved? I ask this because if we have the budget that has been approved, then we will have money. My second question is: what will happen to the outermost regions? You have not said anything about these regions and they are of concern to me.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, do I understand it that you are therefore not able to confirm what I asked? You are not confirming that the building satisfies health and safety and fire regulations? You said you will look at it and try to clarify the situation. What I am asking is: are you able to categorically confirm that the building satisfies these regulations, yes or no?

Political group: PSE
The EU’s system for importing bananas – which the WTO panel declared to be discriminatory on 7 April 1999 – must be reformed. There is justification for showing consideration for banana producers in the ACP States and in the extremely peripheral areas of the Union, but there is no reason for special treatment in the field of trade. Import duties and production subsidies are incompatible with our liberal values. In our view, it is only through a system of free trade that long-term, sustainable, global economic development can be created. For that reason, the Commission’s proposal for a rapid transition to a system with fixed uniform rates of duty is a step in the right direction. - Lagendijk report (A5-0069/2000) Fatuzzo . – (IT) Mr President, it was with great pleasure that I voted for this measure on the communication from the Commission on the stabilisation and association process for countries of South-Eastern Europe. This is one of the measures adopted in this Chamber which I have most appreciated, for I am sure we all remember the serious problems which arose in this area just over a year ago during the NATO military intervention. I feel that the only way to prevent wars is precisely to be closely aware of the tangible problems of other peoples. In all probability, it is only this initiative and those which will be approved and supported by the European Parliament which will truly succeed in preventing disasters in this region and any other regions that find themselves in a similar situation.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I would firstly like to congratulate Mrs Carlotti on her report, which is a reflection of her unflagging dedication to relations between the EU and ACP countries. Our current partnerships with 77 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific should set an example for relations between the European Union and the United States, and also EU candidate countries, which we have been very enthusiastically debating in the recent past. If EU Member States do not show much interest in these partnerships, which is borne out by the aforementioned fact that only four Member States have ratified the Cotonou Agreement, Parliament should do so, particularly because relations with these countries are based, according to the new agreement, on political dialogue, of which the Parliamentary Assembly is a fundamental pillar. On behalf of the Group of the , I would like to ask the Member States, particularly my own, Spain, which holds the Presidency of the Council, to speed up formalities so that the agreement can be ratified. The Joint Assembly, like this Parliament, is deeply involved in a process where its Rules of Procedure are being reformed, having, as its aim, the true democratisation of ACP-EU relations. Our efforts are directed, first and foremost, towards improving the functioning of the Assembly, converting it into an assembly which is effectively balanced and parliamentary. At the moment it is not balanced because, whilst on the European side the range of ideologies and political sensitivities that make up the European Parliament are represented, the ACP countries have only one vote per country; a vote which obviously represents the authorities’ opinions; it is not balanced in terms of equality between the sexes either. Nor is it parliamentary, because the representatives from ACP countries are not, on the whole, Members of Parliament. The credibility of our cooperation with ACP countries, which is far from negligible, is in doubt if it is not accompanied by reforms and the strengthening of the institution that is the most representative of the association, that is to say, the Joint Assembly. Last week, in a seminar, we said that ‘without democracy there can be no development’ and this is a priority objective of the international community and the European Union. I would ask the Commission and the Council to make resources available to ACP countries to improve their institutional capacity, especially with regard to representative institutions, and to promote the organisation of civil society and their participation in cooperation programming. I think this is a good report whose content should be applied.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I too want to thank Mr Rocard for raising this important subject. The Info-Points Europe in the Member States are a natural and simple channel for the public to acquire information on the European Union. Of course that has been said here several times but I feel I have to repeat it myself. As a channel of communication they are perhaps not irreplaceable and their work is not absolutely dependent on Commission support. They are none the less hugely important. In my country the best thing about Info-Points Europe is that they are where the people are. If the EU feels a long way off, they at least are not to blame. On the contrary, it is these very Info-Points that ease the situation. The EU Carrefours are in rural areas and the Info-Points Europe in regional libraries. It is easy for people to look for the information they want and so they do. For example, everyday in Finland people look for information on the draft EU Constitution in these places. We, the Members of the European Parliament, are often the ones the public consults on different issues. As, however, it is legislation that we deal with first and foremost, my own work has unquestionably been made easier by the fact that in many cases I can refer people with questions to the services of the Info-Points. The turnout has been small at previous European Parliament elections. In Finland last time it was only slightly greater than 31%. Furthermore, many citizens of the European Union feel the new Constitution is a driving force behind a federalist-style Union and that the administration of the Union is drifting further and further away from grassroots level. We have to be able to allay such fears by increasing the amount of relevant information we provide. Consequently, I do not think it wise to reduce or announce an intention to reduce direct communication with the citizens of Europe. It is absolutely essential that the European elections reach the people through involvement in the voting on the part of the public media as well as the Union’s own organs of communication. The combined effect of this will be to get support for the notion of the people experiencing their own election and their own Union, and to establish the idea of a human European Union that is subject to the influence of its citizens.

Political group: PPE-DE
I have a related point. It concerns the implications of the dam on access to fresh water in the region as a whole. As you know, the dam will limit the supply of fresh water to Syria and to Iraq in particular. Given the extreme volatility of this region and given the very real concerns of many commentators that we will see an increased incidence of conflict, of so-called 'water wars', in the coming decades, what is the Commission's view about the potential destabilisation, both in Turkey and in the wider region, that will be caused by this dam? Can you say whether you will indeed raise this point as well?

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, the subject of women sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria, which has outraged public opinion worldwide, was debated here in the House last September. And yet, Commissioner, ours was a voice crying in the wilderness. Amina Lawal, the unfortunate woman who committed the heinous crime of believing that she has a right of self-determination over her own body, is due to appear before the Sharia court of appeal on 25 March. Under Islamic law, she is guilty of treason. How can this happen in the 21st century and be ignored by the powers that be on the planet? What a pity the Commissioner is not listening. How, Commissioner, can women’s fundamental freedoms and rights be so violently, so rudely infringed, and be left to lobbying by women’s organisations, public opinion and the media? What has the political leadership of the European Union done, what have the Commission and the Council done? What sanctions have we imposed on Nigeria, a country with which we have economic and commercial ties? What purpose do clauses about respecting women’s human rights in the Cotonou Agreement serve, Commissioner, if there are no sanctions? Finally, does Nigeria have a secular, democratic regime or a theocracy? Does the country have a government or is it ruled by mullahs?

Political group: PSE
In July and August, extremes of heat, drought and forest fires inflicted great suffering on European citizens. The forest fires, in particular, caused severe damage; human lives were lost, and the destruction of flora and fauna is harming the ecosystem. The rebuilding of the homes, factories and infrastructure that have been destroyed in the affected areas will take years, and people will not be able to accomplish it on their own. Dealing with the damage will require the creation of a whole network of relief agencies, and the people affected are in urgent need of solidarity, from the European Community in particular. I therefore welcome the allocation of aid totalling EUR 31.6 million for the people severely affected as being the EU’s first significant response, but we should assume even now that financial support will need to be improved – to what extent, it goes without saying, will be able to be determined only after the full extent of the damage has been precisely ascertained. It is, at the same time, indispensable that we ensure that it is possible to get the long-term help needed to rebuild the social and economic fabric started promptly and without bureaucracy. Also, for the sake of protecting the forests in future, steps must be taken to improve meteorological forecasts, thus making it possible to minimise the risks associated with adverse weather conditions. (Explanation of vote abbreviated in accordance with Rule 137(1) of the Rules of Procedure)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Russia has to accept the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The European Commission has decided to threaten Russia with a trade boycott if it does not agree to extending this agreement to the future Member States. There will not be much cooperation left if we end up squabbling over the partnership in this manner! Our policy on Russia has failed badly. Nothing concrete has been achieved for several years, apart from the Kaliningrad question. The eastward expansion of the EU and NATO will reduce Russia’s sphere of influence and its trade by hundreds of millions of dollars. Given this situation, Moscow has mentioned 14 areas of concern, such as transition periods for customs tariffs. We, the old Member States, are now imposing transition periods with regard to the workforce in the new Member States. The Union has not agreed to one of these. To reciprocate, Russia will not sanction the Kyoto Agreement and is putting pressure on relations with the minority in the Baltic region. A trade boycott would cause great harm to certain Member States as a result of an increase in the costs of raw materials. Other countries would suffer less, some not at all, but my country, for example, would, as the share of trade with Russia is enormous there and we also have some experience in a history of dealing with difficult relations. Now Russia is actually up against the wall as a result of this trade policy threat, while at the same time there are two kinds of expansion taking place. We are pushing our way into Russia’s trading zones. The country has just voted in a more nationalistic parliament than ever and the current presidential election campaign smacks of the same. The EU ministerial troika now has to take the initiative and make a suitable proposal to resolve this issue prior to the summit, because this is an area of cooperation where we have to find new approaches. We cannot force democracy on Russia: it will come about through wider channels of cooperation. The best and most effective approach of all is to try to have an influence directly on President Putin, who has a key role in everything that happens, as was said just now. This again will require cooperation, not boycotts. I understand the criticism regarding Chechnya and Sasnovibor, for example, but they are part of the very cooperation that we must now build and eventually obtain results from, so that the benefits are discernible on both sides and in order to end all these peculiar threats, which are inappropriate with regard to the sort of cooperation we need in this day and age.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, in our solemn speeches, we say that we are all minorities in the EU. What is good about this is that no one can bully any other group. The monitoring of minority rights was an important part of the negotiations on enlargement, yet there is no policy for linguistic minorities in the EU. We have demanded more of the present candidate countries than we did of previous ones. The situation in Cyprus following the referendum was also the most recent demonstration of the need we have for minimum rules governing the way in which ethnic and linguistic minorities are treated and governing the rights that must exist. It is therefore important that respect for diversity be a feature of the adopted Constitution and that the EU subscribe not only to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights but also to the Council of Europe’s conventions on minorities: both the framework convention and the Charter for Regional Languages. In that way, the EU would quickly obtain a yardstick for policy in relation to minorities. It should be possible to deal with infringements of minority rights in accordance with Article 7 of our present Treaty, in which case a Member State’s own rights would be revoked if it infringed minority rights. It is now time for the EU to go the whole way and recognise linguistic diversity, as well as possessing a genuine strategy for respecting such diversity.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office, Commissioner, the process of enlarging the European Union by 10 new Member States is not yet complete, and yet we are already talking about a still larger Europe in future, a good-neighbourly Europe. We do of course have to consider how the enlarged Union of the future will arrange its relations with neighbouring states. The external borders of the Union will shift to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. We need to construct as strong a partnership as possible with Ukraine in particular, and we also need to adopt a positive approach under Article 4 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. This involves working towards a free trade area, greater use of twinning projects and using the European Conference as a forum for neighbourhood policy. The borders of the Union will also shift to Croatia, which we hope will participate in the next enlargement round alongside Romania and Bulgaria. It is therefore absolutely right that a debate should be taking place about the outermost geographical borders of the Union, a debate in which the new Member States should be able to participate. There should also be a clear alternative to membership of the European Union, an alternative leaving open the option of a European Economic Area with stronger relations and increased assistance. Although I understand the EU strategy of striking a balance between a neighbourhood policy for continental Europe and a Mediterranean strategy, it seems to me that we should be setting priorities for a future European neighbourhood policy, as otherwise our ability to implement and finance it could be undermined. It must of course also be our objective for countries that will be joining the European Union in the medium or long term – or never – to be guided by the political criteria of the European Union. Democratisation of society, the rule of law and respect for human rights and minorities need to be implemented by means of practical policies not just because membership of the European Union is on the horizon, but also because they are in the best interests of the peoples concerned.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, the European Union’s budget for next year has been prepared in difficult circumstances. That is the fault of the Council. The problems are the same as last year. The previous European Parliament made this Interinstitutional Agreement, which was binding on this Parliament, a couple of months prior to the commencement of this parliamentary term, and it specified too low a ceiling for category 4 expenditure. Then it was not known that the Council and the Commission would be promising aid for the reconstruction of Serbia and Kosovo, to come out of this money. The political commitments made to the forces of opposition in the area of the former Yugoslavia must now be redeemed. In this particular case that means revising the ceiling for category 4. If the Council does not agree to that, Parliament will have to terminate the Interinstitutional Agreement on so-called budgetary discipline. New money is needed in the budget for Serbia and Kosovo. It is not right that the assistance to the poor in the area of Yugoslavia should be paid for by the poor in the area of the Mediterranean, Russia or other poor countries, although the Council would have it that that is precisely how we should go about matters. I would like to focus attention on the fact that there seem to be sufficient amounts of European Union money for financing political parties at European level, but not, for example, for the prevention of unemployment. I am astonished at the proposal that Europarty support should be paid for out of the Commission’s article in category 3. That would mean that the Europarties would be getting support twice over. If they have not hesitated before to misappropriate the European Parliament’s resources to finance their own work, we can only imagine that they are continuing to do so, although they might be receiving subsidies from the Commission. Or does someone believe that the Europarties are being made to pay rent to Parliament or pay for their own communications costs here? Our group takes a mainly dim view of Europarty support and its abuse in the future.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, in relation to the last debate, I cannot resist noting that Commissioner Liikanen did not thank those European Union football teams who have made a thankless contribution to helping decrease the likelihood of transmitting foot-and-mouth disease from South Korea by departing from the competition early. Speaking on behalf of the Socialist group on the resolution on Nepal, we have a situation where Maoist rebels are threatening a very fragile constitutional monarchy, and the situation is in danger of fast sliding into a civil war. Several thousand people have died and hundreds have been arrested. The way forward is clear: the Government must ensure respect for human rights and internal law. The alleged massacres of 500 Maoist guerrillas in May, if it is true, will only make the situation worse. We must provide the means from the European Union to try and find a peaceful solution to the current conflict, and the finance to help rebuild the economy, in particular in the rural areas. The government of Nepal itself must restore the rule of law and order and there is a need to set up an independent investigation into the allegations against the security forces.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in general, the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on a voluntary labelling programme is to be welcomed, and Mrs McNally has produced an excellent report on it. Consumption labelling is, in my view, an important free-market instrument for promoting the use of energy-efficient equipment. The energy-star label should help to promote energy efficient standby equipment. The energy-saving potential of this equipment cannot be underestimated, and by introducing such a label the European Union will be providing the impetus needed to encourage people to use energy more sparingly. Saving energy goes hand in hand with reducing carbon dioxide emissions, as agreed under the Climate Protection Agreement. I think it is all the more likely to succeed if applied just about globally to office equipment. This would give us a joint labelling scheme, not only with the USA but also, indirectly, with Japan and some other countries. In this way, we would be taking account of the global market, which would help remove barriers to trade. The fields of telecommunications and information technology would seem to be particularly important in this respect. I think it is of the utmost importance for national experts on energy policy, as well as other interested parties, to be involved in setting up the European Union Energy Star Board, so that national interests can be properly represented. The Energy Star Board will be required to draw up a report on the market penetration of products bearing the Energy Star logo. Given the rapid pace of technological development in office and telecommunications equipment, I think yearly intervals would be appropriate. That is the only way to ensure that the label is only used to distinguish those products which consume markedly less energy than the average for all similar equipment on the market. Against this background, I urge you to support my opinion, which is appended to this report and which was adopted in the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy.

Political group: PPE-DE