GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
UK Liberal Democrats are voting with this budget line as proposed by the Committee on Budgets, but in anticipation that further discussion is to take place in order to meet the substantive points of Mr Jan Mulder, MEP, and to find more financial resources within the overall total without either depleting the reserves or calling upon the Council to provide new funds. Reconstruction aid to Kosovo is essential but the pile-up of earlier unspent budget lines means that more discussion might be fruitful.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Commissioner, it is quite clear that no one can give serious consideration to a generalised vaccination programme at present, for one very good reason: the vaccine is not available in sufficient quantities. I would also like to add that vaccination must not be used to cover up poor hygiene and disease prevention. But it is also quite clear now that the first real test of the strength of the new FMD policy since the introduction of the internal market is about to end in disaster. However, let me add a further point in all seriousness, Commissioner: international agreements – restrictions, even self-imposed restrictions through the IOE criteria – mean that no one in Europe, neither the Commission nor the other European institutions, can bear to continue the current policy. The endless culling of herds is neither intelligent nor appropriate in the long term. Indeed, it raises a number of issues concerning animal welfare, guaranteed property rights, and even the principle of proportionality, which is part of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. So I welcome the fact that those affected are starting to clarify these issues at the highest judicial level. So how do we proceed with a new strategy which will not find it easy to dispense with tried and tested methods of disease prevention? This automatically raises a further question: what has the Commission done to implement the report by the Scientific Committee in March 1999 as regards the regionalisation negotiations at international level, the validation of testing, and the evaluation of the criteria determining when emergency vaccinations are necessary in 'at risk' regions too? A last word: the general abhorrence of vaccinations, both on a Europe- and worldwide level, must end. And we will push for this with all our energy and determination. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the institutions of the European Union and of the Member States need to pay special attention to health care and in particular to care for the elderly, because health is a fundamental human and social right recognised in international and national legislation. So it is important to give absolute priority to policies and measures based on an integrated approach which aim to promote health, ensure primary prevention, eliminate health risks, include a high level of health protection and which define and implement sectoral policies designed to eliminate health inequality. It is also worth highlighting the close relationship between socio-economic measures and health, particularly in the fields of employment, housing, education, transport, income distribution and social welfare. The emphasis placed on monetary policies, on giving priority to nominal convergence and on maintaining the blinkered criteria of the Stability Pact is leading to restrictive social policies and being used to justify such policies, and it is having a negative impact on public health policies and on health care for the elderly, as has become clear in Portugal. The Commission communication on this subject, which the report welcomes despite some occasional criticisms, is indicative of the contradictions in social policies. Despite statements about defending the quality and accessibility of health care, too much weight is given to the objective of achieving financial viability with a view to establishing an internal market in health services and products. This could lead to the liberalisation and privatisation of an essential public service, which health certainly is, whilst ultimately jeopardising equality of access to high-quality health services. This is an untenable position and it is the main reason why we intend to reject the report before us if it is not revised on this key point, and if the amendments that we are tabling are not approved. These amendments advocate better quality health services, security and solidarity, and propose new means of financing statutory retirement schemes with a view in particular to extending social welfare contributions to all income, at a rate identical to that levied on wages and salaries. The challenge here therefore remains that of achieving some coherence amongst those who say that they are committed to defending health care and care for the elderly.

Political group: GUE-NGL
The European Parliament’s motion for a resolution attempts to find an even balance between the suggestions and criticisms aimed at the parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This objective, however, is not wholly realised. Indeed, some of the main criticisms aimed at the state of Israel are out of place in the economy of the text, since the actions which gave rise to them are not mentioned and the corresponding interventions are ‘justified’. I might mention, by way of an example, the condemnation of Israel following its attack on terrorist bases in Syria, with no direct reference made to the terrorist act which preceded it. The criticism of Israel’s construction of a dividing wall is also poorly supported in historical terms. The Israeli authorities consider that wall to be nothing more than a ‘security fence’. For all these reasons, I did not vote with the majority of the Group of the , opting instead to abstain.

Political group: PSE
I have a great deal of understanding and admiration for the tremendous amount of work that all our rapporteurs have done under Mr Daul’s excellent presidency. I know how difficult it was to obtain majorities for these reports. I regret therefore that I cannot give Mr Cunha’s report my unconditional support, because the proposed solution of partial decoupling would place a considerable burden on the existence of multifunctional agriculture in the less-favoured region of Luxembourg, with very familiar economic, social and environmental consequences. This is a responsibility that I cannot and do not wish to assume. Problems with the transfer of payment entitlements will arise whether decoupling is full or partial. I fear that the proposal which concerns transfer of payment entitlements with leased land will lead to big problems of a financial and legal nature, as well as to unpredictable speculation at the expense of active farms. The fundamental problems with modulation also remain, even if the percentages of reduction are set at a low level. Reducing aid through modulation leads to an unreasonable drop in agricultural income. For our farmers, the figure of EUR 7 500 is too low. That is why I have tabled an amendment to raise this to EUR 10 000. Otherwise, practically all of Luxembourg’s farmers would suffer losses in income of up to 20%, which would be catastrophic. (Statement of vote abbreviated in accordance with Rule 137(1) of the Rules of Procedure)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I want to thank my colleague, Mrs Doris Pack, for the valuable work she has done in producing this report. You have done some really excellent work for many years now to promote sport and physical education. It has been a genuine pleasure to work with you. It is excellent that the Commission should have begun to organise a Year of Sport. The positive role of physical exercise as a basis for mental and physical well-being is now becoming common knowledge throughout Europe. Leaving aside for a moment the benefits of having a regular, wide-ranging hobby and an attitude to life that goes with it, even a little exercise prevents heart and vascular diseases, ailments that affect the organs of locomotion, rheumatic illnesses and mental health problems. The very fact that exercise is able to prevent mental problems often gets little attention. Exercise can help keep a nation’s major economic problems in check. An enormous amount of lost working time could have been prevented through exercise. Seen in this light, the budget of EUR 11.5 million granted for the Year is at least not oversized. Schools in many Member States organise important optional activities after the school day has officially finished. Resources to make these afternoon activities possible must be increased considerably, as there is a huge demand for what they can provide. Afternoon clubs organised voluntarily often do valuable work. Afternoon sports programmes help children satisfy their natural desire and need for exercise. At the same time, they are doing something meaningful and social problems and exclusion are being prevented. Why can we not talk of sport as sport? It is ridiculous that sports projects in the legal basis have to be hidden away under other articles, as there is not one for sport. It is better to call things by their own name, both now and in future.

Political group: PPE-DE
We have chosen to abstain in the vote on Amendment 4 to the Katiforis report on the EU Economy (1999). Our basic attitude is that competition between different national tax systems is not always a bad thing and that the Member States should, as far as possible, retain their right of decision making in this area. At national level, we are exceptionally keen that taxes on business and labour should be reduced towards the levels which prevail in our competitors’ countries, but an issue such as that should be decided by the Swedish Parliament and not by the European Parliament. Through a situation in which different countries seek different solutions concerning tax and welfare policy, the opportunity is provided to adapt policy to the characteristic features of the individual nations and to test out different forms of social security systems. Tax harmonisation at European level should only take place in exceptional cases, for example in the cases of certain environmental taxes and taxes on capital. Even if we agree that a certain degree of tax harmonisation is necessary if the internal market is to function properly, Amendment No 4 is altogether too far-reaching and undifferentiated when it comes to this issue. - Joint resolution on the shipwreck of the Erika (RC B5-0181/2000)

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, over seven years ago a woman walked into my office in Glasgow. She had been turned away by a wide variety of authorities – elected members and health authorities. Nobody would listen to her. They treated her somewhat as an eccentric. I sat down with her and over a period of about three-and-half hours she convinced me that there was a problem with the whole question of silicone and silicone implants. The result of that conversation, over seven years ago, is that I am standing here tonight talking about it – not on behalf of Mr Miller, but on behalf of that woman and the hundreds of thousands of other women who have since joined together in a vast network, not just in Europe but throughout the world, to petition against the use of unsafe silicone implants. It is a testament to the citizens of Europe that they can petition this Parliament and actually get heard. This is the first time that I can remember an ordinary citizen raising an issue which has reached the floor of this Parliament. I congratulate Parliament and the Petitions Committee. As I said, this was not only down to Mr Miller, though I have pursued it through Parliament. This has been down to the women themselves who have bravely fought against scorn and ridicule from a variety of sources and who have continued fighting their campaign against silicone implants. That campaign has continued for years and they are still fighting. Many of them believe that there should be a complete ban. However, most of them recognise that at the moment there is not enough evidence to ban silicone implants so they are happy to settle, at this point in time, for stronger rules and regulations governing this whole question. Regarding a couple of points in the report, I am glad to see the call for a ban on implants anyone under the age of 18 for cosmetic purposes. When we talk about the quality of the implants we also have to talk about the safety of the implants. I cannot stress that too strongly. We talk about the information to prospective clients undergoing this operation. That information has to be available from independent sources. It is not good enough for that information to come from the surgeon carrying out the operation. We also talk about registration. We have to know the number of operations taking place. We have to know the clinics that are taking these people in. We have to know what surgeons are carrying them out. Until we do so we will not fully realise the scale of this problem. This is a tribute to Parliament, but moreover, this is a tribute to the thousands of women who have been fighting for years. It has finally been recognised that there is a problem.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, it was not only courteous of the Swedish Prime Minister to come here, but also rather courageous. As so many speakers have said, on the economic front, Stockholm was a great disappointment. Once again Heads of Government could only agree to set theoretical deadlines for ministers to liberalise markets in the future, rather than actually set the seal on agreements that should already have been made or reach those agreements themselves. To coin a phrase, the liberalising talk is 'all spin and no delivery'. We are witnessing serious under-performance by standards which Europe's leaders have set themselves. It is all a far cry from the spirit of the single market when the centre right ran Europe. One of the major failures of the Stockholm Summit was in the foreign affairs field. With the great events taking place in the world, it was as if the Stockholm Summit was ignoring them. For example, the General Affairs Council on 19 March decided once again not to table a critical motion in the United Nations sub-committee in Geneva, dealing with human rights abuses in China. Until 1997, every year the European Union did so. Now the s are failing, it is business as usual. Even more important – as Mr Poettering told the House earlier on, and other speakers have referred to this – last night the Group heard Yelena Bonner describe the situation in Russia today: Mr Putin came to Stockholm, Mr Persson gave him a cheque for EUR 100 million, the very next week Mr Putin begins yet another crack-down on the media. There is now no single independent media channel in Russia. This is a scandal. I am very disappointed indeed that Mr Persson did not take the opportunity this morning to criticise President Putin for the way in which he is repressing the media in Russia, the way in which democracy is being rolled back. This is our great neighbour to the east. We must deal with it on a practical and political basis, but with frankness and determination. God help us if the s had run Europe during the cold war. (Loud applause from the right)

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President-in-Office, thank you for coming here today to tell us about the French Presidency’s interesting initiatives. I should like to dwell in particular on two terms: articulation between family and work and parité au quotidien. These concepts and what they stand for are gaining ground in French society and I hope that this interest will be exported to the rest of Europe. I also wanted to congratulate you on your initiative in introducing the female dimension into the Councils because, as we see on a daily basis, women’s issues are special issues, not just a necessary dimension to every policy. As far as the Commission reports are concerned, Commissioner, we received them with interest and we examined them in the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities. However, I have to say that we were dissatisfied with the descriptive nature of the reports and trust that future reports which come under your responsibility will contain a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results. On other words, we need a breakdown of the indicators applied, detailed statistics comparing the situation in the Member States, an analysis of cultural differences in the various European societies and an indication of the factors which act as disincentives to the developments we are seeking and to the development of a European nationality for women which, as we can see on a daily basis, for example from the recent referendum in Denmark, is a sector which we need to address. My final comment concerns the situation of women in the countries preparing to join the European Union. Because of the course of our own history and our experience from the policies which we have applied, we have an obligation to help them and I therefore feel that the Commission and the Council should call on the Member States to adopt the mechanisms which allow equality to be applied to all their policies. We have both a political and a moral responsibility for these countries trying to find their way into Europe and for the cohesion of the enlarged Europe which we are preparing.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I voted in favour of Amendment No 39 by mistake. In fact I reject it for the following reasons: this amendment is based on the assumption that neither the Commission report nor the European Parliament’s Kuckelkorn report give any impetus towards structural reforms in the Member States of the European Union as regards reforming retirement pensions. The opposite is true of course. Right now there is a considerable need for reform in Member States’ retirement pension systems. I therefore believe that any impetus given by the European Union and by the European Parliament will assist debate in the Member States, where we still have more questions than answers.

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President, I learned yesterday that the Bureau was to make a statement today about the memorandum being prepared by this House on enlargement. You have a great sensitivity for language, Madam President, and you are more aware than anyone that the choice we are about to make on language regulation is the key to a great many other decisions that will have to be taken. Can you assure us that in the future all elected members of this House will continue to have the right to express themselves in their own language, to listen to their fellow-MEPs in their own language and to write in their own language? That would be a great help in setting our minds at rest.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission’s communication, which seeks to bring about a voluntary agreement between car manufacturers operating on the internal market in order to increase the protection afforded to pedestrians and other road users, is certainly a major step forwards in the area of road safety. I believe it is also a good example of a non-legislative approach which can benefit the citizens quickly and strengthen the framework of the internal market. The measures proposed by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association – introducing more pedestrian-friendly car fronts, fitting all new vehicles with ABS, installing daytime running lights in countries where this is permitted, and vehicle crash tests – should indeed make it possible to reduce the unacceptable number of people and pedestrians who, each year, lose their lives or are seriously or irreparably injured. A negotiated agreement would therefore be an initial positive step towards improving road safety, and the commitment could still be improved in time and monitored. In this context, it would appear fundamentally important for the European Parliament to call upon the Commission to guarantee the independence in both form and substance of the technical services certifying the conformity with the tests laid down of all new vehicle models that manufacturers intend to place on the market. In this regard, the motion for a resolution to be put to the vote today quite rightly calls for the conformity inspection procedures to be set on the basis of guidelines established jointly with the Joint Research Centre and under its supervision.

Political group: PPE-DE
Thank you for your answer. The matter is clear. Have you forgotten, however, that you promised to send out information concerning the so-called wise men’s salaries in the Austria case? That was something you promised last time. Do you intend to send out that information?

Political group: GUE-NGL
Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we knew that this matter would arise. For a long time, it was too early to discuss it. This was true, in particular, when, by means of a report presented in autumn 2000, we tried to discuss it within the context of our work on enlargement. The report was by Mr Brok. Today, it would be hasty to take a decision solely on the basis of the work of the European Central Bank. The truth is that, in fact, the institutional solutions we adopt with regard to the Central Bank are sometimes frightening, because we sometimes have the impression that they could be imposed on other institutional mechanisms, or even the Union itself. That is the reality of the debate we are holding here. Essentially, I believe that the Convention can undo what the Treaty of Nice has done. The Convention must be able to reverse proposals from the Central Bank because what is basically proposed is a change to the system, whether this involves the establishment of a rotation mechanism or differentiation between the decisions taken within the Central Bank. Essentially, once again, I believe that we cannot reject the entire proposal made by the Central Bank, for example the idea of restricting the number of members of the Governing Council if we want this body to be able to continue to take decisions. Essentially, I also believe that we should examine these proposals and try to extract what we consider to be the main points. I believe we can extract some information, some criteria, from the experience gained by the Central Bank in its short life. The first criterion is that the distribution of power between the Executive Board and the Governing Council must be examined carefully to ensure that the Bank is in a position to take decisions. The second criterion, which the Chairman of our committee, Mrs Christa Randzio-Plath, has mentioned, concerns the transparency of decisions within decision-making bodies. The third criterion concerns the Bank’s ability to define monetary policy in the interests of the whole euro zone. I believe we should examine the Central Bank’s proposal in light of these three criteria, and, in particular, it is in light of these three criteria that the Convention – because I think this decision is principally the responsibility of the Convention – will have to propose a solution for the future of decision-making within the Central Bank.

Political group: PSE