GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, you have already mentioned the tragic spate of terrorist bomb attacks against innocent civilians in Jerusalem and Baghdad on 19 August 2003, and the gruesome attack in Bombay on 25 August 2003. Now we have Najaf. I wish to address the serious issue that the Jerusalem bomb, which killed 20 bus passengers, including young infants, was carried out by the Islamist group Hamas, in spite of there being a cease-fire agreement with Israel at the time. How is it possible that the EU continues to allow the political wing of Hamas to operate and gather funds for its activities and so-called charities in the EU? Already America has placed it on the list of banned terrorist organisations and even the Palestinian Authority has cracked down by freezing its financial assets and closing down its newspapers. Surely it is time for the Commission and the Council of Ministers to do likewise in our common cause of fighting international terrorism.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, without wishing to detract from the huge accomplishment of our fellow Members, this is a subject on which there will never be an end to analysis and debate. I would like to focus briefly on the electricity market. The situation in Europe reveals structural differences which I believe the launching of the liberalisation process will not alone suffice to overcome. The electricity market in Europe has been concerned with linking markets but not with creating uniform conditions for access to generation, institutional systems and symmetry in fuel choices, with a view to establishing competing symmetrical conditions in the generation sector. The cross-border regulation, through market mechanisms such as specific auctions, for instance, in countries penalised by internal production conditions, prejudices the situations of economic advantage for the end consumer deriving from the availability of imported energy. Given the differences in cost and the congestion caused by a demand for energy which is considerably higher than supply, the effect will ultimately be convergence of the external and internal prices. The nuclear issue would exacerbate the situation, creating the strange situation where some people are called upon to contribute to the cost of decommissioning in other countries when they are not actually in a position to benefit, because of the market-based mechanism provided for by the cross-border regulation, from energy produced by nuclear plant. While we feel that the cross border flow efficiency mechanisms proposed can be endorsed in the long term, we consider that applying them in the short term would be extremely harmful. Therefore, we would support the raft of directives only if this were achieved by means of phasing-in the market mechanisms, for the cross border regulation cannot produce identical positive effects for the end consumers of the Member States when there are disparities in trade flows.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I too would like to start by congratulating Mr Bösch on his relentless efforts to turn OLAF into a success. There are many points in the present resolution which the can endorse. Firstly – and this cannot be repeated enough – we think that at the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference, a decision should be made in favour of setting up a European Public Prosecutor, which in its capacity as an independent body, will work to safeguard the financial interests of the European Union. We would call on the Commission to submit proposals to this effect as soon as possible. Also, the date mentioned in the report is important, in our opinion. We also endorse the proposal for an external chamber to enforce budget discipline, which will mainly be concerned with examining the financial liability of officials. In our opinion, it is important that this task is taken from the Commission, so as to take away any semblance of nepotism and such like. OLAF starts its first full working year this year. We will all have to wait and see what the outcome of that will be. Expectations are naturally very high. One aspect, however, could be improved on, namely the Supervisory Committee, as Mr Bösch calls it in his report. Everyone has a right to a defence, including those who need to be investigated by OLAF. We must see to it that these investigations are carried out as independently and fairly as possible. I would call on the Commission to submit proposals to this effect too. There has been a lot of publicity lately surrounding the issue as to whether or not OLAF should be able to investigate the European Investment Bank regarding the use of European funding, as well as the European Central Bank. The is of the opinion that this should clearly be the case as these are European institutions too. They cannot remain outside OLAF’s general scope of investigation. We support the Commission so as to make this possible. Finally, over the past few years, the European Court of Auditors has become increasingly aware that fraud and irregularities in structural funds are on the increase, whilst those in agricultural funds are still excessive but are dropping. This is diametrically opposed to the opinion held by the Commission, which believes that fraud and irregularities occur far less in structural funds than they do in agricultural funds. This anomaly must be resolved without delay. The structural funds are gaining in importance all the time and form a large area of investigation for OLAF and the Commission.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, noise is one of the key environmental issues. It is one of the few environmental problems which is affecting a great number of citizens and which actually falls within their frame of reference. This was noticed as early on as during the fifth environment action programme, when the Commission promised proposals then, but nearly ten years have passed and not a great deal has been done about it. Of all noise sources, the noise generated by cars and lorries is the most crucial one. The noise of cars which exceed 40 to 50 km/hour does not so much originate in the engine as it does from the tyres, and particularly from the contact between the tyres and the road surface. The Council of Ministers of the Internal Market have neglected the noise aspect enormously. They hardly considered the environmental aspect at all. That is why the European Parliament decided at second reading to try to reduce the noise of car tyres by two decibels. Two decibels may not appear much, but three decibels represents nearly a cut of the noise by half. The common position was so weak that 70% of the cars already comply with the new noise standards, at least in northern Europe. The gravity of the negotiations did not move the Council of Ministers a great deal. Even the compromise on the part of Parliament simply to halve the requested reduction of two decibels down to only one decibel was viewed unfavourably by the Ministers. We reached a compromise ultimately, however. In the compromise, we passed the ball back to the Commission, which is now under heavy pressure to prepare more far-reaching proposals on noise production in tyres in future. Noise-reducing tyres are already available. They have to become the norm in future, and the EC’s industry must opt for these rather than side with the people lagging behind. It is also important to review legislation regarding the rolling resistance of tyres. This could particularly benefit the CO2-problem, also known as the greenhouse problem. A reduction of five to ten percent is certainly within the realms of possibility. Here too, we are waiting for the European Commission’s next move. The Conciliation Committee has finally managed to reach a reasonable compromise, and that is why I recommend the entire European Parliament to back this achieved result. I should like to make a brief reference to the future. A hefty noise reduction cannot only be achieved by including noise-reducing tyres in a European standard, but also by using noise-reducing asphalt. This being the case, the noise generated by road traffic can then be reduced by five decibels. Even in my own country, the Netherlands, where 40% of the population complain about traffic noise, a pilot project is running, involving noise-reducing asphalt, which produces a reduction by ten decibels. I hope that in its new proposals, the European Commission will not only consider noise-reducing tyres, but will also look into noise-reducing asphalt, for the noise of traffic is a thorn in the side of an increasing number of people.

Political group: Verts-ALE
I congratulate my Socialist colleague, Mr Marinho, for his excellent report on strengthening the fight against international money laundering and organised crime. Crime is one of the greatest concerns of our constituents and many strongly support criminals being put under lock and key. We must be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime so that from Manchester to Madrid, our citizens are safe and are afforded full protection from criminals throughout Europe. Money laundering feeds the trade in drug-trafficking. Existing EU law is clearly not enough to stem the tide of the reported USD 590 billion which is laundered world-wide every year. We welcome the French Presidency's initiative aimed at improving cooperation between national authorities responsible for tackling money laundering and laying down uniform penalties. All Member States should treat money laundering as a criminal offence carrying a minimum sentence of four years' imprisonment. Further measures are being voted on by the European Parliament this week in our efforts to crack down on international crime. We are looking to extend the remit of Europol – the European Police Cooperation Unit – to cover serious international crime. We also want to remove legal barriers which prevent the extradition of suspected criminals accused of money laundering or other related offences involving illicit funds. This will be an important tool in allowing criminals to be tried across Europe. These reports are crucial if the single market is not to become a free market for criminals. The last thing we want is that the single market allows criminals to enter the single market unseen by the back door. These measures drafted by Socialist MEPs are an important step in combating international crime and I urge the House to support these reports. - Karamanou Report (A5-0312/2000)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, the new round of trade negotiations will take place five years after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. And here we MEPs clearly have to communicate the concerns of our electors with regard to this round, which will be very important. There is an aspect in relation to which we can say that our results are bad. I refer to the dispute settlement procedure. We have had two significant disputes – over bananas and hormones – which the European Union lost, and there has been one dispute which we have not even dared to put before the settlement system: I am referring to the American Helms-Burton and d’Amato laws for extra-territorial application to European companies. I have the impression that this issue will have to be reviewed at the World Conference, at the World Round. I believe that we will have to see how the mechanism for the settlement of disputes can be adjusted according to the needs. There are also other legal aspects, because the Treaty of the World Trade Organisation is not a unique treaty. There are other international treaties, such as those agreed within the framework of the International Labour Organisation, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the multilateral agreements relating to the environment. I hope that in the Seattle Conference these issues will be dealt with in such a way that the new agreements will, within the framework of the World Trade Organisation, bring about an appropriate legal framework.

Political group: PSE
To help Mr Galeote and one or two other Members in the state-of-the-art plenary that we have here, I wondered if it would be possible at some future date for Members actually to be able to keep the same seat. We seem to be continually rotating and it is often difficult for Members to find their seats. Even in the old chamber when we did not have places allocated, we were at least able to continue to sit in the same places. One wonders how long we will have to keep printing new seating orders. Could this be rectified?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, I would like to focus essentially on section 1 of the Commission communication. The Commission has now achieved the major objectives established at the beginning of its term of office – enlargement and the reforms – but I feel that, in the final stage of its term of office, it must do more than just manage and implement what has already been achieved. I feel that the paragraphs entitled ‘Defining the future of Europe’ and ‘Relations with the enlarged EU’s neighbours’ are the key to the realisation that we need to start laying the foundations for the Union’s future political outlook as of now. After the accession we hope for of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, we must turn our gaze resolutely in three directions: towards Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean. I welcome the openness displayed in the sentence ‘...the Stabilisation and Association process opens perspectives for membership’. I therefore agree with what President Prodi said: we must develop a ring of friends stretching from Russia to Morocco, without excluding the possibility of them acceding to the Union under the same conditions as the other countries which have already become part of it. This opens horizons for the future which will extend our project even beyond the geographical confines of our continent. While we are preparing to launch the widest and, perhaps, most important enlargement of the Union, we need to be aware of these possibilities. In any case, when Russia accedes to the Union – however far in the future – we will not be able to stipulate that only the part on this side of the Urals can do so, and that will bring great changes, particularly in the way the Union defines itself. We must therefore see the Union as a ring of concentric circles which are interconnected. This is the way for Europe to continue to keep its soul alive. The day when Europe ceases to concern itself with the countries beyond its borders will be the day when it loses part of its basic raison d’être.

Political group: ELDR
Europol, which you mentioned, is only an information collection and exchange centre. Do you think that it should be given operational powers to follow drug traffickers moving across Europe?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Indonesia is struggling but is emerging victorious. The revolution in the country and the way in which it took place, remain the basis for cautious optimism. But the excellent report by Mrs Maij-Weggen also underlines the fact that Indonesia’s problems have increased rather than decreased. The country is not unique in that respect. After all, these problems are characteristic of a country that is having to undergo a multifaceted transition. It must develop a new identity with a better balance between the centre and peripheral areas. On the economic front, the market must throw off the shackles of far-reaching state interference and attract new investment. The poverty issue is extremely pressing. A hybrid society must be turned into a transparent one. Corruption must be tackled. The EU could lend a hand there, by talking to European companies. Old structures must be dismantled so that Indonesia can at last get a grip on itself. Many current problems are down to a lack of democratic control, for example over those parts of the army that resist change and loss of privilege. In many places, violence prevails over dialogue. What gives most cause for concern is the situation in the Moluccas, where Jihad fighters are left to their own devices in a manner which is insupportable. The government in Jakarta should do far more to get a grip on the situation on the ground, and the EU must continue to bring the necessary pressure to bear, partly as an expression of the increased responsibility that the European Union must take for the region. If these efforts should fall short of the mark, then we cannot afford to rule out the possibility of the international community becoming more actively involved. When a country starts functioning as a constitutional state again, it must also settle old scores. This process is moving very slowly. The old structures resist the due process of justice. This is hardly surprising given that they have been accessories to crimes in many cases. We ask, and demand, that the culprits be tracked down and tried, be they the Suharto family or the murderers of the Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes. Relations between Indonesia and the EU can only improve further if we know that our allies really hold sway there, and that the constitutional state is functioning properly.

Political group: PSE
Commissioner, I would be very grateful if you would be able to lift us out of an absurd situation in which we are in danger of remaining despite many years of debate, including our debate today. Mrs Torres Marques’ excellent report – in which, moreover, she was willing to include contributions from her fellow Members – which she supports with figures, gives such a good account that there is no need for us to go over the ground again, describing how the tourism sector is not just a sector which is vital, extremely important for the European Union today but also one of the crucial sectors for its future, both in purely economic terms and indirectly, because of its potential to contribute to environmental policies, social policies and policies for promoting peace and awareness between the people of different areas. That said, we are now stuck in the absurd situation where, although we acknowledge the value and strategic importance of the sector, we are unable to come up with any policy with a European dimension to help it face its new challenges. The challenges are those that have been mentioned by the Members: there was September 11 and, on a more general note, we are faced with the question of the competitiveness of the tourism sector, whose dimensions have changed; there is a problem of training; there is a problem of environmental sustainability. We need tourism to help us but it needs our assistance too to bring about environmental conversion with a view to achieving sustainability. It is true, Commissioner, that you cannot do much at the moment because of the constraints of the Treaties, but maybe you could speed up policy coordination and even join us in calling – as we are doing – for the forthcoming Convention to develop such instruments, legal instruments which will make it possible to create a sectoral policy that will help us face the challenges of the future.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I should like to begin with a word of gratitude and congratulation to our rapporteur. I believe the parliamentary delegation to the Conciliation Committee fought very hard before reluctantly consenting to the result of the conciliation process, and that is also how my group will vote in the Chamber. Nevertheless, we cannot be satisfied with the joint text. The European Parliament wanted a binding directive rather than polite recommendations. The Member States dug their heels in and must now take responsibility for the stagnation of environmental policy in the Union. At the present time, proceedings for infringement or non-observance of current environmental legislation are pending in more than 150 cases. As much as this Parliament rejoices at every step forward in the field of environmental policy, we also have every reason to doubt the sincerity of the Union’s commitment to the environment if it omits the most important step, namely the application of its policy, the enforcement of its rules. The best legislation is worthless if it is not enforced. The conditions we imposed, namely the coordination of inspections between Member States in cases of cross-border environmental crimes and the publication of inspection reports two months after each inspection, represent an improvement. But Parliament’s most important demand, in my opinion, relates to the revision clause which Mrs Jackson described, the clause requiring the Commission to present a report to Parliament after two years on the application and impact of the recommendation and, should it prove to be a dead letter – which I fully expect it to be – to present a proposal for a directive too. Since I do not quite trust the very wishy-washy wording of this revision clause, which now states that the Commission should present such a report as soon as possible, rather than in two years’ time, I must ask Commissioner Wallström to reaffirm her determination to ensure that this report will be on the table in slightly more than two years from now. I do hope, of course, that the report will provide evidence that the recommendation has borne fruit, that our environmental legislation has become more effective, that the situation has improved. At the present time, however, although I have heard the message, I am still lacking in faith.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, Afghanistan must be the ultimate example of a tragic and failed State and yet, in spite of this, the will exists for it to remain a unitary State across the ethnic divide. It has now suffered 28 years of communist dictatorship, followed by fanatic Islamic theocracy, turning it into a pariah State as the Taliban harbours terrorists and executes thousands. There are over 2 million refugees outside the country and some 5 million internally displaced persons, many of whom may flee if hostilities break out between the US and its allies and Afghanistan itself. The World Food Programme is hampered by difficult terrain, destroyed infrastructure and Taliban policies which prevent female participation, and which have led to the arbitrary arrest of aid workers on charges of religious proselytising and a ban on communications with the outside world, so essential to an international aid programme. In spite of this, some 218 tonnes of food got through to Kabul last week to avert a crisis. It is clear that the West must now think of what can be done post-Taliban to bring permanent stability to the country. Last week, with two of my fellow MEPs, I was privileged to meet in Rome, the former King of Afghanistan, who has lived in the European Union for much of his life. We were the first Western elected politicians to visit the royal household since the crisis. He demonstrated a supreme sense of patriotism and duty to his estranged country, and went as far as to say that he would serve Afghanistan in any capacity his people chose through their assembled tribal council, or Loya Jirga, which he has been working on for the last two years. He confirmed that he has now received key support from the opposition United Front/Northern Alliance forces and will facilitate an internal settlement appropriate to his country. He is the only acceptable Afghan figure who can unite all the warring factions and demonstrated the ability, when he ruled his country between 1933 and 1973, to rule constitutionally with tolerance and moderation, even using the English model of sport as a way to unite the disparate ethnic groups. It was clear to me that Zahir Shah, in spite of his advanced age, was both cogent and fit enough to do the job, after conducting a lengthy one-and-a-half-hour interview with myself and my colleagues. He has also wisely distanced himself from the restoration of the monarchy as an issue, leaving this to his people to decide. I urge this House to support the King's mission in this tricky area.

Political group: PPE-DE