GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, you spoke of a detailed programme in your introduction. I would like to comment on two aspects of this programme, notably the common security and defence policy and enlargement, with specific reference to Turkey, and would also like you to clarify a few matters. Mr President of the Commission, I am in favour of creating a European defence identity, including the military dimension thereof, and I welcome with open arms the outcome of the unofficial meeting of the Defence Ministers in Sintra. However, that must not be the end of the story. What is difficult on the one hand, and new and important on the other, is conflict prevention, i.e. the non-military aspect of our security policy. Conflict prevention is a difficult matter because we have no examples on which to base our formulation of these elements of security policy, unlike NATO, which can teach us a few things. The Commission must take responsibility, launch initiatives, and submit projects in this sphere, which needs to be developed from scratch. We need specific proposals for instruments for non-military crisis management, such as delivering and deploying humanitarian aid – Mozambique is a good case in point – aid for the development of democratic institutions and procedures, election monitoring; we need to build up a corps of conflict advisers and a police force and so on and so forth. I need not go on listing the instruments we need ad infinitum. I would like you to comment on this, Mr President of the Commission. You state in your programme that you want to introduce a pre-accession strategy for Turkey. I would willingly support you there if I knew what you meant by this. Following the Helsinki decisions, we in the European Parliament demanded a catalogue of measures and a detailed schedule, which would enable Turkey to be prepared for fulfilment of the Copenhagen Criteria – in particular the political criteria – in a concrete and structured manner. My group was completely committed to Turkey’s being granted candidate status at the Helsinki Summit. We welcomed this decision and are very keen for this state to accede to the European Union. It will be a difficult task given Turkey’s shortcomings on the political front. Which is all the more reason why we need to develop a very clear, concrete and detailed policy, i.e. a catalogue of measures and a schedule. Can we count on your Commission to submit suitable proposals to Parliament in the near future, on preparing Turkey for accession to the EU?.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, the right to health should be enjoyed by all citizens of the European Union, which is why we consider the draft directive on the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products to be extremely important. It has been proven that certain types of cancer and cardiovascular and lung diseases are directly related to smoking. It is our duty to provide proper and adequate information on what smoking does to your health. It is our duty to promote health through a public awareness, information and behaviour modification programme, especially for the most easily swayed section of the population, i.e. the young. The Commission proposal is based on Article 95 of the Treaty, taking account of a high level of protection of public health by harmonising the internal market in tobacco products and we agree wholeheartedly with this. We also agree that tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields should be reduced and that the terms ‘light’ and ‘ultra light’ should be abolished because they create the erroneous impression that smokers are at less risk. We would also like to have a positive list of additives. As far as the form and content of the message are concerned, it is important that it should be clear, comprehensible and brief if it is to be noticed at once, and we therefore consider it imperative to increase the surface area covered. However, I should like, Mr President, to touch on what I consider to be another important matter. It is idealistic to believe that we will stop smokers smoking if we abolish production aids for tobacco in Europe. Those who have still not been persuaded that smoking damages your health will continue to smoke cigarettes imported from third countries, thereby undermining agricultural production in certain areas of the Union. I think that a fundamental study of the financial and social fallout is needed if we are to avoid hitting tobacco producers.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I should like to express my gratitude to the rapporteur for this report, which concludes the budget discharge for 1999. Parliament is required to exercise its powers of scrutiny over the Commission's expenditure. However, this is only possible with access to all the documents and information. Otherwise, the discharge decision does not constitute genuine scrutiny but is merely a formality. I therefore draw your attention specifically to the demand set forth in paragraph 4 of the report, which states that Parliament must have the same access to Commission documents as the Court of Auditors has. The Commission must stop devising a wealth of new strategies and delaying tactics to withhold documents from us. The latest example is the van Buitenen report of 31 August 2001. I was the rapporteur on the first phase of the Leonardo programme in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, yet the Commission gave me absolutely no indication that fresh accusations of mismanagement had been raised and were being investigated by the Commission and OLAF. Indeed, if a third party had not drawn my attention to the situation at the very last minute, the Commission, despite its superior knowledge, would have allowed Parliament to grant discharge for Leonardo I. Since then, the Commission has played down the situation and deployed a variety of stalling tactics. I ask you, Mrs Schreyer, is this the trust and cooperation which you and your colleague Mr Kinnock never tire of demanding from this House? What have you got to hide? The entire report is apparently already in the hands of at least one German newspaper, together with the relevant OLAF report. Is not it time, Mrs Schreyer, for it to be made available to us as well? The Framework Agreement, which was cobbled together and presented to Parliament immediately after the 1998 general discharge without any opportunity for discussion, has shown itself to be ambiguous and misleading, and clearly conflicts with our Rules of Procedure. It is therefore unacceptable in its current form. The Agreement must be brought into line with the Rules of Procedure, not the other way round, which is what Mr Bourlanges' proposed amendment appears to be demanding. I therefore ask you to reject Mr Bourlanges' amendment and to leave Parliament's rights of scrutiny – set forth in the EU Treaty – intact. No committed European can genuinely be in favour of curtailing the rights of Parliament to benefit an already excessively powerful Commission, putting Europe at risk of becoming an uncontrolled and uncontrollable bureaucracy. This is the last thing our citizens want to see. As regards the disgraceful affair of the adulterated butter, known as the Flechard case, I would have preferred more plain speaking. However, I have no doubt that the spineless investigation into the Flechard case – which concerns not only wasted money but also the risk these products posed to health – is an issue which will give us plenty to talk about during the 2000 discharge procedure.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, no great drama has been acted out around the debate on the budget this year. That does not mean, however, that things have been easy. The matter-of-fact approach of the rapporteur, Mrs Haug, has nevertheless shown its strength. The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Wynn, also deserves our thanks. It is a positive step, as far as culture is concerned, that the financing of multiannual programmes, i.e. Socrates, Culture 2000, Youth and the new Media Plus programme, are in order with regard to the budget. Hopefully, the problems that occurred in the implementation of the programmes are over. It is important that the Union should serve the needs of its citizens well. In the budget there is direct financing for European culture networks. There is no doubt at all that they need it. But the rules for financing are not yet working properly. There is too much that is arbitrary about all this. The Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport intends to look into this matter early next year. The modest sums involved must be spent well and fairly.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, as an Independent Socialist I was sceptical, and in August I did not believe that enlargement would succeed, but I must admit that I have lost my bet with the President-in-Office of the Council; so I shall have to buy Mr Fogh Rasmussen a beer after this debate. I have a deep respect for the Danish Prime Minister’s leadership. He, the Danish Government and especially the civil servants have pursued the goal, and have achieved it. Everyone concerned is to be praised highly for this. The façade of the new EU house has been built and decorated; now it is a case of putting the furniture in place. The greatest task is without doubt reform of the common agriculture policy. I still believe that the EU should have reformed the system of subsidies to European farmers before the decision to enlarge the EU was taken. Reform would certainly have delayed enlargement, but then we would have reduced the risk of having a two-tier EU; and not until sweeping reforms are in place will we be able to look the world’s poorest countries in the eye again, as they are still losing out. I also wish to say to you, Prime Minister, that the fact that Mr Bonde is opposed to it is the best sign that this is a really good result. Once again, therefore – congratulations! (Applause)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I speak on behalf of a constituent of mine, Dr Lesley McCulloch, a British academic, who is currently held in police detention in Indonesia along with a US national, Joy Lee Sadler. Dr McCulloch was detained on 10 September at a military checkpoint in Aceh, Indonesia, held for six days, and allegedly physically and sexually assaulted. Subsequently she was transferred to police custody and on 16 September charged with misusing a tourist visa by conducting research. The military are unhappy with her work on corrupt military business practices. She has had two consular visits – on 17 and 25 September – and some conditions have improved. However, both women are in poor health. One is HIV positive. They may be sent to a military hospital. Their lives may be in danger. A date has not yet been set for trial but over two months have elapsed. I urge you to write to the Indonesian President and the authorities expressing our deep concern, asking that these women be treated fairly and any charges dealt with quickly. ***

Political group: PSE
Council and Commissioner, Mr Haarder spoke very clearly about the need for protecting communications and also stated that technology allows the communications to be tapped on a large scale. Not only does this technology make this possible, it is also being done, as was illustrated from our inquiry. I then ask myself what we are doing about this. Mr Liikanen mentioned the Charter of constitutional rights, but the Liberal group was quite firm in its belief that a legal framework is necessary in order to curb illegal tapping practices and to clearly define legal interception with effective control at European level. The Liberal group opted for a dual-track approach in this respect, namely the protection of the rights and privacy of the individual citizen on the one hand, and the safeguarding of the EU's economic interests by means of measures to prevent industrial espionage on the other. We also proposed specific measures. Instead, the Justice and Home Affairs Council is now talking about far-reaching competences of the Member States for data storage of both telecommunications and the Internet. Who actually protects our citizens against the authorities? My next point is that we also asked for very specific measures to stimulate awareness among citizens and the business community. This includes the development of European encryption software and security analysis. I would now ask both the President-in-Office of the Council and the Commissioner: what is actually being done about this, what has been accomplished so far and what is in the pipeline on this score? I do in fact have the feeling that little is being done about any of our recommendations, and I should like to draw your attention once again to Mrs Flesch’s remark directed at Commissioner Liikanen.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Mr Deva’s report concerns the eradication of poverty and food security. It contains many important proposals on how to eradicate poverty and guarantee food security, proposals which I fully support and which I was pleased to vote for. However, Mr President, how many pensioners are there in the whole of the developed world who would still be able to teach and work in poor, developing countries, who could help to improve the economic situation? How little do we ourselves do in the European Union to help these pensioners, these elderly people who still feel able to be useful to society and would like to go and work in these developing countries? I hope that more will be done in future.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, the rapporteur has already explained that the European Parliament helped to get EMAS II, as it is referred to, framed more strictly and not watered down too much; she also explained that the Conciliation Committee refused to give ground and did not deviate from the fundamental requirements for this voluntary eco-audit system. It is precisely because this is a voluntary eco-audit system that we need to give it credibility and we have succeeded in achieving this in our dealings with the Council. I believe a basic requirement of EMAS II is to ensure that existing environmental legislation is respected. It would have been a disgrace if this principle had been dropped at third reading. We have also succeeded in achieving greater transparency, that is improved information for the public and other stakeholders. My group also thought it was very important for employees and their representatives to be actively involved in the organisation. There has been a great deal of discussion about this request, and it is evident that the somewhat more complicated wording now found in the text is more to the liking of those representing the Council than the very clear requirement which the European Parliament had originally formulated. My group is nevertheless satisfied, and on behalf of the Group of the I would like to emphasise once again that both legal compliance and the involvement of employees and those representing them are important for EMAS, and I await the Commission's assessment with bated breath.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, as a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market I object to Mr Lechner's attempt to mislead this House on an interim court ruling that has come out of the European Court of Justice on the ban on tobacco advertising, not on health warnings, which is what we voted on yesterday. Mr Lechner should be aware that the judgement is interim and that we will not have a final judgement until the autumn. Furthermore, the Legal Affairs Committee ignored the advice of Parliament's legal services that the legal base for this directive was correct. I can understand Mr Lechner's frustration as he and some of the members of his group worked closely with industry to try and frustrate this resolution, but we cannot have the politics of the press release overturning decisions of this House.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, you will be aware of the great sense of shock at the fatal rail accident which took place last Friday at Potters Bar station in Hertfordshire, claiming the lives of seven people and injuring some 70 people. While the accident investigations are still taking place, this is not the time to draw conclusions, but I hope that, on behalf of Parliament, you will send condolences and sympathy to the families of the bereaved by the way of the British authorities, and also encourage the Commission to continue its liaison work with the rail administrators in safety matters. This is an extremely busy commuter line; literally thousands of people travel on it each day. I, with many others, travelled the exact route the evening before. A few miles up the line is the site of the fatal accident which took place in Hatfield only 18 months ago. Therefore I believe your initiative in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to speak on the same topic. I must express my indignation at a decision taken by my government – the French Government – which has classified the transport of radioactive waste as top secret. This means that informing communities and elected representatives about the transport of radioactive goods is now forbidden in France. All of us here, however, know how dangerous highly radioactive waste is and we are also aware of the concern felt by our fellow citizens about issues involving radioactive waste originating, in particular, in nuclear power stations. In my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, this decree constitutes an attack on our freedom of expression; it runs counter to the European Parliament Resolution on the transport of radioactive goods, for which we voted in this very Chamber in February 2001. This resolution required elected representatives and local authorities to be informed of the movement of trains containing radioactive waste. We also emphasised in it our right to freedom of expression and to demonstrate peacefully when these trains pass. I would therefore ask you, Mr President, to contact the French Government in order to inform it of the European Parliament’s resolution and so that it can revoke its totally preposterous decree. I personally shall continue to inform any colleague or fellow citizen who asks about the movement of radioactive trains.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, there is unanimity in the House about the importance of this reform, about how simplification is a good thing and how vitally important the sheep industry is. In all those things Mr Adam has done a good job. But I have to take issue with him in one contentious area which is: what is to be the level of support for sheep farmers? I am deeply disappointed that the s, the liberals and the nationalists are telling the House that they all intend to vote to cut the recommendation of the Committee on Agriculture by EUR 5 at least in relation to each animal. They put that forward on the basis of the budget, but in the part of the UK that I represent, Wales – just like Mr Wyn who is sadly no longer in his place – we have seen a huge amount of stock slaughtered because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. We see a crippled industry. We see a situation in which there is no confidence at all in the farming industry today and, as has rightly been said, if you look to an area like Wales, it is no good talking about diversification. It is no good talking about putting money into Community schemes and improving public transport in rural areas. We must ensure greater financial support for sheep farmers who have no economic alternative. Today there are sheep farmers in my constituency who are raising questions about whether they should even restock after foot-and-mouth. I say to Mr Adam this his government is not helping them by indicating that the compensation scheme that was previously in place is one that they do not intend to continue with, whilst, at the same time, not saying what they intend to put in its place. That adds to the existing desperation in the countryside. So, yet again, we hear warm words about the industry, but farmers want deeds, and this means supporting the recommendation made by the agricultural industry for the maximum amount of support for our hard-pressed sheep farmers.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Europe suffered across the whole continent from the recent spate of flooding, whether it was in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain or France; hitting, amongst other regions in the United Kingdom, Wales and Yorkshire; in Ireland, Leinster and Munster; in Italy, Liguria and Lombardy. There was a destruction of homes, of energy, communication and transport networks. In my own region, the Southwest of England, we had all of these consequences. The main railway line between Cheltenham and Swindon remains closed. It will be closed for a month because of the damage caused by the floods. We came within an inch or so of the town of Tewkesbury being cut off. Two major roads were cut for a number of days: the A38 north of Gloucester and the A417 west of Gloucester. It is the worst flooding in the United Kingdom since 1947. In Devon, the River Taw had the highest level since records began. In Somerset, we had tidal flooding across the coastline. In Dorchester, the River Frome was so high that a major-incident plan was invoked to deal with the possible consequences. We still remain on stand-by at the moment. Tens of millions of pounds' worth of damage has been done and I agree with Mrs Lambert that we must take action to deal with our contribution towards the cause of the flooding in terms of our planning regulations, in terms of reforestation, in terms of all of the actions we have taken to make flooding that much more dangerous than in the past. We also require the EU to give help and assistance, not just in the southwest but across all of the areas that have been affected. The resolution calls on the Commission and the Member States to waste no time in expressing their support in practical ways by marshalling workers and equipment under the five-year plan establishing a Community action programme in the field of civil protection which was adopted on 9 December 1999. We also call on the Commission to make use of all existing funding: ERDF, EAGGF, Guarantee Section, which have already been assigned for use in dealing with disasters of this nature to provide financial aid to SMEs, to farmers, to households, the elderly and others affected, particularly those living in exposed areas who have limited protection as recompense and as assistance towards a speedy recovery.

Political group: PSE