GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Lehne report, which is being supported by our Group, is asking for a bold comment. The Council does not seem to realise that the fight against money laundering practices must, first and foremost, be aimed at fighting organised crime as a matter of urgency. National sovereignty has to be suspended in this connection. After all, criminals do not operate with national borders in mind, and without a strong, united front, Europe does not only condone organised crime, it even encourages such practices. The advent of the euro is also an absolute godsend for crime. Europe is also clever enough to issue notes of EUR 500. Money laundering becomes so much simpler because there is no longer any need to change the money into dollars. It will soon all be possible in euros. In the words of a journalist, Geoffrey Robinson: if organised crime were to be granted a wish from a fairy, it would wish for Europe. Europe will witness an enormous increase in international criminal activity in the next couple of years. Europe is only at the start of the process. It is virgin territory waiting to be explored. Organised crime is a multi-headed monster whose financial heart and lungs need to be ripped out.

Political group: Verts-ALE
As you will have understood, Mr President, there is a problem in this morning’s debate. We are not agreed on the compromise text. It would therefore be advisable to find out, first of all, what this compromise text involves, especially in relation to paragraph 17 thereof. Personally, I think that if we were to adopt compromise texts which are not those that the Members signed or to which they committed their Group, we would be setting an extremely dangerous precedent.

Political group: Verts-ALE
In my one minute’s speaking time, I shall confine myself to the Pérez Royo report on the taxation of savings. I am pleased that the rapporteur has adopted the amendment I have tabled in the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, which states that this directive shall be subject to agreement to be reached between the European Union and a number of third countries which have the same duty of notification. This is indeed the thrust of the conclusions which the European Council had reached in Feira. In fact, negotiations in this respect are already under way. It is good therefore that this condition is expressly included in the text of the directive which, so far, strangely enough, had not been the case. In my view, an agreement of this kind involving a number of third countries and so-called independent territories is of great importance in order to guarantee the equal treatment of savings both inside and outside the European Union, to rule out tax avoidance and to prevent considerable flight of capital. I do regret, however, that no amendments have been taken into consideration with regard to the application of the directive to legal entities. This would preclude the placing of significant savings of individuals into the accounts of companies, with the intention of evading this directive, an act which cannot be condoned.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I am also very disappointed with this report. It has not done nearly enough. It could and should have done a lot more to replace enormously powerful greenhouse gases with environmentally less harmful alternatives. I disagree with Mr Goodwill on the legal base. I still believe that Article 175 is the necessary and logical legal base. As far as mobile air conditioning is concerned, it is disappointing that the committee has failed to take note of those parts of European industry that are already committed to delivering CO2 mobile air conditioning as soon as possible. The technology is there and it works well, so there is no reason why a phase-out of F-gases cannot begin in 2007. Beginning this phase-out two years later, as the current draft report provides for, would mean pumping the equivalent of an additional 80 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Whilst the proposed phase-out for mobile air conditioning is at present unacceptable, there is no phase-out provided for at all for the use of F-gases in many other applications where alternatives are available. I believe that should be remedied. That is a serious omission. Domestic refrigerators using HFCs are left untouched by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy's report, despite EU markets already being dominated by hydrocarbon, greenfreeze technology. I hope that Parliament will vote to support alternative, climate-friendly technologies and take the big opportunity that stands in front of us to do something serious about the environment, rather than letting the single market ride roughshod over these very important concerns. It is a pity that Mr Goodwill did not read our amendments more carefully. Far from leading to the lights going out, the Green amendments specifically called for the phase-out of SF-6 with the exception of switch gear. So let us have a debate based on the facts, not on the myths.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Commissioner Liikanen again for his excellent presentation, which was also socially sound, as well as the rapporteur, Mr Belder, for his sterling work. On-line services for all is the European principle on which we compete with the Americans. Unless everyone is involved our society will flag. Numerous special groups, such as the disabled, the elderly, single parents, the poor, the unemployed, and so on, are in this position. The number of old people is increasing. Even we in the European Union may shortly be going around in blinkers. Technical barriers must be removed. That can be dealt with by the engineers, just as long as there is the political will. Finances are not a barrier. There exist different solutions, for example, in Sweden and Finland, but everyone, ourselves included, must aspire to the Liikanen objective. It is important to make it easy to access the web. Hard copy texts today are already too difficult so for many they will be too difficult on a screen too, but this is a measure of democracy, a measure of e-Europe, Europe’s gauntlet of competition for others to pick up. The extent to which our democracy has developed and matured will be measured by how democratic we are on the web. Then it will not be a question of accessibility but whether we are included, whether we can participate actively, and whether we are able to bring our own input to the web. Democracy is not a one-way process, as it can easily be on the web. The elderly, the disabled and all our citizens, the special groups in particular, all must be able to participate and bring their own input to the web. We therefore have to aspire to that. If that does not happen democracy will be distorted.

Political group: PSE
Commissioner, I should like to stick to my question if I may. How many of the 40 organisations will be sent as representatives of employers? Do you already have a ballpark figure?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, and Mr Lamassoure, to whom many thanks, people in my country understand things very well, as 53% of them think that the European Union will become more important in the next few years. At the same time, seven out of ten of them assert that too little account is taken of the interests of the individual citizen. I attribute this tension to the fact that the realities of the decision-making and opinion-forming process not being sufficiently clearly and transparently communicated. Mr Lamassoure's report is helpful precisely because it very clearly highlights the mutual involvement and interaction between citizens, communities, regions, nations and Europe. The EU is not somewhere else; rather, we all make up Europe. No decisions are reached without the agreement of the Member States, and therefore without the national parliaments, when they see themselves as monitoring what the representatives of their national governments do in the Council. Clear competences lead to clear responsibilities and clear parliamentary authority and thus to the decision-making process becoming more transparent. I also think, though, that we have to make it clear that differing competences must not be allowed to lead to the blocking or delaying of jointly-agreed objectives such as the four freedoms, the financial services action plan or the internal market. Differing competences must not be allowed to lead to the Commission's competence as guardian of the Treaties – in such matters as the Stability and Growth Pact – being nullified. Not all the problems faced by our countries' regions can be resolved through Europe. Co-decision by Parliament leads to greater transparency, more democracy, better control and hence to greater proximity to the public.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I shall restrict my remarks to the area of legal migration, a subject touched on by both Mr McDowell and Commissioner Vitorino and picked up by several colleagues here. I agree with much of what Mrs Kaufmann said earlier in her reference to Kofi Annan's speech to the European Parliament a few days ago. Mr McDowell spoke earlier on about family reunification and allowing in migrants for purposes of study and training. But that is only part of the issue concerning legal migration. Commissioner Vitorino on the other hand has tried over the last few years to push forward a more imaginative agenda with a wider framework. I believe very strongly that without a system of legal migration into the European Union – something like the green card system that the United States has in place – we will continue to face the challenge of illegal immigration with all its problems. We will continue to face the difficult problems of trafficking gangs and all the crime associated with that, to say nothing of the continuing shortage of labour in key industries, both skilled and unskilled. Unless I have missed a key point, I do not believe there is an alternative to planned legal migration. But I am also absolutely convinced that this must be done in a manner that is positive both for EU countries and for the countries of origin. It is not acceptable just to take skilled workers from less-developed countries, nor is it acceptable for rich EU countries to say they will take migrants to do those unpleasant, dirty jobs that they do not want to do. This is why I urge the Commissioner and the Council to press on with this very difficult work in an important area – a structured programme for planned migration for a European Union of 25 countries and more.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, nowadays, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease even in one small part of one Member State has very rapid and grave effects on the Community as a whole. The loss of considerable numbers of animals as a result of the slaughter of whole herds and the profound disquiet and insecurity felt in society as a whole in the countries affected and also throughout the other parts of Europe, meant great financial loss in the affected areas, not only for farming, but also for the economy as a whole and tourism in particular. The control of disease can today be understood no longer as merely a means of preserving the stock of farm animals or of defending specific commercial interests, but must also take into account the population's changed lifestyle, their mobility, and their changed attitudes towards the environment and the protection of animals. With these things in mind, the Temporary Committee on Foot and Mouth Disease engaged intensively with the whole range of problems associated with epidemics, including their effect on the public and the economy. Whilst we do not need to reinvent the wheel, there is much that we can do better when it comes to limiting risks and minimising damage to the economy, while at the same time taking account of the welfare of animals and the sentiments of the public. This is not just about a few cows and sheep. We are all affected; this is relevant to all of us, and it helps not a bit to make sweeping assertions about who is guilty and who is not. I would also like to unambiguously refute the accusations – and there have been some – levelled at farmers, be it in Great Britain or any other country. What is important is that all imports should be controlled, that plans for emergencies should be kept up to date, and that the Commission should actively involve itself in them without delay. Mass slaughter cannot be a solution, and I wish to put the case for emergency vaccination as being the very least we can do, and, apparently, the best means of getting a speedy grip on the disease and sparing the animals' lives. We all know that meat from vaccinated animals is completely safe and therefore capable of being marketed. I would like to express my gratitude to our rapporteur, Mr Kreissl-Dörfler. I would like to thank Mrs Redondo Jiménez, who chaired our committee, and also the Commission, and those of its members who were of assistance to us. I trust that you will all now go and enjoy a nice juicy steak!

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I do not think that we can allow ourselves to become paralysed by the shortcomings in the political, social and economic project that Europe needs and which Europe’s citizens are demanding every time the European Union is called on to take an exceptional decision. This is what happened in Nice and what is happening again today with mad cow disease or foot-and-mouth. The European Union and, above all, the Council, must therefore not avert their eyes from the fact that an issue as significant as reforming the CAP cannot wait until 2006 and that such a reform requires changes to the structure of the European budget and profound changes to the tight financial perspective of Agenda 2000. Is the Council really willing to adapt Agenda 2000 should this be made necessary by serious practical problems such as mad cow disease, for example, which are affecting certain countries particularly seriously, such as my own, Galicia, thereby avoiding a situation in which, to the incomprehension and confusion of Europe’s citizens, the Union denies itself recourse to the political weapons it has at its disposal?

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted that the campaign that we, together with a few members of our group, have launched will bear fruit. I am also very pleased with the statement that the Commissioner has made here, which has filled us with hope. I fear, however, that the steaming of the two ships to the United Kingdom is part of a bigger plan to set up a larger waste merry-go-round to countries such as India and Bangladesh. If these ships are allowed to cross the Atlantic, then this opens up the floodgates and sets a precedent. After that, it will be legally possible, against the spirit of the Basel Convention, to ship waste to countries that do not have a sound social or environmental policy. Over the past few years, all kinds of attempts have been made to prevent the export of waste and achieve a system whereby waste is processed as close to source as possible. Having ships cross the sea in this way is diametrically contrary to this. This is a very negative message from the United States, which has already put a few environmental treaties on ice. Surely that country has sufficient capacity and expertise at its disposal to scrap these ships itself. We should not point the finger only at the United States. It does, of course, have the cooperation of an EU Member State, which thus becomes, at the very least, an accessory to the enfeeblement of the Basel Convention. Moreover, that country has mapped out a course for these high-risk ships, as a result of which other Member States are put at risk. If we look for yet other accomplices, we end up once again with the International Maritime Organisation, which offers little in the way of cooperation when it comes to enforcing compliance with the Basel Convention. It is high time this changed. For this, the EU must adopt a united stance. Europe, too, exports old ships to the South for scrap, without their dangerous waste being processed first. A list is currently circulating of 144 ships that are ready for scrapping in the South. We are therefore relying on the Commission to create a legal framework as soon as possible in order to put a stop to this. We would thus ask for a maintenance policy for European end-of-life vessels. On 27 October, the Council of Environment Ministers will be holding a meeting. This is, therefore, a good opportunity to give a warning shot and take a legislative initiative.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, distress cannot be measured or compared quantitatively. It is quite shocking how the tragedies we have seen in Kosovo, East Timor, Turkey and, in some respect, Greece, have overshadowed the situation in Iran, which has become very significantly worse. In addition to death sentences passed at secretly held trials, we have today had news of new harsh political sentences. The freedom of the press has, at the same time, been stifled and, in this way, the considerable curtailment of human rights has reached a very critical stage. The European Union is having a dialogue with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which should not be just critical, but actively critical.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, I had the opportunity to express my views on this matter before the Conference of Presidents meeting. I do not feel that now is the time to argue about this, or to have a dispute over procedure. In my view, I am extremely pleased that the Conference of Presidents had virtually unanimously agreed to award the Sakharov Prize to Mr Ghazzawi and to Mrs Peled-Elhanan, who, to my mind, symbolise what many of us aspire to, in other words, to give hope to those who wish to find the path of dialogue and peace in the Middle East, a region that has been so afflicted. From this point of view, Madam President, I think that, and the European Council also gave this message, in other words, that we request Ariel Sharon’s government to respect international law and withdraw his tanks and troops as a matter of urgency from the autonomous Palestinian territories, I think that it would certainly be in the spirit of the Sakharov Prize for you, Madam President, if you agree, to give this message to the Israeli government on our behalf. Thank you, Madam President. (Applause)

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, the weaknesses of this report do not lie in the fact that it condemns breaches of human rights where they exist but, in my opinion, in the way in which it has been drafted and in the methodology used to present these condemnations. In choosing to give, in the explanatory statement, a lengthy and detailed description of possible breaches of fundamental rights by some Member States, this report has led to claims and accusations against these Member States that cannot be refuted and have not even been submitted to a democratic vote because they are not included in the text of the motion for a resolution. These claims are therefore unfair, because they do not allow for any response, even though they clearly have no validity in plenary since they are not included in the motion for a resolution. Furthermore, with regard to the sources the report has used, and without wishing in any way to call into question the credibility of many NGOs, I must point out that a report drawn up by the European Parliament ought to distance itself from and even reject the conclusions of each of these organisations, and avoid including, sometimes inaccurately, aspects of these studies. For example, regarding Portugal, it is claimed that discrimination exists on the grounds of sexual orientation, on the basis of the conclusions and observations of one NGO, which I shall not name as it appears in the text, and the rapporteur states that the Portuguese Penal Code contains legislation that discriminates in this field, an assertion that I reject on the grounds of a simple reading of the law. In fact, the Portuguese Penal Code makes no distinction in the field of sexual orientation with regard to the age of consent. Mr President, I believe that the European Parliament must responsibly assume its powers for safeguarding human rights and should never confine itself to simply transcribing the opinions of third parties. This will clearly always be the case until we have a legally applicable Charter of Fundamental Rights; only then will things be done differently. We all want to ban breaches, but there are no political breaches of rights – there are legal breaches or practical breaches and these either exist or they do not. No amount of political flexibility, no interpretative criteria will enable us to uncover breaches of rights where these are not considered to be breaches under the law. Nor, on the other hand, can we allow any breach of rights to be justified by political criteria. This is why I shall not be voting in favour of this report: the fundamental balance that is needed for delivering an opinion on such sensitive matters is absent from this text and it has therefore failed to win my support.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to express my agreement with Mr Titley and also say that it also strikes me that the spirit of European integration is standing at a door on which there hangs a ‘No Entry’ sign, as it is not wanted in negotiations that are confined to milk quotas and direct grants. In the European Union, solidarity stops when it comes to money. The Danish Presidency may well have tried, by means of its negotiating package, to do justice to all positions, but, as the spirit of integration was shown the door, all that has come out is a worthless patchwork of rags that is no kind of framework for a future together. Why is this? The Member States' mean-minded attitude leaves the candidate countries with the impression that they are second-class citizens who are not welcome. That puts wind in the sails of the EU's opponents in those countries, and jeopardises its acceptance. Savings in the Structural Funds mean savings in cohesion, in the very heart of the European Union, and thus have adverse effects on the project of integration. Hence the impossibility of significant impetus for rural development or an attempt at it, the most devastating indication of which is the fact that it will lose out when grants of aid are increased. This is an attempt at making manifest the structures of an agricultural policy that has failed in the European Union, and, in practical terms, an indirect rejection of agricultural reform, meaning that the demise of farms in the candidate countries is being pre-planned without there being any alternative jobs. That is sending the wrong signal. We, the Group of the , reject all attempts at downgrading enlargement into a national savings bank, and hereby demand that the Council and the Commission should give absolute priority to the project of support for rural areas in the candidate countries and allocate more funds to it. Without that, the result will be social collapse, the European Union's spirit will be endangered and so will the project for EU reform!

Political group: Verts-ALE