GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, I should first like to thank Mr Beysen for agreeing to act as rapporteur. He gave our group sufficient opportunity to express the essence of our views in the report. As a consequence, not only did we gain the support of 90% of the members of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, but we were also able to ensure that the proposal as a whole is now more balanced and shows the human face of the internal market. I have two questions for the Commissioner. I should like to hear the Commissioner's opinion on the amendment in which we want to maintain the national provisions banning sales below cost, or in any case giving the Member States the opportunity to do so. I wonder whether the Commissioner understands our preference for preventive action over ex-post appeals to national or other competition authorities. I wonder whether the Commissioner is fully aware that not all Member States have a legal culture that facilitates appeals to the competition authorities in order to resolve such problems. I wonder whether the Commissioner comprehends that sales below cost are an instrument that can not only be abused by a dominant player to vanquish its rivals within competition law, but that it also enables an integrated distribution company to exploit its stronger financial position vis-à-vis specialised SMEs that have less financial clout. The other question I should like to put to the Commissioner relates to consumer protection, on which a number of announcements have been made. Are we to expect anything more? If so, what? What else does the Commission have up its sleeve?

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I should like to sincerely congratulate the rapporteur on his extensive and critical work on this report on the working time directive. It was indeed quite an urgent issue to be tackled, given the controversial discussions at the several sessions of the Court of Justice on this very matter. Before I speak on a number of matters to do with the working time directive, I must say that I am very pleased that a couple of Member States have already implemented a huge number of different legislative, administrative and collective agreements in this regard. I also feel that the measures taken by the supranational decision-makers go in the right direction, since the Commission's new directives cover the areas excluded from the scope of the original directive. However, there is still a lot of work to be done. We all know – and the rapporteur did well to criticise it – that some Member States resort to the tactic of claiming that their existing legislation covers the provisions of the directive. I cannot understand, therefore, why they hesitate to implement a fairly flexible directive in the large amount of time available. I therefore agree with the report's encouragement of the Commission to investigate why the Member States refuse to comply with some of the directive's provisions. We should insist as well on controls on the conditions of application of the directive to new working-time patterns, for example, precarious work, part-time work and fixed-time work. In addition to that I see a strong need to focus more intensively on the increasing number of homeworkers. The Commission itself has made strenuous efforts with regard to open and distance learning within the Leonardo da Vinci programme, for example. I feel obliged then to ask you: why do we not give stronger encouragement to the social partners to negotiate the relevant working-time issues? Nevertheless, the report could have gone further into detail, as it unfortunately neglects so-called self-employed workers. I am convinced that the need to include this category within the directive is a matter we should all support and in doing so we should merely be adding further to a well-drafted report.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, exactly one year ago, on 14 May 2001, the Council authorised the Commission to launch a WTO dispute resolution procedure in order to prevent unfair competitive practices by the Republic of Korea. Not only has there been no improvement since then, if anything the disparity has become even greater. International competition is still being grossly distorted by South Korea's price dumping, meaning a further loss of world market share for the European Union. There is a danger that these structural imbalances will become even more marked. For example, South Korea's shipyards are making enormous efforts to get orders for certain types of ship, such as cruise ships, which up to now have been Europe's domain. These continuing problems are putting a strain on a sector of European industry that has had to cope with a difficult adaptation process in recent years. That applies both to capacity reduction and to the need to step up quality and productivity in the remaining yards. The regional impact of this structural change has been and continues to be at its most severe in the peripheral regions. If the very existence of Europe's shipbuilding industry is not to be jeopardised, the protection measures proposed by the Commission for the duration of the dispute resolution procedure are vital. That is why it is important for the Council to approve time-limited protection measures of this kind immediately. Furthermore, the procedures for levying anti-dumping and countervailing duties need to be consistently applied in accordance with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Up to now, threats have had no discernible effect on South Korea's behaviour. It is now time for clear-cut action!

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking Mrs Ghilardotti for her excellent work in committee in writing this report. At the same time, I would like to thank Mr Winter’s committee and the European Commission for this most excellent action plan. It is a very moderate and purposeful document, which quite deliberately does not try to do too much. I do not think we need any European corporate governance codes, it is quite sufficient if activities are sensibly coordinated and harmonised in the Member States. It is obvious that our systems of company law differ greatly and that harmonisation has not progressed very far as yet. A number of very important directives, like the fifth, have been filed away by the Council and never seen the light of day again. Against this background, it is of course right not to want to go ahead with a European corporate governance code, because it will not work without a common, harmonised system of company law. That is why I believe, and the Ghilardotti report confirms it, that the Commission has presented a very good paper here and a good action plan over all. There were of course some differences of opinion between the political groups in the internal debate in the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market. I want to make clear, however, that these were not differences of principle, but differences over how things are formulated and the amount of detail gone into. For example, Mrs Ghilardotti made a number of proposals, in particular for including trade union staff and social rights in the report. My group took the view that we should not do so in detail, because this is a paper about the company law action plan and not a social report or a social paper. That is why, in our group, we quite deliberately confined ourselves to a general statement on the social reasons for restricting property rights, and we believe that is sufficient and that there is no need for other social aspects to be mentioned in this report. In all other respects, we believe this is a good report. With one amendment, we as a group will be voting for this report as it emerged from the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner Reding, training and education will be a major issue in the Council, the Commission and in this House, and I believe that, if we want to do justice to the e-Learning programme, in order to bridge the digital divide between individual countries, regions and generations, then this report has certainly taken a step in the right direction. All European education and training systems must accelerate access to and use of new information and communication technologies to improve quality and reduce discrepancies. Once again I would like to mention the Bologna and Barcelona objectives, which, as you have already heard, could, if implemented, give the European economic area and learning area a chance. I am sorry to say that the situation in many countries – Austria included – is currently such that cost cutting has prevented increased investment in education that had been agreed, resulting instead in an increase in cutbacks in the education sector. Regrettably, we are moving further and further from the objective of becoming the most knowledge-based society in the world by 2013, as the Council has already indicated and predicted that it will still take a long time. When new programmes are initiated, they should also be implemented with the necessary determination, which means that they should – as the e-Learning programme actually does – show visible signs of success after three years. I think that it is for the European Union to give a visible impulse in this area, thus starting a chain reaction and again making education a top priority in the Member States, so that it does not fall victim to the cost-cutting that has been the case to date.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I only have a few minutes so I want to focus on just one particular point in the Commission communication. Let us recall that the title of this communication is ‘From single market to worldwide challenges’. Yet one of the remarkable things about this communication is that it does not appear to recognise that one of those worldwide challenges must be how the airline industry will respond to increasing environmental concerns and likely environmental legislation. Of all the many words in this communication, just one short paragraph is devoted to this issue. As rapporteur for a very good Commission communication on aviation and environment I know that the issue of environment and competitiveness is a very live one with strong feelings on both sides of the debate. For example, that communication starts by saying that the growth of the air transport industry is, and I quote, “unsustainable and must be reversed because of its impact on climate and on the quality of life and health of European citizens” and it goes on to say very clearly that ‘business as usual’ is not an option. It is quite obvious that aviation’s response to environmental concerns will have effects on competitiveness, some positive and some negative. Let us not underestimate either the impact of aviation on the environment. A report launched in the UK just yesterday by a number of environmental NGOs including Friends of the Earth forcefully made the case that one flight to and from the US could cause more pollution than the average UK motorist causes in a year. It makes the case that the world’s 16 000 commercial jet aircraft produce more than 600 million tonnes of CO2 every year – nearly as much as all the countries of Africa put together. It makes the case that the number of people flying will almost double in the next fifteen years. I would ask therefore that we see a bit more environmental mainstreaming. Rather than confining the environmental aspects of aviation to a report solely devoted to that subject, we should be seeing environment threaded through all approaches to this policy area, particularly one which purports to be addressing issues of competitiveness. Mr Sterckx has included environment in this own report. I very much welcome that but I would also like to see environment automatically mainstreamed through all Commission reports and communications.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, please accept my apologies for the attitude that I have shown during the debate. As for the slanderous allusions directed at me, I have to say that it is not my normal attitude and that at no time did I wish to alter the normal conduct of the debate.

Political group: Verts-ALE
I would like to thank the Vice-President of the Commission for the warm welcome and I understand we are both political people.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, how far is the European Union going to let the situation in the countries in the Southern Caucasus deteriorate before it finally decides to fully commit itself to the region, in keeping with local and regional expectations? Europe needs to provide enough funds to support its policies, and that is far from being the case for the Caucasian regions. A few months ago in this House, members of the delegation for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia urged the European Union to become involved and to commit to a firm and determined policy for the region, where geo-strategic interests are at stake that are both significant and varied. We cannot continue to say one thing and mean another. Our commitments need to be followed by specific actions. Implementing a Commission delegation in each of the countries would send out a strong political signal. It would be irresponsible to make these countries, who are struggling to affirm their identity, complete their transition process and establish a real democracy, believe that they can count on the political support of the European Union when the reality is that nothing is actually taking place and secretly it is only the oil and gas in the Caspian sea that are of interest. That would be unacceptable. Although the Swedish presidency took an initial step by visiting the countries concerned, what has actually been achieved? And has the report by Mr Gahrton, not been put back to a later date in the schedule? Moreover, as my fellow Members have said, this is a matter of urgency: does the OSCE not describe the situation as a state of no war? Let us not forget the powder keg of the impassioned claims on Nagorno Karabakh and the desire for independence of some regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Yes, Mr President, yes Commissioner, the European Union has an essential role to play in this region. It should take the initiative of a Europe/Caucasus conference with the various States in order to establish, through a non-violent solution to the conflicts, lasting peace and sustainable development.

Political group: Verts-ALE
As is so often the case in this House, the resolution is highlighting situations that are unbearable for people. Yes the hunger in the world is an intolerable scandal. However, as usual, the report does not propose any real solution. Even worse, it is only acknowledging the tragedy in order to advocate greater market freedom. This means, under the current circumstances, that the economic and financial power of the capitalist companies of rich countries will continue to trample down these countries, to engulf their agriculture, to direct it towards the needs of the markets of rich countries and to control all the production and distribution channels, etc. What the report calls fair international trade does not exist. It is a hollow term, which is seeking to make us believe that in that we can drastically reduce poverty. We obviously do not associate ourselves with such a verbal masquerade on such a dramatic subject.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, the Tampere Summit last year took note of the extremely difficult situation of some of the regions of Europe, and set the date for the forthcoming Conference of 19 and 20 May next which is on the very subject of the security and development of this area. Europe is attempting to enlarge its borders and create an area of freedom, security and justice. The Adriatic is a border and so is the Ionian Sea. If we want to give weight to the processes of European enlargement, we must reassure our citizens, our fellow citizens who live in those areas, that our words are not just hot air but authentic projects which will genuinely affect their situation, and that, when we talk of law and security, we will provide them with the necessary means, conditions and systems. We have already paid too high a price in deaths – too many civilians gave their lives in the raids in Puglia – and we have lost too many men from the forces of law and order. In consideration also of the existence of the Stability Pact, we need to take practical steps to show that the enlargement of Europe will also mean greater security for our people.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I have just returned from a meeting with President Chissano of Mozambique, with whom you and President Prodi met this morning. One of the issues raised by President Chissano was the concern that ACP countries have about the prospect of enlargement and the impact of it on them in terms of the likelihood that there will be less resources for them. They are also concerned about the level of commitment to development cooperation which they might expect from the new countries coming into the Union. We in the Committee on Development and Cooperation, and the ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly, would like reassurance that we can expect the same level of commitment from the new Commission as we have from the current Commission. Secondly, my question relates to the prospect for the Relex family of directorates under the new Commission. We do not want to see our development objectives and priorities subsumed by foreign policy strategies, interests and priorities. We very much want to see a Development Commissioner with a remit which covers our development work across the world. The EU is, after all, the world's major donor in this regard; it has an enormous role to play that I hope will not become secondary in the future.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I would like to add my voice to this complaint from my fellow Members. Several journalists died. One of them, who died yesterday, José Couso, is from my country, Galicia. Furthermore, I would like to point out that those of us who were members of this Parliament’s delegation which visited Iraq a month and a half ago, stayed in that very hotel, the Palestine hotel, and we are therefore very aware of the seriousness of this attack. But I would also like to point out, Mr President, that it is above all children who die in this war, something which we already knew. In yesterday's attack supposedly aimed at Saddam Hussein, seven children died in a restaurant. I believe it is now time for this Parliament also to observe a minute’s silence from time to time for these children, the innocent victims of this war.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, this morning, just three hours ago, the ETA terrorist organisation tried to murder Ester Cabezudo, a Socialist councillor from the Portugalete Local Council, and her bodyguard. Fortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful and it seems that both individuals are now out of danger. Last week, the ETA terrorist organisation tried to murder the 25 year-old former leader of the Socialist Youth Organisation in the Basque Country. They did not succeed in this case either, but the young man’s left leg had to be amputated. I would ask the Presidency, on behalf of this House, to show its sympathy with regard to these events, its condemnation of them and its solidarity with the victims. The terrorists did not achieve their objectives, but the outcome is no less serious than if they had done so. (Applause)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in making this proposal for a directive the Commission is pursuing one main objective. This objective is to use pension funds to strengthen Europe's financial markets. If it wanted to do this it would not need a directive at all, because all of the pension funds and financial markets are covered by the OGAF directive. That is why it explicitly mentions occupational retirement provision, meaning the second pillar of the overall retirement provision strategy. However, if we do mean occupational pensions then the financial markets have to be subordinate to the occupational pension schemes and not vice versa. In this case we believe that we need to talk about a proper directive on occupational retirement provision and not only about a step or series of steps which may in 20 or 25 years' time perhaps lead to this. I now turn to the issue of taxation. I have no sympathy for you, Commissioner, when you say that you cannot say anything about the content of the actual communication because it has not yet been adopted. You, yourself, announced several times that it would be ready in March, then the beginning of April and then there was talk of Easter. So when is it going to arrive? How can we be expected to work on the proposal for a directive and Mr Karas's report in the Committee if the tax issue is not included? Unless the tax issue is addressed we will not, in my opinion, be able to put Mr Karas's report to the vote. You are therefore required to table something. You say that you have hopes of enforcing the Treaty rules which are already in place with the help of the European Parliament; my only objection is that you have already had the chance to do so many times in the past. You did not need to wait, and you can always be sure of Parliament's support for uniform taxation rules. For once the Commission also needs to start to show courage, courage against the Council of Ministers.

Political group: PSE
I should obviously like to thank the Minister and former fellow MEP for his response, but surely we cannot concern ourselves with word games. I clearly asked whether the Council could indicate whether or not it agrees that the measures enacted by the Member States do indeed constitute a breach of the spirit, I repeat the spirit, of the Charter. I am aware of the fact that the Charter is a solemn declaration, Mr Haarder, but it contains very fine passages about respecting privacy, the right to marry and start a family, the right to equal working conditions, the right to asylum, the ban on discrimination, and I could carry on for a few minutes yet. Surely you have to admit, Mr Haarder, that in your country too, legislation is now being enacted which is at least in breach of the spirit of what is written in the Charter. I should like to call on the Council, the Ministers of the Fifteen Member States, to respect the spirit of the Charter. I believe that a better society could be the result.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, I congratulate Mrs Theorin on this magnificent report and I believe that all of us, as women, should be happy, since it is we who are going to benefit directly or indirectly from her courageous and innovative proposals and contributions. Mr President, this report opens up new territory in European policy, that of women’s’ contribution to peace. In my view, this territory is full of possibilities and could surely change the grim landscape of failures which, for centuries, have resulted from the exclusive domination of men. In this field there has been nothing but shameful failures but nevertheless we are still faced with a brick wall which excludes women. This is a very well informed, in-depth, and rigorous report, which is capable of stating fundamental principles with the clarity demonstrated in Paragraph 17. It is audacious but, at the same time, contains considerable practical sense and very necessary proposals. Mr President, it is a great shame that it has had to be diminished for the sake of reaching a consensus! My only consolation is that this says a great deal about Mrs Theorin’s parliamentary abilities. It is shameful that nobody is here representing the Council. Mr President, please tell me who is representing the Council at the moment, or the High Representative for the CFSP. The new Common Foreign and Security Policy cannot be created by ignoring Parliament’s proposals or the will of the European women who wish to participate in it. Please communicate our protest to the Council. The absence of the Council in this debate is a grave error.

Political group: PSE