GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by congratulating Mr Mantovani on his excellent report, which highlights the need to guarantee people's right to high-quality protection against health risks and loss of independence, and the importance of ensuring that that right reflects the challenges of our times, and in particular the demographic trend towards an ageing population. That phenomenon is the result of low birth rates and increased life expectancy, especially amongst women. In less than one decade, between 1990 and 1999, the number of women over 65 has increased by nearly 3%. The effects of an ageing population are being felt at various levels. In Portugal, for example, if we consider the population of working age, greater longevity amongst women means that since 1995 the number of elderly women has been greater than that of young women. At the same time, the increase in the number of elderly persons is imposing a greater burden on health care and social services. The issue we face is a simple and intuitive one. Society cannot be said to be progressing if greater life expectancy is not matched by improvements in quality of life. So the great challenge for us is to achieve a high level of satisfaction amongst the elderly with their quality of life, while keeping the costs that this involves in check. This will inevitably make demands on public finance, which plays a key part in expenditure on health in all the Member States. Even in Greece, the country where public finance makes the lowest contribution to health services, the figure is about 56%, rising to 84% in the United Kingdom. An ageing population will have a considerable impact on budgets, which will in turn increase public expenditure. Health care systems in the European Union should therefore be pursuing the objective of being simultaneously accessible, high in quality and financially viable. Each Member State is responsible for the organisation and financing of its own social protection system. Nevertheless, this responsibility is increasingly being exercised in an overall context that affects various Community policies. For this reason, as has already been mentioned, the Barcelona European Council stressed the need to establish and develop closer cooperation between the Member States as regards social protection, exchanges of good practice and information, research, establishing common indicators and standards and the development of health and social services for the elderly. Lastly, I believe that the Greek Presidency should examine the European Community strategy and action programme in the field of public health, with a view to the next European Council in the spring adopting the use of the open method of coordination and a precise timetable for cooperation between the Member States.

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President, Commissioners, I will avoid polite flowery phrases, for you cannot talk up the outcome of Doha in such a way as to paper over the absence of any social component in world trade – at least from the point of view of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. It is not only that that is regrettable; we must not overlook the minimal acceptance of environmental and food safety, and the failure to accept the demand for clarification of the precautionary principle. Now, though, to my main criticism. The EU often happily talks about the social dimension as a part of our European philosophy, but all it has achieved as regards the issue of core labour standards as human rights in the workplace has been to return them to the position discussions had reached at the 1996 Singapore Conference, that is, they have been put on ice. What has become of our social responsibility? Perhaps this next observation will not be lacking in interest. I basically welcome the fact that China has joined and that, hopefully, other countries will do so as well, but I doubt that it will become any easier to achieve basic human rights standards at work. So the beginnings of an opportunity have certainly just passed us by. I warn against taking conflict prevention too lightly. If sensible steps are not taken to monitor it, globalisation will spark further demonstrations and more social conflict. As Mr Mann has already pointed out, Seattle is not a thing of the past. It can be resurrected, and we, in the safe haven of the European Parliament, should not banish that thought from our minds. Commissioner Lamy, what are you thinking of doing in future to ensure that core labour standards are not only insisted on by the toothless ILO? How can you help us, after what has happened at the WTO, to make a new start and move things forward?

Political group: PSE
On 28 October, the Council of State of the French Republic approved a resolution declaring illegal the integration into the French public network of Diwan schools, which teach the Breton language, another autochthonous European language, like Basque, Catalan and also Alsatian, which originates from this very city of Strasbourg. Does the Presidency-in-Office of the Council not believe that, in order to comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was so pompously proclaimed in Nice by President Chirac and the former President of the European Parliament, Mrs Nicole Fontaine, the French Government should legally guarantee public access to the learning of these other native European languages within their respective territory? This is an issue, Mr President, which is included in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states that linguistic diversity and all cultures will be defended. And this is not only an inter-State objective, but also a European Community objective.

Political group: Verts-ALE
I voted in favour of the motion for a Joint Resolution on the outcome of the European Council of 25-26 March 2004, despite having many doubts as regards the recommendations on the Middle East. I did not, therefore, support the general opinion of my group, in particular on items 41 and 43 of the motion. In the separate vote, I expressed my disagreement on these points when I had the opportunity to do so.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Amendment No 2 to recital 2(b) of the report by Mr Harbour and Mr Medina Ortega abolishes the weighting of pensions according to the pensioner’s place of residence, so that equal pensions are paid out for equal contributions. This is a sound economic principle which I would like to see applied throughout Europe. As we know, I regret to say that there are citizens in some states, not least Italy, who have not paid any contributions and yet receive the same sized pension as citizens who have paid a lot of contributions. All 15 Member States should follow Europe’s example!

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Lisbon aroused enormous expectations on the social plane. You should have heard the discussions we had in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and at the meetings with the trade unions in the interunion association. Every paragraph was analysed and Lisbon was expected to open a new chapter in social history. When I consider Feira, I see that of the twenty five and a half pages of the presidency conclusions a mere half a page is devoted to social protection and social inclusion. I would go so far as to say that this would not be particularly untoward were it not for the fact that even the half-page fails to add anything new. The same applies to employment policy and the European social agenda for that matter. On the one hand, two priorities that were already established in Lisbon are repeated, i.e. pensions and poverty, whilst on the other hand, four objectives set in Lisbon are picked up on again, i.e. the committee for social protection, the open coordination method, the programme for social inclusion, the participation of the social partners and the social responsibility of the business community. The paragraphs that deal with this are actually nothing more than a reprint of the Lisbon paragraphs. Nothing new has been added. If Feira is to have any lasting significance at all, from the social viewpoint as much as anything, then this will be down to the agreement on taxation of income from savings, all assuming this eventually leads to a directive. Only then will the Helsinki principle not only seem self-evident, it will actually be enforceable, i.e. all citizens residing in a Member State of the European Union will be obliged to pay the tax due on all their income from savings. In this way, funds will also be released for social policy and social security will not have to find the money to cover a lack of income owing to fraud.

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President, I would like to thank Mr Menrad for what is essentially a sound and conclusive report. Once again, you have shown yourself to be a worthy champion of employees' interests. Is this a theme for the European Union? It certainly is! The reason is that employee participation has an absolutely innovative character, both on the company and the employee side. That is the approach, and that is the new philosophy, which we must adopt if we want to pursue the Lisbon objectives. That is what I would say to the previous speaker. Of course it is important to distinguish between specific things as Mr Menrad himself has done. We are assuming that these are clear capital shareholdings which cannot supplement the existing wage and salaries systems. They must be dealt with separately, and that is a factor. We are assuming, and this has already been expounded upon, that the participation sector or participation in the industrial sector will therefore become far stronger. It has a psychological effect. It has an effect on the company. It is innovative, and holds promise for the future. That is how it has been presented. Yet what age are we living in? That now applies to the Commission as well. The task is to integrate these specific models of employee participation into a specific network for the present day, in other words, to encourage employees to take an interest in obtaining shareholdings in companies. What is the reality in Europe? We have recessional and deflationary trends, characterised by the Commission's growing pressure to make savings. As a result, pensions and social systems are being cut, and this does not make employees more willing to acquire shares in the corporate sector. That is the problem. In other words, if we want to make policies for the European Union, we should get down to brass tacks: we should create systems which are equipped with appropriate flanking measures so that everything can come together to form a creative whole. That is actually what we want. This cannot be the case as long there are quite different economic tendencies on the one side from our own, with our ideas, on the other. Employee participation must not be just a theory. Employee participation in the Lisbon sense means more than that! (Applause)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, we have had to wait until the end of this parliamentary term for the truth to finally break out in the European Parliament. Having returned from a mission to Tunisia with three of my colleagues, I shall talk about the problems of union freedom. The great wave of repression that has swept over the opposition of all political hues since the 1990s has allowed the government to seize control of the General Union of Tunisian Workers, the GUTW. Arrests, sackings of union leaders, threats and pressure of all kinds have combined with the authoritarianism of the union hierarchy in order to subdue one of the most combative labour organisations in the region. The extremely severe legal restrictions on the right to strike have been made even harsher by the current leadership. For a strike to be legal in Tunisia, the executive of the GUTW now has to give its approval. Meetings, which cannot normally be held in the workplace, are also regularly banned on union premises. Union leaders have been stripped of their powers and taken to court for having criticised the management of the trade union group in a simple internal petition. 12 of them were arrested by the police in April 1999 and spent more than 48 hours at the Ministry for Internal Affairs for having questioned the irregular conditions in which the GUTW congress took place. Amongst these, we wish to mention Abdeljalil Bedoui, Ali Romdhane, Abdelmajid Sahraoui, Abdennour Maddahi, Hamed Bennjima, Noureddine Ounissa, Chaker Ben Hassine, and many others. Ben Ali’s regime is exercising tight control over the whole world of labour. The repression is not only aimed at political opponents. It affects the whole of the population, particularly in working class neighbourhoods, and the small towns and villages in the underprivileged regions. The report by the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia estimates the number of policemen at 130 000 for a population of 9.5 million inhabitants. To this figure we should add the unofficial policemen controlled by the network of neighbourhood committees, reporting directly to the Ministry of the Interior, which monitors and subdues a defenceless population. These facts give us a better understanding of this pseudo-democracy, in which the President wins the elections with 99.44% of the vote. Mr President, let the Tunisian people, who are represented here by two of their number, know that we support them in their fight for freedom and that we will not desert them.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, Commissioner, what we have learned from the debate or, rather, the controversy created by Commissioner Bolkenstein in his quest to liberalise the postal services, undertaken in the absence of any assessment of the first phase and in contravention of the rules defined by this directive is that, under cover of progressive and status-enhancing terms such as modernisation, liberalisation and keeping pace with rapid technological developments, we are slipping into a situation in which the social quality of countries is declining. What is being destroyed is the very spirit of local public service, universally appreciated and respected. Let us therefore regard this important phase of examining this directive as a manifestation of the agreement and the bond between Parliament and the citizens of Europe. We have been able to find a majority of MEPs to respond to the questions and challenges it raises, as well as the fundamental risks it poses for the images of our various countries, the identity of our public services and the cohesion of our societies. In this connection, I would thank the rapporteur, Mr Ferber, as well as Mr Simpson for the result that has been achieved. I am all the more grateful due to the fact that my own group has distinguished itself in this counter-offensive. We had joined together in firmly denouncing these liberal excesses and their harmful effects on the territorial, economic and human fabric of our Member States. As a Frenchwoman, I am only glad that I have no part in the dismantling of that reassuring and life-affirming network of 17 000 post offices and sub-post offices, knitted together over 550 000 km2 of our territory and embodying public service for our citizens, in both suburban and rural areas. This debate on postal services is also a warning to the Commission. It will have taught them that impartial and objective studies prior to the issuing of directives ought to be the rule and that, because economic liberalisation does not in any way constitute progress if it is synonymous with social dehumanisation, the notion of general public service ought to be preserved. Account ought also to be taken of indicators to the contrary, such as the liberalisation of postal services in Sweden, and of subsidiary aspects such as the quality of post office jobs and the symbolic value of the post office. In the light of this, I entirely support the compromise proposed by Mr Ferber and Mr Simpson.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, some of the speakers have already asked quite specific questions. I would like to ask Mrs Wallström again, to go into some specific details. Firstly, there was the question on when we can expect industry-specific plans for reduction, and timetables for this from the Commission. Secondly, there was the question raised by two of us on the subject of CO2 emissions from aviation fuel. The question obviously still remains as to how you produce a Directive on phasing in renewable energies, and providing compensation which actually covers the costs. I would be most grateful to you if you could answer these three specific points. I do not know if you are in a position to as you have so recently taken up your post. I think that we are agreed that we should all do something to protect the environment.

Political group: Verts-ALE
draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Citizen's Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. – Mr President, first of all, I start from the premise that information equals power; and, quite frankly, we need to empower our citizens. Let me also congratulate Mr Andreasen on an excellent and innovative report, looking at the problems, but, I believe, bringing fresh and new solutions. May I thank him for his support and may I also thank the LIBE Committee for its support for my opinion which it voted upon and adopted unanimously. It is a sad reflection for me that I did not gain that same support from my own Group within the Culture Committee, for various reasons which I hope will become obvious at some point in the debate. Let me turn to Mr Andreasen's report. The implementation of existing policies and future development of the European Union needs to be based on active and informed participation of its citizens. I particularly welcome moves to coordinate the information activities of the institutions and as far as possible provide information in a one-stop shop so that it is not necessary for citizens to understand the institutional structure of the Union in order to obtain the information they require. Another key aspect of information policy of the EU institutions is access to documents, and as I repeatedly noted in connection with the adoption of Regulation No 1049/2001 on public access to documents of the institutions, documents – and I stress this – cannot be separated from the information contained in them. It therefore follows that the information and communication policy of the institutions should be coordinated with the activities for the implementation of the aforementioned Regulation. It is therefore sad that we fail to grasp the political opportunity to have the interinstitutional group on information which is responsible for cooperation on information activities working and taking on board the activities in Article 15 of Regulation 1049/2001. I hope we will revisit this and take this wonderful opportunity to combine the information policies, transparency and access to documents.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, if every time there are amendments to be made to the Rules of Procedure the whole of Parliament is going to act as you have done, giving me the floor at the end and treating small groups as you have done, then I would rather everything remained exactly the way it is. In fact, every time Parliament decides to deal with the issue of long voting sessions it ends up suppressing the rights of the individual Members. The point is, that part-sessions run from Monday to Friday, and if you have to leave earlier for some reason, then that is your problem, not the fault of the voting session. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, war is always cruel, and civil war even more so. However, we have reached another level of barbarism and abjectness when children are used to fight and kill or be killed. In this way, the LRA, the armed resistance, does not hesitate to kidnap seven-year-old boys and subject them to extreme brutality to train them to fight and terrorise villagers. Nor does it hesitate to sexually exploit women and girls. When these children survive, it must be said, they are in any case scarred for life. It takes time, patience and love to restore their hope. This is why we must increase aid and support for UNICEF, which has set up an action programme enabling children to return to a normal life. Madam President, we must also stop pussyfooting around. Sudan must stop supporting the LRA. In my opinion, this amounts to collusion, which makes Sudan just as guilty. And Parliament must intervene to urge the Ugandan Government to find a peaceful solution to this conflict in the north of Uganda, which, let me remind you, has been the cause of 100 000 deaths in 15 years. The whole population is waiting for this solution and all the children are hoping for it. The Security Council must hear this plea.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, Commissioner, I would be interested to know whether the country of origin is in fact also a criterion applied in selecting women.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I have little time, that is why I hardly have the opportunity to highlight the importance of the forming of European parties. Whoever claims, however, that parties are needed should also be aware that they take care of their financial resources and so far, this has been done in an unorthodox fashion. It had to be done in the twilight zone. We need a solid basis, transparency and control. That is why our group is principally in favour of no donations from businesses for political parties, so as to vouch for the independence of Parliament as an institution and of the individual MPs. Virtually every country has had its fair share of scandals, and we know that it is necessary to act very strictly and monitor closely. If there are donations, it should be made very clear and transparent where they are from and what they will be spent on. It must be possible to form democratic parties without creating too high thresholds. That is why we support the proposal which the Commission presented right from the outset, to take five countries as the norm, so as not to deter any forces – at least if they are democratic. There should also be sufficient funding for all recognised parties to be able to function as a party. The overheads – and this can be verified objectively – must be covered before the resources are shared out proportionately. Finally, we should be acutely aware of the fact that the citizens keep a watchful eye over the system. We ourselves should ensure that the democratic fundamental rights are observed, for we cannot subsidise parties which subsequently undermine democracy.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mrs Kratsa-Tsagarapoulou’s report clearly lays out the sticking points: the persistent pay differential and the explosion in trafficking in human beings and prostitution. I welcome the dynamism of our rapporteur, although I would like to make two observations. Firstly, we must remember the scale of poverty amongst women. Most of the 60 million people living beneath the poverty line in the EU are women. Secondly, we must remain vigilant over Europe’s desire to protect the equality of the sexes. In fact, the first preliminary draft of the constitutional treaty presented by the Convention in October 2002 causes me some concern. The absence of any reference to equality between men and women in Europe is notable: it appears neither as a value nor as an aim, despite its inclusion in the Treaties. The Convention’s work programme, which is now dedicated to social issues, will enable this oversight to be corrected. We cannot conceive of it failing to do so.

Political group: GUE-NGL