GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, I was first concerned with this situation when a constituent of mine sent me the Amnesty International report on the 52 men arrested on the Queen Boat nightclub in May 2001 for presumed homosexuality, satanist practices and offences against Islam. Europeans and women were spared from the charges. It is alleged that they were tortured by whippings, electrocutions and threats from dogs into signing confessions of being homosexual. Allegedly many were not homosexual but just enjoying the western culture of drinking alcohol and dancing. Motivation for the arrest was in part to appease anti-western sentiment and distract the people from the government's economic problems at the time. In the initial trial in November 2001, 25 were sentenced to jail terms, but the government has decided on a second retrial of its so-called perverts. A number of irregularities were apparent in the first trial. The Egyptian press law prohibits the publication of details in on-going investigations which might prejudice the trial outcome, which was blatantly disregarded with the publications of stories of alleged homosexual orgies, gay weddings and the identity and pictures of all the defendants. The law does not prohibit homosexual acts, only 'habitual debauchery', of which there was scant evidence. The men were tried by a state security court rather than a regular court and forced medical examinations were carried out, clearly against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is clear to me that a retrial is a breach of the double jeopardy interdiction of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and also the spirit of Article 2 of the EU-Egypt Euro-Mediterranean Agreement on respect for human rights. Commissioner Patten replied to me, as did the UK Foreign Office Minister Bradshaw, expressing concern and willingness to monitor the situation, which this House is raising with concern again today. Regarding the previous debate, I would also like to ask Commissioner Diamantopoulou to use all available means to keep up the pressure on Zimbabwe.

Political group: PPE-DE
We are in favour of all the amendments to the directive seeking to improve the protection of pregnant employees before, during and after their maternity leave. The resolution proposes to remedy some of the omissions in the present directive and to harmonise European legislative systems to align them with those that guarantee the most rights. We endorse such proposals in the name of guaranteeing employees’ rights to health, especially as the proposed amendment of the ILO Maternity Protection Convention (Convention 103) reveals many retrograde steps, such as the exclusion of certain categories of women from entitlement to maternity leave, the minimum duration of maternity leave and the possibility of making a woman redundant during this leave. A strict European framework must be established to protect pregnant women against any form of discrimination during recruitment, regarding issues of their working conditions, access to maternity leave or its duration: 20 weeks including 8 mandatory weeks after the birth. Women must be protected against any wrongful dismissal and their former wage must be guaranteed. Finally, night work must be prohibited for both men and women in sectors where it is not absolutely essential, rather than seeking to modify the conditions for pregnant women.

Political group: GUE-NGL
The current figures are proof of our resounding failure. Out of a worldwide population of 6 billion people, 1.5 billion have less than one dollar a day to live on. What is still more serious is that the global population is likely to increase by about 50% by the year 2020, and almost 90% of this increase will take place in developing countries. It is to be feared that the current situation will further deteriorate over the next few years. Yet, the European Union which, however, continually declares its solidarity with the poorest countries in the world and spends billions on helping them, has a severe lack of long-term vision for these countries. We must gradually free ourselves from this policy and instead consider development as a multifaceted issue, so that eliminating poverty is a reality rather than just a mythical objective. Development aid is not just due to a generosity tinged with paternalism. For several of our European countries that are, in fact, former colonial powers, development aid is a question of strong commitment, which we must certainly possess. If, however, this commitment is to be useful to the people concerned, we must rationalise our aid, reorganise our services and depend to a greater extent on local players, and I am thinking particularly of NGOs. It is these ideas which provided inspiration for the Committee on Development and Cooperation, and that is why I voted in favour of the report by Mr Gemelli. - Marset Campos report (A5-0049/2001)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, again, in line with the previous oral amendment, could we withdraw the deletion of this particular amendment and for clarification add the words 'if legally possible'? It is now brought into line with the decision we took on the earlier amendment. The President established that there was no objection to the oral amendment. (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** Report (A5-0360/2002) by Dominique F.C. Souchet, on behalf of the Committee on Fisheries, on the communication from the Commission setting out a Community Action Plan to integrate environmental protection requirements into the Common Fisheries Policy (COM(2002) 186 – C5-0331/2002 – 2002/2175(COS)) (Parliament adopted the resolution) *** President. – That concludes the vote. EXPLANATIONS OF VOTE - Resolution B5-0580/2002

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, as has been said here, EU funds cannot replace Member States’ public expenditure and the structural aid that runs parallel with it. This principle of additionality is important to reduce regional disparities, which is the aim of the Union’s regional and structural policies. The Commission must oblige the Member States to work in such a way that the principle of additionality is implemented both nationally and regionally. I suspect that this principle is being seriously violated in the Member States. The effect of the Union’s regional policy is dramatically weakened by governments drastically reducing national, public and structural aid and subsidies, even in excess of what is coming into a region via Union funds. In some cases this violation is covered up by including as national regional funds development funds, which are mainly, however, targeted at the fastest growing areas. The regional failure to observe the principle of additionality aggravates the situation with regard to internal regional disparities within Member States, which runs counter to the aims of the Union’s regional policy.

Political group: ELDR
draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy. – Mr President, the Committee on Industry in general welcomes the Commission's communication because the EPAs between the EU and different regions could reinforce economic cooperation between ACP countries and encourage their economic development. Therefore, we particularly welcome the Commission's proposal that treatment granted to the EU be extended to all ACP-EPA partners before trade liberalisation with the EU. This is particularly important. It is not going to be easy, and some of the reasons for that have been outlined. We have to proceed with caution and with flexibility. We must not put pressure on ACP countries to enter into negotiations they do not feel to be appropriate, and we must safeguard and respect the rights of LDCs to non-reciprocal trade preferences. We need, however, in particular, to encourage technical assistance to achieve institution building, which will allow balanced results. We need to ensure that we take into account the capacity constraints of the ACP countries and seek to build those as part of the process. We need to bear in mind that the abolition of tariffs could well cause a loss of public resources and, therefore, create budgetary problems. We must not lose sight of our objective in relation to the Cotonou Agreement of poverty eradication and sustainable development. Thus the Committee on Industry's position is very much to support the Commission's point of view and welcomes the fact that negotiations are going to start tomorrow but to ask that we proceed with sensitivity and caution.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, my group is extremely surprised at the turn this debate has taken. Only last week, the majority of our committee appeared to be opposed to an opt-in of unsolicited electronic mail, but since the has adopted a more flexible approach, the majority now seems to be in favour of this opt-in, in which case the Spanish Presidency is granted the honour of bringing this dossier to a successful end. This generous flexibility reminds me of something Groucho Marx once said: “Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others”. I should not, however, be so condescending about the outcome of this U-turn. In all Member States, it is now prohibited to place cookies and send non-directed e-mail, SMS or fax messages to people who have not asked for them. Unlike Mr Cappato, I do think this is a good idea, but it is true that this ban will also need to be enforced if we actually want to bring about a change. I do not only want to express satisfaction, however. First of all, something I am really unhappy about and that has already been mentioned by the Liberals, is that these days negotiations appear to be taking place not between the Council and Parliament, but between the Council and two groups. Moreover, I am of the opinion that the compromise that these two groups have reached concerning data protection is not such a good one. I fully endorse what Baroness Ludford has said in this connection. Why are we as Parliament, in this first-pillar document, over which Parliament therefore has control, now willingly and explicitly encouraging the Council to conclude agreements about the systematic registration of people’s surfing behaviour and other electronic activities in the third pillar, behind closed doors and with minimum parliamentary and judicial control? We should simply study this aspect more carefully and not simply include it in this directive, which deals with completely different matters. Let us not get the first and third pillars mixed up.

Political group: PPE-DE
Madam President, I would like to refer to the letter which you have received from Spain’s Permanent Representative, which you just mentioned. I have been a Member of this Parliament since Spain joined the European Union on 1 January 1986 and, for the first time, this Parliament has established the precedent of a petition from a Supreme Court, not being delivered to the competent committee, but being replied to through the Head of the President’s private office, and the Spanish Ambassador’s letter addressed to the Head of the President’s private office, as if he were a second President. Letters from the Supreme Court are not replied to by the President of Parliament, but by the Head of the President of Parliament’s private office, and the Spanish Ambassador addresses himself to the Head of the President of Parliament’s private office. The issue has been referred to the Council of State, where, after being studied, a suitable response will be given to the petition. If I were the Council of State, I would write a letter asking the European Parliament whether the head of the President’s private office is the competent authority to establish what the competent authority is.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon’s debate is, of course, closely associated with the debate we had this morning on the Pack report and the reconstruction of Kosova. Yes, you heard correctly, I am talking about Kosova and not Kosovo, and I do this out of respect for the Albanians whose true homeland is Kosova and who make up 80 to 90% of the population there. They speak Albanian, and Kosova is the Albanian word for Kosovo. Ladies and gentlemen, I have been to Kosova. I devoted part of my holiday to this trip. I have spoken to most of the Albanian political leaders and they included Mr Rugova of the LDK, the LBD, the , the Social Democrats, and also representatives of the KLA. I have to say, everyone is hugely grateful for the international presence. People are very grateful that UNMIC and KFOR are there but fear a sort of “over-colonisation” taking place. People are scared that the international bodies will not take enough account of the Kosovan people’s strength. Of course some of this frustration can be put down to the fate endured by the Kosovan prisoners, who are sitting in Serbian prisons as we speak. After the Serbian reign of terror, with all the murder, fire, and ethnic cleansing that entailed, these people are now left with the fear as to what has become of what are literally many thousands of missing persons and prisoners. That is why I give my full support to the appeal made both by Mr Wiersma and Mrs Pack, and to the compromise resolution before us. We must adopt this resolution and we must endeavour to reach a solution for these prisoners using all the decisiveness and vigour this Parliament can muster. Ladies and gentlemen, the image we have of the Kosovars is perhaps one we have acquired from the international press, namely that the Kosovars, the Albanians that is, have taken over where the Serbians left off and it is now they who are oppressing the Serbians and the gypsies. I have been to Kosova and do not believe this to be the case. Personal acts of revenge are indeed being carried out and we must condemn these. They can never be defended but, ladies and gentlemen, let us not equate such acts of revenge with the ethnic cleansing, the systematic terrorisation there has been over the last ten years. Let us ponder that for a moment. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, thank you for your reply and I am delighted to hear that so much is going on. Would the Green Paper also cover the lot of the socially excluded and any programmes or plans for closing the digital divide?

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I should like to emphasise certain issues which are no less important for being evident and having been reiterated in this debate. First of all, I want to draw the Council’s attention to the slowness and lack of coordination of some of its decisions regarding what was approved in Tampere, and I want to stress that this situation may lead to the failure of the agenda that you yourselves decided. What is needed is a new boost and greater political will to be able to fulfil the agenda and the objectives that are set out for us. Secondly I also urge you to work at developing the Tampere proposals and not Member State initiatives; although such initiatives are legitimate, this Parliament considers them lacking in coherence, partial in their presentation and content, guided by each country’s own situation, and not contributing at all to the overall view needed in this matter. Therefore, let me remind you that we already have a programme of initiatives presented by the Commission which, in my view, meets these requirements. Why do we not all focus on this programme? I must stress the need to combat illegal immigration and the vital importance of all the measures being taken to prevent the trade in human beings, the constant deaths in the Straits of Gibraltar, the fight against Mafia-like organisations and the exploitation of these people economically and in the workplace. All this has our support, but we must not lose sight of the need to adopt a balanced policy on the immigration question. Therefore, with the same determination and willpower we must all, including, of course, the Council, draw up and implement policies that truly integrate these citizens that live amongst us, and thus we shall avoid racist and xenophobic acts which regrettably and shamefully take place in the European Union. We shall avoid the tragedies that occur on the coasts of southern Spain every day, with boats laden with human beings reaching our shores and with people dying in their holds. For this we need a clear political will and sufficient budgetary funding. This is what I urge you to do, and I am certain that in this way we shall help build the area of freedom, security and justice we desire, and that we shall have the understanding and support of the European citizens in this important task.

Political group: PSE
UK Conservatives welcome the principle of labour markets being open to all, with access to all, as central to the Single Market. However, we have voted against paragraph 15 of the Nobilia report, as the idea of setting up a European framework of incomes policy and social security cuts directly into Member States' competences. We have encouraged colleagues from other parties and groups to follow our lead in rejecting this particular suggestion while supporting the report overall. - Lulling report (A5-0381/2001)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I would like to start by thanking Mr Menrad for his thorough work in drawing up this report, including the hearings he organised together with the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in order to examine closely the incorporation of the directive into national legal systems. This study shows, without a doubt, that the incorporation of the directive into national legal systems is, for the most part, having positive results and that European works councils have been set up in around 2000 European companies. In many companies, the directive has contributed to eliminating the barriers to information and consultation. What is more, the timely participation of the Company committees in some of the decision-making processes has certainly yielded positive results, first and foremost for the workers in areas such as health, safety and equal opportunities but also for the companies in that the number of disputes has fallen. Having said that, the Menrad report – which we support – also reveals a series of gaps in the directive itself, and I consider it absolutely essential that the Commission takes measures to amend the directive to deal with these gaps without delay. I would, in particular, like to focus on three elements which, in addition to those cited by other Members, I feel are the most sensitive points and those which require swift action to be taken. Firstly, the information timeframe: there is no clear stipulation in the directive regarding the timely provision of information and, in recent years – we have often discussed the matter in this House – we have adopted resolutions but have, I regret to say, had a great deal of negative incidents such as workers learning of their fate from the press or being presented with a final decision by companies. In this regard, we could cite cases such as Ahlston, Adb, Marks and Spencer and many others. Well then, if this is the case, it is necessary, absolutely essential for the directive to be more precise, for it to lay down timeframes which ensure that information is provided and consultation carried out before any decision is taken, to provide a real opportunity for negotiation, otherwise it will serve no purpose at all! Secondly, I am sure the Members will agree with me when I say that there are no rules in a legal system which, if disregarded, lose their effect. It is strange that it is only in the area of work and social rights that this is almost the norm! There have thus been many disputes and incidents of recourse to industrial tribunals in recent years, precisely because the failure of companies to respect the stipulations of the directive does not on any account place in question the validity of the effects of the decision taken and certainly does not do so automatically. It is therefore necessary for appropriate, dissuasive penalties to be laid down and, similarly, in serious cases of breach of the directive, it is necessary to provide for the suspension of a decision in order to allow negotiations to continue.

Political group: PSE
Hand in hand for peace’: that was the theme of the Adep demonstration scheduled to take place on 1 September in Ankara. In actual fact, the demonstrators were unable to hold hands because the police prevented any demonstrating taking place: they entered the headquarters of Adep, which is a democratic party, and arrested hundreds and hundreds of people, going so far as to shut them in the stadium. As we know, stadiums have been the scene of appalling, tragic incidents. I therefore call upon the President to make representations to the Turkish government to ensure that the freedom of movement and speech and the freedom to demonstrate can be exercised by the Kurds and Turks, who simply wanted to be able to march together for peace, and to ensure that the people detained in the stadiums and Turkish prisons are released immediately.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I am incensed by the conditions of detention of political prisoners in Djibouti. Yet I am just as incensed by the hypocrisy of the leaders of France who could, if they wanted, immediately end the authoritarianism and violence of the regime in Djibouti. Everyone knows that this regime is being kept going, only with difficulty, by the French State. Without financial help from Paris and without the presence of one of the main bases of the French army abroad, this regime would not last a month. The leaders of France of all political persuasions may protest loudly in Paris about human rights, but in Africa and Asia they are supporting regimes which are trampling all over the most basic rights and freedoms. Attacking the government of Djibouti alone will therefore at best conceal the responsibilities of the French Government and will at worst prop up a policy of support for an authoritarian and repressive regime. We can join in the protests against the conditions of detention of prisoners in Djibouti only by clearly stating that, although the gaolers are in Djibouti, some of those who are really responsible have seats in the French Government. Arrest of the President of the Court of Auditors in Nicaragua:

Political group: GUE-NGL