GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, Commissioner, in one of your proposals you referred to the possibility of cultivating clover on fallow land, but you will understand that in the countries of the South this is not always possible and is sometimes very difficult. I would like to ask you, Commissioner, whether you could adapt this good proposal to the countries of the South, so that it would be attractive to them and would allow the viability, for example, of cultivating pulses in these conditions. My second question, Commissioner, is how do you explain the difference between slaughter premiums which currently exist? There are countries whose slaughter premium is currently double that of others. I would like you to explain, Commissioner, how this issue is calculated, in order to prevent these enormous disparities: sometimes double in one place in relation to another.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I would like to ask the Commission to confirm to the House the commitment it made in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on the next proposal to include nuts in the statistical surveys of fruit trees.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in 2000 there were 152 households in the European Union with television sets able to receive over 580 different channels. That implies a growth of around 180% in just four years. These figures alone should be enough to illustrate that the conventional television market, which only covers a small part of the overall audio-visual sector, is a major growth sector. The Commission report shows that the Television without frontiers directive, which was originally highly controversial in my own country in particular, has proved its worth. It provides sensible conditions for international broadcasting. In the period covered by the report, 50 channels were already aiming chiefly at markets outside their local area. The TWF directive closed various regional legal gaps and created binding standards for areas including advertising and the protection of minors, thus creating a level playing field in terms of equal opportunities and competitiveness. I welcome the way the Hieronymi report sets all this out. However, it also makes it clear that we need to embark as quickly as possible on a new review of the TWF directive, if we are to keep pace with the fast-moving developments in the audio-visual sector in a time of increasing digitalisation. That applies not only to the provision of all kinds of multimedia services, it also involves an appropriate approach to the trend in concentration of the media, which is also progressing at a pace that is hard to follow. The other side of the coin is the need to ensure freedom of information, diversity of opinion and pluralism, and to establish an essential multimedia foundation to promote European cultural diversity.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I shall be voting against the Dell'Alba report, and more generally against the ECIP and MEDA programmes, which were basically designed to finance subsidies and loans to private companies investing in Latin America, Asia, the Mediterranean and in South Africa. I protest at the fact that public money might be used – in any form at all – to generate private profit. This project, which is supposed to focus on SMEs in the first instance, in reality often involves subsidiaries of huge multinational companies, such as banks, which take part in these programmes and profit from them. The stated political aim of these programmes is to encourage the opening up of these countries’ markets to European capital. In the past, these poor countries were plundered and exploited by the capital of the great European powers in competition with one another. All that has changed is the fact that the programmes now advocate coordinated action for this capital. Capital that is invested through this programme is no more designed to develop poor countries now than it was in the past, since they are dependent on European capital. These programmes are not designed to make the lives of the working classes any easier, but to exploit a cheap workforce over there in order to increase the wealth of owners and shareholders over here. I therefore object to these programmes across the board, because in spite of a few hypocritical phrases about fighting poverty, they all seek to provide the imperialism of the great European powers with additional instruments for getting a foothold in poorer countries and then dominating them.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, Mr President of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, this debate has made it very clear that the majority of Members of the European Parliament is disappointed by the outcome of Nice. The real reason is as follows. In Nice, transparency and democracy for the European Union fell by the wayside. What happened? We find the Council applying the qualified majority principle in more and more areas. That prevents any scrutiny by the national parliaments, whose decisions can, of course, be outvoted by the respective majorities in the Council. But this democratic scrutiny has, unfortunately, not been replaced by democratic scrutiny by the European Parliament nor, unfortunately, by codecision by the European Parliament. Here, I am convinced, lies the crucial weakness of what was decided in Nice. Mr President of the Council, Sweden has a great tradition of democracy and transparency. I expect the Swedish Presidency to support us in our endeavour to remedy these weaknesses of Nice and to strengthen the legitimacy of democratic decisions in the European Union again, and I am convinced it will do so. I want to address a second point. During its term of office the Swedish Presidency must prepare for the introduction of the euro, i.e. of the notes and coins, in 12 European Union countries. The question we keep asking ourselves is this: who actually represents the euro externally? I am persuaded that the European Commission ought to undertake to do more here than it has to date. The French Presidency gave us clear information. Accordingly, the president of the 12 EU countries represents the euro externally. That in turn leads to a paradoxical situation. The Swedish Finance Minister represents the European Union externally for general economic policy questions, while when it comes to the euro, to the euro currency, this job goes to the Belgian Finance Minister. If even we in the European Parliament cannot understand that, how are the citizens of the European Union supposed to understand it? How are the markets to understand it? We must do our outmost to return to a sensible situation here. You, Foreign Minister, can make a major contribution here. If you manage to persuade your fellow-countrymen that the euro is a good project, that it is stable from within, that its external stability is also constantly improving; if you can persuade them to support this great project of European integration, you will also help ensure that the citizens gain a better understanding of this aspect of the European Union.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I am totally in favour of this report safeguarding citizens’ health, the health of both active and passive smokers. But when, in the past, have we ever succeeded in reducing tobacco consumption or cigarette smoking? Only once, Mr President. ‘And when was that?’ you may ask. In 1848, during the fight against the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Milan. In order to damage the Empire’s finances, the Milanese managed to reduce consumption of cigarettes. There we are: we should have written, ‘Smoking kills and governments are grateful for their saving in pension expenditure’.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank Mr Lamassoure for his report, in which he also points out that, as a Member of NATO, Turkey is a very significant partner particularly at this time. Despite all of the criticism which we have rightly voiced in the past and still do today, in respect of the constitution and human rights, we have to say that, compared with most of its neighbours, Turkey is a country which is exceptionally pro-western, democratic and respectful of human rights. Everything is relative and must be seen in its context. We also have to recognise that progress has been made in a number of areas and that, despite the severe economic problems which Turkey is currently experiencing, it is still attempting, by amending its constitution and changing the composition of its security committee, to ensure that the civilian political forces are given more powers to act in more areas. We will have to check to see whether all of this is sufficient. Commissioner, you will have to help us to respect the Copenhagen Criteria. The Copenhagen Criteria explicitly state that we need to see developments on the political aspects for accession negotiations even to be justified. We will have to assess this on a case-by-case basis. If further negotiations get underway we will also have to answer the question of whether Turkey is in a position to meet the conditions of the European internal market. At this stage, I should like to mention just two points, which will provide a tangible touchstone as the European Union embarks on this very complex development against the background of a very dangerous situation for security policy. Personally, I cannot understand why Turkey refuses to seek a compromise under the European security and defence policy over the issue of the conditions under which it will be involved and what kind of cooperation there will be with NATO. For me this is a test case. We should not allow there to be any blackmail on this issue. I believe that there has to be a willingness to accept a compromise which was negotiated in Budapest and blocked by the military. Surely we should now be in a position to find our way back to these criteria and agree on them. The second point concerns what should be done about Cyprus. Is Turkey prepared to seek a constructive solution in Cyprus? If a solution is not possible, how will it react when the European Union enlarges? I believe that these are two very tangible issues on the basis of which Turkey's credibility can be judged.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, allow me to say something different from what we have heard so far. I think that a distorted picture has been given. The majority of political forces in both Greece and Cyprus consider that the Annan plan may help to resolve the Cyprus problem, especially with the prospect of the integration of a united Cyprus into the European Union. That is the truth of the matter. A distorted picture is being given. There is the question of how one part of public opinion is taking this affair on board, how it feels. There is a problem there, a huge problem from the past, as to whether this plan can really be applied absolutely in time, fully and reliably to all the details, which are particularly complicated and particularly difficult. We have a lot of experience here of violated agreements. Instead, therefore, of looking for some sort of miracle, as my friend Mr Cohn-Bendit suggests, let us do what we can. Let us desist from exaggerations, insults and criticism of one another. What we can do is to call for there to be now a serious and reliable guarantee from the UN and from the European Union that the entire Annan plan, as it stands, will be applied to the end and there will be no tricks and circumventions after one year or after eight months or two years. Let us call for that. It is the only thing we can do now, before the referendum. We will see to the rest later.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, the proposal for a directive on the right of European citizens and their families to free movement and residence within the territory of the Member States marks a key point in the creation of a freer, more open Europe, and it endeavours, moreover, to simplify and streamline a veritable spider’s web of provisions on employees and the self-employed, pensioners, students and citizens who simply wish to live in a country other than their own. Then the amendments adopted in the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs have improved the original text considerably, providing greater legal certainty for workers and protecting them from the dangers of illegal immigration. Of course, European citizens should be protected from these dangers too. Certainly, a great deal remains to be done, as Mrs Karamanou and Mr Medina Ortega have made clear. In addressing the expectations of family members who wish to live outside their own country, we have been working, not least, towards a genuine increase in civil liberties, eliminating discrimination on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation or form of cohabitation. We are convinced that, just as rights such as the right to divorce or to have an abortion are ingrained in the psyche of the majority of Europeans, so there is also a clear need to make effective the right of those who wish to live in a country other than their own, who wish to live alone or with a same-sex partner or to build a family without being forced to marry. I do not know whether the Council will decide or be able to preserve the political and cultural balance of Parliament’s decisions, whether it will endorse the report in the form adopted by the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, but we are sure that, should it fail to do so, it would be acting against the wishes of the majority of the Union’s citizens, as Mrs Terrón i Cusí has said, with the danger of widening the gap between institutions and people.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, the day before yesterday North Korea threatened to resume missile testing if relations with Japan did not develop in the way that it wanted and expected. This threat is unacceptable. I presented an amendment on behalf of my group, which has been accepted by Mr Ford and the Socialist Group, and which reads 'condemns the new North Korean threat of resuming missile testing'. (Applause) (The House agreed to table the oral amendment) Regarding paragraph 6

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I shall read out on Mr Vermeer's behalf the speech that he wanted to deliver. That Mr Vermeer is unable to attend today is due to the HGV traffic that is not allowed to drive on Sundays but that subsequently causes so much traffic on Mondays that he is unable to get here on time. It is not the purpose of this proposal, namely the harmonisation of driving bans on the Trans-European Network, that is called into question by my group, but the way in which this is done. A general expansion of weekend driving bans is a very sensitive issue in our group. A driving ban, however useful it may be, has a drastic effect on the principle of the free movement of goods and hits the peripheral countries the hardest. Especially for those countries, the grapes are sour because the benefits of the internal market are not always that evident to them. The introduction of a driving ban simply causes a greater traffic flow on a limited number of days and with it, an entirely different traffic pressure, even in the so-called transit countries. The irony of this artificial state of affairs is that the Member States on the TEN network, which often enjoys EU funding, are entitled to introduce driving restrictions without these being adequately examined by the Commission, for example, on their usefulness. On behalf of the Group, I have therefore tabled a few amendments that should make this possible. The aim of my amendment is to allow Member States to introduce a driving ban if this is justified on the basis of various criteria, such as the environment, safety or on social grounds. This should prevent a proliferation of driving bans from being imposed. I would therefore ask for your support for Amendment No 23. As far as the rapporteur’s Amendments Nos 4 and 13 are concerned, in which topographical reasons are given to justify driving bans, these are not acceptable to my group. What exactly is a topographical reason and how is it defined? In the explanatory note to that amendment, reference is made to the Alps. However, the Dutch polder landscape can also form a topographical motive for a driving ban, for example. This concept is, in my view, wide open to misuse. Should these Amendments Nos 4 and 13 be adopted during the vote of this report tomorrow, then I, as the shadow rapporteur, will advise my group to vote against the report as a whole. Let us leave the internal market open and not create too many restrictions or opportunities for restrictions.

Political group: ELDR
Madam President, the proposal for a directive on transparency requirements is a very important part of the Financial Services Action Plan and is meant to harmonise the transparency requirements for securities and for those who issue them. In implementing the directive, not only the Commission, but also, of course, the national supervisors, will have a major role. If we are to have an internal market, the information on offer to purchasers of securities must be comparable and reliable, and issuers of securities must not be put at any disadvantage. We must therefore be guided by the principles enumerated in Recital 26a. A well-developed capital market needs credibility, which itself demands an increasing degree of transparency, all of which, taken together, enable national economies to compete better. It is no coincidence that those Member States that have high levels of share capitalisation, and whose stock exchanges enjoy high levels of turnover in relation to the gross national product, also enjoy more growth and have less unemployment. So it is that in Finland and the Netherlands – as you, Commissioner, know better than any of us – stock exchange turnover has multiplied since 1995; ten times over in one and six times over in the other. A study recently published in Austria demonstrates that there is also a significant positive correlation between share capitalisation and stock trading on the one hand and, on the other, the amount spent in a national economy on research and development. In all these complex economic interactions, confidence and information play a major role. In Austria, for example, the stock exchange legislation requires the most important companies, which are quoted on the Stock Exchange, to report on a quarterly basis, and so it is possible and practical, given the current state of the internal market, for there to be an upgrading to quarterly reporting at national level without any further obligations being imposed. Congratulations to Mr Skinner!

Political group: PSE
Mr President, the world’s food situation is indeed tragic and is growing increasingly serious. Millions of human beings live in extreme poverty and every hour of the day many die of hunger. It is therefore crucial that rapid and far-reaching measures are adopted in order to put an end to this situation, which must surely weigh on humanity’s conscience. It is therefore crucial that we adopt structural measures that are capable of preventing conflicts arising. It is equally crucial to follow up these fundamental measures with emergency measures to save lives now. The emergency humanitarian aid that has been provided to date has proved to be inadequate, where both food and medical supplies are concerned. We must, for example, provide a more substantial response to campaigns for high-risk areas, such as the awareness-raising campaign ‘Hunger in Africa’, launched by the World Food Programme. We must also support timely initiatives such as those launched very recently by the new president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, both the initiative intended to eliminate hunger in his country, with the programme ‘Zero Hunger’ and the other initiative presented in Davos, which is of a universal nature and calls for an international fund to be created to combat poverty and hunger in the countries of the developing world. It is equally crucial however, as I mentioned previously, that fundamental measures are adopted, breaking first of all with a model that has proven to be inadequate and unfair, which places the least developed countries in an inferior position and treats them shabbily - particularly by claiming that everything can be resolved through trade - which perpetuates an unfair system of trade that attaches sole priority to economic growth and ignores the importance of a fair distribution of the wealth that is created. We need a new world economic order, in particular one that contains profound changes in the bodies that are today crucial and which have guidelines that are out of kilter, such as the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. A definitive solution must be found to the problem of debt and it is particularly necessary to ensure stable prices that compensate for the traditional forms of production in the least developed countries, mainly in the primary sector. Priority must also be given to food sovereignty and food safety, in particular by guaranteeing that natural and human resources are harnessed and that people have access to land and water.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, we have been waiting for a long time for a directive on blood quality, which is vital to ensure safety for donors and recipients at European level. From this point of view, Mr Nisticò’s report, which has been enhanced by various amendments adopted almost unanimously in committee, is a step towards improved human health protection, in particular because it calls for better medical checks on donors and also increases the responsibility of doctors and establishments dealing with blood at all stages, from collection through to storage and including the point at which blood is converted into blood derivates. As we have seen, there remains an important question on which there is no consensus between us: whether donation should be remunerated or not. We believe that the principle of non-remunerated blood donation is very important, a principle applied in many European countries without leading to shortages, and we cannot accept that this principle should be undermined, for two essential reasons. Firstly, from an ethical point of view, we cannot advocate the idea of selling blood or any body part. The human body is not a commodity. Furthermore, we find it extremely shocking that companies should be able to profit from blood donated without remuneration. Secondly, remunerating blood donation could be counter-productive in terms of quality. Donors attracted by a financial inventive may want to conceal possible health problems, which could have dramatic consequences for their own health and the health of the recipients. Recent information on the hundreds of thousands of Chinese now affected by AIDS because they have sold their plasma is a tragic illustration of this and we do not want the same situation to occur in Europe tomorrow.

Political group: Verts-ALE