GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, I have two practical questions: last Saturday's breakthrough in the field of medicines does mean that many are apprehensive about whether or not this will work in practice. One of the things we could probably do now in the European Union, which possesses the capacity to produce its own generic medicines, is to declare that we are prepared to issue such a declaration of compulsory licensing in cases where developing countries ask for those medicines. This would, as it were, be a gesture on our part which demonstrates that those medicines will actually be supplied in practice. The other practical question concerns the blue box. Many fear that in agriculture, we will be using this blue box in order to again indirectly subsidise exports on a massive scale. Brazil has asked whether we are able to promise at this stage that we will be supporting this blue box – in other words the switch from product subsidy to blue-box subsidy – but that we will not be making improper use of it for the purpose of export subsidies. With this, we would really contribute to abolishing this export subsidy. I am interested to know whether this line of thinking is currently on the agenda or plays a part in our negotiators’ thinking.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, I would first like to thank the rapporteur for his excellent work and for having taken due account of the proposed amendments while the committee was debating it. The sixth periodical report gives a basis for assessing the implementation of the Union’s regional policy aims. The report shows that growth has been uneven, despite all our efforts. Very rapid growth is continuing in Central Europe. The strongest regional centres also continue to grow faster than the general European average, whereas many southern European and northern areas are developing considerably more slowly. We now require an in-depth analysis of why regional policy is not producing the desired result in all areas. Is the reason bureaucracy or is it because insufficient notice has been taken of interregional differences, long distances, climates that are too cold or too hot, sparse populations and austere conditions? How can the Union respond to the challenges of global development in a way that the less developed areas can remain a part of that development? It is also important to discover what the effects of Union enlargement will be on Structural Funds and the development of the Union’s more remote areas. The Member States must also bear in mind their responsibility. Some Member States have been in breach of the principle of subsidiarity and cut national regional funds when regional aid coming via the Union has been increased. This has chipped away at the results that regional policy has produced. In the future, we must also develop indicators so that measures can be targeted at the right time at the right place. For example, uncontrolled migration has not been given sufficient consideration. In this connection, too, weight has to be given to the decisive importance of SMEs as employers and forces behind regional development. It is absolutely essential that companies in areas developing more slowly adopt the latest technology and know-how. Our Group is in favour of adopting this report.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I would just like to add a word to the same effect. First to thank the Commissioner because I think holding debates in which ideas can contend is the way to make progress. That is what happened in the Committee on Development and Cooperation. Not everyone was in agreement with all the points in the report, but that does not prevent me from wanting the debate to continue, because it must exist. I mentioned just now the general agreement on trade in services, for example. The debate on this subject is public, it exists. I want it to continue. Like Mrs Sauquillo, I also want to thank the Commissioner for what she said about the Commission’s commitment to greater funding. The needs are in fact so great I think we can agree together to be generous in this.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, I am very glad to have the opportunity to address Parliament on this most important of issues. The motion calls for justice and reparations for the Muslim and Tamil communities being persecuted in Sri Lanka. If 60 000 people were killed in the developed world – that is the magnitude of the atrocities we are looking at now in Sri Lanka – then every possible means would be deployed to address the matter and bring those responsible before the courts and establish the rule of law. There is serious and flagrant discrimination and economic underdevelopment in the areas of the country where the majority of the Tamil population lives. This is an area where the European Union could play a meaningful role, through funding programmes to address the imbalance and further the cause of peace and reconciliation. We must act concertedly here or more innocent Sri Lankans will join the half a million people who have already fled the country. The use of child soldiers and sexual assaults on Sri Lankan women is endemic. To turn our backs on this matter would deliver a serious blow to the important causes we often champion here of democracy, freedom and social justice. Our attendance at the donors' meeting in Sri Lanka, scheduled for May, is vital. I also call on the presidency to ensure forthwith that this resolution is conveyed to the Council, the Commission and the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, I should first like to thank Mrs Evans for an outstanding report and to thank Mrs Wallström for the positive reception she has given to Parliament’s report. I think we were right to highlight the Member States’s poor implementation of the 1986 directive. I also think that the report shows very clearly the need for tightening up the current rules. I can fully support the Commission’s being obliged, by no later than next year, to table a proposal regarding the way in which animal experiments are to be regulated in future. Among the areas I would earmark for tightening up is the area of application. I think it important that animal experiments should also cover the use of animals for educational purposes, and we must look at the conditions under which transgenic and genetically modified animals are used in experiments. We must establish some clear ethical rules. I also believe it is very important for us to obtain a central database for approved animal experiments, both current and completed and both successful and manifestly unsuccessful. I think it important that we obtain a combined database of this kind so that we avoid repeating experiments that have already been carried out. Finally, I want to support Mrs Evans's idea of obtaining better supervision of the circumstances in which animals are kept, possibly through a common EU inspectorate that can help ensure that the rules are observed. May I say that I am able to support Amendment No 3 and that there will be a free vote on Amendment No 4 in the Group of the . On the other hand, we are unable to support Amendments Nos 1 and 2. I am looking forward to a proposal from the Commission that will live up to the expectations to which – inspired by Mrs Evans – Parliament’s report has given expression.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I would like to inform the House that the Conference of Presidents unanimously decided to include Mr Herman Schmid’s report on employment guidelines in the agenda for Thursday morning, provided, of course, that it is adopted by the relevant committee this evening.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, Commissioner, today we are in the final stage of approving an ambitious public health programme. This programme has three objectives: improving information and knowledge, reacting rapidly to health threats and tackling health determinants through health promotion and disease prevention. Obviously, if these objectives are to be achieved, we need to create a mechanism which guarantees permanent surveillance and coordination, which enhances efficiency and which provides information to the Member States on best practices and the overall evaluation of the programme. I think that, on this point, we have achieved a compromise which guarantees that the programme will be implemented properly, in line with the approach taken by Parliament in its amendments. Another important point concerns the European Parliament's proposals on tackling emergency situations, including acts of terrorism, and a satisfactory compromise has been reached with the Council on this point. However, I should like to comment on the budget for the programme. I think that, if we want to respond to the needs and objectives of this particular programme, we need to ensure that it has the necessary resources. The European Parliament proposed the sum of EUR 380 million and I think the Council should have accepted this, given that much of this money has already been spent on programmes already running until the end of 2002. Similarly, the new programme will apply not just to the fifteen Member States, but to the ten new Member States as well. Finally, biological terrorism was added to the original objectives after the events of 11 September. The final sum of EUR 312 may be more than the sum proposed by the Commission or the Council, but it does not satisfy me. However, I do welcome the fact that the Commissioner responsible, Mr Byrne, has promised to review the financial framework once the new Member States have acceded. This had a catalytic effect on the final vote during the conciliation procedure. And finally, may I thank the rapporteur for his overall cooperation and his efforts in helping to bring about a good compromise.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I would thank the Commission for using its communications constantly to provoke discussion of immigration as part of the EU’s response to the ageing population and the ever shrinking workforce, over and above the other aspects of Europe’s encounter with other cultures. These are controversial subjects in all the nation states, but it is high time we obtained analyses of the problems and challenges and proposals for common European solutions. I should next like to congratulate Mr Moraes on the report. It is a particularly relevant and necessary report right now. I am grateful for Mr Moraes’ having integrated the opinions of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities on the need to apply a gender perspective to immigration and integration policy. If this is not perceived as discriminatory, I also believe that this is due to Mr Moraes' particular background. If we are to succeed in creating a successful immigration and integration policy at European level too, it is absolutely necessary for a gender perspective to be applied at all levels. That is something of which I should like to remind the combined Commission once again. I am aware that Mrs Diamantopoulou and her Directorate-General are working hard on this, but it is necessary for you, Mr Vitorino, as her colleague, to do so too. Quite honestly, I find it just a little bit wearisome having to go on picking up the pieces of the Commission’s initiatives and ploughing the same old furrows. The headscarf debate is in full swing in many places in Europe at the moment. Should we not, however, be looking, rather, at a number of other areas such as better integration, the ways in which we enter into dialogue and the ways in which we give the women concerned power over their own lives. It might then be that the headscarf debate would solve itself. It is important that immigrant women who, as such, are bearers of a culture also be given opportunities without being totally disowned by their families because they want both to embrace their own culture and a European attitude of gender equality in society. If the women are not integrated, there is a danger of their sons or daughters not being so either and of their, in that way, being stuck in outdated gender roles which, in the Europe of today, are of no use in terms either of family life or of the labour market. Think of the emphasis that is now being placed upon the need today also for male managers to be able to incorporate feminine values into their management styles.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I am keen to endorse what Mrs Maij-Wegen had to say. I think we would all agree that we need to ask for attention to be focussed on the situation in the Moluccas as well. There are many people from the Moluccan islands living in the Netherlands and they also believe it is important for the European Parliament to speak out about the situation in that part of Indonesia. I welcome the fact that we are all able to do so this morning and that we have also produced a joint motion for a resolution containing those principles we consider to be fundamental. We all know that the violence in Indonesia has not been confined to East Timor, although, as is perfectly right and proper, this region has received most of the attention of late. We are also very much in favour of talking about the Moluccas. The violence being meted out there has cost many people their lives and the Indonesian authorities have failed to take adequate action against this. By disturbing the balance of Moluccan society Jakarta has, in fact, contributed to the increase in violence. The authorities do not appear to want to get a grip on the continuing polarisation between Christians and Muslims. There too, as we see, armed militias run amok without let or hindrance. We want this situation to change and we demand that the Indonesian Government put an end to the violence. We also demand that it create a situation in which we too are able, from within the European Union, to lend appropriate assistance with repairing the damage and providing the people with the humanitarian aid they need. Indonesia will not survive if it does not find a solution to the violence that is spreading across a number of islands, if there is no respect for minorities within a democratic structure and if there is no scope for regional autonomy. Indonesia must be given a push in this direction. We want the United Nations to play an active part in this, particularly in the interests of the people who live on the Moluccan Islands.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, there is no justification under Euratom for allowing the Commission to extend the Euratom loan by EUR 2 billion, as proposed in November 2002, bringing the loan up to EUR 6 billion altogether. This loan has been increased about five times since it was set up in 1977 and is a thinly veiled attempt to promote the nuclear industry: whilst asking for the extension of the loan, it also changes the condition and type of project to be funded in light of the expansion of the EU. This is akin to Enron's creative accounting. Indeed, we could even call it fraudulent accounting practice. You will get a similar, Enron-style scandal as a result of all this. It is compounded by questions of transparency and whether the proposals are not already obsolete. In addition, questions about the distortion of the market, particularly in regard to plant construction, have been raised. I am not satisfied that these loans are for safety as opposed to plant construction purposes. Indeed, I have evidence that construction activities are taking place.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, I should like to thank the rapporteur for a sound report. The most important conclusion may appear simple: ECHELON does in fact exist. It took a long time for us to establish this, however. Allow me to highlight two aspects of the report. In my view, there is not enough about personal privacy and the protection of individuals. That is why it was good that the rapporteur should have especially emphasised those issues in his presentation. As was also pointed out, management interests are obviously very important, but these are not the whole story. According to certain indices, the surveillance system has not only been used for industrial espionage, but also for intercepting the communications of individuals or organisations. ECHELON has, of course, the capacity to intercept communications such as e-mails, faxes and telephone conversations between individuals. The British journalist Duncan Campbell even believes that ECHELON is used to intercept communications from Amnesty and the Red Cross. If that is true, it is an incredibly serious matter. Just as was stated earlier, the EU will, in that case, have to be able to take action, in common with national parliaments and governments. In a democratic state governed by law, protection of the individual must always come first, just as the President-in-Office of the Council indicated earlier. My second remark concerns encryption. Encryption offers the only effective protection against interception. However, encryption technology is still in its infancy, and there are quite a few barriers to the export of civil encryption systems. Nonetheless, the extensive exchange of information that takes place in Europe lends topicality to the issue of common standards and rules for encryption. The institutions of the EU must be able to act jointly on this issue.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, any normal human being would be moved by the sight of refugees from Sierra Leone wandering the streets of Guinea, bullied, beaten and humiliated by soldiers in the Guinean Army or some armed gang or other. We must express our outrage at the actions of the Guinean army and dissident armed gangs, from Sierra Leone or Guinea, who are trying to gain control of the south west of Guinea. However, once again, outrage is not enough to conceal British imperialist involvement in the civil wars in Sierra Leone, France’s involvement in Guinea’s dictatorship or even the involvement of large diamond traders, led by de Beers, in funding, the armed gangs directly or indirectly. Furthermore, when military intervention is needed to support dictatorships dedicated to the interests of major Western powers, particularly those in Europe, European powers find it possible to implement considerable resources. In order to ensure provisions and medical supplies can reach the 500 000 refugees in the area, the leaders of the European institutions merely send moral pleas to the armed gangs, official and unofficial, who have no use for them. It is precisely because of our solidarity with the refugees and the people of the region that we refuse to be associated with this farce, which does not aim to come to the aid of these people, but to absolve the major powers of their responsibility. - Nigeria

Political group: GUE-NGL
Thank you very much Madam President. As you know, I was in the Chair yesterday when the Turkish demonstrators broke into the Chamber. It is not my intention in any way to delay the votes or to re-open the debate we had this morning, but I think it appropriate to place on record my thanks to the ushers for their very efficient and prompt handling of the situation. I think their professionalism in the situation deserves much credit. (Applause)

Political group: PSE
Mr President, the Group of the endorses the rapporteur’s proposals because it is quite clear from the first published report on the stability and convergence programmes that these programmes, along with the review, are not a mere exercise, rather, for the very first time within the European Union, and especially within the euro zone, it is understood that economic developments, the financial perspectives, and also commitment in terms of budgetary policy, are not just the affair of an individual Member State, but of all Member States. That is why it is right that the European Parliament should take these reports seriously, and go so far as to examine once again not only whether monetary union has created an internal market, with no currency fluctuations or attendant negative effects on growth and employment, but whether the Member States have actually kept their promises; i.e. those that belong to the euro zone and those that are to submit convergence programmes. After all, monetary union is actually laid down and provided for in the Treaty of Maastricht as a Community of stability. Only States that have demonstrated their ability to maintain price stability and financial solidity, and that can help to make the monetary union a real Community of stability, are able to join monetary union. Exactly the same applies to Greece. We will have further debates on this. To Mr Karas I have to say that the requirements we make of Italy and Belgium, for example, regarding debt reduction, will, of course, apply to Greece as well. We will also keep an eye out for overly optimistic data being submitted in this regard. Greece must be able to make the grade in this respect too. It is evident from the annual exercise concerning the stability and convergence programmes that the EU Member States are seasoned partners that are able to withstand criticism. They must allow their partners to scrutinise their economic and budgetary status quo, and accept and act on their conclusions. Hence, the second round will be far more important than the current one, because, for the first time, actual criticism has been voiced. We have yet to see what effect this will have on future programmes. One matter of regret to my mind though, is that the EU Finance Ministers are not yet using the working method of the Luxembourg Process on the employment guidelines as a benchmark. It is also regrettable that, consequently, it has not been possible to add to the progress made on the stability and convergence front, because the programmes have not been compared in terms of quality. I therefore believe that if these points were to be taken up, it could further enhance harmonisation, both in the context of the development of the internal market and of the euro zone. The same applies to coordination of the taxation systems. Tax coordination worthy of the name must at last prevail within the EU.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, first I should like to thank everyone who contributed towards the integration of the Republic of Cyprus into the European Union and to say that Cyprus, which has battled and fought hard for freedom, justice and, above all, solidarity between peoples, is becoming a member of the European Union, which has these as its principles and objective. Cyprus has a great deal to gain from the European Union but, at the same time, vice versa, it can also give quite a lot to the European Union, with its contribution and the role which it has to play with its civilisation, culture and geopolitical position, which can be the bridge between the European Union and the Middle East. Our integration into the European Union is the achievement of one of the major objectives which we set, but this does not mean for us that we shall rest. Our next objective is to resolve the Cyprus question, an objective which, unfortunately, we were unable to achieve prior to integration. We shall make every effort, as quickly as possible, to achieve it. Our desire is to reunite our country. The democratic decision by the Greek Cypriots does not express a wish not to resolve our problem. The result of the referendum was a reaction to a specific plan. As regards the so-called embargo mentioned earlier for the Turkish Cypriots, and which never existed on the Greek Cypriot side, we believe that our Turkish Cypriot fellow countrymen, who for us are equally European Citizens, with all the rights which derive from the integration of Cyprus into the European Union, certainly need to be strengthened economically. This has also been proven by the Turkish Government, with support measures which it itself announced a year ago and again recently at the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg. Naturally, this will need to be done without there being the slightest risk of recognition of another state within the European Union itself. Our objective is to resolve the Cyprus question as quickly as possible, so that the entire Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, can again celebrate together the integration of a united Cyprus into the European Union and the reunification of our homeland.

Political group: PSE