GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Madam President, we are in the happy position today of debating this report just three weeks before the Copenhagen summit and this happy position is enhanced by the fact that, if anyone knows the area, it is the Commissioner responsible, Mr Patten. The subject of this debate is the European Union's policy towards Asia. However, the policy discussed in Copenhagen will, of necessity, focus on the institutionalised dialogue with the members of ASEM which, as you know, are the fifteen Member States of the European Union, ten Asian countries and the European Commission. In this sense, it is very difficult to deal with all aspects of this area under this one umbrella. However, it is a step in the right direction and I believe that this modus operandi and our involvement in this process is helpful to the European Union's strategy in political and regional partnerships and the multipolar world. However, I would point out that, so far, this dialogue has, for the most part, been held solely at the economic level and it needs to move on to political, educational and cultural issues. It is no accident that China, which recently joined the World Trade Organisation and is staging the 2008 Olympics, is also party to this debate, and clearly the economy and culture also exert a great deal of influence on the development of democratic institutions and human rights. However, one very important issue which needs to be addressed is the enlargement of ASEM. The European Union will soon have ten new members, making a total of twenty-five. All the members of the European Union belong to ASEM. Obviously, once we enlarge, the other side will ask for other countries in Asia to be allowed to join. This means that this political factor is urgent in the extreme and enlargement criteria need to be laid down. I think that the criteria which must, without fail, be adhered to by both sides are the Copenhagen criteria, which improve economic, cultural and, above all, human relations and human rights. I hope, in fact I am certain that successful developments will result from Copenhagen and I believe that this European Union policy will be more widely accepted in an area wracked by conflict and crisis, by which I mean the whole of Asia.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have an important report before us. I welcome the directive’s objective, namely a drastic reduction in air pollution, with open arms, as well as the fact that we are setting a new deadline for 2020. As Mrs Jackson observed a moment ago, my objection pertained to the table in Annex 1, in particular the calculation method and the implications thereof for Member States with a small surface area and high population density. Commissioner, I assume that, as you already stated in the debate at first reading, we can expect a fairer distribution of the burden, also for small Member States, during the review in 2004. That is why I will be voting against Amendment No 10 which has again included the Commission’s old table in Annex 1.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, I should like to congratulate Commissioner Vitorino on the immigration policy that the European Commission has presented to this Parliament. The proposal to agree common admission conditions for migrants and to set up, in addition and alongside this, a policy instrument whereby Member States indicate target figures for work migration, receives the support of the Group. My group would like to make a few observations with regard to the proposed system. Firstly, we reject the policy of zero immigration, but we also reject the policy of completely open borders. A responsible compromise must be struck. Secondly, the immigration system must be flexible. Quotas should not be forced upon the Member States from above. Thirdly, we must take account of subsidiarity, that is to say regional and national differences with regard to the labour market. Fourthly, a common immigration policy must also be accompanied by a common fight against illegal immigration. Fifthly, we must strike the right balance between the need for work forces in industry on the one hand and the unemployed within the European Union on the other. In summary, the Group calls for a balanced European immigration policy. The Pirker report, for which I should like to congratulate the rapporteur, is on the same wavelength. Mr President, these will be my last words in this House since I have now been appointed member of the Council of State in the Netherlands. I would like to thank the fellow MEPs for their kind cooperation and wish them all every success. The European Parliament is a very important institution, which I will always continue to support.

Political group: ELDR
Speaking today on the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on the protection of human rights, both during and in the aftermath of war, I deeply regret finding myself in the difficult position of having to say that this Convention’s downfall has come about on the continent of Europe itself. Everything which has taken place in the Balkans in recent years, to use the words of a leading Greek poet, ‘without caution, without shame’, has been in a bid to correct one wrong with myriad other wrongs and has simply turned this Convention into a well-turned piece of literature with no teeth. We recently witnessed a huge humanitarian disaster brought about by a supposedly humanitarian intervention. We saw a huge wave of refugees and, at the same time, we watched hospitals and embassies being bombed and unarmed civilians becoming the war targets, while the Balkan peninsular will pay the price and suffer the painful consequences of the ecological disaster caused by the bombings for years to come. As for the second section of the Convention, and in particular Articles 13 and 14, which refer to protection from the effects of war for the wounded, the sick, the aged, children and expectant mothers, here it really is worth pausing to consider Kosovo and the findings of the relevant UN report. Nearly 50% of infants born prematurely die. The children being born are underdeveloped due to malnutrition. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of abortions. Women are dying due to a lack of rudimentary medical care in clinics which have no electricity, heating or water. The best way, therefore, of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention is to strengthen the democratic and political facets of the Union, so that it can play a more decisive role on the international stage and solve any differences using peaceful means which respect human rights and, more importantly, respect everything set out in this truly wonderful Geneva Convention.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I shall speak in the same vein as my fellow Members and clarify that Guinea today is home to almost 500 000 refugees, who, for ten years, have been fleeing civil wars raging in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In many cases, they refused to join the armed forces. I think anyone who has read Ahmadou Kourouma’s book ‘Allah Doesn’t Have To’ will be familiar with the tragedy of the child soldiers forced to join possibly revolutionary but most certainly bloodthirsty armies such as the United Revolutionary Front. I would also like to say, like Mr van Hecke, that a safety corridor to allow the mass evacuation of refugees must be established immediately, as it is, indeed, a matter of urgency. The Guinean Government must allow the victims to settle in areas that are further from the fighting and the borders. In my view, that is the least it could do. Obviously, it is justifiable and understandable for Guinea to defend itself against any incursion. I am even of the opinion that the territorial integrity of a state like Guinea must be protected. However, the Guinean Government must also prevent paramilitaries acting in the place of legitimate armed forces and perpetrating acts of violence on refugees. I share the view that Guinea is not solely responsible, but I feel that it should do this, at least. That is why the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to use troops from West Africa must be supported and must come into force as soon as possible, as it may provide good protection. To sum up, the European Union should put intense pressure upon Liberia to end its support for forces such as the URF. However, Guinea is also partly responsible for the current situation, and is, even so, a country that regularly violates human rights – no one in the House could forget the imprisonment of Alpha Condé. I believe that it is important to reiterate that, in a country that has no respect for the most basic democratic principles and where the slightest opposition is quashed, it is not surprising, although it is extremely regrettable, that one of the regime’s opposition parties has joined the rebellion and allied itself with the URF. My last point is to say that Africa is in urgent need of democratic rule and genuine economic development, which will improve the fortunes of all people. We can help to achieve this. I have a question to put to the Council. When will our governments cancel the debt owed by third-world countries, knowing as they do that this is the cause of wars and poverty?

Political group: GUE-NGL
First of all, I apologise to the President for not having stood up sooner, but I did not realise. I will not do it again. I certainly do not want to show disrespect to the House. However, I am afraid I have made another mistake, by speaking too quickly. So I apologise to the people who work so hard for us, the interpreters, because one of my colleagues told me that I was speaking too quickly. I was emotional but I think that as I am a woman and emotion and reason go hand in hand, next time I will use reason more. However, I would simply like to say that I am extremely pleased with the interventions that my colleagues have made because something has emerged very clearly. Despite the need to carry out this programme quickly, the important point is for the European Union and the European Parliament to play a stronger, more active role so that in the Middle East, stable and lasting peace will come about, especially between Palestine and Israel. This will allow us to find a solution to the refugee question and enable a Palestinian State to live peacefully with the Israeli State too.

Political group: GUE-NGL
I am voting against the positions and the priorities proposed by the European Commission at the Tampere European Council concerning rights and freedoms. The simple fact that it does not envisage regularisation of all people living and working on European soil without proper papers should explain why I have voted this way. Designating Europe an “area of freedom, security and justice” shows a certain amount of cynicism. We do not ask about the background of capital in order to allow it freedom of movement and freedom of investment throughout the European Union. The free movement of people though is regulated, limited or banned according to their national and, above all, social background. Multinational companies are free to form groups, but the families of immigrant workers are not. Complete freedom is granted in cases where it damages employment and society, but it is withheld however when it concerns the most basic sense of humanity. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights which the Tampere Summit is supposed to work on will be nothing more than a collection of empty words if it does not at least contain complete freedom of movement, and the individual’s freedom to settle where he wants for all those living and working in the European Union, whatever their original nationality, as well as complete equality of rights, including the right to vote.

Political group: GUE-NGL
The very title of this report is misleading in itself. The title talks of ‘State aid for employment’ whereas the report is, in fact, about funding to increase employers’ profits. However much the report 'welcomes...greater transparency and legal certainty' in the areas of aid, tax relief and benefits which are granted to employers on the pretext of encouraging them to create jobs, it does not question employers’ right to do what they want in their businesses. Nothing can prevent them, therefore, from pocketing the funding without creating a single job, which is what employers have routinely done for a long time. Since we do not wish to give our approval to this farce, we voted against the report.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, I would like to highlight three demands that we have to make of the Intergovernmental Conference, although all of them relate to the same facts. We are now approaching the time when we will have a Community with a single currency and a common currency policy that is largely dictated by the European Central Bank. But we still have 15 different economic policies in the Member States of the European Union, and we will only succeed in the long-term if this economic policy is framed according to common principles. Hence our first demand is that we should firmly establish the social market economy, which adds a human dimension to the functioning of the market, in the European Treaty, as a model for our economic policy. Our second demand is for Parliament’s participation in the drafting of the economic policy guidelines, which we have already discussed here today, to be placed on a more formal footing, i.e. the Commission should present us not with a recommendation but a formal proposal, on which we can then be consulted in the true sense of the word. Our third demand relates to competition policy. On the one hand, competition policy is the key to the social market economy, on the other hand, however, it is also the most robust instrument of economic policy that the European Community has at its disposal. Numerous decisions on individual cases are taken in matters of competition policy and that is quite clearly the task of the Commission. But in future, whenever general rules are drawn up, or the Commission drafts guidelines in conjunction with the Council of Ministers, then the European Parliament must also be involved in the codecision procedure, for only then will Parliament be able to realise its goal of becoming a fully-fledged member of the European forum, where European economic policy is not just discussed publicly, but is also framed with the participation of Parliament.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would first of all like to thank the rapporteurs. Heavy words indeed: the railway industry drinking in the last chance saloon and ceasing to exist after a certain time. Mr Jarzembowski was also talking about a balanced relationship. We endorse that. We also think that it is absolutely necessary to revitalise the railways, for environmental and other reasons. Interoperability must be changed, safety must be improved, we must set up a Railways Agency, and so on. Let us go back briefly to the core of the matter, however. We actually disagree strongly with regard to the package that Mr Jarzembowski is talking about. We have already had some experience with liberalisation in Europe – in the UK and in the Netherlands as well. I would like to talk about the Dutch example briefly. An article in this morning’s newspaper. Mr Zalm, the Liberal front runner in the elections and a former Dutch minister, is now saying that it was a mistake to split up NS and ProRail. In other words, Railway Directive 91/440/EC, the original separation of infrastructure and operation, is seen as being wrong. The Dutch Minister of Transport, Mr de Boer, also came to this conclusion recently and is asking for an inquiry for this very reason. Back to square one. In other words, we think that liberalisation is an excellent opportunity for goods transport. We think, however, that we will have to take a good look at what this liberalisation of passenger transport is going to deliver, because it is not going well. For this reason we are asking most emphatically for an evaluation proposal and we hope that you will support the amendment. How it is possible that the s in the UK, who after all have had the same miserable experiences with liberalisation and the other aspects of privatisation of the railways, can still be in favour of Mr Jarzembowski’s proposals is completely beyond my comprehension.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, I too would like to warmly thank the rapporteur, Graa Moura, and Commissioner Reding, for their contribution to the creation of this programme. The Culture 2000 programme was finalised at the end of last year as a result of conciliation between Parliament and the Council. The outcome can be considered reasonable, when we take into account the fact that the adoption of the programme called for a unanimous decision to be made in the Council. We have to hope that at the forthcoming IGC we will also end up with qualified majority decisions in the area of culture. It is really strange that legislation that adheres to the codecision procedure when it is being debated requires unanimity for it to be passed in the Council. The framework programme on culture is replacing the present Kaleidoscope, Ariane and Raphael programmes. When implementation of the programme begins, I hope in particular that the scope it offers for literature and the translation of books can be utilised to the full. I believe and hope that, despite the assault on us all of the new technology, literature will maintain its status. We need the depth of spirit that literature provides in the midst of a culture that has a short attention span and is inclined towards the superficial. Literature likewise plays an important part in the way it transmits our cultural heritage, increases mutual familiarity and preserves linguistic wealth and the diversity of tongues. In this connection, I am very glad to say that soon after the Socrates and Culture 2000 programmes get under way officially at the meeting of the Council of Ministers in March in Lisbon, the country holding the presidency of the EU is to organise a conference to discuss the situation of public libraries. I hope that this conference will also encourage the Commission to take the issue of libraries into active consideration in the fifth framework programme in respect of the information society.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to congratulate Mrs Smet on this own-initiative report, which was so necessary and which she has produced in a very professional way, because she has a profound knowledge of the problem and has done a lot of work on it. But despite the fact that it is a very good report which attempts to study each of the points relating to inequality of pay between men and women, today we are facing a deep-seated problem to which we see no solution. It is more difficult for women to find work than it is for men, they have more difficulties in terms of training and professional promotion and they have lower salaries than men. But this does not only affect women who have been in the labour market for some time, but it also affects young women who are very well prepared, in many cases better prepared than men, who do brilliant work and who receive lower salaries than their male colleagues. There is no justification for it whatsoever, there is no legislation which allows it in any of the countries of the European Union but, despite all this, it is a reality which we are facing and which we have no idea how to solve. Social partners, both company organisations and unions, probably have a large role to play in resolving this problem. I am sure that, if there were more women in the leadership of these organisations, the issue would probably have been dealt with a long time ago. It is very regrettable that, while we are combating many other types of discrimination which are sometimes difficult to demonstrate, we have still not been able to resolve this one which is so obvious, which is reflected in the figures which appear on everybody’s payslips every month. I believe that the fact that women’s work is undervalued, that their work has always been considered subordinate to men’s work, that it has always been thought that they are not capable of holding top positions, are prejudices which are still present in society’s mentality, which hinder equality, professional access and greater promotion for women. I would ask the Commissioner, Mrs Diamantopoulou, to seek some initiative which will contribute to resolving this problem. If in a Member State of the European Union somebody suffering discrimination presents a case and wins it, if they work in the public sector, their greatest problem will be confronting the dirty looks of their colleagues, but if they work in the private sector, sooner or later it will lead to them leaving their job. This means that many women do not even use the legal resources available to them.

Political group: PPE-DE
In my constituency there are organisations, such as the Shropshire Playbus Association, that are very concerned that the valuable local service provided by mobile educational play areas could be at risk if the exemption specified in Article 13(1)(f) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 on drivers' hours were to be revoked as part of any proposal to replace or update this regulation. I should like to ask the President-in-Office, firstly, if he values the work of such organisations, and secondly, if so, whether he would support the Council doing what is necessary in any revision of the regulation so that such organisations may continue to perform this important service to society.

Political group: PPE-DE