GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Today, in light of the growing threat from election results in favour of the far right in Europe, it is necessary, more than ever before, to show our determination to protect all the fundamental values and principles of our democratic system. Therefore, the representatives of democratic political groups have a duty to assert their commitment not to join together with a political coalition, nor with groups or parties which entertain ideologies or proposals that could undermine the democratic principles on which our political system is based. As part of the democratic debate and during election campaigns, we must also undertake to condemn any talk, any populist attitude that could artificially heighten the fears which bolster far-right groups. Furthermore, it is a good idea to make all the Members of our parties to sign a code of good conduct in order to define the attitude that they must adopt towards groups which place the democratic principles of our political system at risk.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, we have finite resources to expend on environmental improvement, even in the developed West. Money must be targeted where it will have the most beneficial environmental impact. Therefore I welcome this attempt to prioritise substances. Testing techniques are becoming more sensitive. Minuscule levels of contamination can be detected. It is therefore unrealistic to talk about elimination or cessation or even 'close to zero'. What does 'close to zero' mean, one, two, who knows? Threshold levels must be set with regard to human health, not using abstract concepts. Secondly, the United Kingdom has a specific problem regarding the categorisation of fluoranthene, which is one of the family of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the top category. We have one hundred thousand kilometres of cast-iron water-pipes lined with coal-tar, which contains some fluoranthene. No-one is suggesting that the levels present are a risk to health, but these pipes will have to be re-lined unless fluoranthene can be moved into the 'under review' part of the list, along with the other PAHs like naphthalene and anthrocene all of which, incidentally, the COMMPS procedure has found to be less toxic than fluoranthene. It would be a waste of resources to have to replace or reline all these water-pipes on the basis of this priority list when the resources could be better deployed in areas of real concern.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, Mr Bushill-Matthews’ report is on financial assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises. A Genoese 70-year old pensioner, Mr Guido Facchinetti, who is an expert cook and has worked in restaurants all his life, asked me to vote for this document for the reasons I have already given, namely that it is appropriate for small and medium-sized enterprises to be financed by Europe. He said to me: “If I had the financial where-with-all, despite the fact I am 70 years old, I would open new restaurants throughout Europe serving trenette with pesto, Genoa-style chick pea flour, Recco focaccia and Camogli pan-fried fish” – apologies to any of my fish-loving friends who are listening – “for these are excellent dishes and I would like to take them to the whole of Europe. All I need is the money!” I hope that this document will make it possible for him to continue to exercise his outstanding abilities as an Italian and a Genoese cook.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I wish to make a personal statement and remind Mrs Jackson, who certainly has a lot of work as chairman of the committee, that, at the first committee meeting at which we discussed this subject, I said I disagreed with the biased way certain directives were selected and not others. Moreover, Mrs Jackson, I tabled numerous amendments calling for the series of paragraphs you had proposed to be deleted. My amendments were not adopted in committee and I therefore felt it was not acceptable for us to continue on these bases. Mrs Isler Béguin was not in committee on the days we discussed these subjects. You will find exactly the same arguments I have put forward today in the Minutes of the committee meeting and in my amendments. I know we have a great deal of work in committee and that colleagues cannot always remember amendments in detail, which I fully understand. However, I wanted to point this out.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the report we are debating this evening fits very well into today's agenda, because around midday today we already adopted an important report on access to documents, and I believe what we are discussing now and will have to decide tomorrow is very closely related to that. In relation to the Ombudsman, a matter we have just been discussing, there were several complaints in the past about the lack of transparency in regard to recruitment, and that is a very crucial point, because we entirely agree with the Ombudsman's view that recruitment procedures are many young EU citizens' first contact with the European institutions. Here it is important for the procedures to be highly transparent, comprehensible and open. Accordingly, the point of departure of this report was the recommendation by the Ombudsman to the Commission to give applicants access to their own marked examination scripts during the selection procedure it organised. The previous Commission did not comply with this recommendation, despite several requests. That was one reason why the Ombudsman adopted a special report in which he once again emphasised his concern in this respect. Meanwhile, the Prodi Commission has agreed to implement the fourth recommendation addressed to it and to allow applicants access to their own corrected test papers in a selection procedure. Our committee, the Committee on Petitions, looked into the matter and adopted the report before us. When we adopted this report in committee we decided on principle to accept the Ombudsman's recommendation. We would also like to give warm thanks to the Commission and congratulate it on its positive response to the Ombudsman's proposal. The hope was also expressed that all other European bodies and institutions will follow the Commission's example and grant job applicants access to their own, corrected test papers. We believe that giving applicants for jobs in the European institutions this kind of more transparent and open access would also represent an important step in the widely broadcast reform of the European Commission. It would also bring Brussels and Europe closer to the citizen and make them more comprehensible. A word now on the amendments, on which we shall be voting tomorrow. To a large extent, they respond to the recommendation made by the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, and on that basis, they are clearly intended to spell out in a little more detail what we actually expect of the Commission in this respect. In particular – and this is also part of the amendments – I think it is important to set the Commission a sensible timetable for implementing these announced reform measures. I hope – that is my position as rapporteur – that the House will endorse this view.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, I believe that, if you follow the debates in this House, the very substantial differences of opinion that exist here become apparent, and seldom have I heard anything more nonsensical than the statement that the Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has just given us, in which she accused the Commission of using rigid procedures as a method of cyclical adjustment. Mrs Randzio-Plath, I can only shake my head at that. If you are capable of accusing the Commission of such a thing, then which Europe, which euro zone, are you living in? We can do no other than back Commissioner Solbes to the hilt and urge him to take the Heads of State or Government to court, for such a breach of the European Stability and Growth Pact cannot be accepted without protest. When this House is told that the Italian Presidency of the Council has managed to produce some tremendous conclusions, I ask myself whether this piece of paper is worth more than an international treaty such as the Stability and Growth Pact. Why should Germany and France see themselves as bound by this piece of paper when they could not keep to the rules? The leading German daily paper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, spoke of Germany and France as a ‘Duo Infernale’, as digging the European Union’s grave rather than acting as examples to its other Member States of how to do things. The Pact is flexible enough as it is. It is not the case that there has to be a 3% deficit; instead, the term used in the Pact is ‘budgetary compensation’. The difference between 0% and 3% gives the Member States EUR 250 billion in reserve to deal with difficulties caused by the economic cycle, the management of international crises and natural disasters, so the problem is in fact that Germany and France already had no room for manoeuvre left when things started to get difficult. It follows, Commissioner, that it is the reforms that you have to get to grips with rather than growth alone. That is why we are firmly opposed to the Stability and Growth Pact being altered. It has to be adhered to, and the Commission must be given more powers in its dealings with the Council. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, perhaps the most surprising thing about this is that in the committee vote it was only passed by 36 to 1. I would have thought that anything like this would automatically have got unanimity in committee. It is quite revealing also that it is only a recommendation. As the Commissioner will know from the 'falls from heights' directive, it was pretty clear that we needed a very strong political message to cover the self-employed. It is not only the construction industry that suffers from accidents every day of the week. For instance, the interpreters in the booths around us, who are often self-employed and have to work under very stressful conditions, are the very people we would expect to receive Community protection under Community law. You know very well that the European institutions abstain from introducing any of those laws to cover many of their staff, so we will not go down that path. There is no doubt that by recommending Community health and safety legislation for the self-employed we have taken a giant step forward. We should no longer rely on national statistics which tell us that accidents only happen to full-time employees. That is clearly ridiculous. You might – if you are a Christian – call a it sin that so many people involved in industries, just because they are considered self-employed, do not enjoy the protection they deserve. Mr Pérez Álvarez has spent a long time discussing health and safety in this Parliament. I am very pleased that he has taken on this report, because I know the commitment we need from all sides of the House. It is vital for the self-employed to be included in any health and safety and employment legislation that emanates from the Commission and this House. Everyone in Europe must enjoy the same level of protection.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, if I am not mistaken, the Council called its programme “Energy for Democracy”. Now we are saying that it is simply humanitarian intervention. The phrase “Energy for Democracy” itself denotes shameless extortion of the Serbian people, since in order to get heating fuel, they must accept the ideas of European Union democracy. Secondly, I would like to comment on and ask the representative of the Council the following: he says that the European Union will not recognise the Milosevic regime and that fair elections cannot take place until judgements have been passed on the political powers of Yugoslavia, of Serbia. So, what are your plans? Have you reached a deadlock? Do you have any other plans in the pipeline that you are not telling Parliament? What are we to make of your intentions since, in your view, elections are not the answer? Even rallies have been banned....May I tell you that in Greece today, with the visit of President Clinton, half of Athens has been cordoned off for two or three days?

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, foot-and-mouth is leaving tremendous grief and helplessness in its wake. In the battle against the virus, all means must be deployed. The European non-vaccination policy is now turning out to be a self-imposed handicap. I set great store by the fact that we should join forces in this time of crisis, and that we should adhere to a Europe-wide approach. However, the downside of the non-vaccination policy is also making itself felt now. I am quoting animal welfare in this connection. The destruction or evacuation of healthy animals is meeting with enormous resistance. I am also quoting animals in zoos. It is quite inexplicable that animals in zoos and at pasture in nature reserves are not allowed to be vaccinated. Furthermore, you are calling the effectiveness into question. The massive slaughter could not prevent foot-and-mouth from spreading across England. The draconian measures in the Netherlands could not prevent further outbreaks of the disease, or the spread of the virus into Germany. Commissioner, the situation is very serious indeed. We call for a joint approach. Hence, I would like to put two pressing questions to you. First of all, at what stage will you recognise that the European strategy has failed? I assume that you will not wait until all livestock has disappeared, but where will you draw the line? Secondly, is it conceivable that vaccinations can take place in a short space of time and on a limited scale in the dairy farms, where the identification and registration system can guarantee that meat and dairy products remain in the region and certainly outside the export loop? In the long term, we do not simply call for a return to a policy of preventive vaccination. Experts, however, do call for strategic vaccination in the event of an outbreak, obviously accompanied by failsafe registration. Finally, Commissioner, today, I received 350 signatures from children who live in Amsterdam. They want the animals in their zoo, Artis, to be vaccinated. I should like to offer you these signatures, and I hope for a positive response to their request. I gave you the note that they enclosed a moment ago, and I hope that you will be able to spend a few minutes of your time on this.

Political group: PSE
Mr President, I too would like to explain once again why we feel totally unable to vote in favour of this report; it is because the premises it is based upon are totally flawed. Migrants put themselves in the hands of traffickers and smugglers of human beings because legal immigration into ‘fortress Europe’ is virtually impossible nowadays. That and that alone is the starting point for all this. That is why trafficking in human beings and smuggling of human beings happen in the first place, and it is because people who come here in this way are forced into acting illegally that they find themselves in a precarious situation. It is for that reason alone that it is possible to exploit them in the way that they are being exploited. To that extent, I can say that I find the Commission's proposal honest at least, because the title itself makes it clear that this is about ensuring that any form of illegal immigration is made more difficult, rather than about helping the ‘clients’ of traffickers and smugglers of human beings. That is evident from the fact that this report also covers smugglers who do nothing apart from transporting people across borders in return for payment. That is why I have only this to say: if this really were a matter of helping people, which some Members have suggested to be the case, then we should be working to dismantle border arrangements in a consistent way and to guarantee that people have the freedom to choose where in the world they live.

Political group: GUE-NGL
Mr President, regarding this request from the Council in respect of a Commission proposal for a Council regulation establishing specific access requirements and associated conditions applicable to fishing for deep-sea stocks, I would like to say that I have consulted with the rapporteur, and I call on the House to reject this request. Deep-sea stocks are fished stocks caught in waters beyond the main fishing grounds of continental shelves. They are distributed on the continental slopes or around sea mounts. These species are slow growing and they are particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation. Since fisheries for these species have developed in recent years, it is necessary to establish a management system to ensure that their exploitation is sustainable. The scientific advice that we have received indicates that the most appropriate conservation measures for these species would be based on effort limitation and, in certain cases, on reduction. This proposal introduces elements of a system for the management of fishing effort directed at these deep-sea species. It also includes elements for the collection of data and support of scientific assessment and appropriate management. Under this proposal, fishing effort will be limited to recent levels and improved data will be made available for scientific assessment. The Commission intends to propose further elements of an effort management system, as required by scientific advice in due course. The proposal is complemented by a separate Commission proposal to restrict catches by means of quota management. This is an urgent and important matter, but it is one on which, until now, no Community action has been taken. It therefore requires very careful consideration by our Fisheries Committee. The Council's request for urgency was received on the 3 May, while our first exchange of views on this is only scheduled for 22 May. Given the lack of action by the Commission to date, I do not think it seems unreasonable to allow a few months for parliamentary scrutiny. It also seems to me bizarre that the Council should request urgency in this matter when our understanding is that the President-in-Office of the Council has himself been involved in attempts to derail the timetable of publication of the CFPE reform proposals. Therefore, I call on the House to vote against this request for urgent procedure.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, we return for the second time today to the grave crisis over beef, its safety and circulation within this Union under the rule of law. All of us believe that we need the measures which were promised by the Commission back in 1997. We need them especially because of the crisis through which we are passing. The issue of the identification of beef products and the certainty that they can be relied upon is as much at the heart of the dispute between France and the European Union as it is at the heart of the concerns of safety which have preoccupied both the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on the Environment over the last two years. I want to congratulate Mr Papayannakis on his patience over the last few weeks. We are all concerned about the apparent fait accompli in the statement by the Council. We are having this debate in a legislative vacuum if we have no flexibility of amendment. We see Regulation No 820/97 slipping away from us into a morass of half-observed voluntary practices with no immediate prospects of the compulsory scheme which every Member of this House knows is necessary. That is partly a result of Member State inertia, but I cannot exempt the Commission from its own responsibilities. They far pre-date Mr Byrne's arrival in office. But now, as he has to clear up this mess, we ought to hear from him how he will do so. The amendments of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy set out to remedy this with a remission of eight months maximum. Some of our amendments clarified and strengthened Article 152 as the legal base. Today the Council is urging that Article 37 be added to the legal base. This is surely an issue of health and consumer protection. I want to hear from Commissioner Byrne that he will be the defender of everything that was implied in Article 152 once it is added to the Treaty. The whole point of this is that it gives us a right to intervene, a right to be consulted and to be participants in the process of codecision. That right, so recently granted to Parliament post-Amsterdam, is now being snatched away. That has been the cri de coeur of Mr Papayannakis throughout our discussions in the Environment Committee. It is an absolutely scandalous state of affairs that we are sitting here in a nine-tenths empty parliamentary Chamber, one week before Christmas, seeing a regulation which will come into effect no-one knows when or how, with a Council which is treating us with an aloof contempt. I do not believe it is good enough. I do not believe Mr Byrne thinks so either.

Political group: PSE
Twenty million Afghans are being hit hard by bombings being carried out for reasons over which they have had no influence. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights has appealed for a necessary suspension of the bombing in order to get food out to the population before the winter. Three years of drought have made the supply situation untenable. I have therefore supported Amendments 2 and 3 in the vote on the resolution concerning the European Council’s informal meeting in Ghent. A further prerequisite, however, is that the Taliban should allow supplies to reach those who need them. We also appeal to Pakistan to allow the refugees to be afforded protection. – Poos Report (A5-0308/2001)

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, a friend of mine lives with AIDS and so does his wife because he received contaminated blood in a transfusion and then unknowingly affected his wife. I know the risks and dangers and the importance of quality and safety in our blood supplies. That is why I welcome this proposal, particularly the work of my colleague Mr Nisticò. But it would be a tragedy if it was spoiled by one amendment, an amendment which exacerbated the known shortages of rare blood groups and plasma. It would be a tragedy in a very real sense because the WHO points out that there are 80 primary immune deficiency conditions in our world and it is estimated that some 50 000 to 90 000 people in our Europe suffer from those conditions. Most are treatable, most people can lead fairly full lives but only if, every three weeks of their life for as long as they live, they have an infusion of immunoglobin which comes from human plasma and that keeps them alive. Europe uses 7 million litres per annum, and 4 million litres come from compensated donors. Of course we would all prefer all donations to be voluntary. In the United Kingdom they are all voluntary but in the United Kingdom, as we have heard, there is no plasma coming from UK donors for blood products because of the theoretical risk of variant CJD being transmitted by blood. Nor can we take any from other countries in Europe. It does not matter about blood banks or plasma banks in Europe – we cannot take them from countries in the EU where there has been BSE or new variant CJD so we have to look elsewhere, and we and others rely largely on the United States’ supplies. The United Kingdom Department of Health has said there are no acceptable alternative sources. Of course, such imports include remunerated donations and there is no evidence at all that they are any less safe than unremunerated ones. Amendment No 43 would ban the import of such literally life-saving plasma and I urge the support of this House for the rapporteur’s compromise amendment.

Political group: PPE-DE