GwendalTsang/DEFT09-parquet huggingface dataset:
Mr President, I want to concentrate on live exports and export refunds, but before that I should like to point out that it is only right that Parliament should have a full report on the case of the German journalists who had property confiscated. As regards export refunds, a report is coming up in Parliament this week about the conditions under which animals can be transported. Export refunds should be abolished. Clearly the vast majority of European Union citizens do not approve of the idea that their money is being used to subsidise a trade which causes untold suffering to animals, regardless of how high standards are or how good the conditions are. It is undeniable that animals are being subjected to unnecessary suffering. To cap it all, European taxpayers are being forced to subsidise this. The time has come for us to end export refunds. There is a huge budget here which is wide open to abuse. Looking at this recent case I believe it should be fully investigated by OLAF. Regardless of whether we agree with export refunds or not – and I clearly do not – we need a full investigation as a result of recent reports regarding animals being transported to the Lebanon. What was their final destination? In general, export refunds are completely unjustifiable. I do not believe that European taxpayers' money should go towards this kind of trade. If export refunds were abolished, that would solve the whole problem. There would be no more scandals in relation to abuse of taxpayers' money, but we need a full report on what has been mentioned in the media recently in relation to the scandals and the fraud involved. Commissioner, you should ensure that investigation takes place. It is essential that we have a commitment as soon as possible. IN THE CHAIR: MR DIMITRAKOPOULOSVice-President

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, Commissioner, we can only regret that, at the time of this new resolution on a South-East Asian country, once again our Parliament must condemn an increasingly widespread and serious failure to respect democracy and human rights. Cambodia, despite the promising future that could have been predicted at one time, is becoming dangerously subject to the influence of an authoritarian junta, similar to those in the neighbouring countries of Laos and Burma. Whereas democracy defuses wars, the juxtaposition of despotic regimes here represents a dangerous threat to this entire Asian sub-region. How else can we interpret the crisis that has developed between Cambodia and Thailand, which has led to the devastation of the Thai embassy and Thai possessions in Cambodia and the closure of ground borders between the two countries? This border conflict reflects what takes place on a daily basis in Cambodian society, which is a mosaic of different ethnic groups and cultural and religious diversity and has been harshly and deliberately weakened by the putschist leader, Hun Sen. State violence and all kinds of persecution have recently led to the assassination of Mr Om Radsady, presidential adviser to the national assembly, in the street. Europe must use the many channels available in order to stabilise this country, and the entire region as well, especially at election time. Let us not forget that Cambodia is the main recipient of aid in this region.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, as rapporteur for Iran, I support the joint motion for a resolution. Dialogue with Iran is important, but our main concern, as the European Parliament, is for a human rights dialogue. As parliamentary representatives, we are free from diplomatic constraints when it comes to demanding this universal principle, which is why we say loud and clear to any country concerned that we reject the death penalty in general. As far as the rise in the number of death sentences carried out in Iran compared with previous years is concerned, I should like to state here how I evaluate the situation. Conservative forces within both formal and informal structures are obviously using death sentences carried out or corporal punishment inflicted to intimidate both the people and the liberal forces in parliament and other societal institutions. It has nothing to do with Islam or the Koran. Because internal pressure is increasing, so is repression. That is why we must stick to the demonstrable facts in all our criticism and check every allegation, irrespective of its source. That is why I am against overloading the resolution with allegations which, in the final analysis, we cannot prove, thereby undermining our own credibility. People have been sentenced to be stoned to death. We have proof that two of these sentences were carried out in the first half of 2001, but not for 25 September 2002. Let us therefore make use of Iran's readiness to discuss all human rights issues, including individual cases, without preliminary conditions, as expressed in talks with the EU-Iran Human Rights Exploratory Experts mission at the beginning of the month. I still worry that the Council has drawn the short straw by officially refraining from tabling the annual human rights resolution on Iran at the United Nations. It is not the Presidency that deserves to be criticised here, but the usual suspects who feel their plans may be upset. What we do say is that it is good that they want to talk; let us hold a comprehensive dialogue and, if we see improvements, only then should we refrain from tabling new resolutions in due course. There can be no upfront concessions at the expense of human rights. Given the situation, we should clearly remind the structures in question in Iran – and in my view the Council and Commission as well – of one thing. A negotiated agreement will only come about with Parliament's assent and the issues to which we shall be paying particular attention are those I have just addressed.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I rise to speak on behalf of the Group of the on the subject of the programme intended to support women’s organisations and has replaced the Budget line that formerly funded only the European women’s lobby – that being the umbrella organisation for some 3 000 women’s organisations in Europe, including the national women’s councils, such as the Deutscher Frauenrat, which has about 11 million individual members in Germany, ranging from church groups to autonomous bodies via political women’s associations and trade unions. The European women’s lobby has initiated important campaigns, such as the campaign for increased involvement by women in the European elections, has prompted a debate on the constitution, and is monitoring enlargement with a particular eye on equal opportunities issues. What the Group of the European People’s Party now wants is for this line to be dismantled. We want to ensure quality. We want to speak for women with one voice rather than join in a chorus of many. In contrast to the rapporteur, my group wants, from the very outset, to make this a priority and ensure action in the European interest in the equal opportunities field. We will therefore reject most of the rapporteur’s amendments in favour of those put forward by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities. We Social Democrats contend that Mrs Dührkop Dührkop has also presented a well-thought out proposal for funding, fully in line with the Budget Regulation, which secures provision of funding up to and including 2008, to the tune of EUR 5.5 million. That gives women’s organisations the security they need to plan ahead, and spares us another laborious legislative process once the two years are up. The cofinancing arrangement, with 20% for women’s organisations, with the exception of the European Women’s Lobby, which gets 10%, excluding degressivity, is a solution with which all parties can live. When enlargement happens, we want the organisations from Central and Eastern Europe also to be included, and we want priorities set. It is therefore proposed in Amendment 13 – in which there is a translation mistake that I will bring to the services’ attention – that work and family life be made more compatible. We want to encourage women to play their part in the decision-making process; we want this programme, and the organisations, to support the fight against all forms of violence. We also want to support the fight against gender-specific stereotyping and discrimination of all kinds, especially in the workplace and in relation to pay, and we also welcome the encouragement given to women’s cooperation in third countries, for example in Amendment 14. At the very last minute, the Italian presidency of the Council has attempted to bring influence to bear on us to get us to go along with the rapporteur’s proposals. Both my group and I are hoping for a majority in this House, we are not willing to encourage the fragmentation of women’s voices. We want unity rather than polyphony.

Political group: PSE
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago, another five workers lost their lives as the result of an explosion on the tanker which they were repairing in Salamina. This is the umpteenth time that workers in my country have paid with their blood for the lack of rudimentary safety measures as the result of the unaccountability of shipowners and the privatisation of control services, which issue certificates based on the shipowners' interests rather than on respect for the workers' lives. The Greek government is also to blame for failing to take any action whatsoever, despite the large number of accidents. I should like to use this tribune to express our condolences to the victims' families and to roundly condemn the unaccountability of their employers and the policy of the Greek government. Be it in Toulouse or Salamina, the working classes are being sacrificed for the sake of a competitive economy and more and more profit. ***

Political group: GUE-NGL
Madam President, by virtue of the rules of the EC treaty, we on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs heard Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, the Council’s recommended candidate for the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, as successor to Sirkka Hämäläinen. Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell’s curriculum vitae would indicate that she is an excellent choice in terms of the main requirements laid down in the EC Treaty for membership of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, namely personal integrity and recognised standing and professional experience in the monetary and banking field. In addition to these formal qualifications, however, there are three factors that would especially favour the choice of Mrs Tumpel-Gugerel for this job. Firstly, her enormous experience and impressive levels of expertise were natural prerequisites for the job. Even excellent individuals do not succeed on their own merits, however, if their background is felt to be less than favourable. It is likely that Austria’s good reputation as a competitive Member State driving responsible policies under the leadership of its present government helped in making the choice. The Member States of the Union together committed themselves to the Stability and Growth Pact ensuring European competitiveness and economic success. The challenges are largely the same in all the Member States: a damagingly inflexible labour market that allows mass unemployment to continue in the Member States of the European Union, and the need to balance state income and expenditure. An ageing population will put intolerable financial pressures on our pensions and social welfare systems unless we implement the necessary changes in time. The Austrian Government has taken the first important steps to safeguard its public pensions system. I wish the Austrian Government luck and success in this work, in spite of the considerable resistance to change. The immense importance of public pensions systems is indicated by the fact that it is our poorest citizens in particular who need them most of all to provide for their retirement. Secondly, the choice of Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell especially supported the notion that the European Union is a forum of collaboration between Member States of different sizes. To ensure that the Union is equal and functions properly it is essential that experts from the small Member States can also participate directly in decision-making. As a Finn, I know that the choice of Mrs Tumpel-Gugerel, an Austrian, was the right decision from this point of view also. Thirdly, it was not a foregone conclusion that a woman would be chosen to succeed Sirkka Hämäläinen. I am pleased that female representation in the European Central Bank’s main decision-making body was allowed to continue, and obviously with no compromises being made with regard to expertise and professional skill.

Political group: PPE-DE
Mr President, I have no doubt that most speakers today will criticise the United States, although not of course India, China, Russia and Sri Lanka. And they will perhaps criticise Israel. These are countries that have voiced objections to the Rome Statute, or have refused to ratify it. The US actions in the Security Council will not in themselves threaten the mission in Bosnia, but indicate the seriousness of America's concerns, the most important of which is the possible prosecution of its civilian and military leaders for serious crimes committed abroad by its military personnel. The expanded definition of war crimes included in the statute and the much looser definition of command responsibility, looser than at Nuremberg, mean that it is very possible that Donald Rumsfeld or his successor, on a visit to Paris, might find himself under arrest for crimes committed by his subordinates, which he did not participate in, did not give the order for, or even have foreknowledge of, and for which there would be no question of his being tried in an American court. Some might find that contrary to natural justice but there is no doubt that liberal governments and exponents of international civil society and universal jurisdiction such as Amnesty have fully supported the coming into being of the ICC, whilst ensuring a minimum of public debate over its flaws and its ability to cause political mischief for the Americans. There are other problems. It is at least arguable that terrorists will be excluded from some of its provisions and there is a danger that justice will take precedence over amnesties that deliver long sought-after peace and reconciliation in countries such as Angola, South Africa, Sri Lanka or Colombia, to name but a few. International justice is a noble principle, but America's concerns are very real and serious and it is perfectly entitled, as a sovereign nation, to pass the ASPA and use Article 98.2 of the Rome Statute, but not of course to use force against European nations such as Holland. We should look for ways to meet these concerns, if necessary through altering the ICC's statutes to tighten the provisions relating to command responsibility and giving the UN Security Council a codecision role in the prosecuting process.

Political group: PPE-DE
The admirable report by Malcolm Harbour invites us to look at our research initiative and we particularly welcome and support that aspect. One point always needs underlining. The kind of research needed here will include scientific research – research in physics, research in IT – but will also include socio-economic and legal research because of the points covered, particularly in paragraph 13, where we are dealing with these vital issues of privacy and data protection. We will need to make sure that we have the regulatory mechanisms right and deal properly with the risks and threats as well as getting the technological fixes done correctly. Can I also underline a point arising out of Clause 9 which Mr Hyland made: I am just back from a visit to the Outer Hebrides during the constituency week. We can, with these technologies, cancel the disadvantages of the periphery and we can therefore turn round the age-old tendency of depopulation of our remote areas provided that we make available, for example, abundant low-cost expanded high band-breadth infrastructures with access on equitable terms. We must ensure that the outlying places are brought into this.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Mr President, at the end of March, more than 75 dissidents were arrested in Cuba, upon which they were sentenced, without trial, to terms of imprisonment lasting 20 years and more. These also include a number of Liberals whom I have met personally in Cuba, such as Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés, the leader of Cuba's Liberal Democratic Party and Adolfo Fernández Sainz, the international secretary of the Party for Solidarity and Democracy. This happened less than a month after the European Commission’s office in Cuba was opened. It is not only a violation of human rights, but also a slap in the face for the European Union. I value the activities that our Cuban office has subsequently taken. We must give a clear signal to the regime in Cuba that we no longer tolerate the situation. A restriction of high-level bilateral government visits, as announced by the Council in its statement of 5 June, is, however, too weak a measure. We must be clear in what we say and as far as I am concerned, the Council should consider taking the same measures as we have done in Zimbabwe, namely deny Fidel Castro access to the European Union, as, in fact, Greece has done in the context of the Olympic Games. I have a great deal of appreciation for this, and I also wonder whether the Council has discussed this and whether the Council supports the Greek Government's decision.

Political group: ELDR
Mr President, Commissioner, firstly I would like to express my thanks for the magnificent work done by Mrs Hedkvist Petersen. There are many reasons for the accidents and the extremely high number of victims on European roads. The causes are many and varied, and the report has been able to mention and summarise the most important ones. Furthermore, the Commission communication on priorities in road safety contains six points detailing the aspects on which we can have the greatest impact in order to achieve better results. I am going to focus on the aspects which refer to the management of the black spots on the roads and the reduction of the effects of impacts on road infrastructures. A high number of accident victims are users of two-wheeled vehicles, motorcyclists and cyclists, for which roads are also intended. For cultural and climatic reasons, there are an extraordinary number of these accidents in certain Member States. Serious studies have concluded that the majority of serious accidents or deaths amongst these groups result from impacts with crash barriers, that is to say, against roadside protective barriers or against vertical road signs, both of which are designed and created for four-wheeled vehicles. The majority of these accidents happen at the black spots which some Member States are indicating and identifying. My amendment of the legislative proposal on the design and placing of these soft protective barriers at these black spots is not therefore gratuitous. We must not be satisfied with a mere recommendation to the Member States or leave this simply to be dealt with through subsidiarity, which would greatly affect its implementation. We must now be bold. Let us legislate, let us seek a greater degree of harmonisation, let us promote measures for the rational and safe use of roads by pedestrians and cyclists, and let us seek formulas to reduce heavy traffic, at least in populated areas; let us harmonise the speed limits by means of an ambitious legal framework, as the Commission recommended in 1986, thereby removing the Member States’ inertia. Let us be vigilant of the environmental impact of traffic, such as noise and environmental pollution. I would also like to reiterate the importance of legislating on the maximum permitted levels of alcohol. Finally, I would like to thank the Commissioner for being so very open to our proposals.

Political group: Verts-ALE
Madam President, I should like to thank the Commissioner for the open manner in which he chose to present his report in plenary. It is the beginning of a debate – an honest debate – that we want to be involved in as parliamentarians. The Commissioner and Mr Hatzidakis said that regional disparities will become twice as great. The challenge to achieve cohesion will be greater: we have an unprecedented expansion of the Union and we still have poor regions. There is a multi-million euro question which is, to use the words of a former French Commission President: “Have we got the means to match our ambitions?” That is not to say that the means have to be financial, but we must also look at other policies. It is clear that there will be a cap on budgetary contributions. Therefore I ask you, Commissioner Barnier and your colleagues, to look at the opportunities offered by other policies, in particular the real and tangible benefits of involving the private sector in regenerating our regions. Can you be sure, Commissioner, that an enlightened view will be taken, in particular by Mr Monti, the Commissioner responsible for competition, to ensure that we have private sector innovative approaches to reducing regional disparities across the Union?

Political group: PSE
Once upon a time there was a white dove (Europe) and a wicked eagle (the United States). The fairy tale told in this report would not even convince a child that the United States is the only country to subsidise its airlines. Are we to believe that the European Union does not likewise subsidise the European Airbus consortium amongst others! Are we to believe that Member States do not support their airlines, whether they are in public or private hands! Let the Commission publish the accounts detailing the huge direct and indirect, acknowledged and unacknowledged subsidies that the European Union and the Member States grant to the aviation and aeronautics sectors and their shareholders! The wording of this report is hypocritical and its content scandalous. We did not support it because we are opposed to the so-called compensations the report recommends. These are actually nothing more than further subsidies for the capitalists of the aviation industry. Above all, we reject your entire system based on competition and commercial conflict, which come at a high cost to society.

Political group: GUE-NGL