kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
therefore we have already ensured that products originating in the israeli settlements do not benefit from preferential treatment when entering the eu market. an additional step is to follow the practice of certain member states and further clarify the labelling of these products so that consumers are fully aware when making their choice that the product originates in israel or in an israeli settlement.
the first one is the deepening of eu trade relations with some of these partners on the basis of a differentiated approach.
the main objective of these agreements will be the progressive integration of the economies of these partners into the eu single market.
this is an important meeting since it will be the first in four years.
the level of intra regional trade in the southern mediterranean is still lower than anywhere else in the world. an integrated mediterranean market will be much more attractive to investors. we continue to support efforts to reinforce the agadir agreement between egypt jordan morocco and tunisia and to extend it to other regulatory areas to trade and services investments
this is not an easy task given the diverging views of the partners participating in this process.
this also includes providing financial assistance and expertise.
the second focus is support for south south regional integration.
its political significance was underlined by the responses to the eu ukraine association agreement.
last summer a wake up call was given for those who still needed one as to the importance of a strong europe in today's world. we have a lot to win by expanding the scope of existing agreements in the euromed region.
sadly the countries in north africa and the middle east face major threats of instability.
still we must continue with an ambitious trade agenda.
it should be at the heart of finally giving meaning to the notion of more for more more market access with more reforms towards human rights and democracy.
which should be used to tackle the massive youth unemployment.
increasing opportunities may also help to prevent radicalisation although clearly it is not the only solution.
certainly it can help curb migration.
this is not just a matter of exports and innovations.
we should look at ourselves and at the negative impact that agricultural subsidies have on the opportunities for farmers in the euromed region hampering growth there.
the eu should also play an active coordinating role so as to avoid duplication of activities on the ground and it should support regional integration which would greatly help economic growth in the euromed region.
we actually have a very good quality education system in the uk but quite often we educate in the wrong way in the wrong things.
we need to be doing more of this kind of thing we need to be promoting entrepreneurship we need to be promoting the kind of skills the kind of training that are going to develop young people in the right direction.
paragraph forty three of this report urges the commission to ensure nothing impedes the free movement of workers but often that does impact on young people and takes young people away from employment when it allows older people coming into the country the opportunity to take advantage and compete for the same jobs and they often win.
students of the eiit's knowledge and innovation communities follow entrepreneurship and innovation related courses in addition to their scientific education.
the commission has also put in place several policies to support and develop entrepreneurial skills in schools as well as in further education and lifelong learning. let me name a few. first of all the european institute of innovation and technology has pioneered the integration of entrepreneurship education
pilot projects exist but once again we must reach a critical mass and make sure that entrepreneurial skills are increasingly recognised in curricula and throughout member states.
two thousand and thirteen that the commission supports knowledge alliances which are cooperation projects between businesses and higher education institutions;
the first challenge to be met and this is well reflected in the report concerns ict skills a crucial sector in today's economies especially for youngsters.
the commission already supports member states' expanding and improving the teaching of entrepreneurship in schools and universities but still more can and should be done.
as of today we have some five hundred european higher education institutions that have used the initiative voluntarily and the number keeps growing.
as i said this is not the first time we have spoken about entrepreneurship and we must acknowledge that substantial progress has been accomplished in the last few years.
no those questions are now obsolete and we should focus on how to improve and increase the teaching of entrepreneurship in educational institutions including schools and how to reach a critical mass of pupils.
let me also mention the social dimension of entrepreneurship.
on the contrary it is a powerful tool that can help address social exclusion.
entrepreneurship is not only for the few highly qualified students.
with still unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment in the eu teaching and spreading entrepreneurship is definitely part of the solution to reduce the skills mismatch.
one crucial point captured in the report is that learning entrepreneurship is not only about setting up a business far from it. it is about bringing education and work closer acquiring crucial skills and most importantly acquiring values a sense of initiative
we are no longer wondering whether entrepreneurship can be taught or not whether a classroom is a proper place to do it.
or that the commission launched a project on creating companies in twenty different schools across five member states?
i will stop here because the list is long and i am not here to describe what the commission has done but rather to think about the way forward supporting member states in improving and extending the teaching of entrepreneurship throughout the eu.
assessing and certifying them at european level in order to allow mobility is of the essence.
offices of the peoples' democratic party have been the object of targeted attacks. the turkish media is under increasing pressure ahead of an important electoral deadline.
and to answer mr brok's ludicrous point we can cooperate fully with turkey without admitting turkey to the european union.
however in the context of immigration to member states as a previous speaker pointed out turkey does not qualify as a safe country it is not safe.
free movement under article forty five from turkey not a safe country has to be a complete non starter.
but if turkey is not a safe country it follows that it cannot should not and must not be a candidate country.
we should not be paying turkey all this money.
we need to make sure that our work with turkey develops strongly and consistently on these two dimensions in parallel.
what we see is that the conditions are there for reaching a positive solution and that the time has come for all to put an end to this problem for the benefit of
the council's recent decision to increase the eu's financial contribution the commission's commitments in this respect and the increased contribution of member states should help us in putting our forces together.
in recent years the relaunch of the kurdish peace process has provided turkey with the best opportunity in a generation both to resolve a conflict that has claimed far too many lives and to address the needs of all the citizens of the republic.
we face the same regional challenges;
these are key areas where turkey needs to give proof of its strong commitment to the accession process.
the situation in syria and iraq has called for the reinforcement of our cooperation on foreign policy issues and counter terrorism.
the interim government and all political leaders need to come together to guarantee secure and fair elections. we have to support actively the return to the peace process.
however our challenges go beyond that and our actions should also look further.
i believe we are all increasingly concerned by the escalation of violence in turkey and the continuing terrorist attacks.
the visit of president erdoan to brussels and his meetings with president tusk and president juncker on monday are a reminder that dialogue with our turkish partners at the highest possible level is in the interests of both sides.
for this reason we have started to increase and deepen further our engagement with turkey.
madam president honourable members firstly i would like to thank you for giving the council the opportunity to exchange views with you on the situation in turkey at this pivotal moment for the country and for the whole region.
turkey is indeed a strategic partner for europe.
the rest of the region is also facing dramatic challenges from yemen to libya.
that is why on the occasion of president erdoan's visit on monday the president of the commission handed over to him a draft action plan for stepping up cooperation between the eu and turkey on support for refugees and migration management.
the draft plan which has been made publicly available on the commission's website is now being discussed with the turkish side to reach agreement on the details.
this means too that we have to pursue even further our dialogue towards visa liberalisation.
we hope to see turkey re engaging seriously in reforms and we are ready and willing to support such reforms with all the instruments at our disposal in order to increase their impact. opening chapters twenty three and twenty four would be in the interests of both turkey and the eu and would act as a catalyst for reform.
the refugee crisis that we are facing in the region shows very clearly that we share a common challenge when managing this dramatic situation.
indeed as a candidate country negotiating eu membership turkey needs to strengthen democracy and the rule of law and i refer here mainly to the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the press.
however measures taken by the government must be proportionate and targeted and they should not endanger the democratic political dialogue. a ceasefire is particularly urgent.
a couple of weeks ago the european union's heads of state and government stressed that there is a pressing need to reinforce our cooperation with turkey on managing these issues. the challenges we face due to the refugee crisis made it necessary to step up significantly
york and from the strong political will expressed by the leadership involved in the process.
we share the same need for peace and stability.
the deterioration of human rights in turkey with the arrest of journalists is also a major concern.
madam president the complex web of relationships and partnerships that turkey's foreign policy has forged from what it is doing in syria and libya to its dealings in egypt and with israel in the last couple of years has become almost incomprehensible.
so altogether the situation is pretty bleak but i do hope that this year will see at least a solution to the problem in cyprus under the new leadership of the turkish community leader mustafa akinci.
of course turkey should be considered a safe country of return but asylum seekers from turkey should be granted individual assessment by the member states.
it is incompatible with a european perspective and the upcoming election must be free and fair.
in this respect the council should be accelerating the opening of the justice and fundamental rights chapters and we also need to accelerate visa liberalisation.
the unhcr and other monitoring organisations in turkey need to be better funded in order to receive people with dignity.
madam president i think that despite all the very real difficulties and the concerns which have been expressed there is one conclusion we have to draw we need a genuine enhanced engagement with turkey. we share so many interests we share so many challenges and therefore i think we have to continue to engage with this country.
it is not a deal that is worthy of eu values of human rights and of what we are fighting for.
this assessment also identifies legislative and nonlegislative options for the way forward and we intend to launch a public consultation before the summer. let me stress that your own initiative report will provide a very important contribution to this
let me add that we will soon launch a comprehensive study to look into the complex incentive system for pharmaceuticals in line with the recent council conclusions.
in the republic of ireland at the moment we have such a situation we have a mother called vera twomey who is trying to help her daughter ava twomey get access to medicine and to do this she is walking hundreds of kilometres from her home to our parliament in dublin.
she currently can in ireland get access to cbd which is also a cannabidiol based treatment for her daughter. her daughter suffers from a severe form of epilepsy called dravet's syndrome.
if she could access thc which she could in germany poland great britain and other countries her seizures would stop.
the answer as he and this whole chamber should know is that freedom of thought and religion is a fundamental human right for all nations for all religions for all countries and for all people.
we now find ourselves at a difficult political and operational juncture that partners abroad do not understand because implementation of basic acts is an internal eu affair.
since your last debate in october the year ended without a first reading agreement.
the accompanying measures are intended to support ten banana exporting acp countries in their adaptation to a reduction in their preferential margin as a result of the geneva agreement.
i really feel a sense of urgency here.
the commission has come forward with proposals to enhance parliamentary scrutiny and offers other compromise solutions but these have failed to gain traction both in parliament and in the council.
more specifically for ici plus i think that everyone agrees that this instrument is designed to promote eu interests in industrialised countries some of them key strategic partners who will not wait for us to be administratively ready.
it is very important that we come to an agreement soon in particular for ici plus and the proposal for banana accompanying measures.
you know the situation. parliament expects article two hundred and ninety of the treaty outlining the procedure known as delegated acts to be applied to the adoption of strategy papers and multiannual action programmes. but in its first reading position the council rejected those of your amendments relating to delegated acts.
further delays carry with them budgetary political legal and even socio economic consequences.
as for the banana accompanying measures i can only stress with some resonance i hope as trade commissioner that they are integrally linked with the geneva agreement which brought an end to our longest trade dispute in wto and gatt which lasted almost twenty years.
otherwise the commission is unable to implement the relevant budget.
it is of the utmost importance therefore that we preserve the eu's credibility as an international trade negotiator by honouring our commitments and in this case we owe it especially to acp banana producing countries. look at the broader picture of world food trade at the moment and the hardship faced in some countries that are heavily dependent on export revenues from one or few commodities.
i understand parliament's concern to be involved in the strategy papers and multiannual programming.
though as trade commissioner i am not responsible for any of these instruments they do support a whole range of eu policy objectives including trade and allow us to remain relevant as foreign policy actors.
however taken together their collective aim is to advance and promote the political and foreign policy agenda of the european commission.
we all know by now who is going to be paying for this the hard pressed taxpayer and obviously and as usual disproportionately the british taxpayer.
the exact cost of these financing instruments is still unknown despite the best efforts of my colleagues yesterday and first thing this morning. the commission is once again being profligate and irresponsible with other people's money and this is why we will not be supporting either proposal.
this issue is about implementation or delegated acts.
twenty two thousand children die each day every day a short plane journey from this building. twenty two thousand.
the amendments proposed by parliament do not concern the substance of the dci or the other instruments but the role of parliament in the practical implementation of the law.
this is not a matter of political bargaining or any special arrangements as that would be contrary to the treaty.
despite the hard line of the council which is shared by the commission something i regret because it is not its constitutional position to do so parliament insists on its position.
our position is plain and simple and fully in line with the mandate of the conference of presidents.
i can assure this house that we have really tried very hard.
politically we have the full support of our conference of presidents which decided on two different occasions most recently earlier this month that in all dossiers negotiators should insist on the application of the delegated acts procedure for decisions concerning objectives the choice of priorities expected results and financial allocations in broad terms. we also have a common line among the committees the rapporteurs in the committee on international trade and the committee on foreign affairs respectively responsible for instruments for cooperation with industrialised countries and instruments for human rights and democracy have adopted the very same approach as i have.
two thousand and ten we held three dialogues and several meetings at technical level both on the contentious issues of delegated acts.
this would give the two branches of the legislative authority the possibility to object to draft decisions which are not in conformity with the requirements of the law. this veto would ensure that parliament's suggestions are taken into account when the commission programmes eu aid.
only towards the end of last year did the commission negotiators come up with a compromise proposal.
as co legislator we must be able to control on an equal footing with the council the adoption and the execution of strategic decisions on the spending of development aid how much where and how.
twenty two thousand children do not need to die each day every
is it implementation or is it a delegated act in which case it is legislation?
the strategy papers are multiannual programmes decided under the dci for example which fulfil the criteria for the application of the delegated act procedure.
in technical terms the amendments ensure that certain draft decisions taken by the commission are recognised as delegated acts as defined in article two hundred and ninety of the treaty on the functioning of the european union.
they supplement the basic regulation and are of general application.
parliament immediately reacted with a counterproposal but this was not reflected in the council's position.
let me be clear that we are not talking about micro management as a colleague has already said or individual programmes and projects.
the amendments will ensure that legislators keep control over strategic decisions concerning funding allocations and sectoral priorities.
it is unfortunate that during the many months almost one year that have passed since the first discussion of the dossier in committee interinstitutional negotiations have not made any progress.
all amendments concerning delegated acts from first reading should be reinstated.
it is a legal obligation.
the issue at stake is one of principle and is crucial to the future nature of interinstitutional relations in the area of external action.
legally our arguments are sound.
we will not be divided or have our role as a legislature ignored.
let us be very clear about what this is all about not just democracy and human rights.
let our member state governments get their act together in dealing with those children.
the good news is that it used to be. thirty four zero we and others have brought it down to twenty two zero because of democracy and human rights and the sort of financial instruments which the union has approved.
one criticism of the projects would be that we run very high quality projects but they are pepper potted around the world and have not been sufficiently integrated into the other programmes. the setting up of the external action service gives us a chance to remedy this.
it is needed today more than ever.
we should make sure that we do so.
let us make sure that this cooperation continues in the future.
finally with what is happening in egypt and elsewhere in the arab world at the moment we know there will be an increasing call for finance for democracy building and election monitoring in the future.
madam president i just wanted to ask my honourable colleague and friend mr mitchell whether he agrees with me that in two thousand and five parliament gave up fourteen areas of codecision on these financing instruments.
in the current instruments which are in force until two thousand and thirteen which means another two years multiannual strategy papers are considered to be implementing measures necessary for the implementation of the budget.
strategy papers are technical documents and so by their nature are not suited to take the form of binding legal acts. the current instruments have only two more years to run and there remain only a few strategy papers to be put in place.
the commission already involves parliament in the process of democratic scrutiny of strategy papers.
the commission considers that to change this system now would require significant changes to instruments which would take too long to put in place and which would cause major disruption to eu external cooperation.
the commission hopes that we will find a solution for these important financing instruments.
in this joint debate i would first like to tell the council that parliament is here to monitor and check and look with openness and transparency and accountability at the way we spend our taxpayers' money in terms of international development.
it took us two and a half years to agree that instrument because we simply would not give up on certain core rights of parliament but we did have to compromise towards the end.
last point quickly the events in north africa have shown us the importance of human rights and democracy promotion and for me also gender equality and we need to be more daring in this regard in the future when revising the structures.
i was however elected by people in britain not by people anywhere else so i regard my prime responsibility as being to represent the british taxpayer.
this is a good and well balanced compromise based on the general principles from the commission's proposal.
the commission will communicate its findings to the other institutions and will propose further action based on these findings. the commission also accepts the report on several other issues possible extension of the directive to inland waterways;
still on a methodology line we asked the commission to align the legislation to the delegated and implementing act provisions which is my personal issue although it is much more important than my single person.
maybe it is because of the agreement that there is not much excitement in the house or in the press outside about this;
but it is very important that parliament and the commission work together on this because this parliament or most of this parliament was elected so that the message of how the european institutions work should be changed considerably;
the competitiveness of the eu industry especially in the area of small and medium sized enterprises remains a top priority to creating and saving jobs in europe.