kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
budget reforms and structural reforms that were rejected by successive governments in greece not least the present government which threw the country once again into a deeper crisis than it was in before in the belief that you could spend yourself out of the crisis. in the future
you do not listen to the people who are protesting in the street and who supported the polish supreme court judge this morning.
my question to you is will you listen to the european court of justice when it rules?
my first reaction was that if the shoe was on the other foot and it was european countries demanding tax from accidental' europeans in the united states president trump would be up all night tweeting about it and threatening fire and brimstone upon us. we need to look at it from that point of view and take action.
is this in breach of it?
that has to be encouraged.
the practice of administrative bullying of international transport companies in some member states has already shown this.
the inclusion of international transport under the remit of the posted workers directive is indefensible on any logical administrative enforcement political or economic grounds.
cherry picking and selectively applying the basic rules of the single market under the cover of simplistic slogans is very wrong and is not the way forward in the context of the current wave of international populist protectionism.
the migration will only stop if these people feel free and safe and get jobs in these countries because this is what is missing and this is how you can stop the migration.
but we also have a responsibility to look at things as they are and not to make a reality from perceptions.
but like all rights it also comes with obligations. you not only have the right to go to the neighbouring country you also have the obligation not to depend heavily on the social security of this neighbouring country.
one of the reasons why i have proposed at the beginning of next year to have a big meeting of the mayors of our villages and cities in order to bring them together with experts in order to understand what the funding possibilities are and how these funds can be utilised so that they reach the target is just in order to
that is exactly what i was discussing yesterday with the ministers of the interior.
you have the obligation to obey laws and governments have the obligation to ensure that these laws are implemented.
change. free movement will continue as it is now. so let us stop doing what politicians should never do. we have heard it on occasion today. i must say that i was ashamed to be in this chamber and to hear it but
here i think we have a real responsibility as politicians today to get things right.
reach their target.
you have underlined.
but ultimately this is an opportunity yet again for us to redouble our efforts on the european strategy for roma integration to understand in a sophisticated way now that we have got logjams in this strategy that we have heard about the budgetary and other restrictions and that we need to make sure that we understand that the strategy is not working why it is not working and how we need to make it work to ensure that these problems are dealt with.
it is difficult for the european union to criticise ethnic injustice on the world stage if we are unable to integrate and protect our own minorities.
the presidency hopes to see the recommendation adopted in december.
the council has already expressed its concern at the continuing social problems of the roma communities focusing on the four key aspects of education employment healthcare and housing.
it is also crucial that roma representatives ngos and local authorities are all involved in the development of those policies.
the policies for ensuring the social inclusion of the roma have to be addressed primarily at national level.
the commission has a particular role to play in monitoring and coordinating our overall approach.
many of the roma in europe today go without essentials such as decent housing proper education and healthcare and have very little chance of securing employment.
that is why we must continue to put emphasis on developing an integrated approach which covers the full range of social issues.
this instrument will support the implementation of the national strategies that have been developed within the eu framework that was put in place two years ago.
they have the capacity to offer so much to society and to their own community.
like parliament and the commission the council has returned to the issue of roma integration regularly in recent years.
the council specifically called on the member states to pursue objectives in the four areas i have just mentioned with the aim of closing the gap between marginalised roma communities and the general population.
our inability to protect and provide for a minority group risks calling into question our international credibility.
the promotion of roma integration is primarily a matter of social justice.
they are the poorest of the poor frequently forgotten.
mr president unlike many people in this chamber i have actually been to a roma camp in bulgaria.
so centuries after social reformers in britain stopped child prostitution and put a stop to dickensian pickpocket gangs the eu will foist them upon us once again.
there will be a backlash trust me and our government will not and cannot do anything about it because of the european union's laws. the best way i believe to help these people is not to export them round europe it is for their own national governments to do what our people did a long time ago and take the fight to child abusers who force them to work as career criminals.
sadly there are gangmasters within the roma community who force children to work as everything such as pickpockets and prostitutes. this is already happening in other european countries and in january it will happen in the uk as well.
of course i think this obligation is completely wrong.
it is about economics it is nothing to do with racism and quite frankly we are only a small island and we cannot cope as it is.
we need this strategy to be very strong because it needs to contribute to the cultural shift among the roma from a cluster of closed defensive and disparate communities to an open self aware and integrated european minority.
the obvious failures also directed the responsibility at roma communities themselves despite several studies showing that in some cases less than ten of all roma inclusion assessed really reached the target group itself.
i truly hope that the current anti roma incidents will not pass without consequences and that after two decades of stumbling from one case of crisis management to the next under successive governments governments will once and for all understand that success demands a solution that is embraced through the entire continent and across the political divide.
roma inclusion became a massive economic burden that the actors throughout europe wished to get rid of by loading it on each other's shoulders and pointing fingers at each other or even worse a political mace that parties would hit each other with should their selfish and short term interests so demand.
in two thousand and four and two thousand and seven roughly four million roma joined the eu and there is a fairly predictable consequence of combining free movement with the enormous regional disparities between old and new member states a massive influx of migration has begun.
there are no quick fixes here and we know it. let me recall the commission's role in stepping up roma inclusion.
we finally see synergies among member states.
second the lack of political will from national decision makers.
last june the commission came with a set of recommendations in order to enhance the implementation of the national roma integration strategies by the national authorities.
the commission also insists on the need to empower local roma communities because social inclusion brings better results when targeted communities are involved in the process.
two thousand and fourteen two thousand and twenty in particular the commission has set the convincing implementation of the national roma integration strategies as one of the conditionalities for the delivery of funds.
into question and it involves us all the european union the member states the local authorities the roma themselves each and every citizen.
the european commission is also committed to stopping social and economic exclusion of the most vulnerable of our eu citizens including the roma communities of course and in this respect the european commission has proposed that every member state commit to do so with measures that are defined at national level in relation to the dimension and challenge
the european commission also recommends facilitating transnational cooperation at regional and local level.
at national level we are seeing some progress but we need now to reach out to the local authorities making sure that they get what they need and that they develop meaningful plans to integrate roma communities.
the european commission makes sure that the eu legislation is respected when it comes to the roma as it is for all other eu citizens too.
first the lack of coordination between actors promoting roma integration in particular across the european union.
exercising political pressure and facilitating peer review while at the same time providing guidance to member states in that domain.
we have defined three major difficulties.
to that effect we are following the situation in each member state in particular with the directive securing the free movement of persons within the eu and the directive prohibiting any discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin.
finally we recommend fighting prejudices by placing particular attention to the protection of children and women.
the vast majority of roma living in the european union are european citizens.
that is why we have put a lot of effort into facilitating the use of the european structural and investment funds for projects dedicated to roma integration during the new programming period.
this proposal which is currently being discussed in the council gives concrete recommendations to support local and regional authorities which are the key actors in roma integration and have been left alone for too long.
they face and implemented at local level.
in addition we are leading a dialogue with national and local authorities in order to facilitate exchanges of information on how better to use the funds for roma integration.
but the path towards roma integration is not straightforward nor can we expect it to be short.
that is why the creation of the network of roma national contact points which was initiated by the commission with the strong support of parliament has moved us forward in this respect.
similar synergies are taking place among international organisations with the creation of a coalition of international organisations in which the commission participates.
i think we can all agree that when there is no pressure for the migrants to integrate there is a considerable problem.
i do believe that integration is absolutely paramount for the long term benefit of the migrant roma communities as well as the countries which are receiving them.
may i ask the commission therefore whether or not it considers the current european legislative framework sufficient to deal with these issues?
and has something tangible been done or will it be done to address the concerns the non roma population still has in various parts of the eu?
origin in a number of areas including conditions for access to employment access to vocational training social protection including social security and health care education and access to and the supply of goods and services including housing.
the directive also includes a positive action clause that allows member states to maintain or adopt specific measures to prevent or compensate for disadvantages linked to racial or ethnic origin. i look forward to continuing the excellent cooperation between the council
while i agree that savings are necessary in the current context i wonder how the council plans to relaunch the european economy by undermining its only growth instruments and even worse by reverting to the same old formula of grant only allocation.
for a long time now we have acknowledged that the need for substantial investment in the european energy infrastructure is a precondition for the completion of the single european market.
this is why parliament was surprised and disappointed at the severe budget cuts decided by the european council on the cef during the negotiations on the mff.
this will in turn improve the eu's competitiveness and bring economic recovery in europe as well as more growth and jobs while better connecting people and businesses.
the cef is an opportunity to be innovative and can maximise scarce resources thanks to the leverage effects of this financial instrument.
in. two thousand and eleven the first step will be an impact assessment on financial sector taxation covering the ideas we have set out.
thirdly we must ensure that the patchwork of divergent national financial sector taxes does not create new obstacles to the single market.
this is particularly important given the support it received during the crisis.
in this respect we will also take account of member states' analysis.
the commission aims to continue to work on these options in order to bring forward policy initiatives
mr president the reason why we would like to propose a resolution is very simple on one june there will be some sort of decision about whether tariffs will be applied to eu products and the commission is already in negotiation with the us side about that but as with every trade negotiation it is really important that parliament takes a decision and does not just hold a debate.
there is little coincidence that almarhoon is also a shia.
it seems though that this is not only about alleged crimes but also about saudi arabia's wider sectarian war.
the country's criminal justice system is the perfect blueprint for any repressive authoritarian state.
madam president it is a tragic irony that at a time when saudi arabia is being appointed to head an influential committee of the un human rights council at home it is sentencing teenagers to death by beheading for the so called crime of protesting. today's debate focuses on the case of ali mohammed al nimr but only yesterday reports emerged of a second teenager dawood al marhoon who is facing a similar fate.
al nimr remains in prison a place he has been since he was arrested in two thousand and twelve aged only seventeen and faces imminent execution.
these cases are particularly shocking but they are only two cases in an extensive catalogue of human rights abuses in the kingdom of saudi arabia.
al nimr comes from a shiite area and his uncle is a distinguished shiite cleric.
he made a very strong statement on behalf of his country which has traditionally strong ties with saudi arabia.
it is sickening that my own country's government is bidding to provide services for the very same saudi prison service which will be responsible for inflicting the death penalty.
but today we must ask if the treatment of ali al nimr is consistent with the assurances given about the relationship we have.
if those promises are to mean anything they must mean ali's life.
what a criminal waste of brave young lives!
private thomas sephton warrington;
marine paul warren preston;
i do not know the names of any of the innocent afghan victims of this wicked war but i do know that it has nothing to do with british interests.
madam president this report demolishes the lies of the british political class about the afghan war.
and i know the names of the eighteen brave young men from my constituency who paid with their lives for this madness in the last year alone.
that is for the british people and our elected representatives in our house of parliament in westminster to decide just as it will be for us to decide one happy day to put messrs blair brown and cameron on trial for war crimes because afghanistan just like iraq is a criminal war.
foreign armies must be withdrawn and such wealth as exists in afghanistan should be taken from the hands of the karzai government corrupt landlords and warlords and put democratically in the hands of organisations of peasants workers and the poor to really utilise those resources and develop them for the benefit of the people.
the us invasion of afghanistan was undertaken not to advance the interests of the afghan people but the geostrategic interests of the united states in central asia which of course is rich in energy oil and gas.
contact with the taliban is an afghani affair but this should begin when the insurgents cease to feel in a position of strength.
what are the european soldiers in the field going to think if the european parliament condemns such an effective weapon in their fight against insurgency?
this strategy must be given time to work according to the timetable set by president obama with two thousand and fourteen as the deadline for the complete afghanisation of military and police operations.
i urge colleagues to vote against the third part of paragraph.
to point out that there is some discrimination against women is to get things slightly out of proportion.
the horror story of afghanistan has involved the deaths of three hundred and forty six british soldiers many more allied soldiers and thousands of innocent afghans.
the answer is to support our troops by stopping the war and bringing them home to guard our own people against home grown but imported terrorists.
it identifies areas where we as the european union believe our action will be most effective.
the action plan brings the instruments that are being deployed collectively and by individual member states in line with our policy priorities especially those arising from the kabul conference which i attended in july.
our efforts on development will only become sustainable once the afghan government becomes more accountable and inclusive.
two thousand and one it is also true that health indictors in afghanistan are still amongst the worst in the world so we have a long way to go. that said we know from the un figures that compared with two thousand and one forty zero fewer babies are dying each year in afghanistan and that is due to considerably improved prenatal care.
it was not the usual roll call of requests and donor pledges.
at present half the human capacity in the country is marginalised and yet we have seen from other examples in the world that the engagement of women in the governance and development processes is fundamental.
for my part i look forward to working very much with him and other colleagues in parliament in the months ahead as we enter what i would describe as a crucial phase in our engagement in afghanistan.
about fifty of our assistance goes either through national programmes or through trust funds that directly support the afghan government.
indeed in all the areas we are engaged in rural development law enforcement border management or tackling the narcotics trade we will work to build up local afghan institutions putting the emphasis on promoting the rule of law and governance and on fighting corruption.
with that funding we are able to continue to support health and social welfare as well as governance and the rule of law and despite the fact that security concerns are in the forefront of all our minds i believe we have had some noticeable success in key social sectors.
these national priority programmes paved the way for transition across a range of different sectors and we need now to support them which is precisely what our action plan is doing.
this will remain a key aspect of our engagement in afghanistan be it in the political support to women mps in the new afghan parliament or through our support to women's participation in local development projects such as the widely recognised national solidarity programme which we have been funding through the world bank since.
madam president i want to begin by honouring the memory of richard holbrooke a dedicated diplomat a champion of peace and a man i was proud to call my friend.
together with both presidents i participated in the isaf meeting in lisbon last month where the transfer of security responsibility under the nato transition plan was agreed.
it sets a good example for many other donors too.
more effective state institutions better governance access to basic services justice and the rule of law are just as important as hard security.
our engagement is spurred by the need to prevent afghanistan becoming a safe haven for terrorism and criminal activities.
that brings me in a sense to the key message i want to give today namely that the implementation of our existing strategies needs to be the priority.
we need to do more and we need to do it better.
but looking at what the european union does i think we have made real progress significantly enhanced by the arrival of our new eu special representative head of delegation vygaudas uackas who arrived in afghanistan in april.
the strategic framework is in place in both the military and the civilian spheres.
in response to these challenges i want to begin by saying as i have said many times in other places that the european union is in afghanistan for the long term.
but there is always room for improving international coordination.
our political messaging is more coherent and we are enhancing the coordination of our development efforts within the eu through the action plan for afghanistan and pakistan which was approved in october last year by the council of ministers.
rather the agenda focused on how best to prioritise our existing resources and commitments channelling our efforts into agreed national programmes that have been developed by the afghanis themselves.
i was struck by this untapped potential when i met with women's groups in kabul last july.
i want to pay tribute to the honourable member mr arlacchi for the comprehensive report and for work that i know he has done which has provoked a rich debate in this parliament over the last few months.
i have met with general david petraeus three times in recent months and while much remains to be done i am confident that the current strategy is beginning to have a real impact.
this is good for donor coordination good for building local capacity and good for reinforcing afghani ownership.
we all know that there can be no sustainable military exit from afghanistan without a civilian framework for stability that can keep the country together.
but it is equally important that we promote a better more secure and prosperous future for the people of afghanistan.
on the civilian side we had the successful kabul conference. the afghan government is to be applauded for the organisation and the focus of the event in july.
we need to encourage them to take such a long term view.
we also continue to channel as much of our assistance as possible through the afghan government structures to ensure that we get afghani leadership of the reform process.
we will thus reinforce our efforts to strengthen afghan capacity and will work with the afghan government to foster effective and accountable state institutions especially at the sub national level.
drugs grown and produced in afghanistan find their way to the streets of europe.
indeed european union development ministers under my chairmanship were discussing precisely these issues last week in brussels.
aligning our efforts and our approach is a key aspect of the plan.
on the question of afghan institutions i want to end with a word on afghan undertakings.
as the afghans have to adjust so too do we helping them to get an achievable state model combining modernity with the afghan tradition. the second challenge is that the security situation might well continue to require our international military involvement beyond two thousand and fourteen when the afghans will take over. we should be ready seriously to contemplate either extending the deadline or facing the consequences.
however precisely because our commitment is a long term one i would foresee at least three major challenges.