kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
for european union supervision to work efficiently and seamlessly we need an integrated system where national supervisors and the european union supervisor work effectively together including by carrying out joint examinations here and european union anti money laundering authorities would need to be equipped with significant and direct supervisory powers regarding the most risky obliged entities. while the financial sector should be our initial priority the european union would need to progressively and significantly increase supervision of the non financial sector. the anti money laundering authority
this could include on site checks and would be the best way to monitor and make sure that the rules are applied effectively and consistently across the european union.
the commission is also looking much more closely at how member states implement the anti money laundering directives so that our rules are effective on the ground.
they also highlight how important it is that national financial intelligence units have adequate tools and the capacity to process and analyse this information.
we are grateful to this parliament for setting the tone with its resolution last july.
it erodes trust in our banks and financial institutions in our authorities and our governments.
member states acting alone are simply not up to the task of addressing a global challenge of such magnitude.
if we are to succeed in fighting global cross border crime then we must all pull together and work with global partners such as the united states on closing loopholes.
the torture and ill treatment in the detention centres must stop immediately and an investigation must be conducted into all allegations of human rights violations.
they lack water and food the sanitary conditions are appalling and they have no medical care with tuberculosis and other diseases rapidly spreading. saudi arabia needs to immediately release all detainees and transfer them to facilities where they have access at least to the basics food water medical services sanitation and space.
it's not in the action plan but we need it and i think that this parliament is united behind that idea.
secondly as mr sven giegold has mentioned before when we have a serious problem at member state level of enforcing our framework against money laundering we need infringement procedures and it would be good commissioner for you to tell us when you will start doing that. finally and i will end here i think it is a real shame that the council has taken the cayman islands out of the tax haven list this week.
it also raises issues on the right to privacy.
today we inhabit a more digitalised world.
digital tools must be accessible and easy to use for all ages.
the fundamental rights and values of the european union are indivisible universal values of human dignity freedom equality and solidarity.
the covid nineteen pandemic exposed gaps in long term care showing a lack of coordination of services between healthcare and longterm care providers and of course this resulted in difficulties for home residents to access health services including patients with covid nineteen and patients with chronic conditions.
the service providers themselves the carers have had to work under extremely difficult conditions improvising on many levels in their efforts to go above and beyond the call of duty.
in order to deliver we will present next year an action plan on the implementation of the european pillar of social rights.
by pulling together we can demonstrate the value of our solidarity by providing the long term care sector with the support they need which in turn helps build a better society for all of us.
in my role as vicepresident for democracy and demography the whole of the live cycle is the focus of my work and i have to think about the most vulnerable in our policy making particularly when we consider long term care facilities.
it can form the cornerstone in the transformation of health and longterm care systems in providing services that are adapted to the needs values and preferences of the users while supporting the providers.
then as i mentioned in my introductory statement there is react eu but also don't forget that we are negotiating the multiannual financial framework.
in some places it is still happening.
we are completely aware that loneliness is a phenomenon and we will definitely tackle this issue.
i see that you share these views and would like to address some points raised here today.
once again i cannot forget the images of isolation loneliness and grief that emerged from our long term care homes across the european union.
we must strive to ensure that no one has to experience the loss of a loved one in such a traumatic way ever again.
i would like to answer that the commission is committed to the entire european pillar of social rights.
effective care management through the involvement and collaboration of clinicians patients users and caregivers is necessary.
this requires efforts on all sides as many of you said at european level at member state level among regional and local authorities and yes at a societal and individual level.
these rights are valid throughout the whole life cycle from birth to death.
member states are aware that active ageing also means being able to fully participate in society.
digitalisation and technology help older people in their autonomy and ability to connect with others.
i believe that one of these missing links could be a more generalised use of regulatory and supervisory technologies based for instance on ai for processing transactions.
so yes let's strengthen our regulatory framework but let's also beef up the authorities so that they are able to have an efficient fight against money laundering in europe.
this could significantly improve compliance with regulations identify suspicious activities faster and more efficiently and also signal them to the relevant authorities.
this highlights the need for better global cooperation. the fincen case also demonstrates that reporting works because reports are filed in the first place.
do the authorities adequately check and if necessary investigate activities?
this is indeed a trend repeating itself since the early two thousand. s so clearly we are missing a link. we need better supervision and information sharing not just between national european and international authorities but also between banks and importantly within banking groups.
two thousand and fourteen of these only ten percent were further investigated and only one percent of the money reported as suspicious was recovered.
i cannot disclose here to which member states we have sent informal letters.
our framework must therefore continuously evolve in order to keep pace with technological developments and the growing sophistication of financial crime.
in the first quarter of two thousand and twenty one we will propose an ambitious anti money laundering package in order to further strengthen the capacity to fight money laundering and protect the integrity of the financial system.
we are also stepping up practical work to help national authorities detect money laundering.
however criminals are highly adaptive and their methods are constantly evolving.
for this we need not only a stronger regulatory framework but also strong european union level structures to ensure its implementation.
the fincen revelations clearly illustrate the ongoing challenges that the main actors face in their efforts to detect illegal financial flows and prevent criminals from using the financial system to launder dirty money.
we are up to the challenge.
in a single market we can no longer afford to work in silos. we need to build bridges between anti money laundering supervisors and financial intelligence units.
for example the interconnection of beneficial ownership ownership registers should be operational in. two thousand and twenty one a similar interconnection between bank account registers is also part of our action plan as it will speed up crossborder access to bank account information.
the commission and my colleague valdis dombrovskis who was not able to attend this meeting today we look forward to continuing to work with you on these crucial issues in order to further strengthen the integrity of the financial system and to ensure that dirty money finds no place to hide in the european union.
however rest assured that over the course of the next years we will address all member states. let me stress again the enforcement and effective implementation of the existing rules remain a top priority for the commission.
madam president again one more scandal again i have to hear my colleagues on both sides of the aisle complaining and again we see that nothing happens in the fight against money laundering.
they are going to want to be here they are going to want to serve european citizens.
what are the main things we need to change in the way this fight is going?
this is similar.
we need to really change the way we are doing things.
we need a european financial intelligence unit we need to know what is going on and that requires police work. and we need a single supervisory authority that is able to centralise and doesn't succumb to the economic nationalism that we are always seeing with each authority protecting their own banks and their own transactions and each authority happy to receive money from abroad.
so this is the moment to show that europe is confident.
i think that we all see things in a very similar way.
if we say to world companies to companies based abroad you can't operate here unless we know who is your owner if we rule out beneficial ownership it is not going to be the case that people are going to renounce a four hundred million market.
i think we need three things. we need transparency as i was saying particularly no opaque companies we need to know who is behind every account.
i think that the key to the answer is that europe needs to be more confident in this fight.
so if we are confident and we set out the regulatory standards for transparency for disclosure for this beneficial ownership it is going to be the case that companies will have to comply.
the elderly must fully enjoy these rights too.
the commission is committed to implementing the european pillar of social rights including principles of access to quality health and longterm care.
to conclude dear ladies and gentlemen to borrow a thought from dostoevsky you can best judge a society by how by how it treats its most vulnerable members and those who take care of them. if we learn one lesson from the covid nineteen pandemic let it be the importance of solidarity. solidarity between generations must be one of the driving forces of europe's recovery as set out in the commission's proposal for a major recovery plan to repair and prepare for the next generation.
we know that social services have been under particular strain and the commission is committed to help.
we need to deliver for the service providers and users in our policymaking.
covid nineteen brings unprecedented challenges healthwise economically and socially.
we need to improve the protection of the most vulnerable in our societies.
in addition the commission is working with the european centre for disease prevention and control to protect vulnerable groups including older people in residential homes but also in places like migrant centres and prisons.
in early two thousand and twenty one we will present a green paper on aging with the aim of launching a wide debate to discuss the longterm impacts of aging care and pensions active aging and the capacity of social protection systems to deal with an aging population.
longterm care facilities could not immediately provide the type of care required in such exceptional circumstances.
talking about longterm care facilities means talking about both those giving and receiving care in a particularly vulnerable situation.
we can pay tribute to them but we must also take action.
the staff in longterm care facilities did their best to provide not just comfort and dignity at the end of a precious life but also a sense of tenderness and care.
at particular moments in life we also rely on the commitment and dedication of others.
some people are more at risk than others especially the elderly and people with a disability.
i will share some examples with you. the reacteu programme will continue and extend to the crisis response and repair measures by reinforcing capacities in health and longterm care.
let me be clear dear members of parliament aging concerns all generations not just the elderly.
the gender care gap must be addressed including the equal sharing of informal care responsibilities.
too many lives have already been lost.
we are listening to the sector and are assessing different instruments and possible solutions to support both providers and users of these services.
as i said at the beginning we can pay tribute to the service providers but we must also take action.
only together can we successfully exit the crisis and build a future.
it is beyond doubt that covid nineteen has hit the elderly hardest. at the same time our work in tackling demographic change shows that our union is aging.
the joint report of the commission and the social protection committee on the preparedness of longterm care systems in the european union will provide evidence and clear mapping of the challenges that need to be tackled.
based on the outcome of the consultations the commission could be in a better position to consider what further initiatives could be taken on longterm care.
we also hope that the soontobelaunched red sea council can provide a platform for this.
despite the conflict migration continues.
in our times of covid nineteen this is of course even more important.
the conflict in yemen provides a fertile breeding ground for trafficking and smuggling networks which profit from desperate african citizens looking for a better life in the gulf.
this humanitarian air bridge flight is very specific in its nature as it aims at bringing support to the african union and the africa centres for disease control and prevention to be further distributed in african countries.
there are indeed things to be said.
however what we are discussing today shows that it also makes the situation of many migrants in the region close to unbearable.
we hope to launch this dialogue soon.
we are taking this situation seriously and are following up and helping where we can.
besides the covid nineteen component the joint visit to addis is extremely timely. regarding the african union it will be an opportunity to keep the momentum of a strengthened european union african union partnership despite the postponement of the summit.
we are eager to encourage a regiontoregion dialogue on migration management between the horn and the gulf as proposed by the intergovernmental authority on development.
the first one with an account at piraeus bank is owned by a person involved in arms trafficking for the islamic state and the other with an account in the state controlled bulgarian development bank is owned by a notorious bulgarian arms dealer.
we need full transparency on beneficial ownership which we have been talking about for a long time;
basically there is zero time to waste and if we want to efficiently fight money laundering we need full judicial cooperation in criminal matters;
the fact of the matter is that it's sophisticated it's complex and it's massive and it's on a global scale.
the idea that national supervisors alone or regulators or enforcers can deal with this particular challenge simply is delusional from that context we have to insist that we have closer cooperation that we have proper international enforcement and that we do say what we need in terms of insisting that there are prosecutions.
they are massive banks that underpin the financial system across the globe and yet they're named in these files.
we have oligarchs we have drug dealers we have terrorists we have all forms of everything going through these banking systems and yet nothing happens.
we have consistently in this chamber highlighted this particular fact but until such time as there is proper enforcement and more importantly underpinning of enforcement with resources because these as i said are very sophisticated and complex from that point of view i think that the european union the united states and other countries have to come together on an international level to ensure that we can root out this.
we have to engage proactively to promote positive change.
this is not something that happens overnight.
it requires continued energetic efforts.
i believe that our robust engagement on the political and cooperation track has improved bilateral relations increased the level of trust and allowed us to discuss sensitive issues with a view to improving respect for human rights. we do that in the interest of improving the living conditions of the people of eritrea and increasing our ability to promote reforms.
the european union looks forward to eritrea's action plan on the recommendations and is making good progress with the government to start activities soon. i trust that by engaging in dialogue and exploring ways to work together we stand a better chance to make our voice heard and to positively influence the country's human rights record promote the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and advance the case of dawit isaak.
madam president honourable members since the last time we discussed nicaragua in this parliament last december the situation in the country has not improved. against the renewed pattern of persecution harassment and intimidation the european union is following the possible adoption of the law on regulation of foreign agents and the special law on cybercrimes which could be used to tighten further the grip over civil society in nicaragua. the draft foreign agents law in particular could be used to impose further restrictions on civil and political rights of individuals civil society and on media outlets.
since the beginning we have followed with utmost attention the tabling of the draft foreign agents law.
on tuesday our head of delegation in managua accompanied by all eu member states present in the country reached out to the nicaraguan authorities in managua at minister of foreign affairs level to voice our concerns and find out more about the draft text as well as to share our preoccupation on how the law would affect international human rights law and civil liberties in nicaragua.
the european union has consistently voiced concerns against laws labelling ngos as foreign agents all over the world.
nicaraguan citizens should be able to exercise their freedom of association effectively and non governmental organisations should operate in an environment conducive to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
civil society should operate free from hindrance and insecurity.
i called in the order in which the motions were tabled because it's a longterm practice in the plenary to do it this way and i would like to stick to it. i am of course open to changes.
i don't think that it's a good idea to change it for one debate this way and for another debate another way.
especially women activists face growing violence and intimidation including sexual violence and threats on social media.
this law together with the proposed special law on cybercrime could have a negative impact on the right to equal political and public participation and lead to unlawful criminalisation of civil society organisations activists and human rights defenders.
dialogue is.
i call on the government of nicaragua and all parties concerned to engage in a meaningful and comprehensive national dialogue to come to an agreement of electoral reforms that would guarantee credible inclusive and transparent elections next year.
find a way to respond to that but not now here in a public debate.
mr president no access to healthcare services no infection protection measures or testing isolation from society but we did not only leave the residents of longterm care facilities without the necessary support we forgot that elderly people and people with disabilities have the right to live independently and be included in the community.
the right to independent life is not only our moral obligation but also above all a matter of compliance with the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities that was ratified not only by all member states but also by the eu.
we need to stop delaying the transition away from institutions now.
but let's face it this story has been told a thousand times.
it's the one percent of the one percent that owns half of the hidden wealth in the world.
it is very clear from the fincen files that action needs to be taken and not enough action has been taken so far.
because now bankers blindly forward transactions to their financial investigations unit fiu only to find out later that they have facilitated fraudulent transactions.
and these fius on the other hand are flooded with information but lack the means and resources to keep up.
forwarding alone is not enough.
the point is of course that making private actors fulfil public roles is hard. it cannot be done without clear rules strict oversight and very tough penalties.
the zero seven oda gni target. other donors should take similar ambitious targets for oda increases and we must call upon the entire donor community to live up to their commitments in terms of aid volumes and effectiveness.
with the world bank and the imf has enabled us to ensure the consistency of our respective analyses and the complementarity of our assistance.
official development assistance has played and will continue to play a critical role in supporting our partners' efforts in coping with the crisis.
the eu has shown leadership and unity through a joint eu response to the crisis framed within the global response namely within the united nations the g twenty and g.
mr president i would like first of all to congratulate the rapporteur for this very comprehensive report.
in this context the commission welcomes your support in urging member states to stay committed to achieving by two thousand and fifteen.
other measures include reallocations following ad hoc country reviews and the advanced mid term review of the tenth european development fund which is currently ongoing support under the traditional flex instrument frontloading of aid where feasible etc.
on twenty one april the commission will publish its yearly spring development package of proposals to member states. this year the focus will be on the actions that remain necessary to achieve the mdgs.
as highlighted in the report the commission has set up and is currently implementing a very concrete and short term ad hoc mechanism named the vulnerability flex to support the most vulnerable countries with poor resilience capacity with a view to enabling them to maintain priority spending
however while making the consultation documents themselves available in all eu languages could further facilitate stakeholder responses resources available for translation are very limited for obvious budgetary reasons.
the commission believes that consultation is an essential tool for producing high quality proposals and increasing the legitimacy of eu action.
the commission must therefore prioritise the many competing demands on its translation services.
a public consultation seeking stakeholder views on the appropriateness of the existing consultation practices will be launched soon and will feed into the review.
thus for instance green papers and white papers are in principle translated into all languages since they are considered a political priority for consultation purposes.
meeting this obligation takes up the bulk of available translation capacity.
since two thousand and two all policy initiatives that undergo an impact assessment and green papers must be preceded by public consultations that observe a set of general principles and minimum standards.
it needs to reconcile a wide variety of competing demands while making the best and most proportionate use of the resources available.
since two thousand and twelve the minimum period for open public consultation has been extended from eight to twelve weeks to facilitate shareholder response.