kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the new european neighbourhood policy communication which we discussed earlier today in this chamber sets out an ambitious agenda for the countries of the south caucasus for new association agreements deep and comprehensive free trade areas increased and facilitated mobility increased sectoral cooperation and participation in eu programmes
borders could open not only between armenia and azerbaijan but also between armenia and turkey.
last friday i also took the opportunity to be briefed by the lithuanian foreign minister who is now chairman in office of the osce.
i recently met with the foreign ministers of both armenia and azerbaijan and i do not have any illusion about the complexity of the negotiations.
the presidents of azerbaijan and armenia did not take the opportunity to reach a compromise.
relations between the two countries are difficult.
the deauville statement of presidents obama medvedev and sarkozy made clear that the time had now come for an agreement failing which the parties' commitment to a solution would be questioned. regrettably despite strong messages at the highest level the expected breakthrough at kazan did not materialise.
the co chairs keep the eeas fully informed of their work and the many difficulties that they face.
when i along with president barroso and president van rompuy met with president medvedev at the eu russia summit president medvedev was optimistic about the possibilities for a breakthrough at the kazan meeting.
efforts to find an agreement on the basic principles must continue and i welcome the fact that both parties have re committed themselves to the diplomatic process and to finding a peaceful solution.
this would then happen before the domestic priorities take over in two thousand and twelve elections in armenia in two thousand and twelve and in azerbaijan in.
perhaps our most important contribution will be to continue to strengthen our bilateral relations with both armenia and azerbaijan.
i believe that a more confident attractive and modern country in both cases with ambitious reform agendas will be in a stronger position to overcome the difficult legacies of the past.
we know the choice we want them to make the choice of compromise and peace. we believe that we have a role to play in supporting the co chairs of the minsk group to realise that ambition.
i also see clear possibilities to enhance the eu engagement outside the negotiations themselves.
there will be much to do reconstruction mine clearance refugees internally displaced people returns and the promotion of economic recovery and security support.
we are holding regular consultations now on this subject. let me be very clear however. whatever happens in these final negotiations will matter greatly to us and we will play a role in the way we shape our policy towards the two countries concerned. on my behalf miroslav lajcak our managing director travelled to both countries last month and made these points very clearly.
but we need to see more than that in the coming months.
and increased support for civil society and the open society.
roads railways and pipelines could take the shortest routes and tie the countries of the region more closely together.
in that context we will be looking at ways in which we can enhance our bilateral cooperation in order that it can be geared to support conflict settlement.
build peace through reconciliation. the time to resolve the humanitarian crisis has never been more pressing so that the hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people can return to their homes in dignity.
instead all international hope was destroyed leading to the further frustration of two broken nations and a powerless community to mediate.
now an escalation of the conflict maybe by accident on the ceasefire line cannot be excluded;
last month as we know russia attempted yet another mediation between the two parties in kazan but this failed.
in addition azerbaijan has used the money from its energy wealth to acquire a major quantity of modern weaponry;
i agree with those who have argued in favour of an eu involvement.
that is in no one's interests and further mediation should be pursued urgently.
armenia has likewise made military preparations.
but there are other actors as well to complicate matters russia turkey iran too all have interests in this area and could become involved if the karabakh conflict were to erupt again.
azerbaijan's disappointment at the inaction of the world and of the west in particular is further indicated by its recent decision to join the non aligned movement.
nevertheless i also think that the european union should play a more active role. what do you think lady ashton?
mr president the nagorno karabakh question is often described as a frozen conflict but this is far from the truth.
it is actually thawing very rapidly with an increase in sniper fire at the line of contact escalating armenian casualties and the possibility now of a full scale war breaking out dragging in iran and russia on one side and turkey on the other.
the massive flow of petrodollars is now financing a regional arms race with baku buying large amounts of big ticket military items trebling its defence budget and making increasingly bellicose noises about recapturing nk and with the much smaller armenia with russian help desperately trying to catch up. it is clear to all of those who know the region that stepanakert will never accept direct azeri rule but of course armenia must withdraw from the surrounding occupied raions and allow all the idps to return.
everybody has to be flexible in foreign policy so we cannot apply them absolutely.
the first thing to say is that i agree that it is time for me to go to the region.
the second thing i wanted to say was that we are very happy to play a stronger role.
france is very keen to continue in its present role and feels it has much more to contribute so our role is to support our member state in its work and to make sure that we are able to offer our contribution as appropriate and we will continue to do that. i agree with what has been said by honourable members that it is important to engage
not only with the parties but also in the work we are doing on the ground and that is why i mentioned earlier the contributions we are trying to make in people to people contacts.
as honourable members have said this is not really a frozen conflict;
i agree with what was said about the level of trust being extremely low.
that is what the iraqi delegation which was here this week also confirmed to us while assuring us that the iraqi constitution binds the government of iraq to fully respect the human rights of the residents of camp ashraf who with the help of unhcr and icrc wish to leave for iran or any other destination or wish to stay as political refugees abiding by the laws of iraq. we must understand the reluctance of the iraqi government to let camp ashraf continue to be a nuisance to their good neighbourly relations with iran.
this resolution is not about the iranian regime which has been repressing its people mismanaging the country and destabilising the middle east for decades. anyone who presents a vote for the pse and green amendments which aim to balance the tone of this resolution as a vote for the iranian regime is either arguing in bad faith or has simply run out of arguments. the spirit of our amendments is quite simple. we want to present the whole picture of human rights violations and threats in and around camp ashraf.
above all we express our concern about the reported practices of mental and physical manipulation and severe human rights violations within the cult.
in short this is about the individual human rights of the people in camp ashraf.
for example we request that all camp ashraf residents be allowed to be interviewed by the icrc and unhcr at a neutral location and without people's mujahedin officials in attendance in order to clarify their real wishes. also we must call on the mujahedin leadership to stop controlling the lives of the residents of camp ashraf namely by not letting them leave the camp.
it is a powerful neighbour.
mr president some in this chamber want to present the people's mujahedin as heroes or a true alternative to the iranian regime.
for iraqis iran cannot be wished away.
mr president this debate once again demonstrates the limitations of urgencies with huge numbers of representations because there has been insufficient time for proper negotiation and consultation.
to mr vidal quadras and others having myself sought to get a compromise by getting cross party support only for amendments two three and six and then the socialist support for the joint resolution it is a complete distortion to say that these amendments could be used as a pretext to massacre residents.
nevertheless in recent years they have reformed and have given valuable information to the west about human rights violations in iran and the geographical location of iran's secret uranium enrichment facilities. it was therefore questionable if they should have remained on the eu banned terrorist list.
our motion for a resolution is a call to alert public opinion all over the world before a disaster takes place.
i recently visited the camp myself and i assure you that the allegations included in the amendments tabled are absolutely unfounded.
they are free to leave whenever they want and they live in the best friendly relations with the iraqi population of the region.
the intention of our motion is to protect these people. nobody would understand but if these amendments are adopted the result of the motion would be exactly the opposite.
the lives of many innocent and harmless people depend on your vote.
please do not let them down.
i would draw members' attention to an excellent speech delivered this morning by a former taoiseach of ireland john bruton a friend of this house who speaks in very straight terms about the challenges but also the fact that we are able to do what is set out for us in these tough targets and that ireland as a country has many qualities which will allow us to achieve the targets without suffering.
there will be pain but we will be able to manage that pain. i would like your comments on that please and also to draw your attention to that speech.
i believe having the target and a date to achieve it is vital not just for our own self interest but also for the sake of the european union.
i had expected more detail but i thank you for it.
one five billion of this has actually been spent.
how confident would you be of getting agreement on binding targets?
at the end of the day they have to be binding.
could you also address the implications of this for the cross border healthcare package which is currently under discussion?
if epilepsy is not treated people suffer more deeply than when there is adequate treatment. it is regrettable that in different member states there are different levels of care for people with epilepsy.
our sincere condolences to the families of the victims including women and children who were abducted last month and executed between six and eight november.
eu. the deteriorating security situation with a record level of terrorist attacks and the civilian casualties stemming from them plus a deteriorating economic situation and limited employment opportunities for educated young people these are the origin of migratory pressures and we in europe are directly affected. we need to act. we have
must be found and held accountable for their crimes.
it flags as a first objective the promotion of peace security and regional stability and it is in this perspective that the eu has agreed to co host next year's ministerial conference on afghanistan in october.
life and protesting about what happened in zabul.
once again we call on all parties to the armed conflict including all antigovernment elements to uphold international law. the continued targeting of hazaras risks fuelling ethnic tensions within afghanistan.
two thousand and sixteen this conference in brussels will further foster the stabilisation process in afghanistan where strong afghan leadership combined with continued international solidarity is needed to send a signal of renewed hope confidence and positive change. we have a challenging security situation grave human rights violations a fragile political situation and a very dire economic situation.
we should keep in mind that the everpresent security threat in afghanistan remains one of the main contributors to increased migration both to neighbouring countries and to the
these new atrocities coincide with a growing number of violent clashes between insurgent groups whether different taliban affiliated groups or those linked to daesh. so far no group has claimed responsibility for the beheading of the seven people. the perpetrators
hope. it is all the more urgent that the government of afghanistan and all partners in the region engage credibly to end the conflict and ensure a stable environment with the support of the international community.
it is essential that cooperation in the region be intensified particularly between afghanistan and pakistan. all neighbours in the region must play a constructive role in fighting the terrorism threat and promoting an afghan peace process.
we strongly condemn these atrocious killings and kidnappings and stand with the hazara group in its demand for justice and protection.
the eu and the international community should assist through diplomacy and negotiations.
that is the lesson we need to learn.
today we need to be bringing stability in syria and it is good to see all the key players playing their part in order to achieve this.
in order to protect vulnerable groups the vicious circle of violence needs to be broken.
i urge the afghan authorities to act swiftly and conduct an impartial and comprehensive investigation into those murders.
it is feared that with the gradual international disengagement and fatigue with afghanistan respect for human rights might deteriorate even further.
will you agree with me that there are lessons to be learned from our military involvement in afghanistan without a clearly defined military objective and strategy for what would happen next? if you do agree with me how can those lessons be applied to the current situation in syria?
we believe it is subject to strict compliance with safeguards on privacy and the protection of personal data.
the agreement as it stands now respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the charter of fundamental rights.
it ensures the principle of necessity and proportionality and its purpose is strictly limited to the prevention investigation detection or prosecution of terrorism and terrorist financing.
the task force was for economic governance and when i was expressing my overall satisfaction with the work so far i was referring to that.
of course we believe that to have growth we need confidence and unless confidence comes back to the financial markets in europe we will not be able to achieve that higher level of growth and restore the growth potential before the crisis.
we have seen during this crisis that the decisions taken by one country have a very direct spill over effect on the other countries.
this is the right point.
this is very much one of the sectors where we believe there is value added where a euro spent at european level makes more sense than one spent at national level because there is a european rationale for this kind of investment.
so that is what we are doing speaking with our member states so that we can in fact deliver on our previous commitments.
the commission will of course not abdicate from its right of initiative and will present further proposals building also on the consensus emerging in that task force.
there is a consensus emerging on steps towards economic coordination in europe and most of those steps are completely in line with the proposals made by our communication of twelve may.
first of all what we are doing now in the task force and indeed in the commission a communication on twelve may already mentioned this is examining the possibility of reinforcing the stability and growth pact including by broadening the arsenal of incentives for compliance as i prefer to call it. i believe it makes sense to have these incentives for compliance some people speak of sanctions because we need the credibility of those instruments to ensure that the stability and growth pact is respected.
we want to do it in a fair manner not just penalising those countries that are in the cohesion fund.
as we have seen the problem was that some member states did not respect the treaty that they themselves had adopted and ratified.
those incentives for compliance can be reinforced in several ways for instance more upstream including using them in the preventive part of the pact or more consequently for instance with an increased degree of automaticity.
you have raised many questions.
president barroso you have been a supporter of northern ireland and the important progress that has been achieved in creating a stable and peaceful future for our people.
mr barroso would you agree that the proposed penalties on the department of agriculture and rural development in northern ireland for breaches of the sfp scheme between two thousand and four and two thousand and six are disproportionate in relation to the actual risk to the scheme?
will you and dg agri agree to look again at the suggestion of a five per cent flat rate disallowance given that the department in northern ireland is taking remedial steps to ensure that systems are accurate and that money has already been recovered in relation to the original claims?
in your task force report you indicated your support and that of the commission for the local devolved administration and the work that it is doing in securing a peaceful and prosperous future for the people of northern ireland.
to have sustainable growth we need of course to have sound economic governance in europe we have to respect the stability and growth pact and we need the credibility of sound public finances but we also need new regulatory supervision for the financial market and we need to invest in our potential for growth.
you are completely right when you underline what i have been calling the holistic approach to economic policy. it is a mistake and i think now member states are well aware of it.
if not she would not have completed the negotiations on behalf of the commission.
she could not tell me but she told me that she is still in consultation with parliament.
this is what i can tell you to the best of my knowledge about the information that the commissioner responsible gave to me and to the college.
can i ask president barroso to perhaps tell us what useful lessons have been learned by the commission in relation to the swift agreement which may be successfully and usefully employed when we deal with the very important pnr agreements that await our attention now with the united states in the first place but also with canada and australia?
the commission has invested heavily in this process. i remember also my visit to northern ireland and will continue to do so.
i am aware of the issue you have raised of the single farm payment scheme.
commissioner ciolo has outlined our position on this but let me state very clearly that the clearance of accounts procedure is an administrative one. the member state concerned is given a full opportunity to express its view but the independence of the process is vital.
the commission does not enjoy any discretion in the level of corrections which follows established principles to ensure equal treatment to all member states.
it is critically important.
does the president believe that the agreements which we have been discussing place too much of a burden on the united states as opposed to allowing us to adopt the burden or be subject to the burden of sharing responsibilities and resources in respect of counter terrorism?
but once again the clearance of accounts procedure is an initiative procedure which includes several steps ensuring the member states' right of defence as well as the opportunity for conciliation by an independent body. and now we have to engage with this in a serious objective manner.
we are attached to this and we believe that this agreement as it stands now responds to the concerns expressed by parliament after its first vote.
vice president biden came here and made a very let us say passionate case for the importance of transatlantic relations also in this field.
the commission will not recommend the vote if we are not convinced that it is for the benefit of european citizens.
i want to underline that point. it is for our security as well.
but let us be honest about what is happening. what we have seen is blatant flouting of the stability and growth pact rules and engagement in what we would call probably rather euphemistically off balance sheet activities and financial engineering.
now i am sure we can all agree that the eu member states must adhere to the principles of sound monetary policy fiscal responsibility and honest accounting but do you see this as an opportunity for the eu to gain power over member state budgets or will you tackle the real problem of countries that have cooked the books and amassed massive budget deficits rather than focusing on increasing power over member state budgets?
i believe it is in the interests of all of us to have a more credible way of implementing the stability and growth pact.
i would be grateful if the president would ensure that the commission undertake proper evaluation of the procedures that are now in place to ensure that the scheme is properly administered.
it is in fact some kind of obligation which member states take to the financial markets so i believe it will be extremely difficult to now get from the member states the agreement with the eurobonds principle for this kind of projects.
nevertheless i think there are some possibilities of using other mechanisms.
in my programme i spoke for instance about having some public private partnerships;
in addition the member states have enacted extensive national legislation to maintain a high level of safety of offshore operations in europe.
secondly we have an information response system ready to fight disasters caused by oil spills from tankers or drilling and production facilities.
this system includes a set of tools managed by the european maritime agency focusing on prevention of pollution and response to pollution.
what we are accepting by this agreement is to provide some data subject to strict conditions to the american authorities but we could also think about what we could do better among ourselves.
i think it is a carrot which can create impetus and that is important.
but we all know that in a number of member states in some remote areas the culture is relatively low in this respect in terms of developing in this field and that is what i understand the initiative to be to create an impetus that would really make a difference.
what i am looking for is a spillover effect and that is why the commission should be very careful and very pragmatic in terms of evaluation of the effect that will have.
i would say the truth is somewhere in between.
of course whether it be four six or eight thousand communities it will not be a revolution.
promotion will be absolutely key so if we really want to achieve what we are aiming at and i see a number of positives single authentication low administrative burden and a relatively speedy approach then i think that gradual implementation and the permanent engagement of the commission is crucial.
if i were a mayor of a village which has not applied and i see that in the next community they have applied and they have received their contribution and wifi is being engaged i might see people from my community suddenly leaving for the next village in the evening for entertainment or something
it is an opportunity the programme itself has certain elements which are relatively new.
with this initiative we take one of the needed steps to reduce the digital divide by putting wifi terminals in public spaces.