kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
taoiseach if you can deploy the same leadership on ecological transition and on tax justice as the one that you have deployed here you will have done a lot for the european union.
you said when you became prime minister that climate action would be your first priority.
you will hardly be surprised by the second topic that i want to raise which is of course taxation.
i am very glad that your government wants to ensure the right of women to control their own bodies.
and you know that ireland often comes to the fore as a tax haven for corporates. of course you would argue and i would agree with you that several member states offer real taxation rates to multinationals that are way lower than the irish nominal.
if we want our single market and single currency to thrive and to deliver benefits to all and not just the richest we need to stop this race to the bottom on taxation and on social protection.
taoiseach the european project is about establishing a lasting peace on our continent through shared prosperity on the one hand and on the other through anchoring our societies in the values of freedom democracy and human rights.
first all societies need to find ways to live within the biophysical constraints that nature sets us.
your country and europe's prosperity depend on it.
letting violence erupt again in ireland will not just spell disaster for the communities concerned but it would it would be an arrow through europe's heart because the european union is and remains a peace project.
i hope that the upcoming referendum will allow your country to make progress in that direction at a time where we see progress in the other direction in too many parts of europe.
yet it doesn't really show.
on a similar line prime minister your government opposes the waste reduction bill proposed by the irish greens which only aims at bringing your country on a par with best practices across europe on the way to a more circular economy.
europe has a choice here either to become leaders in the ecological transition of all societies thereby becoming solution providers to the rest of the world or to stick with the past thereby becoming solution takers from the rest of the world.
yet taoiseach your government has been sorely lacking ambition on tackling climate change.
instead of playing holdout instead of fighting european commission decisions in court i would expect ireland to be at the core of efforts to better cooperate on tax matters in order to give tax justice a chance in europe.
thirty years ago ireland was a very different country.
we need more european action' but at the same time we do not give the necessary instruments and the necessary budget.
your voice is critical in this debate.
we know how existential it is for you but know that we will always be behind you. in these negotiations we are all irish and you have to know that.
finally president i think there is a new generation of politicians in europe who are standing up.
the first is the new governance for the eurozone.
the irish economy has successfully integrated migrants from all over the world from poland from nigeria.
i think that is exactly what we need in europe today this capacity to transform ourselves and to reinvent ourselves and not to destroy ourselves as some of our colleagues want.
and four and two thousand and seven after the enlargement of the european union it was ireland who championed in fact the freedom of movement of all people in the european union including the polish plumber and the romanian doctor.
good decent work and good salaries are the basis of our societies and therefore also the social europe you mentioned is part of that agenda and we need to see action in that field as
let me be absolutely clear the european parliament will stand firm on upholding the good friday agreement and securing peace cooperation and prosperity throughout the emerald isle.
taxes. this is equally important.
in building a europe of the twenty first century we are as you said much stronger together than apart. that is true. and you said the single market is not just for all of our citizens if we do not also protect our citizens against for example big corporations against people that take advantage of a single market to undermine our
next year the united kingdom will leave the european union.
future. thank you so much for this and i look forward to working with you and all others who want to change europe for the better of the people.
it is about solidarity.
i also want to say we share a lot of challenges.
state. we need a common rule book in europe on corporate taxation and that is also why i am asking you prime minister to fight for the common consolidated corporate tax base creating a tax system in the twenty first century that is fair that serves our states that serves our citizens.
both of our countries have seen tremendous changes. we have benefited from the single market from the wealth of trade agreements with third countries and from eu funding and cooperation throughout its history. but for us as socialist and democrats europe is much more than trade and profits.
well. we also need to ensure when we do trade liberalisation and make trade agreements that these trade agreements also follow our values our rules on sustainable development protecting the environment protecting labour rights protecting human rights and ensuring that big corporations pay their fair
globalisation climate change the refugee crisis all of these we have to face together.
we also need to build a europe as you said mr varadkar that will protect the citizens of europe the workers.
this of course will have a special impact on ireland and the people of ireland.
it is very important.
at the end of this debate i would like to thank the prime minister for honouring the past but looking towards the future.
sometimes the current situation in europe reminds me of that famous poem the second coming' by the great irish poet yeats in which he describes a falcon moving further and further away from the falconer until it can no longer hear him and then comes the famous line
this is exactly what europe needs right now.
it was a debate about making the centre hold on those issues where we stand no chance of defending our values and interests alone.
the uk is leaving there are seats that are free so it is possible to have a transnational constituency without any individual member state losing any positions and it gives people two votes one vote for their mep who represents them in their region and a second vote for a european party challenging people to think about those ideas.
that is a way in which i think we can turn a thought into a feeling and really give people in europe a positive feeling about what europe can
they elect their president for example through an electoral college.
we are not going to increase defence spending to anything like the level that you see in other european countries but we intend to do it for two reasons first of all because a lot of the members of our defence forces our air corps our soldiers people in our navy are quite poorly paid.
we really want to drive that forward.
that of course is a matter for them. i am not entirely sure that transnational lists would necessarily benefit big countries because i see what is here in front of me the heads of groups and i see that a number of the people who are heads of their groups are actually from small and mediumsized countries.
i concur totally with what you said about the new relationship and also the need to get the executive and assembly up and running.
and it is also around fiscal policy balancing the books for the first year in ten years ireland will not have a budget deficit this year.
i think the best thing we can do to put fire back into the engine of social europe is to build on what was agreed in gothenburg.
it would be a good example of direct democracy though we would also have to have safeguards because while one million people is a lot in the european union of five hundred million it is also a small minority.
we do not have credit bubbles again in europe and the european central bank is best placed to do that.
i think it is a good idea.
it is about reducing our debt so that we can ensure we have the capacity to borrow again in future if we need to and it is also about setting up a rainy day fund which we have set up to put some of our budget surplus into to prepare for a future downturn which inevitably happens at some point. ms childers asked about the social contract and social europe.
but i think we have an opportunity now.
to be frank it is our intention to increase defence spending.
do. thank you very much again for your contributions.
catalonia one of my favourite parts of the world and barcelona is one of my favourite cities i think the only solution is dialogue and i hope that the central government in madrid will engage in dialogue with the new government in catalonia.
we are now restoring and increasing their pay and of course that involves an increase in defence spending.
perhaps one of the ways we can do that is something i touched on in my speech which is really to take action in relation to africa to make a part of europe's mission to improve africa to stabilise it and to make it prosperous in the way that much of asia has become prosperous.
it is a big challenge and i imagine a lot of people would cast a blank vote the first time round.
to mr nicholson i just want to thank you very much for your constructive comments.
you of course worked here as a young man;
they were written in at a later stage but of course as everyone knows nothing binds either side to continued membership of the union and you know the uk government intends to fully uphold it.
there has been a common travel area between us of course for decades but it is on trade where that border could in some ways be challenged.
in fact we should call you i think a european unionist whatever the cost to ireland may be.
it's run by the big boys but right at the minute you are important and you're useful because you have helped with the obstructionism and the delay of brexit.
and yet it seems to me that you are prepared to put your devotion to the european project above the interest of irish farmers and other companies too and i wonder why.
a second referendum forced on their people conducted on the most unfair undemocratic lines that i have ever seen.
and yet despite the fact that no one should be fighting harder for a genuine rounded trade deal than you that doesn't appear to be the case.
you don't want britain to leave because you know if they do others will leave too.
but i fear that you are all working together with tony blair and nick clegg to make sure we get the worst possible deal.
i say that because i've seen it all before.
and i would just say this to you i don't want a second referendum on brexit absolutely not.
you are part of course of a big attempt here and elsewhere to frustrate and to attempt to overturn brexit.
in fact i'd even go further and say that if there was no trade deal between the european union and the united kingdom an exception should be made for ireland because of political sensitivity and it's something that the world trade organisation i have no doubt would back up.
well let's cast our minds back a short distance the rejection of the lisbon treaty by the irish.
normally of course small countries count for nothing here.
the border issue has been put up as a problem but i think your predecessor bertie ahern has said look in practical terms we don't face a problem.
firstly on the good friday agreement where as you know the european union had little or nothing to do with it.
as in the relationship between northern ireland and the republic of ireland that future should be characterised by close links shared values and cooperation.
you have rightly stressed that there should be no hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland.
that would be the case if barriers were erected within the united kingdom internal market disrupting almost sixty of local sales that go to great britain.
two thousand and eighteen will be a pivotal year for relationships between the european union and the united kingdom and between northern ireland and the republic of ireland.
i hope that we can continue to build that positive future which is vital for peace security and economic prosperity.
obviously it is a future with the united kingdom outside of these institutions but an important partner in trade security research and many other areas.
the union that matters most to northern ireland both constitutionally and economically is within the united kingdom. in focusing on the border mr varadkar you must not forget the pre existing relationships east and west that are of vital importance to both of our countries.
the outcome of brexit on the ties between our two countries will serve as a wider test of the credentials of any deal reached between the united kingdom and the european union.
we agree but mr varadkar i hope you recognise that it is not in the irish republic's interest to see northern ireland suffer.
in the past you said what you said on the banks but you betrayed
in the banking crisis the eu institutions thought nothing about bending and breaking the rules.
you will not get away
listen to the people.
it. taoiseach the future of europe as currently envisioned is a full federal united states.
eu? a crisis let's say on the eastern borders.
today you say that pesco doesn't impact on our neutrality.
continue to unite our continent.
it has agreed the leaders' agenda seventeen summits in the next eighteen months on the road to sibiu to chart our common future.
last september i therefore presented to you my very own vision for a more united stronger and more democratic union a union where solidarity and responsibility go hand in hand in all policy areas from migration to the banking and monetary union from energy to our common budget;
getting back to schengen; and completing the digital market and the energy union.
as peter in the past shaped our policies of today so can we shape the policies of the future with the choices we make today.
however the future of europe cannot remain a scenario.
to succeed in europe we have to put an end to this eternal artificial opposition between the union and its member states.
i would like to pay my personal tribute to peter sutherland. he was the first ever commissioner to receive the gold medal from this house.
the white paper set a new approach debate not dictate and the white paper and the different scenarios are still inspiring the debate across europe.
delivering on our social agenda;
peter sutherland was a proud irishman another giant of european politics and a friend of so many.
it was less than a year ago that i presented to you the white paper on the future of europe five possible scenarios for our project.
i wanted to say that i am delighted that my good friend leo comes before this house today and i would like to thank president tajani and the parliament for holding this timely debate on the future of our union.
what are your thoughts about how the european parliament and national parliaments operate and would you have any guidance or advice for us?
i have to say you have set a high standard for those who come after you and that is excellent not just because you are irish but because it is an important debate.
you were disarmingly honest in relation to climate and the actions in ireland and we hope and want to make progress. you were equally frank about where taxation needs to be dealt with and that is at the oecd level.
it is a good start to our work here in january that we have the opportunity to have an open and frank debate with the leader of my country an taoiseach leo varadkar and that that process will continue.
i do not want to return to the borders of the past or the divisions of the past.
mr lamberts please do not speak about northern ireland ever returning to violence in my presence again because we are not.
i listened to your comments ms dodds. i was very concerned about brexit for those very reasons and i certainly hope that we can move forward east west north south and equally.
can i say on a final point and i hope you will agree with me that the key to this agreement is to move things forward in northern ireland and get the northern ireland executive back up and running again at stormont. that sir is the key to the future of northern ireland and the future of our relationships within the context of brexit.
i sat in the meetings with the victims and the families of the victims of the omagh bombing and what i witnessed was their incredible dignity.
they did not have anger;
they did not have hatred just a sense that no one should ever go through this again.
it was not the common travel area that got rid of the checks on the border it was the creation of the single market;
it was the creation of free movement;
it was the values espoused in this place and put into action that removed those barriers.
we should never forget that.
and a warning there are people who just want brexit at any cost.
they will try to undo what was agreed in phase one.
it threatens to harden the border reinforce partition and undermine the good friday agreement.
so therefore i welcome your comments today about a special arrangement for the north being possible.
sinn fin meps liadh n riada lynn boylan matt carthy and i also welcome your comments that the people of the north will never again be left behind by the irish government.
you must also commit to a europe that serves people not multinationals.
the civil workers' european environmental linguistic and human rights of all citizens needs to be protected and indeed enhanced. they won't be achieved by a non compassionate faceless europe.
anger. they are proud of their european culture of their achievements and they want to protect the european way of
they want to combine freedom with security and cultural identity with tolerance.
that is why your statement on the future of european defence is a great statement.
this regard. it is either a europe sticking to its cultural richness or not a europe
of course there are casualties of abuse murder and rape. that's the price to pay for the extermination of national identities.
that is deliberate eu policy. there is only one obstacle on the road to the european caliphate and that is the patriotic citizens who vote for patriotic parties.
the eu has declared these parties their enemies their biggest threat.
they are homo sacer.
the future of europe is the caliphate unless the citizens rise and defend their culture and identity.
so are you in favour of a common cooperate consolidated tax base in the eu so that the race to the bottom does not continue?
but taoiseach that is representative democracy not direct democracy.
direct democracy is something like the citizens' initiative where one million citizens from seven member states call on the eu to act. so will you support real direct democracy?
but do you envisage that the commitment we have made will mean increased defence and security spending in ireland?
finally tax justice.
you said twice this morning the eu cannot act unilaterally.
do you see ireland as having any role in shaping this policy where all citizens and multinationals pay their fair share of tax?
mr schulz himself said that our behaviour put him in mind of adolf hitler.
mr president perhaps you would allow me to make the general point that in an open society the right to free speech trumps the right not to be offended and in a democracy the only people who should determine whether or not we sit and legislate in a chamber are our constituents.
the removal of a member can materially affect the outcome.
they could never have got these rules through the national parliaments.
but whether they are useless or whether they are helpful they are certainly not deleterious to health. so why did the european union criminalise an activity harmlessly pursued by some twenty million europeans?
answer lobbying by some large pharmaceutical corporations which saw the opportunity to put small herbalists out of business something that has now happened all over my constituency.
i have no idea what the efficacy of these cures is.
i think we all agree and as a former electronic engineer i know about the level of hazardous and toxic substances within this equipment.
many people ask me what acta stands for and i was one of the shadow rapporteurs on the anti counterfeit trading agreement. i know after today some will wonder about our level of transparency democracy and freedom of speech but i want to focus on the five reasons why we disagreed with the resolution. i was very grateful to get the joint ppe ecr resolution.
secondly the commission has been transparent.
fourthly this does not affect generic medicines in transit across the eu and finally developing countries are free to join the acta agreement if they want to. they just have not chosen to do so.
furthermore the eu will strive for the session to adopt agreed conclusions that take into account the particular reality of rural women and girls world wide that challenge social norms and gender stereotypes that promote equal economic independence for women and men that promote women's participation in decisionmaking at all levels and that strengthen the prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls and the protection of its victims.
in fact we have seen attempts to go backwards and to call into question once again the rights of women and girls including in europe.
the members of the european parliament have an important role to play complementary to that of the member states and the other eu institutions.
in this global context the eu is one of the world leaders in gender equality.
with the eur five hundred million eu un spotlight initiative the latest commitment to collaborate with other international organisations in combating violence against women a global alliance is being formed.
and to mitigate genderbased violence in humanitarian crises the eu has taken over the leadership for the call to action on protection from gender based violence in emergencies.
i am very happy to be here today and i welcome this opportunity to listen to your views on priorities for the upcoming session.
we are by far the biggest investor.
this year the priority theme is the empowerment of rural women and girls while the review theme is participation in and access of women to the media and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women.
i would like to thank parliament for drafting such a comprehensive document that captures the priorities related to this year's priority team very well.
they are more affected by climate change than men;
they are more dependent on natural resources; and they play a significant role in ensuring food security for their communities.
their role in the fight against malnutrition is crucial and their empowerment is necessary.
i am happy to report that this report highlights the importance of women's involvement in citizenship but we must remember that fair political representation will never be achieved if girls' human rights are not fulfilled.
this means eliminating fgm giving girls access to reproductive health and menstrual sanitary products and fighting against rape culture child marriage and all forms of gender based violence.
later this month i'll join with colleagues to take our work to the united nations in new york but i am very concerned that mr trump's administration has refused to grant visas to many women activists who planned to attend and that this refusal is a way to silence the grassroots women's movement. i therefore call on the eeas and the member states to use all diplomatic channels to help ensure that these attendees can obtain their visas.
i am aware that there are a lot of people who would like to contribute to the debate in catch the eye.
however i think that catch the eye is not possible because of the time constraints.
i apologise to colleagues who would like to contribute so please contribute in writing.
it was a stream of clichs that indicates that the speaker is not thinking at all about what he is saying.