kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the so called rail maintenance facility for instance will lead to further privatisation and outsourcing of maintenance in many eu countries.
nevertheless the eu has been spearheading this drive like an oncoming train disregarding all legitimate opposition.
thousands upon thousands of people in the val di susa have opposed the destruction of their beautiful valley solely in the interests of profits with no benefit for the people in the area.
mr president i come from ireland and i dread turning on my radio station on a monday morning because i hear that three young people or two young people have died in single car accidents where they hit a tree a wall or a river particularly in rural and remote areas.
essentially the situation is that they die in the early hours of the morning probably because of speeding sometimes because of alcohol.
not because i have any particular problem with the mediterranean and those countries working together if they should wish but i fundamentally object to being required to make decisions based on an attempted evaluation where insufficient evidence is provided.
i oppose the report's suggestion that regions should be forced to use some of their structural funds to fund any macro regional strategy.
this should most definitely be a decision left to member states.
if joint work between member states and joint funding is appropriate then good.
mr president when i speak to road hauliers in my own constituency they tell me two things.
firstly the economic situation has left their business on edge and they are often working simply to cover costs. secondly they are weighed down by levels of bureaucracy and red tape.
many have genuine concerns for the viability and sustainability of their business.
yet some of what is suggested here seems to treat them with mistrust.
the intrusive level of monitoring with the proposal for satellite tracking of vehicles is something i cannot agree with.
furthermore by seeking to bring more vehicles into the remit of these requirements we would close small businesses and therefore weight thresholds should not be altered.
we ought to be working to ensure our haulage industry survives these difficult times not to add to their costs and regulation just because we can.
mr president i welcome this report on the implementation of the water framework directive.
i am not one of those in this place who express dismay disgust or even surprise at this.
let us not complicate the issue discussing shale gas and most particularly let us not complicate the issue with amendments on soil directives. as ever a simple report on implementation was turned into a rambling wish list by members of the committee on the environment public health and food safety and for this reason i have had to abstain.
mr president it may outside the portals of this institution strike people as odd given what is happening that we are devoting all this time to discussing a single european railway area but then again there is i think an appropriateness in this topic both literally and figuratively;
literally because it is precisely such harmonisation such uniformity such micromanagement that led europe to its present discontent and figuratively because the train is the ultimate european metaphor.
when the euro was launched we were forever being told that we would miss the train and that this was a terrible danger and we can now see exactly where the train that we missed has ended up.
as we look we can see that there is still theoretically time to throw the switches.
you could still deflect it on to a different course.
you could allow an orderly dismantling of the eurozone and countries to export their way back into the market but the terrible grisly truth is dawning on us is that there is no one in the engine.
it is out of control and it is going to hit the buffers and when it does the shockwaves will be felt around the world.
mr president it is a great pleasure to actually support this draft proposal. i think the six things that it sets out to do are sensible.
secondly it seeks to maintain the ability for customs to have control for the purpose of enforcement of intellectual property rights in all situations where goods are under supervision.
it simplifies the procedure for dealing with ipr infringing goods sold on the internet and it sets out very clear rules in respect of actions by both rights holders and owners of the goods.
finally it clarifies the position in respect of goods in transit customs should only act if it is likely that the goods are destined for the eu market.
mr president we hear all too often about the tragic loss of life on our roads and quite rightly in the wake of these tragedies it is often asked whether anything could have been done to save that life which was lost.
i have no doubt that the ecall system has a great deal of merit and has the potential to save many lives and from this perspective i can of course support it.
however i do have concerns and would like to see this remain optional rather than mandatory.
i believe that member states should focus their attention very much on the attempts to educate driver behaviour and so try to minimise road deaths in this way as well.
it is a terrible scourge in my constituency we have lost many young lives to deaths on our roads but we must also look at the impact of speed the impact of alcohol and drugs and of driver behaviour as well as at these kinds of measures.
if europe sets a clear strategy then we can actually move things in the right direction and although that is not going to be less challenging for durban i am sure that we can do this.
the swedish minister was one of the two ministers leading that group and i can say for sure that europe was trying to push this very hard.
mr president can i first say thank you very much for the many kind comments including those of chris davies although i know even less than he about football so i could not follow the picture but i guess it was a positive one!
a final word. now we have to think very carefully about the strategy for the way ahead.
that will be one of the first things we will try to get people together in the cartagena group and work there with them as well as working with a lot of others.
maybe we just need a rest first and then come back to the dialogue in early.
i would say yes but mostly perhaps in the sense that people realised in the last twenty four hours that if they did not show the will to compromise there would be a real risk of not getting anything done and the whole process would risk dying.
an adaptation framework a technology framework a forestry framework all the elements from the copenhagen accord the prospect of still having a legally binding deal and some substantial progress on mrv ica and a number of other issues plus the fact that we now have all parties subscribing to the view that we have not all
back in the uk we have also had the spectacle of scientists trying to suggest that one of the coldest novembers we have seen in the last hundred years was actually caused by global warming.
but what have you actually achieved in cancn beyond handing over masses of taxpayers' money in the guise of the green climate fund which i suggest will end up being a lucky bag for african dictators to buy themselves more mercedes benzes and private jets?
personally i think the name of the green climate fund should be changed and i think the politics of envy fund' would be better and closer to the.
there are some very difficult questions to be answered as we go forward.
how do we move from here to make a post kyoto binding agreement that places requirements not just upon developed countries but also upon developing countries?
every government in the world accepts the science and accepts that we are not doing enough to stop world temperatures rising by two degrees centigrade.
two one down and despite her best efforts her team faces relegation;
it requires the governments of the world to join together in collective action;
really how do we get the money that we promised for adaptation and forest protection?
i can understand the relief of delegates there of it not being a defeat but it was hardly a triumph.
and the manager lives to fight another day.
mr president i have absolutely no interest in football but occasionally i have seen pictures of a game and i have looked at the manager and thought of the commissioner.
a vital point is secured and relegation is avoided.
even china this time recognised that there are limits to national sovereignty and accepted that there should be international verification of its emissions because we are in this together one race one species on a single planet.
what does the honourable gentleman know that the rest of the world does not?
mr president i do not think it is a conspiracy to say that we are one world sharing one planet and i think what i got out of cancn was the reality of all those people working together. one of the best parts of being in cancn was sitting on those buses going to and from the conference centre and listening to the delegates who would tell you about what they are doing the zambians working with the russians working with the japanese and the chinese negotiator to get an agreement.
we share one planet and we have no future unless we work together.
taxpayer riots over far bigger scams bail outs to corrupt and incompetent banks propping up the zombie euro and the global warming hoax are yet to come but come they will and unlike prince charles and camilla their targets will deserve everything they get.
i also think that it is important to say that what we achieved in cancn was not just about saving the process.
we wanted to save the process. we wanted to save the prospect of having a global deal and we wanted to ensure that we also got something substantial done in cancn.
we wanted recognition of the gap between the emission reduction pledges of the copenhagen accord now being anchored in the un text and the challenge of keeping global warming below two c. it was very important to state the obvious that we are not there yet.
let me finish with a word about the european union in the climate change conference.
is. when you take steps together in the un context it is slow by definition so no one should believe that the road to south africa is going to be an easy one.
as you know in the spring the commission will present a strategy for completing the transition to a low carbon economy
that is really good.
the only thing i would say at this stage is that europe will do whatever we can to continue to play this very constructive role and to try to build bridges between different points of view while bearing our own priorities very much in mind.
all must now take action as we are doing in europe.
on all three points we made progress. for the first time the two c objective is acknowledged in a un document the pledges are anchored and the obvious has been stated namely that countries need to do more for the world to stay below the two c rise.
i think it is very important now that everybody goes back home and starts to do things in their own nation in their own region and in their own municipality.
we also started a process to strengthen transparency and as we said in cancn it is not enough just to say that you are in favour of increased transparency.
thank you very much for that.
they have done excellent work.
finally we managed to keep open the discussion about the kyoto protocol and a future legal outcome.
this was actually a very important and significant step forward.
i would like to highlight that we actually managed to speak with one voice.
i think that it is not just of interest to the international climate negotiations that for instance a country like china has now accepted international consultation and analysis.
it was as though the whole international community simply wanted this to happen and wanted to prove that of course we need multilateralism when we are fighting global challenges.
science is a slow process evidence has to be studied and deciphered but politics is a quicker game and politics is running ahead of the science;
we can look forward again and we can look at what we need to achieve in durban.
speaking with one voice is very good but now we have to get our proactive diplomacy in place.
i want to deal with one particular issue and that is reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation the so called redd programme which is a very important issue but i am concerned about a lack of policy coherence in the commission in relation to this issue. for example the trade commissioner is currently trying to do a deal with the mercosur countries which will result in
increased beef production in these countries.
that can only come from land that will be deforested which will add to the climate change problem.
i would urge the commissioner to bring this message clearly to the college and to address it in a way that shows us as acting in a coherent way as the european union.
i was perhaps a bit of a cynic about whether these sorts of meetings could achieve anything but whilst there have been many voices in the press complaining about a lack of detail particularly as jo leinen suggests about lack of detail in the area of financing for the green fund and many other issues that have been left unspecified at this stage
i take the optimistic view that this gathering was not the time or the place for dealing with minute detail but was the time to flesh out the global aspirations and talk a bit about strategy and i think that has been achieved.
in my group the ecr we believe in light touch government.
we believe that you will achieve more by encouragement not by haranguing and i believe that this is a step closer to that. i can do no better than to close with the words of my prime minister david cameron when he said yesterday the cancn agreement is a very significant step forward in renewing the determination of the international community to tackle climate change through multilateral action'.
i think you know what i am going to say.
mr president i just wonder if it is in order to congratulate the former president of the commission mr barroso on his appointment with goldman sachs.
and also to express my concern that his pension as a former president of the commission seemingly is not enough.
thank you very much for giving a helping hand here.
in the medium to long term i believe that governments in europe should incorporate pre commercial procurement in their strategic planning for public investments.
in the coming months we hope to see more of those and i invite the members of the committee and also the members of this house to go back to their countries and to talk to the ministers and the municipalities about pre commercial procurement.
i really hope that parliament's report will become a trigger and an important element to add to our research and innovation policy. indeed triggering a strong public sector demand for the development of new innovative products and services in europe can make a difference especially for our
i think that the recovery packages would be a good place to start.
as an immediate response to the concrete recommendations in the report i can confirm that the commission will support actions to promote the sharing of experience and awareness raising and will explore the means to provide incentives for procurers across a number of member states in order to implement pre commercial procurement projects jointly. the commission has already opened calls for proposals in the interreg cip and fp seven programmes
to support the establishment of networks of public authorities on pre commercial procurement.
essentially what we are looking for are intelligent research focused public authorities to generate a demand for innovative solutions and then work with innovative companies large and small but particularly small enterprises who really can benefit from this to fulfil those requirements.
that is why it is so important and why when we are looking to public authorities to continue investment in this time of economic crisis this proposal is even more important than it was when i started this report a few month ago.
this also ties in with the second initiative from the commission covered in my report the lead market initiative' where we are looking for public authorities to lead in a number of key technology areas around health and climate change in transport.
the benefits of having that backing for a small enterprise in particular and giving that commercial support will be really important to that business.
how much of that procurement is actually spent on investigating researching and encouraging the development of new solutions to the big challenges that public authorities and indeed society face every day a better health service a better transport solution dealing with climate change more energy efficient buildings?
it is an extremely important proposal which has wide ranging possibilities for the whole of the european economy.
well the core of the issue is that public authorities in the european union spend huge amounts of public money on buying products and services.
it needs to spread out widely from dg information society as i think it is now starting to do because it is of such importance particularly in the economic times we are in at the moment.
eu procurement spending linked to research and development is less than one of that total procurement budget.
mr president it is particularly appropriate that mrs reding is responding for the commission tonight because my report is focused on a proposal that has been developed over a number of years with her services.
indeed where this has been already rolled out we see the experience where businesses even if they do not produce the winning solution have had an element of their research and development funded that they can then go on and use to develop other revenue generating products.
we want those intelligent customers to really think ahead to be demanding to think about the solutions for which no commercial solution yet exists but where there are basically a range of solutions which can then be developed with the financial contribution from the public authority to do just that to fund research and development perhaps through a first competing stage of ideas and then take those development solutions to a next stage towards the viability of a product or service that can then be launched.
just to wind up this is a solution where everyone will be winners society citizens public authorities business innovators and the european economy.
mr president i rise under rule five of parliament's rules of procedure and also in relation to the issue of accreditation. i want to congratulate all the meps who have been elected and been here today but unfortunately some elected meps have been denied access to this house. three representatives of the catalan people have been denied representation in this house. this house needs to stand up for democracy and needs to stand up for human rights.
human rights watch speaks of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
we want to embrace the democratic reforms but the government cannot leave out a minority the rohingya.
in the meantime press and media both online and offline are not free in burma.
the government must protect people and be held accountable for committing violence if such acts are committed by the security forces for example.
the eu must raise human rights at the highest level and ensure compliance with human rights clauses in trade and investment treaties as well.
this is not an internal issue and i hope that the neighbouring states will also provide support in order to resolve the existing problems as fast as possible.
this is not primarily about religion.
but what is also required is a political solution addressing the tensions between communities.
this is the same as with humanitarian efforts in syria.
we want to give concrete meaning to this proposal.
the amendment reads as follows calls on the commission to put in place a fast track infringement procedure and to consider' i emphasise consider' establishing an independent body within the commission responsible for prosecuting cases of internal market infringements and pursuing infringement proceedings after obtaining the approval of the college of commissioners'.
single internal market that can deliver the growth and economic prosperity that all our citizens want.
some colleagues have mentioned their reservations on the amendment that is to be presented.
we need to transpose internal market legislation on time and correctly.
in my report i mention three ways of overcoming this paradox.
secondly we need to implement laws effectively.
it is certainly not ominous it is about making the internal market work.
let me quickly go through it in order to put their minds at rest.
the question is how to ensure that we make the internal market work for all of us. i believe that we should seize the opportunity of the twenty th anniversary of the internal market to muster the political will to address the remaining weaknesses of the market in order to achieve a truly
he calls upon the commission to pursue swiftly infringement proceedings against countries that have failed to remove minor impediments to a single market.
this person's free movement is that person's lost job.
the freedom enjoyed by this traded good is paid for by that person's job or the other firm's factory.
he calls rather ominously for greater monitoring of member states by the commission. back in one thousand nine hundred and seventy three when the uk joined many of us warned of the orwellian double think that lay behind nice words like free' and freedom'.
but we need to go beyond slogans and spell out how growth can be achieved.
in my report on the internal market scoreboard which i am presenting here today i want to transmit a simple but important message.
if we really want to achieve growth let us truly deliver the internal market to citizens because it is the single most important european investment for growth.
to do this we need to fix what is not working.
where are we failing to deliver?
i am happy to see that my own member state malta once again has the best record amongst member states for transposing most eu laws on time.
other member states such as estonia have shown very positive results on all counts in the internal market health check'.
these positive results do not form an exception to the rule;
rather they show that if there is political will other member states can perform well too.
member states therefore need more ambitious targets and need to stick to their commitments.
building the regulatory framework of the internal market is not however the only step towards delivering the internal market for our citizens.
that is why my report also focuses on the importance of bringing the internal market directly to our citizens and enterprises.
the work of the established network of commission tools is crucial here and the success stories of services such as solvit need to be followed up with a commitment to further strengthen these problem solving services.
for citizens are still faced with a complex and often impersonal network of services when they have a complaint to make.
this makes finding the solution to their problem a problem in itself.
my report therefore calls for further coordination among the commission's network of services and stresses the importance of the your europe portal as the single online gateway for all citizens' problems.
lately we have been asking our citizens to make a lot of sacrifices to ensure that our economies survive the current climate but we do have the internal market which is the best way of delivering growth and the economic prosperity that our citizens expect of us.
as everybody knows we do not always have enthusiastic support for proposals in this chamber but this is one area in which we can pledge more than enthusiasm.
of course delivering a single market for citizens and business does not stop at the creation of good legislation.
without this and without this implementation citizens will not be able to enjoy the benefits of the single market.