kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
honourable members as a conclusion the commission is committed to improving the surveillance framework.
all the relevant results and documents are publicly available on the commission's website. thus all the elements needed to perform the commission's analysis and calculations are publicly available.
the commission provides and publishes regular country specific aa ea and eu level analysis of the economic perspectives.
the commission improved the surveillance cycle by presenting the economic analysis in country reports three months earlier than in the
past. the commission is also currently engaging in a dialogue with the european parliament and the council in the context of the so called two and six pack review and five presidents including the european parliament president are discussing the future of emu including its governance mechanism.
facts and the applicable rules.
the commission document on flexibility is just an interpretative communication which provides additional guidance for the implementation of the stability and growth pact without ordering the rules themselves. indeed due to the complexity of the facts to be determined and of the economic analysis to be performed the sgp provisions leave a substantial margin of appreciation to the commission and to the council.
however this whole discussion this evening demonstrates that neither members of this house nor the member states in particular are very happy with its application.
the deficit measure be it in the form of a headline deficit or a structural deficit suffers from important weaknesses.
one of them is that the deficit gives us a short term picture of the budgetary situation and actually is not a good measure of long term sustainability in terms of fiscal policy.
i am particularly pleased that in the negotiations all sides followed the rationale and the key objective of the commission's proposal primarily to strengthen the safety on our roads.
and fourth i also welcome the electronic exchange of information which will facilitate the mobility of drivers and the enforcement of the training obligations.
this piece of legislation will be another important element in the reinvigorated road safety framework we are putting in place. we all agree that it is imperative that we have a high level of standards and requirements when it comes to professional qualifications of those that drive heavy goods vehicles the. impact of those crashes are very severe.
in brief we are satisfied that in the future our system for professional qualifications will bring the following four key benefits first training of professional drivers will have a much stronger road safety dimension to it with a particular emphasis on how to take care of vulnerable road users;
second the mutual recognition of training across the eu is facilitated for the benefit of drivers and companies;
we should always keep in mind why we are doing all this.
third the content and organisation of the training will be updated to take into account the ongoing technological developments and new realities such as distraction;
our rules are already good but they certainly will be further improved. the agreement we have reached on this proposal certainly brings these necessary changes that will make the regime even more effective.
congratulations on arriving at such a good compromise and i look forward to a positive vote in the plenary tomorrow.
the commission is strongly engaged with the member states and also with you in the parliament to turn this situation around and stop this silent killer on our roads.
when it comes to hgvs i cannot think of any member of this house better qualified for the task.
however this does not depart from the fact that the cpc driver certificate of professional competence is a damaging piece of legislation.
mr president in a competitive eu market with continuing crossborder services development and a continuous shift towards a digital economy transport companies often tend to offer more services but without investing enough on their drivers' training and skills development or their working conditions. now there is evidence that this has unfortunately caused more accidents involving trucks on eu roads.
the efficiency and safety of the road transport business rely heavily both on the quality of vehicles used and on the skills of the drivers employed by the transportation companies.
it also relates to other aspects of the road package which is why i have tabled separately an amendment to this directive in relation to hired vehicles as drivers need to be aware of the issues around that too.
for this reason the qualification and periodic training of drivers and the ability to verify these skills and enforce the legislation that regulates them across the eu must be regularly updated to match changes.
ensuring the highest possible safety standards is critical which is why driver training must also focus on protecting vulnerable road users such as pedestrians cyclists and persons with limited mobility.
in fact we do need european wide standards because we need to make sure that we are protecting workers and vulnerable road users across the piece.
i would once again like to thank the co legislators for their constructive approach and flexibility shown in reaching this agreement.
i am convinced that the end result will contribute to that objective and that it will address the problems we had identified in our proposals.
let me stress here that these new rules will apply to all drivers operating on our roads including the third countries. this is another important contribution a step forward towards our vision of zero fatalities and serious injuries on our roads and i am glad that in may i will be able to present to you our more comprehensive road safety package
which involves the policy orientations for the future concrete proposals on the infrastructure safety and vehicle safety as well as a list of other tangible actions that we are working on including the communication on autonomous mobility.
for ordinary people difficulty in accessing information and in confronting a dysfunctional public administration leads to a sense of helplessness and encourages vigilante justice and other unacceptable means of conflict resolution.
the challenges that are faced by human rights defenders and advocates of reform in madagascar are complex and substantial.
successful elections can only take place if citizens feel safe and secure if candidates are free to run if human rights and fundamental freedoms are demonstrably protected and if the rule of law is maintained.
in relation to the action the european union is taking on a regular basis i would remind the house that our high representative ms mogherini regularly raises these issues in relation to human rights including madagascar and has raised them as recently as the our ocean conference in malta or the last donors conference in paris.
it is important that we assess the political climate as we approach the presidential election which is due a year from now.
the eu is focusing all development and humanitarian aid on poverty reduction and is linking our budget support to human rights criteria.
we are naturally concerned in the commission about reports of violence and intimidation in madagascar.
we recall the african union charter on democracy elections and governance which sets out a clear democratic vision including key elements for a successful election such as strengthening of independent and impartial national electoral bodies the maintenance of national mechanisms that redress election related disputes and ensuring fair and equitable access to state controlled media
the union will continue to encourage the progress which is needed in democratic consolidation.
the european union is focusing on financial support and technical support to the national electoral commission and to civil society to assist in the organisation of these particular elections.
since the holding of democratic elections in two thousand and thirteen and the restoration of constitutional order we have fully resumed our cooperation but we must recognise that the challenges faced by madagascar can only be comprehensively addressed with stronger institutions and more accountability.
two thousand and eighteen next week we will have a very important occasion when the african union and the european union will be launching the external investment fund which has been proposed by jean claude juncker president of the european commission.
there is widespread social exclusion and women and children are suffering in particular from exploitation.
i want to assure ms kyenge that we continue to believe that madagascar can enjoy a positive future if it can break the cycle of political crisis which has held back the development of resilient institutions and viable long term reforms which the country needs and which the eu is highly committed to supporting. there is urgent work to be done as ninety of the population live on less than usd two per day
i have regular contacts with the african union commissioner for agriculture and we are working on developing technology transfer and vocational training and other development projects around how we can improve the position of women in agriculture in particular in africa and indeed in madagascar in order to get the benefits of the great cooperation of the eu and the african union but also to improve the lot of ordinary people through agriculture and food on the african continent including madagascar.
and almost one in two children suffer from malnutrition.
for madagascar this is a critical period but also a period of opportunity.
these are where the concerns about human rights are raised by the eu's highest level as mr preda has acknowledged and has indicated.
ensuring credible inclusive and transparent elections has been mentioned by many members in this house and is a means of addressing a number of systemic issues and doing so well before the electoral campaign itself has begun.
they stem from a culture of impunity which has allowed corruption to persist but are exacerbated by specific issues such as disputes over land ownership and a lack of confidence in decentralised administration across this enormous and complex country.
therefore in welcoming the call to devote attention to the preparations of the forthcoming presidential elections i strongly believe that supervision from the international community's side is required in order to ensure that democratic standards are met and that elections take place in a free open and transparent manner.
they can bring a lot of expertise and direction to countries like madagascar and also help us better understand their problems and help them deal with issues like human rights violations and illegal logging etc.
and to ensure that their elections are properly conducted and fair.
madam president the human rights situation in madagascar right now is extremely serious. the everyday reality of human rights defenders is intimidation threats lack of freedom of association and expression
and judicial harassment in clear contravention of international human rights norms.
they must be allowed to carry out their work in safety.
the court sentences that have been handed down to human rights defenders and journalists to force them to stop their work such as in the case of raleva must be quashed.
after the last elections we were all hopeful that the situation would improve but this is not happening.
while the outbreak of the plague has recently been dominating the headlines there are many other serious issues threatening the wellbeing of its citizens and undermining their human rights. the reports of the government arbitrarily detaining human rights defenders journalists and activists and the cases of extrajudicial killing are alarming and disturbing.
this needs to end.
as madagascar enters a new election year the eu should be more actively engaging in helping the country to strengthen democracy and the rule of law and should provide as much technical assistance as necessary to this end.
this. at this point i would like to reiterate that security and fundamental rights are intrinsically related
its position until the next commission is in place.
it is also important that member states carry out minimum checks on persons as required by the schengen border code and systematically check the travel documents of all persons at external borders against the relevant databases.
we must also facilitate and promote european action for instance a european pnr would be important here. we need to reinforce and spread the very important preventive work that has already been going on for a couple of
the commission stands ready to support work in this field highlighted by the european council in august.
it allows today for specific action to be taken on the basis of alerts.
the commission is trying to be helpful creating forums for the exchange of information.
it is very important not to stigmatise any group here. we will also do everything to give priority to the enforcement of the framework decision on combatting racism and xenophobia by means of criminal
pnr data could be an essential tool to carry out trend pattern analyses identifying potentially high risk travellers.
we need to step up our efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters and we need to work together in the european union. first of all we need to ensure better information exchanges between the member states notably by establishing appropriate mechanisms.
of course an eu pnr needs a clear legal framework and coherent data protection safeguards across the eu in line with article eight of the charter as interpreted by the european court of justice. eu legislation must lay down clear and precise rules governing the scope and the application of the measures and imposing appropriate safeguards so that the persons whose pnr data has been retained have sufficient guarantees to protect their personal data against the risk of abuse and any unlawful access or use of that data.
as you know member state after member state is developing its own pnr system and it would be much better to have a joint system with common rules not least when it comes to data protection.
another strand of action is the detection of returnees from conflict zones to europe and therefore issues of border security and border management play a role here.
it is a serious threat to the european union and we saw what happened in brussels only half a year ago when a returning foreign fighter opened fire in the jewish museum in brussels and killed four people.
one such mechanism is the passenger name record data that the council mentioned.
we will continue our work on detection technologies to make sure that our own aviation security is as strong as it has to
we know that many of these organisations recruit via the internet. that is why we have started a dialogue with internet providers to see if we can cooperate in developing counter narratives online and in cooperation for instance with returned people who can tell their stories.
looking forward aviation security capacity building in third countries is a priority.
the schengen information system is an effective tool for the detection and disruption of suspicious travel by sharing information about foreign fighters.
we need to step up our action here to combat this dangerous phenomenon of foreign fighters.
there are voices calling for a revision of the existing framework on this but it is important to first look at how we can use in an optimal way the existing tools and measures and make the best of them. the situation is urgent and the commission is of course looking at technical discussions but for the moment we do not plan any initiatives in this area. you must also understand that the commission reserves
the commission is making efforts to accelerate and improve the information exchange on sis alerts among member states and it is crucial that member states use all the possibilities offered by the system today.
here. combatting racist and xenophobic crime intolerance discrimination including promoting integration and social cohesion is a key element of eu policies.
we also need of course to respect human rights and avoid stigmatisation of certain groups.
it is clear that it has nothing to do with islam and a huge majority of muslims all over the world are condemning it.
decapitation rape and murder of innocent civilians children women men journalists health workers.
there have to be structures from this and we can share a lot of information and good practices here.
it would be helpful to have a pnr and i think a system could be set up that is robust when it comes to data protection but still serves its purpose.
from what i hear this is going well especially amongst the most concerned eight or nine states but more and more countries in the european union are concerned about this right now.
we have more than one zero experts from all over europe connected to the ran network the radicalisation awareness network and they can help member states with advice setting up local action plans setting up exit programmes and advising on how to put up centres where worried families can call where do i call if i am worried that my son or my brother
they allow for a lot of things to be done today and member states should make full use of them.
this is false.
but we do have europeans travelling to fight with these groups and this is a problem. they commit terrible acts there and they can do us a lot of harm when and if they come home and by the way there are no indications whatsoever that they come to europe as asylum seekers.
we need to create police cooperation intelligence sharing and in fact we are setting up different platforms where they can share information.
is planning to go away?
we also need to cooperate more on the preventive side. local communities religious leaders teachers civil society can play a very important role at local level to identify young people young men and women increasingly there are also young girls travelling to fight to identify them and prevent them from going when it is possible.
we can use sis and border control measures much more efficiently.
a patchwork of fourteen different pnr systems not only leaves gaps in security for terrorists to exploit but it leaves gaps in our data protection for travellers. the issue of pnr is often presented in a polarised way but i believe you can protect the civil liberties of the individual while protecting the safety of us all.
as rapporteur i would like to assure you that i will make sure we hold ourselves to the highest possible standards and put in place the toughest data protection rules we can. we must never compromise europe's hard fought for civil liberties.
they are criminals and terrorists and i believe that we should refer to them as such.
they want to replace a europe of freedom and peace with fear and destruction. they call themselves the islamic state but they do not represent the muslim faith.
there is no place for this in europe. we have dealt with such behaviour before and we will do it again by working with our communities and our young people and addressing the problems at their source.
i urge members to look at this agreement again.
leaders of the european council the un security council and the airlines all want an eu passenger name records agreement in order for law enforcement authorities to capture eu foreign fighters and address the chaotic information exchange system that they currently face.
and engagement with internet service providers to curb radical on line content. it is widely accepted that this problem cannot be resolved by security related measures alone and that a key issue in addressing it is a programme of proactive engagement with the communities affected.
the phenomenon of individuals travelling from all over europe to the fighting has affected the majority of european states and it is one to which ireland my own country gave priority during their recent presidency of the union in.
meaningful engagement with these communities is an essential part of the process in order to avoid any sense of profiling of stigmatisation of sectors of the population.
the protection of fundamental rights and recognition from the outset that the majority of people wish to go about their daily lives in peace and to play a productive part in society is enshrined within this engagement. the growth of extremism which we are now witnessing across the reign is a cause of considerable concern which i know is shared by all of us in this room.
we hear various reports of figures in their thousands or hundreds i do not know but certainly it is happening.
mr president the compilation of accurate statistics in relation to the numbers of actual foreign fighters is problematic due to the secretive nature of those travelling and many of the circuitous routes such individuals take in reaching their destinations;
the destruction and displacement of the ancient christian communities of northern iraq has been harrowing to witness.
two thousand and twelve it is important to say that the home nations of these fighters are taking this issue seriously.
our interfering has destabilised the whole region and dramatically changed lives.
there are already enough combatants and our involvement will encourage further radicalisation and fundamentalism not least because air strikes will lead to innocent civilian deaths.
we must not be seen as those leading a new crusade in muslim lands. to prevent this from happening i am holding a conference in london on five december on the radicalisation of the youth.
many a family has been left heartbroken and devastated in my country and in europe.
mr president people who join isis or blow up buses and trains in europe for that matter are not generally uneducated unemployed victims of discrimination.
they are people driven by ideology and faith.
we must pay attention to what contributes to the radicalisation of second generation muslim immigrants in europe.
muslim clerics who are banned even in islamic countries are free to operate and preach in europe.
in our dealings with isis above all else we must win the moral argument and understand that isis so recently formed as an entity such as it is is not a thing in itself it is a symptom of a wider problem partly brought about by our actions in the middle east.
the roots to this go deep.
the very existence of many of the states we are dealing with goes back to the historic actions of a number of our member states not least my own.
even in today's new york times a foreign fighter is quoted as saying isis is the divine vehicle that will dismantle the european borders drawn by britain and france at the end of world war i'.
this goes back a very long way and unless we comprehend the causes and also much else and i disagree that a massive security infrastructure at home is the solution when the causes are deeply rooted elsewhere that disjoint in our values because we are not seen as being impartial is exploited by recruiters in highlighting our selective and partial application of our own much vaunted values in our dealings with the region.
and will the eu meps pay themselves at the same levels of tax as in their own countries?
a eur six hundred a month expense allowance;
well i agree with you.
mr president on the release of the panama papers we have once again seen the usual outcry from politicians saying the rich are not paying their fair share of tax like mr moscovici here in his speech before us today he wants to make the rich pay their fair share.
therefore i say to you will you agree that you and all your other commissioners should put your tax accounts online so that the public can see the tax transparency of the commissioners? you also said that you want to crack down on tax havens.
so therefore will you crack down on europe's biggest tax haven that of brussels? whilst the people of belgium and across europe pay tax rates of thirty forty or fifty you eu commissioners civil servants and eu staff can pay as little as.
it is a provocation to ordinary citizens who pay their fair taxes and it destroys jobs when sme tax burdens are thirty higher than those of multinational corporations. and fundamentally these economic criminals and tax evaders are undermining justice and eliminating trust in our societies and economies.