kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
this has to be answered.
the rule of law and democracy are common european values.
international crime and international terrorism know no borders and in europe we have too many borders.
we have looked for international and european cooperation and we have never said the european parliament may not debate this issue.
the stimulus for this debate is clearly an incident which is causing deep emotion and that is well placed.
but there is no question that we have copenhagen criteria and there is no question that this is a matter for the whole of the european union. we are a community of values.
at the same time the commission calls on all political forces to demonstrate responsibility and restraint.
should these fundamental values come into question at home the commission has a responsibility to uphold the values of the treaty. at different times and in different situations the commission has responded firmly where there was particular pressure put on respect for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
so i hope that all institutions of the eu will continue to work together to encourage the rule of law and freedom in bulgaria.
we all know that there is a diversity of legal and political cultures across the eu but the coherence and endurance of our union also relies on important commonalities and standards the rule of law multi party democracy independent judiciary
achieving the fundamental reforms needed in order to reach convincing results requires the joint efforts of government parliament the judiciary and civil society.
we need responsible political leadership that puts the rule of law and the interests of the citizens first.
so eu membership brings support and it also brings expectations.
we will continue to work to help meet the goals of the cvm.
none of these is a given.
in a eurobarometer last summer seventy eight of bulgarians said they wanted their country to achieve standards comparable to other member states and seventy six wanted the eu to take a strong role in this.
these are issues which are very relevant in the context of the rule of law and this led to the establishment of a framework to support bulgaria in these areas the cooperation and verification mechanism the.
the most basic functioning of the european union depends on mutual trust between member states' systems of law and justice. this needs common standards of respect for the rule of law.
political parties are the bridge between government and society in the ways they translate society's demands into political ideas and programmes and in the way they hold government to account on behalf of citizens.
this is particularly vital in times of economic crisis.
of primary importance are principles like freedom the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights.
intimidation of or violence directed at legal political parties is therefore an attack on democracy itself and we must say this clearly it is unacceptable in any form.
these are the values which have spurred the european union on in good times and held us together in more difficult times.
the rule of law and democracy are as we see it two sides of the same coin and modern representative democracy is inconceivable without a thriving multi party system.
the rule of law also brings the stable environment so critical to the confidence of partners and investors.
in the run up to the accession of bulgaria to the eu in two thousand and seven it was agreed that further work was needed to address shortcomings in judicial reform the fight against corruption and tackling organised crime.
commission follows these issues very closely. we monitor analyse and make recommendations.
criminal acts must not be allowed to fuel extremist political sentiments.
this is exactly what the bulgarian people expect.
progress under the cvm will also mean progress in consolidating the rule of law.
to uphold them we all need to nurture and to strengthen them every day at all levels of society and in all member states.
the commission has made it very clear from the outset that while the attack is a matter which is internal to bulgaria it will be essential that the bulgarian authorities conduct an in depth investigation and bring those responsible to justice and do so quickly.
as a union we have to be clear on our values firm on our principles and fair on how we approach this.
indeed the eu's commitment to these values goes beyond our shores as we partner third countries to make them take root and become a universal common good.
as the democratic overseer of developments in the eu parliament can also play a crucial role in monitoring and raising awareness of the importance of the rule of law in the member states underlining its indivisible link with democracy.
freedom of expression the respect for fundamental rights and an active civil society.
particularly over the coming months it is important that the electoral campaign does not interrupt the process of reform.
bulgaria's people are on the right path but leadership is lacking.
the sad fact is that the key institutions of justice do not command public confidence in bulgaria.
a few hours later the interior minister asked the judiciary to press only minor charges.
the reaction to it by the bulgarian authorities makes it imperative.
questions should be asked about the security arrangements for the conference. two letters from the party to the interior ministry requesting adequate security went unanswered and the attack showed protection to be severely lacking.
the veneta markovska affair and a controversial judicial appointment have heightened that concern.
the commission will shortly give the council an oral update on progress under the cooperation and verification mechanism.
as with commissioner reding's action in hungary this house expects no less.
the european commission's verification report last july highlighted worries about judicial independence and about the commitment to and direction of reform in particular the postponement of the new penal code.
but the commission must insist too on a full investigation of which the results must be made public.
we have long been concerned about bulgaria's judiciary.
that incident of itself might not justify this debate;
we expect bulgaria to attain and live up to eu standards of justice and we urge the union and its member states to redouble their efforts to help bulgaria in this task.
attempts were made to trivialise the incident. a charge of hooliganism and a death threat is not sufficient for an attack of this nature particularly since the procurator general has today suggested that the attacker did not act alone.
it was first announced that the attacker armed with a gas pistol and two knives would be charged with attempted murder.
such an update could usefully be given here too.
it is disgraceful for mr weber to suggest in support of a rogue party in his increasingly cynical political family that this debate is about an election campaign.
these allegations are serious and deserve to be investigated considering the whole situation in the country and the relevance of organised crime in bulgaria as europol attests.
so obviously this is not something that i believe taints members of the government.
but of course these allegations are important.
more important than ever are the serious allegations of basic rights and freedoms that are under threat in bulgaria as the attempted murder last weekend illustrates.
it is part of the united kingdom and i accept that that was a slip of the tongue.
i am not implying anything but let us answer the questions.
mr stoyanov i know of your political party and what you stand for but you must know too that the attacker was armed not only with a gas pistol which at the range at which it was fired had it gone off might well have killed but was armed also with two knives.
that was established immediately after the event.
that charge was later reduced on a request from the interior ministry to a charge of hooliganism and death threats.
it seems to us that those charges are insufficient for an issue of this nature involving as it does a party representing a community which already feels under attack in your country.
yes mrs dodds i would agree with you. i think that we should designate groups like that as terrorism because the last thing that we want to see is what happened in northern ireland.
terrorism and politics often go hand in hand and i would hate to see it happen in my country as it did in northern ireland that the terrorists actually propel people into government where they are now.
of course i would like to see action taken against islamic fundamentalism wherever it raises its head because it goes hand in hand with terrorism.
in london we now have sharia patrols intimidating people on the street on what they can or cannot do or can or cannot wear and gays have been intimidated in the bethnal green area.
this was adopted under the former third pillar so the commission does not have the usual rules for monitoring national implementation in a transitional period.
we have presented a number of specific recommendations for instance agreeing on a common standard communication channel preferably europol establishing integrated units as single points of contact to facilitate a consistent approach to cross border data sharing and stepping up eu training to exchange tools in line with the law enforcement training scheme.
in the communication from the commission on the european information exchange model we concluded that no new eu level law enforcement information exchange instruments are needed at this stage.
we also need to ensure high standards of data security and data protection and we need to have meaningful statistics. the debate on how best to improve the effectiveness of the existing instruments channels and tools for law enforcement information exchange has been under way for a while.
finally on data protection you are of course aware that the proposed directive on data protection in the field of law enforcement includes a commitment from the commission to review existing legal instruments in this field involving processing of personal data within three years of the directive entering into force. that is where we are at the moment.
the existing eu instruments could and should be much better applied in a more consistent way.
we are pushing for very swift implementation by member states in a legally stable environment.
we have tried to identify this.
they do not know how to do it which is why we are financing courses and training to help those member states.
we are also putting together different member states so that they can coach each other and share experiences.
complete and implement the successful projects.
the lack of reporting information made available by the commission and the greek authorities on the result of the special measures adopted for greece should be emphasised.
but on several occasions including during a joint hearing organised by the committee on regional development and the committee on budgetary control on the implementation of the priority projects list initiative in greece on four december two thousand and seventeen members of parliament expressed their regret at the near absence of communication between the commission and parliament on the implementation
and on how infrastructure investments and european union structural investment funds have contributed to the improvement of overall competitiveness of greece.
in this respect the first part of our question will be what conclusions does the commission draw from the report provided by the greek authorities in may two thousand and seventeen on the implementation of the specific measures in greece?
for the cohesion policy under the previous financial period.
and further on how this mechanism which is an extraordinary mechanism has helped further progress in the priority projects in greece in their implementation and progress of these one hundred and eighty one priority projects.
more specifically there has been no reporting on the real effects on the application of the maximum cofinancing rate of one hundred to the eligible expenditure of greek operational programmes for the growth and regional competitiveness in employment objectives.
the regi committee appointed a standing rapporteur to follow the implementation of the new regulation later on he will take the floor here in the debate.
after the greece crisis and at that time we believed together with the commission that we could support greece in the efforts of the country to get out of the crisis and succeed in the efforts to
it is very important to implement today these discussions to hear the answer of the commission because we made these together to support greece in the country's efforts and now we are very interested to see how our measures
the goal of this proposal was two fold to provide additional pre financing for two thousand and fourteen two thousand and twenty cohesion policy operational programmes under the investment for growth and jobs goal and for programmes financed from the european maritime and fisheries fund in greece and secondly to allow for the ceiling for the cumulative
and performance of these cpr amendments.
we also need a much lower threshold than the current eur seven hundred and fifty million turnover which will mean that only six zero of the biggest companies need to report their information.
madam president the greens have long been pushing for public country by country reporting and we are really pleased to see it making headway with this commission proposal for public disclosure supported and strengthened today by parliament.
i am pleased that the committee on economic and monetary affairs supported disaggregated financial information from all countries inside and outside the eu making tax transparency a truly useful tool but i am sorry that certain parties in this house have sought to introduce loopholes allowing for no public disclosure in cases where information is considered commercially sensitive something that it is impossible to define accurately.
i am sorry to say that while my colleagues on the right may claim to be parties of business by undermining tax transparency in this way they are really ensuring that small businesses cannot compete fairly with the largest global corporations.
attempt to weld europe into one block is a betrayal of europe and the european patrimony and a betrayal made all the worse for being carried out in europe's name.
unusually among the great civilisations of the world this continent never became centralised as a single empire but remained rather a diverse plurality of competing states.
it is particularly important that it aims to strengthen consumer protection especially in relation to those products which are reasonably expected to last for a significant period of time.
this is particularly important in the context of ongoing discussions on contract law rights for consumers.
it is important that we pursue greater value for money for reliable and durable products and that we benefit companies and the wider society by reducing waste.
it is also positive that this report reflects the need for minimum criteria on issues such as reparability and the ability to upgrade easily especially when it comes to software.
they will also send the strong signal to the ukrainian government that its ambitious reform agenda is widely embraced by the eu.
consumers must be protected from the growing trend of planned obsolescence something that has become particularly prevalent in the software industry and they should be assured of a reasonable product lifespan.
by establishing minimum resistance criteria this proposal will lead to longer lasting products and will benefit both consumers and companies. in voting for this proposal we are protecting the rights of the consumer and supporting the development of a functioning economy.
if we want to address climate change and be more sustainable as a society we need to tackle this use and dispose culture which runs counter to our commitments to the environment.
today's vote on product life cycles go some way to highlighting the problem and suggesting solutions such as ambitious design models creating durable goods finding easier ways to repair rather than replace and supporting fair usage based sales models.
if we can achieve a more sustainable base system for the sale of consumer goods across the eu we can start to realise the circular economy creating new business models and supporting eu innovation and start ups whilst protecting our environment.
the people of ukraine now want to see their future in europe and we have to help them get there.
i support the idea to create an eu human capital fund as a more flexible and efficient instrument compared to the european social fund.
twenty four we face the phenomena of long term unemployment and the working poor. i call on the commission to use more actively the european semester procedure to ensure full implementation of active labour market measures.
in my opinion the fund should support policies required by the european semester process and backup activities related to the european pillar of social rights.
parliament has been actively involved in the process that led to the adoption of the pillar and finally as i said to its proclamation this friday by the three institutions at the social summit for fair jobs and growth in gothenburg.
we therefore need economic growth that benefits all citizens while we still need to overcome the damage done by the economic crisis.
your report calls on the commission and the member states to address issues that generate inequalities wage settings social protection systems which includes minimum income gender equality enabling social services childcare support to children old age income health care and access to housing.
we intend to build on this approach in the coming cycle to ensure that progress on implementing the pillar is properly reflected and monitored.
the second is on a possible revision of the written statement directive which would increase the protection for the most precarious workers including digital workers.
investing in children is key to breaking the cycle of inequality and disadvantage through generations. as regards the implementation of the current preparatory action on a child guarantee our aim is to investigate the feasibility of such an initiative and its added value compared to ongoing actions at the moment.
it is essential now to prevent the risk that as the recovery continues in europe some people are left behind.
we are looking forward to your report and we are hoping to get it through the legislative process as quickly as possible.
we have also put forward an initiative to support work life balance for parents and carers.
so as we speak the recovery is ongoing with improvements in the overall situation in the labour market in all member states.
several past country specific recommendations have been addressed to member states on issues that are relevant to inequality.
one is to collect views on the possible direction of an eu action to ensure that people in all forms of employment have adequate access to social protection and employment services.
inequalities are not only dividing our societies they are putting a brake on our competitiveness and economic growth.
in the annual growth survey the commission asked the member states to redouble their efforts on investment structural reforms and responsible fiscal policies but with an increased focus on inclusive growth and social fairness.
this is why we presented the european pillar of social rights as a framework to also reduce inequalities and social risks.
years of austerity politics have only made things worse in particular in my country as well as in greece portugal spain and ireland.
madam president when there are inequalities there can be no social justice and when there is no social justice there can be no fully functioning democracy.
i also want to reiterate that the number of children living in or at risk of poverty in our societies in two thousand and seventeen is simply shameful.
we as decision makers need to mainstream this shared goal in our work across various policy areas in a coordinated manner working in silos is no longer the solution.
fighting inequalities can boost job creation and sustainable growth. we must include therefore a proper welcome for newcomers refugees and asylum seekers and include them in the labour market as part of the strategy.
growing inequality is not only a loss to economic potential as this report brilliantly demonstrates it is also at the root of the rising populism and extremism that sows division in our communities and threatens european values.
we need to adopt the eu child guarantee now a guarantee that i have fought for in this house.
the report demonstrates the importance of clear convergence between our duty as humans and our economic interest.
i want to highlight the particular situation of women who are more impacted by public cuts and are at higher risk of poverty and precariousness.
however the economic potential of women can be unlocked across europe through anti discrimination measures and ambitious and efficient social policies.
my region the west midlands contains proportionally more of those people than any other part of the united kingdom and the growth in the number of those people in the most recent year recorded by the uk's office for national statistics was.
a zerohours contract is not work it is exploitation and it should not be acceptable in a civilised society in this day and age. it is linked with the second point in the report that i would like to pick up on point forty two about the failure to apply the working time directive and the widespread abuse of unpaid overtime.
gbp thirty three billion worth of overtime work that has been done has not been paid for. why do employers get away with that kind of exploitation with stealing gbp thirty three billion worth of work from their employees? the answer is because at least a million of those employees are on zerohours contracts or in similarly insecure forms of employment where they will put up with being exploited because they are frightened of losing their jobs.
that is not the way it should be in a rich and supposedly civilised continent like ours in this century.
there are five million people in the uk regularly systematically working overtime for which they are not being paid.
i would like to highlight three main lines of action among the many that the rapporteur has indicated in his report.
second a call to the commission to put forward initiatives to remove any kind of gender pay gap setting penalties for workplaces that violate the right to equality by establishing different wages for identical job categories.
the richest one of the world's population now owns more than half of global wealth and the top ten owns about ninety while data suggest that most of the gains at the top are coming at the expense of the rest of the population.
what is more the wealthy use the power that accompanies their money to exert political influence and reduce taxes and regulation.
globalisation deregulation and declining taxes have all been factors but the other important factor has been the rise of a far flung global cross border wealth management industry so called dedicated to avoiding taxation of the wealthiest.
third both the commission and member states must finally take real action against tax avoidance and tax fraud as one of the key means of reducing drastic economic inequalities.
first enhanced social dialogue and collective bargaining for determining wages recalling the fact that the right of collective bargaining and action is fundamental and that the decline in the bargaining power of workers and trade unions must be reversed.
before two thousand and eight the eu made some big leaps forward in terms of economic integration but the financial crisis after two thousand and eight led to a significant decline in relative income levels in the european periphery while core member states were generally more resilient.
and following the pillar's proclamation the commission for its part is committed to following up with concrete actions.