kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the ballot results are in and we're going to strike.
wilko's used to be a good family firm with strong values and a commitment to the local community.
sadly it has moved away from that and i want to give my full support to the workforce at wilko's taking action tomorrow against new working practices against new working arrangements which will force workers to spend less time with their families more weekend work.
madam president we are talking about the employment and social policies in the euro area and i'd like to deal with the latest european semester report from the commission in relation to ireland where although it's possible to present employment in ireland in an optimistic light the reality is as the report reveals massive amounts of transient work zero hour contracts casual work bogus self employment a rise in precarious employment no coverage for these people in terms of social security which has an enormous impact on the quality of life in citizens.
so the report while recognising serious social ills i have to say is undermined by the fact of the lack of political imagination in how to address it because the world has changed;
the types of industry and work have changed and there's a total disconnect between this and the eu structures and institutions in terms of how to deal with it.
and even when a member state tries to deal with it they are gagged and bound by the fiscal restraints that are built in to our treaties.
so these problems aren't going to be solved by technical fixes or incremental adjustors but by a radical transformation and a break with the god of neoliberalism.
we specifically asked for a special committee of inquiry and this was narrowly defeated today.
i very much regret this because colleagues have talked about hard evidence on this issue and that is exactly what we were attempting to do to ensure that what we do is based on facts and that we protect our elections and the democratic will of our people both in our member states and indeed in cross border elections.
so this is an extremely important issue given the increasing influence of disinformation electoral fraud and reports of foreign interference in many of our member states.
nkurunziza's party's youth wing and quasi militia the imbonerakure is held responsible for the intimidation rape attack and forced disappearances of a number of opposition figures and supporters.
meanwhile the resulting human rights situation is also very worrying.
well i am afraid things are not much better in the country and what we hear from the international community and the international organisations based in burundi is that in fact things are getting worse.
the use of torture has been widespread. more than ten zero people have been detained without trial and nearly half a million have fled to neighbouring countries.
burundi has plunged into crisis. with reports of ethnic cleansing in the military the world and all global institutions must be ready to intervene and prevent another genocide. there cannot be a repeat of rwanda.
madam president this is not the first time that we have discussed the situation in burundi.
we must ensure that the eu targeted sanctions are fully implemented effective and further extended until we see real reform in the country.
respect for the opposition free and fair elections and freedom of speech are fundamental to any democracy.
we must be clear that we cannot allow the situation to continue.
we must take action now to help bring peace to this region.
since april two thousand and fifteen there has been an alarming deterioration of human rights and a severe humanitarian crisis in the country.
the deplorable human rights situation and the authorities' continued violation of fundamental rights are totally unacceptable.
an additional package of eur ninety five million has recently been approved.
we prefer.
it has freed and empowered those behind the iron curtain to make a free choice about their future.
we have used numerous opportunities to dispel a zero sum logic and clarify to russia that the association agreements for the eastern european partners will not harm russian economic interests.
we have never been striving to create new dividing lines in europe.
their freedom of choice and to convince us to drop our policies values and principles and accept the logic of the sphere of influence.
it has reunited europe in an unprecedented way creating the conditions for peace stability and prosperity throughout the whole continent.
they deserve a different future.
but this would equate to ignoring the lessons of the last century in this continent.
we are witnessing economic coercion threats and covert action to instigate protest and instability which are meant not only to dissuade the ukranian people from taking up new opportunities but also to dissuade us from defending
i agree that it did not. it ended in a much more appropriate way.
it is in our common interest to avoid violence and bloodshed on the european continent which could spiral out of control. it is in our common interest to jointly work towards the establishment of a common area of prosperity stability and democracy on the european continent.
firstly on diplomatic efforts quadrilateral talks on ukraine that are taking place tomorrow have been the european union's preferred framework and come at our initiative as well.
at the end of march i was in kiev with commissioner lewandowski and several directors general of the commission to agree on a joint plan.
condemning the actions undertaken by armed individuals in cities of eastern ukraine the european union has decided to further expand the list of those subject to asset freezes and visa bans.
shown by ukrainian citizens in the streets and squares of kiev and other ukrainian cities.
and their freedom of association is being challenged in an extremely serious and dangerous way.
she will meet the foreign ministers of the united states the russian federation and ukraine in geneva tomorrow in an attempt to de escalate the crisis and to engage russia in a forward looking process.
a couple of months ago we reiterated that russia the neighbour of our neighbour can only gain from ukraine's success and it therefore has a chance to become a part of the joint efforts to bring stability and prosperity back to ukraine.
and political future.
the letter by president putin to eighteen member states and five partner countries illustrates well just how important this issue is. the european union will respond jointly to the letter in order to agree on consultations with russia and ukraine with a view to ensuring security of supply and transit.
we should note the unprecedented speed with which the procedures bringing the association agreements with moldova and georgia have been completed.
yet such an area can only be established on the basis of the helsinki osce principles and in line with international law.
we are increasing our political engagement including with high level visits by presidents van rompuy and barroso.
we remain committed to concluding the signature procedure of the remaining chapters of the association agreement as soon as possible after the twenty five may presidential elections.
the high representative and vice president catherine ashton has been very closely engaged leading these efforts on the european union side.
allow me to emphasise our relations with russia on energy are those of mutual interdependence.
the time has been cut by more than two thirds enabling us to sign the agreements already in june.
developments in the upcoming days will demonstrate the choice of russia.
another issue of critical importance is energy security.
the european commission has also invited the ukrainian moldovan and georgian governments to brussels in may.
on twenty one march we signed the political chapters of the association agreement and we have just adopted a set of unilateral trade measures that will open the european union's door to exports from ukraine.
yet the latest developments in ukraine show that the notion of europe whole and free based on shared commitments to human rights and freedoms democracy and the rule of law as well as the freedom and sovereignty of all the european states their right to choose their own destiny
given the complex situation in ukraine it is a considerable success that these international talks are taking place.
we then concluded that in our eastern partnership we respect and defend the rights and freedoms of each individual and we must defend the right of every nation to make its own choices.
the european union has provided and will continue providing actual substantial assistance to the mission to ensure that it can carry out its mandate in the best way possible.
moreover the ukrainian government is aware of the need to reform the energy sector in line with the energy community commitments and displays determination to commence these reforms.
secondly the european union has taken a firm and united stance after the illegal annexation of crimea by russia including sanctions against individuals responsible for undermining the territorial integrity of ukraine.
any threat or use of force be it military force or economic coercion against ukraine or any other countries is not acceptable and must be stopped.
this is a key achievement bringing clear benefits to the entire population.
we have moved fast on this and last week the european commission created a support group which will help ukraine to implement this plan a so called european agenda for reform which lists the political and economic reforms we agreed with ukraine based on their needs.
political developments in both countries need to be watched carefully as we prepare for the signature and implementation of association agreements including the deep and comprehensive free trade areas and given the existing external vulnerabilities.
alas they are all present today in the crisis created by russia's military actions against ukraine and its increasing pressures on the eastern partnership countries.
we assumed that everything was clear and settled.
now is the time to do it.
fifthly it is obvious that international law and the international institutions do not function.
this was not the case;
in other words let us negotiate. the true problem is not ukraine but the lack of multilateral strategic dialogue on a global scale.
tomorrow's geneva meeting could be a first step in that direction.
if we choose to use those weapons we must calculate in advance their precise effectiveness making sure that they will not backfire. so far the therapy of gradual and personalised sanctions has been unconvincing.
the recent referendum was hurried and insufficiently debated but the result was hardly ambiguous.
this was just as much interference in ukraine and with less justification than anything that russia has done.
large powers like russia and the united states have what they see as legitimate spheres of interest.
mr president each time we debate ukraine the situation is worse than before.
we are witnessing now the second phase in president putin's aggressive plan to partition or swallow up the whole of ukraine based on a pack of lies.
putin is a clever operator and he knows how to stage the attacks in eastern ukraine with the right balance of special forces and home grown activism.
it seems to have sprung up virtually overnight when all students of politics regarding sub state nationalism know full well that genuine movements need many years of development in the face of profound state oppression to take root.
the people are free to speak whatever language they choose and to live their lives as they see fit.
to assert that the eastern ukrainians are facing systematic human rights violations is nothing less than an insult to those countless minorities around the world whose rights are genuinely under attack.
putin believes that he can get away with it but the west must not allow a democratic potential future eu member state to be carved up or destroyed under our very noses.
we must continue diplomacy of course with the kremlin but the eu economic sanctions regime must now at the same time be intensified to iran style levels and ukraine should be given the means militarily to defend itself.
too many people in europe remember only too well what happens when tyrannies wilfully disregard the sovereignty of free states and the wishes of their peoples.
surely that is a legitimate dismissal of a president who now stands accused of murdering his own citizens?
if rebels had seized police stations security services and government buildings in chechnya i wonder if he would have been so quick to defend their right to be there and call it a peaceful protest.
if he is worried about minorities how will he defend the rights of tatars in crimea especially as the report of the un high commissioner for human rights yesterday said that there are no widespread or systematic attacks against the ethnic russian community in ukraine? if he is so keen to cut off arms supplies to what he calls a region of conflict why does he not do the same to syria?
and i say that the best way to defend ukraine's territorial integrity if it is to be given a chance is to support successful and peaceful elections across a united country.
well not all of us are willing to sell our souls for russian gas. it might be easy for some to talk that way the ones who did not feel the destructive might of soviet russia but it is insulting to all those people from romania poland or east germany who died fighting for freedom and democracy and these are the values the ukrainian people are fighting for today.
we should not repeat the same mistakes with moldova. we cannot end up debating resolutions when it is too late.
we must give them a european membership perspective and sign the association agreement as soon as possible.
it was a tragi comedy and now it is happening again in the east of ukraine. there are no russian troops whatsoever. russia is constructive looking for a dialogue wanting to protect russian speaking minorities and wanting a federal ukraine. let us look at the facts. russia is repeating a strategy which started in georgia
first in the long term we have to invest in nato in our common defence the european member states of nato the united states and canada because whoever wants peace has to be prepared. nato is our key focus. we have to have
the people of omagh suffered a lot.
i want to make it clear that i believe that the vast majority of the people of northern ireland do not wish to return now or any time in the future to what we went through in the past.
mr president could i take this moment to reflect on the murder in northern ireland on saturday of a young police constable on his way to work just a few weeks qualified to do the job.
they have our full support to ensure that those responsible will be brought to justice.
the peace process with the support of the european union has been very successful.
mr president i voted in favour of the resolution.
it is important to note that eu integration prospects serve as the strongest incentive for the balkan countries to undertake necessary reforms and also as a factor for regional stability.
kosovo can be considered the last piece in the complex balkan political puzzle. it is therefore vital that we put the piece in the right place and manage the process in a harmonious and peaceful way.
i would like to commend the fact that the european parliament engages in discussion with the commission and the council on the very important issue of kosovo's future.
i would like to extend my condolences to the families of the approximately three hundred dead and the two zero who were injured or hospitalised.
in any case this is a one sided agreement and we have no reason to believe that the united states will honour it.
any such agreement should be concluded between sovereign nation states answerable to their own people through the democratic process.
we must of course oppose terrorism but that must not be used as an excuse for governments to spy on their citizens.
scrapping the cap would allow efficient farmers to thrive. it would allow taxpayers to keep more of their own money and deploy that money more usefully and it would allow consumers lower prices.
let us look at the fact that citizens pay three times once in tax to pay for the bureaucracy once in tax to pay for subsidies and then the higher prices that they have to pay in their shops.
however if you look at the policy sixty years later let us look at the cost to the eu citizens.
reform is not enough it is time to scrap the cap.
this process has only begun.
in a way this would not be quite so bad if the common foreign policy of the european union were demonstrably superior to that which is being pursued by the member states but it is not.
mr president there is something quaint almost touching about these debates about creating a european external action service as though the european union did not already have the full apparatus of a diplomatic service. go to any third country and you will find an eu embassy that towers over any of the member state legations.
i think we can run our own foreign policy to suit our own interests!
i think we could just about manage to do better.
mr president i voted against the lyon report because all over europe governments are cutting their budgets.
if it is right for public servants to face reductions in their income then it is right for others in our society to face the same reductions.
police numbers are being cut and prisoners are being released because we cannot afford to keep them in prison.
i find that entirely unacceptable.
i find it wrong that the agricultural community should be ring fenced in a way that no other section of society is.
in the united kingdom nurses and teachers face cuts in their pay and pensions.
the government in the uk and governments across europe are saying we are all in this together.
we must make clear to our albanian partners that fully functioning representative institutions parliament being the most important one are the backbone of a consolidated democratic system and perhaps the most important political criterion for eu integration.
however it is also a country which needs to do more to get closer to eu norms and accession criteria.
it is also obvious that our american partners represent a very important strategic ally not only in the area of global security but also economically and in other areas as well.
the commitment to such a strategic partnership was clearly expressed by vice president joe biden in this house just a few months ago.
it is important that catherine ashton now that she has a team puts the core european values into action.
she needs to deliver on that but there also has to be a structure for that desk officer to report back to the centre to make sure we get some joined up government in terms of the way the european union deals with human rights.
at the moment with many countries not least china we have a human rights dialogue that is totally meaningless.
the external action service if it is to be worth the money and effort we are putting into it has to start delivering on european values and human rights in particular.
surely it is time to learn from the lessons of successful fish preservation and conservation.
these terror attacks against women and girls committed by the so called islamic state and associated groups are inhuman.
i condemn without reservation the barbaric killings kidnappings rapes sexual violence and torture committed by isis fighters in iraq.
mr president as chair of the delegation for relations with iraq i welcome the creation of the new unity government in iraq and offer my delegation's unwavering support in helping it to build a fairer more inclusive society including one which protects and promotes the rights of women.
they also include targeted attacks against members of the ethnic and religious minorities such as kurds syrians christians yazidis and turkmen.
we do have a few ideas within this resolution about how to improve the situation of women in iraq but we have a historic responsibility to the women men and children of iraq to not walk away and to remain engaged to make their lives better.
it is important that we remember that the intervention in iraq was a catastrophic failure of judgement and politics on the part of the western community and those in favour of intervention should hang their heads in shame.
we have tipped iraq into the abyss and women are suffering men are suffering children are suffering but it is right that in this resolution we take stock of the dreadful situation of women in particular.
which condemn women to death on spurious grounds and shoot them in the back of the head.
and this cannot continue if we want to recover from this euro crisis.
in conclusion the commission welcomes the decisive action being taken by the italian government and stands ready to assist and support that action as the government sees fit.
on the other hand between last summer and recent weeks a broad range of structural measures has been adopted on taxation pensions competition the business environment and the efficiency of the public administration.
the most recent measures on opening up closed sectors and administrative simplification can contribute to improving competitiveness and a business environment removing long standing bottlenecks to growth and ultimately increasing the adjustment capacity of the economy.
in italy fiscal consolidation and economic reform could possibly work but in greece they are clearly not working.
mr president another famous monty i refer of course to the equally famous monty python taught us to always look on the bright side of life.
the answer as many people here have said is growth and we have no shortage of policy statements calling for growth and jobs.
it appears so far that the markets respect your leadership prime minister.
in my view the greatest problem we face in europe is that competition has been undermined by the focus on harmonisation instead of liberalisation and you need only look at eu employment policy to see the devastating impact that it has had on many of our economies.
ten year bond yields are almost at a manageable position thanks partly to your proposed economic reforms but mainly to the actions of the european central bank which has crucially bought you some time.
nevertheless the national current account has been mismanaged going from a healthy surplus to a nearly crippling deficit in merely a decade.
if you succeed in this immensely difficult and challenging task you will have the support of my group in your efforts.
but let us be honest so far they have all failed because they focus more on buzz words and on gestures aimed at keeping everyone happy and are based on the premise that somehow politicians can create jobs. this is the kind of bureaucratic statist attitude that got us into this situation in the first place.
the single market has the ability to deliver more liberal and flexible economies across the eu.
an orderly default and a greek euro exit may be bad politics for angela merkel but i believe it is the least worst' option now for the euro area and for the eu as a whole. fiscal consolidation will ease the current crisis but in isolation it is not the long term solution to our economic weakness.
the answer in my view is a better europe a europe of liberalisation and competition.
you spoke about some instruments such as stability bonds. we are still discussing growth policies but we do not have enough action. secondly for us as you know prime minister a social europe is something concrete.
this is an impossible situation.
we. are convinced of the essential role of social dialogue.
enhancing knowledge of consumer rights through information education and support to consumer organisations;
this report clearly demonstrates that we agree to a very large extent on the key importance of making consumer policy deliver for european citizens.
we must therefore ensure that the initiatives listed under the agenda are delivered to their benefit. in this context the commission will present at the beginning of two thousand and fourteen a report on the implementation of the consumer agenda to the european parliament.