kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
mr president access to culture and opportunities for creative expression are vital to enable democratic freedom and peaceful equal societies. member states must ensure that the socio economic personal or cultural background of citizens does not prevent them from participating in the cultural life of their local national or international community. cultural participation should be cross cutting and be embedded within multiple policy areas if it is to truly have an impact. digital innovations have opened up new ways for people to access produce and disseminate cultural content but we need to do more to ensure that people have the digital skills and infrastructure in order to participate. many rural areas including those in my constituency in north west england are still left behind without adequate broadband coverage. in the united kingdom the conservative party has chosen to place austerity at the centre of its ideologically driven political agenda. civic spaces such as libraries museums galleries and swimming pools have closed down at an alarming rate preventing citizens from accessing information activities and opportunities to develop skills. for minority groups and those with multiple barriers the effects have been profound. so as this report eloquently outlines access to culture in school is vitally important to encourage lifelong cultural participation. but despite this the uk government has introduced policies which actively prevent large numbers of secondary school children from studying any creative and cultural subjects. but working together as a union of member states we can always better fight for progressive inclusive societies where access to culture is seen as the right of the many not just for the privileged few.
one is going to discriminate against people because of their gender. by setting a forty gender quota target for companies we are destroying the very nature of a free society based on merit. companies will face sanctions and may become fearful of hiring a certain type of person thus increasing the chances of discrimination.
martin luther king hoped that his children would be judged on the content of their character not the colour of their skin.
this is pretty heavy! when businesses start suffering penalties or being forced to close because they have one too many male or one too many female non executive directors they will see that ukip was the only party that did what it could to stop this.
article four says it shall be for the company to prove there has been no breach of the rules.
you do not fight discrimination with more discrimination.
amendment thirty nine seeks to add the forced dissolution of the company to the list of eu sanctions.
now that is not my decision my wife does the hiring and firing.
they need good staff to do it and if a female is going to deliver the goods they will hire a female.
when i was elected here my wife took on a much more significant role in my business and she is now in charge of all the hiring of employees.
we employee nine in the business and only one of them is a woman.
companies are there to make money and to give a dividend to their shareholders.
but she feels that generally men will do these dirty jobs better than women and that is my wife's decision.
it also prevents companies from using all talents available and becomes a risk for their competitiveness.
member states would need to put in place policies to support and incentivise smes to significantly improve gender balance on their boards and management.
most of all not in times of looming demographic crisis.
more women in management positions provide a broader insight into economic behaviour into consumers' choices leading to market share gains. diversity among board members boosts creativity and innovation and contributes to better performance because decisions are based on evaluating a wider range of options.
we all know that there are important economic arguments for this proposal. making use of female talent improves companies' results.
to impose automatically one or more particular type of sanctions for any non compliance could be disproportionate but i leave this to the wisdom of the council and the parliament when it comes to the negotiation about the text.
as suggested in some of the amendments.
under the commission proposal member states' responses must be effective dissuasive and proportionate.
i also welcome your ideas on detailing further the procedural obligations in order to achieve the forty objective as well as on reinforcing the reporting obligations. however i am more cautious concerning the strengthening of sanctions
not only is this a waste of talent it is also a missed opportunity to make better decisions leading to better financial results in the highest bodies of our listed companies.
so let the adoption of this report be a signal to the council that progress on this dossier is urgently needed.
because the directive we are debating today will help to smash the glass ceiling that prevents qualified women from holding top posts in listed companies.
this is a price that our society and our economy cannot afford to pay any more most of all not in times of economic hardship.
your proposal will help to bring about change by obliging listed companies to take the procedural measures enabling them to attain the objective of the directive a share of at least forty per cent of the under represented sex among non executive directors.
the proposal strikes the right balance between fast progress on the one hand and merit as a decisive criterion for holding board positions on the other hand.
and of course we finally have the opportunity to bring about some change and to assure equal opportunity to all. the core rapporteurs have done a great job in order to reach a compromise that is both economically sustainable and ambitious.
i can only speak here for the administration which is mine for the european commission.
we do have quotas in our administration.
coming to the conclusions of this debate we have seen that despite a few voluntary initiatives at national and european level the situation has not changed significantly in recent years.
the reasoning is simple.
in these times of economic difficulty when we face the joint challenges of an ageing population of falling birth rates of skills shortages it is more important than ever to ensure that we capitalise on the richness of human talent and skills irrespective of gender.
however no woman will be denied a job any more simply because she is a woman as is happening today.
and who has to bear the burden? our society and our economies because gender equality at work is not only a women's issue it is a business issue.
let us stop the waste of talent and the waste of resources.
let us stop denying equal chances to equally qualified women and let us finally crack the glass ceiling.
this should be a fair deal both for the business world and for women who have the same right to pursue careers as men.
it is an economic imperative.
at the heart of the proposal lies a transparent selection process aiming to reach a forty representation of the under represented sex by two thousand and twenty based on clear criteria and the candidates' skills and qualifications.
first of all i am not going to put a quota number on any sort of diversity we need diversity on boards.
so we are well on the way and if you were to follow some of the voluntary measures we have imposed such as the thirty club you would find that a lot more women would join.
in fact if you look at the people who get degrees more women get them.
it is called a baby.
those females who really want to get to the top will do.
i have never had a baby but i understand that if you do have a baby it can change your life and it changes your ambitions.
but the point is that we absolutely have gender balancing in the education system.
they are getting the jobs in the workplace but for various reasons they do not have the ambition to go right to the top because something gets in the way.
we must not vote for rules that would wind up companies failing to meet eu imposed targets for women on boards.
women were reduced to so called golden skirts' with one woman holding non executive posts on ninety different boards.
we need to look at opening a pathway for women encouraging and empowering those who want to move forward.
we can get more women onto boards by working with and encouraging companies. in the uk we have seen a steady increase over the past three years from twelve to.
i urge you to vote against the commission's plans for quotas. quotas are not only insulting to women but also dangerous to business.
in spite of quotas the number of senior women in business in norway like the number of women ceos is lower than the european average.
are our economies so strong that we can afford to turn away multinational companies who may not want to do business here?
one reason for that is that people are allowed to go beyond their speaking time and today i heard one person speak under catch the eye for two minutes and twenty three seconds without being cut off.
if you get there by some quota you will not succeed.
women do not want them. secondly i would like to say that when you are in a company you are there on merit.
you have to work hard and you have to fight your way.
you will be undermined and you will undermine women who come along that way.
i do not think anyone should be given preferential treatment just on the criterion of their gender.
come on you sisters where are you?
now speaking as someone who has been discriminated against i think all forms of discrimination are wrong as is positive discrimination because positive discrimination is discrimination and discrimination creates victims.
it does not matter what gender you are if you believe in equality and you create discrimination you create a victim.
ms reding do not legislate to make victims. that is not what you are in your job to do.
in terms of the current economic environment as numerous qualitative studies have demonstrated there is a positive relationship between gender diversity at top management level and a company's financial performance and profitability.
women have proved to be very valuable;
better gender balance contributes to better business performance improved competitiveness and economic gains. increased female representation on the boards of publicly listed companies in the union is not only related to the principle of gender equality and non discrimination but also to a positive impact on the organisational and financial performance of companies concerned. as a rapporteur in imco i would like to stress that not utilising the potential of half of europe's population for company board positions might slow down the development of our economy the recovery of our financial structures and harnessing of the capacity of the available human capital.
our strategic partnership should also support the development of a strong brazilian civil society encouraging contacts between european and brazilian ngos entrepreneurs and businesspeople fora and should promote exchanges on an educational and cultural level.
i agree with the rapporteur that brazil and the european union share the same values regarding democracy the rule of law and the promotion of human rights and share the same principles on market economy.
for several years brazil has enjoyed an economic growth which i hope will not be too badly affected by the current ravaging economic crisis.
mr president it is already widely acknowledged that brazil has become an increasingly significant regional and global player.
as the report notes brazil still has a high number of poor people and it is a sad reality that the concentration of wealth is based on cultural and racial grounds.
but in order to do this we need the financial assistance available under the development cooperation instrument for brazil to be used to support the achievement of the millennium development goals and for sustainable development purposes.
i am convinced that eu support and assistance would be beneficial in trying to put an end to this polarisation between the very poor and the very rich.
the crucial role brazil played in the establishment of unasur is just one more confirmation of the country's reputation and deserves clear recognition as does brazil's endeavour to support and influence the democratic evolution of some countries in latin america.
we need not only to develop strong partnerships but also to coordinate with other donors and have projects that should put words into action as far as the protection of the environment is concerned.
we will not get the cooperation of our producers for a wto agreement if that continues to happen.
i have some concerns regarding the wto agreements or potential agreements from the perspective of eu farmers and food producers.
as you know there was a major battle about food production standards and the commission finally conceded that it could not allow brazilian beef into the european union until it met our production standards.
mr president as a member of eurolat i welcome the eu strategic partnership with brazil and mexico both thriving democracies.
brazil will be hit now by the credit crunch and the fall in commodity prices. mexico will also be affected by the dramatic fall in oil prices.
these two countries have enjoyed stability.
in the light of this trend in two thousand and seven the eu adopted the floods directive a comprehensive framework for the assessment and management of flood risks including cross border risks.
fourthly now that the waters have largely receded and the long and expensive clean up begins the eu's solidarity fund established after the two thousand and two floods is available to provide assistance to our member states in dealing with the costs of the emergency measures.
information was regularly shared with all thirty two countries that participate in the civil protection mechanism.
as of this year we have in place a framework for adapting to climate change.
thirdly throughout the crisis the european commission's emergency response centre was in constant contact with all affected countries and closely monitored the situation. one key role the centre plays is to be an information hub and it was the only body
than in two thousand and two secondly the floods have shown once again the high quality of the rescue services in our member states.
together the member states and european institutions are working to make europe stronger in the face of more frequent and more devastating disasters.
professionals and volunteers civilians the military and police forces have worked tirelessly to protect their communities.
climate change only makes this situation worse.
let me finish by stressing once again the importance of prevention in our fight against the adverse effects of floods.
more than twenty people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands suffered severe damage to their homes and property.
on behalf of the commission i would like to send heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and to express our sympathy and support for the people and authorities of the countries affected.
we have seen the evidence that preparedness and prevention pay off.
all affected countries were able to cope with the effects of the floods through national means in some instances complemented by limited support from neighbouring countries or regions.
europe is regularly hit by severe flooding;
we in the commission cannot activate the fund on our own initiative but we stand ready to give any guidance and advice that may be required in preparing an application and we are actually already doing so.
while the rescuers i spoke to were very modest in taking credit for their heroic efforts it is very clear that the emergency services played a decisive role in saving lives and limiting damage.
they deserve our highest appreciation and gratitude.
the level of preparedness of the local population was much higher and the structural protection measures much better in two thousand and thirteen.
which kept a round the clock overview of developments across europe for the benefit of everybody.
as we have seen in just over eleven years central europe has experienced two once in a hundred years floods.
information is critical but it has to be there on time.
this is often thought to be an emergency response instrument but unfortunately it is not.
let me try to sum up in four points. firstly the solidarity fund how it works how it should work and its size. secondly other sources of support for affected populations and for action to increase preventive measures.
i could not agree more with those speakers who stressed the importance of thinking of climate change not as some hypothetical threat in the future but as a reality today and the importance of our wetlands not
as space that could be used for urban development and intensive agriculture but as a means of protection of lives and property.
in this world of higher risks we can only cope if we change our mindset to a risk management mindset.
i certainly hope that we will get support in the council and here in this chamber for this proposal.
these kill elderly people and children.
used to help countries to be better prepared for disasters and also to alleviate the impact on the most affected communities.
when help gets to the affected countries it is substantial.
thirdly ecological conditions.
the commission currently is putting forward a proposal which would do two things firstly it would create immediate early response drawing rights when it is obvious that the solidarity fund is going to be triggered as it is right now.
let me start with the solidarity fund.
thirdly very important how we think of flood management in the context of environmental sustainability and how crucial this is.
in that respect it is a pity that meps have not been consulted on the joint statement to be agreed next week especially as with the lisbon treaty almost all of these matters come within codecision. it is puzzling why the commission and council are promoting a new agreement on access to swift financial data on eu citizens when the mutual legal assistance agreement allows for specific requests.
finally it is a pity that the new context of justice and extradition cooperation nonetheless permits the completely unjustified extradition from the uk of gary mckinnon a computer hacker who has asperger's syndrome rather than his being prosecuted in the uk.
we have put in an amendment to paragraph thirty nine since as far as i can see there simply was no g two leaders' agreement to work on a financial transaction or tobin tax so it is absurd to welcome such an agreement even if we have already done so erroneously in the g twenty resolution.
but as mrs malmstrm has explained a large part of the transatlantic relationship relates to justice and security matters. the alde group fully supports close cooperation in this area but it must respect fundamental rights including privacy and be progressed within a democratic and transparent framework.
two thousand and fifteen we must not let the trees of myriad disagreements on specific issues obscure the wood of an overwhelming interest in common values and objectives and action on promotion of democracy and human rights resolution of conflicts and protection against security threats among others.
secondly regarding the point on protectionism on the tec it is quite clear that the biggest danger in the next twelve months is closing markets rather than opening ones and yet we have the transatlantic market which is as mr brok said the biggest opportunity we have for generating growth on both sides of the atlantic.
is it not time to make the transatlantic market a major part of trade development rather than putting it to one side as a regulatory issue?
as i said before it is about cooperating for global recovery so financial and economic questions will be very high on our agenda.
the pittsburgh g twenty summit has also been a success in providing a platform for flexible macroeconomic coordination as we also seek exit strategies to gradually pare back our respective policies of immediate crisis response. the imf and the world bank agree that this will require different approaches from each party depending on the respective economic situation.
two thousand and seven of course i am aware of the different ideas that have been raised recently such as reaching a unified transatlantic market by two thousand and fifteen through the elimination of existing obstacles to economic integration the so called milln mon report.
the conclusion of the mutual legal assistance treaties will also help us in this respect.
the swift agreement is needed as it sets out specific safeguards on data.
in our work on the summit we are discussing with the us how to move towards closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism especially in the light of the plans to close guantnamo.
the need to ensure respect for fundamental rights is essential.
the focus of the energy council is on new technologies and energy security. a very brief word on swift and some gls questions that have been mentioned.
the study has not yet been finalised but is under way and there are still a number of technical issues to be cleared up before it is totally ready for publication.
we have spoken about all the political issues before but i agree with the council president that although this will be an important summit it will only be one meeting of a few hours.
you can imagine that we do not want
i was personally present and we pressured the united states to do more on climate change but we also know that president obama has a very important health care issue in congress and the senate.
we will therefore also cooperate on how to prevent radicalism including misuse of the internet.
we have been one of the driving forces behind the activation of the g twenty summit process which was raised as you know to leaders' level last november on the initiative of president barroso and president sarkozy but we are not the only ones that are needed.
on banking we need to deploy the london and pittsburgh commitments for better and more capital and stricter prudential rules consistently among financial centres.
there will be a troika meeting on gls affairs on twenty seven and twenty eight october in washington in the framework of our cooperation on justice freedom and security.
now there is also a new transatlantic economic council that.
that is also what our friends in washington expect.
we will move further on governance issues for the global economy notably on financial regulation and a timely follow up to the g twenty pittsburgh summit.
we will also explore whether we can intensify this forum of cooperation for nanomaterial health care related information.
we are in the final stages of preparing a statement that will aim to renew our transatlantic partnership in these areas.
secondly on climate change we as the european union will encourage the us to go to the copenhagen conference with ambitious objectives to reach a sound global agreement and we will also engage with the us to make progress on establishing a cap and trade system across the atlantic.
out to the transatlantic legislators' dialogue and civil society stakeholders too so clearly we need the expertise and political thrust of legislators to tap the full potential of the transatlantic market place.
the needed coherent response to the financial crisis is the best example for it.
the global economy and climate change are likely to be the two major areas of focus of the summit discussion in addition to a number of key foreign policy challenges.
both sides recognise that enhancing the innovative potential of our industries and our workforces is essential for the creation of jobs and growth and therefore for a successful emergence of the coming crisis.
two thousand and ten these agreements will strengthen our efforts in fighting crime in today's globalised world.