kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
in its conclusions on csdp the council encouraged further implementation of practical steps for effective eu cooperation with nato while keeping the overall objectives of building a true organisation to organisation relationship.
member states also support the proposals to improve the mechanisms for involving social partners in the coordination of policies at eu and national levels.
our continuing effort to strengthen economic and monetary union is about a different sort of security security from economic uncertainty and security from the fear of long term unemployment.
there is broad agreement that the social dimension of the emu has to be strengthened.
next week's meeting covers a range of different issues but they are all of direct concern to our citizens.
governmental satellite communication and the development of a road map as well as projects to improve civil and military cooperation on the basis of the eu cyber security strategy.
i would like to stress that the lithuanian presidency has been doing everything possible for a savings directive to be adopted before the end of the year as requested by the european council.
in the area of defence i could name just a few such as the call to adopt the eu cyber defence policy framework in two thousand and fourteen and to adopt a maritime security strategy in the same year.
we have heard the commission here talking about competing with the usa.
you want to move forward in this one superstate. we should not be competing with the usa.
we should be working with the usa.
why would you want to compete with the usa?
but we all know what happens when you leave a plaster
james connollys writings on the struggle against british imperialism could equally apply today if you remove the english army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over dublin castle unless you set about the organisation of.
there is no better description of the commissions tale of the irish success story.
now you want more contracts for austerity.
the inconvenient facts there are all of the locks that will still exist on the neo liberal straightjacket that constrains the people in ireland and across europe. we will have post programme monitoring from the imf; we will have post programme surveillance from the commission;
what is being created is permanent troika for all across europe.
every step we take towards a european common defence the usa takes one step away from nato.
but the most important consideration lies with our troops themselves.
the bravery and heroism of british troops is marvellous.
there would not be a european defence because so few countries are actually doing the heavy lifting.
it has kept the peace for sixty years in europe.
two thirds of that comes from the us.
in the recent mali mission for example uk transport planes were deployed to assist with lifting french assets alongside uk surveillance planes.
the eu needs to learn the lessons of the euro crisis.
secondly of course european countries are not going to hand over command and control of their assets to an eu operational headquarters.
nothing illustrated this point more forcefully than the division caused by the iraq war a decade ago. regardless of the rights and wrongs of that conflict it showed very vividly why national independence is critical to so many states. in these challenging times we cannot afford to run two defence organisations in brussels.
let us stick with it and stop this vain attempt to create a european army through the back door.
european countries already have a long and valuable history of bilateral and multilateral cooperation and this should be continued.
firstly of course european countries simply do not have the resources.
they just need the willpower of the states concerned.
instead we should focus practically on what actually works not on creating new bureaucracies just for the sake of it.
yet through this duplication of effort we reduce the resources available for already overstretched military capability.
so we are left with a de facto intergovernmental arrangement where countries cooperate and pledge to defend each others interests which sounds to me an awful lot like nato.
do we honestly believe that those same people would have the willingness to fight and possibly pay the ultimate sacrifice for the european flag?
mr president we have talked about economic policy many times in this chamber so this morning i want to concentrate on defence policy because when it comes to defence in europe the right approach in my view should be one of cooperation capability and compatibility.
european and north american cooperation is as relevant today as it has ever been.
nato is a tried and tested alliance and yet many here are seeking to undermine it with more eu bureaucracy through the csdp.
and yes of course we all recognise that nato needs to modernise.
unfortunately under president obama the so called pacific president the usa in my view is in danger of turning its strategic focus to its western coast.
and that is the approach that europe has developed for over sixty years under the nato umbrella.
we still need in my view to keep the americans in.
these are resources we could spend on hardware and training rather than on playing with toy soldiers.
i think not.
and yet even if we add up our total eu wide spending it pales into insignificance in comparison to that of the us.
that will power has not always been forthcoming across all eu member states;
of course we have to work together wherever possible.
we are pushing them away and some may argue that the only solution therefore is to form a common european defence but such a plan is flawed on many levels.
but those kinds of bilateral cooperative measures do not need a new bureaucracy at eu level in order to implement them.
we must stop rushing into creating the trappings of european statehood.
we have one very successful one already.
strategic deficiencies will be overcome through this approach which is already embodied in natos smart defence initiative.
in an age when rising economic powers are not always liberal democratic states we must remain absolutely and resolutely united across the atlantic.
it embodies the transatlantic security relationship and it still represents our best hope for security in the twenty first century.
i am sure that everyone in this house has the utmost respect for their own countrys armed forces and i pay tribute to those from mine.
these people fight for their flag for their country and from my country for their queen.
we even want to extend it to turkey joining the european union.
on open doors on european armies the voters will have their say next may and i think there is going to be a radical change.
we do not want open borders.
but of course it does not end here because our prime minister mr cameron with the full support of labour and the lib dems now wants to extend this principle of open borders as he says himself from the atlantic to the urals.
it is leading to lower wages.
mr president i know it is seasonal to talk about the twelve days of christmas but i want to talk about the twenty one day count down to the opening of the doors to twenty nine million poor people from romania and bulgaria.
it means free access to the benefit system;
already the situation is so bad that ninety two of atm crime in london last year was committed by romanians.
so well done brigadier i want all the british people to know who you are and what your achievements are and of course what free movement means it means free health care;
i want to try and change that today because brigadier geoffrey van orden sitting behind me here british conservative was the rapporteur the sponsor for bulgaria joining the european union and for us having a total open door to all of those people.
i am not scapegoating in any way and i know that a lot of people that come from bulgaria and romania will be very decent people who want to work hard and want to better their lives but free movement does not work in the european union now that we have countries that are poor.
it does i think mark a pivotal moment in british politics.
it means an open door to the criminal gangs and the modern day fagins who will of course benefit from the fact that london is the most successful and wealthy international city in europe.
it is leading to higher youth unemployment and it is leading to divided communities.
and mr cameron do not next week at the summit surrender in any way to deeper european military integration.
thank god it did not.
well good luck to them with that.
so it means countries like kazakhstan indeed the ukraine joining the european union.
for a man that comes from bucharest and works in london and gets child benefit for the two children back home that child benefit is worth more than he can actually earn doing a menial job in bucharest and that is the reason why the numbers that come to britain will indeed be absolutely enormous. i have said for some time and now the british people agree enough is enough. eighty of the british people do not want those borders to come down in twenty one days' time.
but what a wasted opportunity to deal with some of the real problems around the posted workers directive.
this week was a perfect opportunity to show people that we are serious about stopping social dumping and making freedom of movement fair for all.
mr president i was really pleased to see economic and social policy included in the upcoming council summit.
articles nine and twelve of the council agreement bring less legal certainty and completely fail to deal with the issues of the subcontracting chain instead using vague terms like justified' and proportionate'.
the encouraging words we are likely to get this week on jobs growth and taxation may sound positive but the council needs to act decisively on posted workers.
i hoped that for once europe's leaders might be willing to sit down and discuss those measures we can take to protect and improve people's social and working rights.
so please excuse me if i sound cynical and pessimistic about the discussions at the upcoming summit.
in recent years the loopholes within the directive have been widened even further by extremely unhelpful court rulings allowing unscrupulous employers to take advantage by exploiting posted workers and undercutting domestic standards.
the emphasis has shifted quite rightly to civil activities in terms of crisis prevention humanitarian assistance and post conflict reconstruction.
i believe in fact that on common security and defence policy the tide has now begun to turn in capitals at least although i think we still live in a sort of wonderland world in this chamber.
we have seen the european union try to place its institutional footprint on an increasing range of defence related activities wastefully duplicating staff and structures already very well established at nato.
most of them as it happens were civilian.
few csdp missions stand up to critical scrutiny.
many of us have long campaigned for just such a shift so that the european union might actually do something useful in terms of complementing rather than trying to imitate nato's military muscle. it has been a long haul to get to this position.
mr president next week's european council has long been trailered in brussels as a defence council' to take some great leap forward in common security and defence policy and we have heard this morning already the usual sort of mantras at great length from the council and the commission but
among the european powers there is now no appetite for an ambitious eu military policy.
whatever decisions there are they were nodded through by education and sports ministers at their council meeting on twenty five november. my question to the council and the commission is what important decision on defence is actually going to be taken by heads of government at the council next week?
growth has recovered.
it has been a very tough three years but i do want to put on record that despite some earlier comments by colleagues in this chamber ireland is a positive news story.
interest rates on our government bonds are now at affordable levels.
exports are at an all time high.
commissioner you mentioned ireland and i thank you for acknowledging the resilience and the determination of the irish people.
there are some for whom economic recovery is not a good news story because they will gain politically from economic failure and that is a terrible thing to have to say in this chamber.
the economy is regaining competitiveness.
let me praise the irish people but also say we need continued eu support
we are creating jobs and confidence has improved.
let me tell you some of the good news.
because they have never been deployed since two thousand and five when they were first created subject first to a german and then to a british veto.
be doing and ought to do is taking a decision to deploy the european battlegroup in the central african republic to support french
next week we have a chance for a cluster of politically willing and militarily capable states to form a vanguard to take the lead to stop talking
and start to take collective action to defend and promote the security interests of the european union.
if history is to repeat itself they will never be deployed.
it has also underlined the limits of national policies to deal with a large and complex problem such as illegal migration flows showing the need for more assistance to member states with particular migration problems and real solidarity. let me recall that the commission is setting aside financial support of up to eur fifty million including emergency funding and in support of italy in particular eur thirty million
we should go even further to ensure the sustained stability of the euro area for the coming years.
we want to sustain and enhance europe's military capabilities and the european union's autonomous action.
we want and we have made proposals to promote greater access by smes to defence and security markets.
i feel encouraged by the way in which the european semester and in particular the coordination of national budgets is developing.
it. so with the discussion taking place within the european council the commission hopes to generate real ambition and momentum for closer defence cooperation and synergies among member states.
unemployment and hardship remain part of a very harsh reality for many european families.
financing the solidarity support should come from all participating member states whether in the form of budgetary support grants loans or guarantees and it should reflect the ambition level of reforms and the shock absorption capacity of the receiving country.
we should all see this as an encouragement for other countries under adjustment programmes.
some progress was made in the council last night and i am confident that an agreement will still be reached before the european council meeting.
but let me stress again that this is not a way for brussels to make life difficult for member states quite the opposite!
the nature of the problems calls for such support to the benefit of all of
we know we still have to go further to prevent the next one.
we need to be able to back up our values and positions with effective security and civilian missions whenever and wherever necessary.
our resettlement efforts can be a lot better and together with member states we should explore how to open new or better legal channels to access europe for instance for seasonal workers students or researchers.
i am thinking of our breakthrough in creating a single supervisory mechanism in the banking sector.
linked to this following last night's further discussions in the council there is good reason to hope that agreement on the two pending proposals on bank resolution and recovery and on deposit guarantee schemes can be achieved in the trialogues before the end of the year.
now it is a question of reinforcing the agreement aspect that allows more involvement by national political actors and stakeholders and the process should be agreed from the bottom up.
we need to avoid duplication of programmes; it makes no sense that we need seven models of the same helicopters or sixteen types of frigates serving the same purpose while the us has just
us. in order to improve the fight against trafficking smuggling and organised crime practical cooperation and exchange of information must be reinforced with third countries
latvia adopting the euro as of next month is another indication of confidence in the euro as our single currency.
for this we need to first of all complete the banking union by putting in place a single resolution mechanism and the single resolution fund.
these new arrangements would constitute one additional step in our governance to improve the follow up of country specific recommendations and they would include the possibility to provide financial incentives to support implementation of the reforms.
new threats and challenges such as cyber security and trafficking of human beings make the link between our internal and external security dimensions closer than before.
term. member states need to deliver on their commitments.
this is all about stronger commitment ownership and implementation to the benefit of the euro area and the eu as a whole.
the only sensible way to match increasing ambition and decreasing resources is through more cooperation.
we have to continue on our reform path as set out in the commission blueprint for a deep and genuine economic and monetary union. the economic governance framework that we have now fully implemented for the first year with the new tools of the two pack is a massive improvement on what was in place before the crisis.
with our communication of last july towards a competitive and efficient european defence and security sector the commission has pushed this debate higher up the european agenda.
we are putting emphasis on space and satellite communications to propose new approaches benefiting the security and defence sector.
on migration for instance the commission expects that the european council will endorse the need to move forward with the concrete actions which flow from the work of the task force for the mediterranean.
the need for a common approach to defence matters has never been so crucial.
the european council next week will therefore continue the reflections on contractual arrangements and associated solidarity mechanisms.
two thousand and fourteen first and foremost we need to be clear about firmly anchoring contractual arrangements and solidarity mechanisms in the existing framework of the european semester.
year. the eib and the commission have together explored further ways to develop risk sharing instruments that can leverage resources from the eu budget with eib support.
ukraine. i know you had a plenary debate on the eastern partnership yesterday afternoon.
answer. the solution must be found by political means and this solution must be found through dialogue with the ukrainian opposition and civil
the irish example shows that linking responsibility with effective european support and solidarity has proven to be the right answer.
the high representative vice president of the commission cathy ashton is in kiev today on the ground in order to assist in finding political and peaceful solutions to the very tense situation that ukraine is living through
this is particularly true for the ukrainian authorities but it is true for everyone of
choice. our offer to ukraine to sign the association agreement including a deep and comprehensive free trade area remains on the
economic indicators point towards a slow but significant upturn in both growth and confidence.
i welcome that this was also the very large consensus that emerged from your debate yesterday.
but yesterday once again the ecofin ministers failed given the opposition of two member states to reach agreement on the savings directive.
the european investment bank has significantly and successfully boosted its activities following the capital increase agreed last
if we manage to sustain these efforts we will see that our crisis response will ultimately succeed.
i hope that together with you we can keep up the pressure to make progress in this
morning. let me recall in clear and plain terms the position of the european commission european values and principles must be respected.
course. especially after what happened last night we have to reiterate that violence is never the
this is the right moment to pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the irish people and their political leaders throughout this process.
the situation in all programme countries has improved and stabilised.
we also intend to do more to develop standards in critical technology areas and to promote a common approach to certification a key enabler of industrial competitiveness.
we need to focus them on those policy areas with the most likely effects on competitiveness employment and the functioning of the emu.
we need a more integrated and competitive industrial base in cooperation with the european defence agency as well.
this is not a debate for europe alone.
too. regional protection programmes can be made stronger notably for northern africa.
the commission appreciates the efforts made in this house to advance quickly in forming your views on our proposals. now it is for the member states to fully engage in the debate and to come to a general agreement this month.
the commission adopted a communication on those instruments earlier this year.
secondly we need to go further in this area also because public budgets across europe are under pressure.
i am thinking of our joint achievements to agree and adopt the multiannual financial framework.
the commission hopes that the european council can flesh out next week some basic principles on this issue which would form the basis for further work to be taken forward during the first half of.
the commission is confident that their hard work which is ultimately our common hard work will also pay off in the end.
it is important that we can fully conclude on this crucial piece of legislation before the european parliament elections.
the disciplinary element is already deeply enshrined in the european semester and in the fiscal treaty.
we also need critical technological expertise and autonomy in key capability areas.
we have to work towards a more cohesive european security and defence policy mainly for three reasons. firstly because we need an effective and visible common security and defence policy as a tangible expression of our international commitments;
we have taken new steps in reforming the european unions economic governance.
completing the banking union must be our most immediate and most important objective.
we also need to discuss how to make the solidarity element more concrete so as to provide the necessary help to finance these reforms after all these reforms are in the common european interest.
there is positive news to report but there are still some important proposals where we can and must make progress still during this
the lampedusa tragedy has made it painfully clear that we need to step up border control operations and enhance our capacity to detect boats in the mediterranean.
but it needs to be completed.
we also need member states to fully implement the two thousand and nine directives opening up defence procurement.
but we must be absolutely clear that we need to maintain our efforts.
thirdly also in this area we talk about economic growth and employment.
we owe it to them to make our efforts as focused and as effective as possible because pooling our resources and know how is the way to do
the recovery cannot be just for some.
we want our companies to remain competitive on the world stage.
we have in fact three decisive hurdles to overcome in this european council six months before our european elections.
the commission should defend another idea the same idea as parliament the idea of convergence guidelines.
we need a real banking union not merely a banking union not what i call a loose coordination of national resolution mechanisms. that will not work.
this system of contractual arrangements will be the death of europe if you continue with it.
i know some were laughing ten years ago when in the aftermath of the iraq war we organised with france and with germany what they called afterwards the chocolate summit.