kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
now more than ever we need closer ties between eu member states working on social cohesion security tackling climate change continuing to strengthen peace at the heart of the eu project.
as elected representatives it is for us to restore that faith.
i believe it's the duty of governments to determine accurately the balance between ensuring citizens' safety and providing for a safe space for freedom of expression.
in my own country the united kingdom fifteen anti deportation activists were recently convicted of terror offences for attempting to stop the deportation of sixty vulnerable immigrants from the uk.
madam president the right to peaceful protest is a key feature of the exercise of democracy in modern societies and is enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights.
i believe this course of action results from a broken justice system and an authoritarian government and it's unworthy of a modern progressive country.
i am therefore increasingly concerned by reports of excessive use of violence against civilians during protests.
this also means that law enforcers must be held accountable in all actions undertaken towards citizens in the midst of peaceful protests.
as we meet today our three institutions are working night and day to conclude important pending files such as the european border and coast guard the prevention of terrorist content online copyright and a series of contingency measures to mitigate the negative consequences of brexit before the next elections.
the european union is in the sixth consecutive year of economic growth.
let us not allow the doomsayers to weaken or paralyze our union.
at his state of the union address in this house in september last year president juncker presented to you his priorities and outlined his vision for how the european union could devolve by.
in particular he called for confirming the process of the so called at european level completing the governance of the euro area and for a modern and values based european budget for the coming years.
we have to be clear that when we discuss the future of europe we discuss whether and how we want the european union to reaffirm its future in the world. if we want our union to stay an actor in global politics in the twenty first century to maintain our economic strength to defend our interests and to shape foreign policy
today however we must not discuss treaty change but focus on concrete policies and on the immediate concerns of our citizens.
the eu is defending a rule and values based multilateral order as just confirmed by the partnership agreements with japan which has just entered into force and which will generate new opportunities and growth both for europeans and our partners.
these results should inspire us to not let up because the task of building a more secure sustainable and more prosperous and fairer europe is far from over.
border protection defence economic and monetary union trade research and innovation climate change social solidarity youth and employment.
the commission has by now fully delivered on all the proposals needed to address its priorities.
together with you the members of the european parliament and the twenty eight member states we have adopted over the last four years around two hundred and fifty ambitious legal acts in the areas of investments in the real economy the digital union energy union capital markets union internal and cybersecurity
two hundred and thirty nine million people in the european union are currently in jobs. this is the highest number ever.
in the longer run the commission's take on the future of europe is that we do not exclude treaty change.
by projecting our european values of democracy freedom openness solidarity the rule of law and fundamental rights then we have to do all what is necessary so that europe has the internal legitimacy capacity and means to do that.
twenty seven let us use this and any other opportunity to send strong and positive messages to our citizens.
we are thus delivering concrete results that are to the benefit of all european citizens.
that is why the commission believes that the sector should be appropriately supported to reduce its vulnerability to predation and ensure its co existence with wild carnivores.
however i am fully conscious of the challenge that the return of these species presents especially in those areas where they had been absent for many decades and in rural areas with extensive livestock farming.
the final element is the update of the prioritised action frameworks which identify the financial needs related to species protection including for damage prevention mitigation and compensation in view of the upcoming eu financial perspectives for the period two.
the commission will not propose any new rules or legal obligations. the guidance document will provide the commission's view on interpretation of the species protection provisions under the habitats directive.
therefore the commission has been devoting all its efforts to helping member states and stakeholders to improve the directives' implementation addressing the weaknesses and challenges identified in the fitness check.
in november last year the commission amended the eu guidelines for state aid in the agriculture and forestry sectors and in rural areas in order to allow for full compensation up to one hundred for damage caused by protected animals including
all these measures are aimed at helping national authorities and the relevant stakeholders.
the updated guidance aims to deliver on the commitments in the nature action plan to ensure clarity and consistency in the interpretation of the habitats directive taking into account the recent case law of the european court of justice.
of. two thousand and nineteen this action plan contains important elements related to the challenges of conserving large carnivores and addressing the associated conflicts.
veterinary costs or costs related to the search for missing animals and for full reimbursement up to one hundred of investments to prevent such damage for example in electric fences or livestock guarding dogs.
after a first round of consultations a second draft is currently being prepared and will be subject to a new round of consultations in the coming months.
what we called the nature directives.
fourthly there is the increased life funding for nature projects including for the protection of species and for coexistence.
in those areas where traditional livestock protection practices have been abandoned the return of the wolf certainly entails additional challenges for sheep farmers.
having suffered a very serious decline in most areas of europe large carnivore populations have been recovering in recent decades and returning to countries and regions of their former range. they are protected species under the eu habitats directive and their recovery is a contribution towards nature protection in europe and towards halting global biodiversity loss.
support is available under national and eu funds through life and rural development projects and further efforts are necessary to raise awareness among those concerned so that all possibilities are fully availed of.
as concerns parliament's proposal on the right of inquiry while sharing many of the serious concerns expressed by the council the commission as always stands ready to engage constructively and find appropriate solutions.
the commission remains fully committed to the union's accession to the european convention on human rights.
i am grateful that like the commission this parliament has consistently kept questions of the rule of law high on its agenda although all of us would have strongly preferred that this had not been necessary.
we agree with you that ahead of the elections all the eu institutions should make an effort to promote the benefits of and advances made on european union citizenship and respect for the charter of fundamental rights. beyond that our energies in the coming weeks should be focused on delivering on a positive agenda by securing good outcomes in the pending legislative negotiations.
good progress has been made too on various institutional issues that are priorities for this house.
upholding common values and fundamental rights is a shared responsibility of local regional national european and international actors and institutions.
the romanian presidency will continue to engage actively and constructively with you to deliver concrete results across all areas of the ten priorities of the juncker commission priorities that were established together with you.
the commission considers that these arrangements have worked well and the benefits of our good cooperation in my view are clear.
i certainly agree with him and i remember fondly the time we spent working on the lisbon treaty that the treaty is not being used to its full potential today.
as concerns ms bresso's report i would like to stress that this college of commissioners has taken very seriously its political accountability to parliament.
the commission welcomes these two reports that actively promote the debate on the union's future institutional development.
the recent agreement on the amendments to the statute of european political parties is very welcome indeed.
many of you have worked very hard on this.
the commission has taken action throughout its term of office to promote the democratic rights of citizens culminating in the package of proposals in september to enhance transparency combat disinformation and ensure that individual data is not abused in the context of the upcoming elections.
the commission will present an initiative later this year on strengthening the rule of law framework in the light of experience and will take good account of your views in this regard.
the commission is using a wide range of instruments to ensure the full effectiveness of the charter. these include infringement proceedings to address values related violations of eu law by member states audits and investigations relating to the use of eu funds and the european semester to monitor national justice reforms.
cooperation between our two institutions is set out in the framework agreement and in the inter institutional agreement on better law making which together with relevant treaty provisions provide a framework in which parliament can effectively exercise its political oversight of the commission.
i have to note however that treaty change is not currently on the agenda and that many of the ideas would affect the interinstitutional balance or the prerogatives of the other institutions.
the commission welcomes the energy and commitment of this parliament.
i also welcome the fact that agreement was reached on non binding delineation criteria for delegated acts and implementing acts and i hope that tomorrow's trilogue will result in agreement on the alignment to the lisbon treaty of empowerments and the regulatory procedure with scrutiny in approximately sixty legislative acts.
i cannot of course cover every part of these rich reports here this evening.
the commission has also recently published a report on investor citizenship and resident schemes so called golden passports and visas and will set up a group of experts from member states to improve the transparency governance and security of such schemes.
the consultation process to address the legal issues raised by the court is making good progress but is not yet completed.
after a massive demonstration of solidarity in dublin last weekend the labour court has now intervened to provide an offer that the nurses are considering.
it's no wonder that we have a recruitment and retention crisis in nursing when their pay today is lower than it was in.
they are fighting for a better service for all of us and people across ireland know this which is why they have such broad public support.
mr president i want to congratulate the irish nurses and midwives for their resolute action against a government that has refused to engage with their legitimate demands.
in addition the periodical preparation of the work programmes through appropriate interservice consultations will provide ample opportunity to explore synergies and detect possible overlaps.
furthermore the anti fraud programme pursues a different objective from the customs control equipment instrument.
the anti fraud programme specifically aims at the protection of the eu financial interests and therefore covers not only the revenue side but also the expenditure side through a range of activities of which financing the acquisition of equipment is only one aspect.
the commission will ensure that there is no duplication between the programmes during the implementation phase in particular when establishing the work programmes which will be done in close consultation with the other commission services concerned.
as regards cofinancing rates the financial regulation no longer requires that cofinancing rates are defined in the basic acts.
therefore the proposal does not fix such rates in order to provide the programme with the maximum flexibility.
this is a horizontal issue across proposals. all your remarks and the amendments that you decide to put forward in the vote tomorrow will be carefully considered for discussion during the next phase of the procedure.
some of them touch cross cutting issues common to all proposals for spending programmes and will be part of the general negotiations for the next mff.
the commission remains fully committed to ensuring that the eu anti fraud strategy is supported by a modern and flexible financial instrument capable of facing promptly and effectively the challenges of future years.
the goal of achieving gender equality is crucial to ensuring that the eu policies reflect the perspectives and interests of both women and men.
however there is still a long way to go to reach gender equality within the european union and it is regrettable that gender mainstreaming is not consistently implemented in all eu activities which prevents the effective implementation of measures to combat gender discrimination and promote gender equality.
in this context i call on the member states who have not yet ratified the istanbul convention to finally do so.
independent science led policy making has and continues to be the most effective approach.
the proposal also seeks to move closer to a policy of regionalisation.
i will concentrate on the rate of participation in eu elections which is usually low diminishing at every election and consequently threatening the legitimacy both of the elections and the eu. there is one main reason for this voters do not feel that there is a straight connection between what they vote for and what policy they will get. because of the complicated decision making system if they vote for example for the socialist group to be the biggest here it is not at all sure that they will get more socialist politics in the eu nor a socialist in
the reason we are asking for that debate and the resolution is because we see how attacks on lgbti people are increasing all over europe.
we see a real setback and a backlash here and the commission needs to stand firmly on that matter. however the list of actions on lgbti rights by the commission is actually running out.
it expires this year and the commission is actually reluctant to continue having a list of actions.
this is our last chance as parliament to push the commission to act and to do something because lgbti rights are human rights and that's why we should have a debate with resolution.
the commission is maintaining its promises.
many of the actions in the action plan for nature have already been delivered and all the others are under preparation.
however these rights are not fully implemented. we want a union where citizenship is linked to residency where gender equality is fully effective and where the right to political participation is fully implemented.
the report on the implementation of the charter assesses its state of play and makes recommendations to improve it.
the renewal of the protocol to the sustainable fishing partnership agreement will further strengthen this relationship.
it will contribute to the establishment of a meaningful surveillance capacity and improved governance and it will also support the development of the blue economy inland aquatic resources and artisanal fisheries. we have placed special emphasis on the benefits for local operators
this supports employment locally in the canneries but also on board eu vessels as ivorian seamen are in the first rank of noneu nationals employed. landings of eu vessels are also supporting the activities of smallscale economic operators.
i would like to mention here the association of women organised to collect and transform such resources for local use.
they have clearly expressed their needs for a supply from our vessels' landings so that they could make a decent living from their activities. the commission is engaged in a dialogue with the industry to ensure that landings become a regular source of revenue for these women as it is our conviction that eu industrial activities also need to benefit local small operators.
however in essex a third of libraries face the chop in a wanton act of cultural and educational vandalism.
and closing the library won't just take books off the shelves it will rip the heart out of local communities.
and week in week out libraries host things like rhyme time clubs and provide access to the internet. essex needs its libraries.
so my message to essex county council tonight is stop think again and shelve this terrible plan.
mr president i was stimulated to speak after i heard the somewhat outrageous disgraceful speech by mr hookem who i see has already left which of course is typical of ukip meps they come here they spout a few words outrageous words and then they leave without bothering to hear anybody replying.
in fact when he referred to donald tusk's comments fishing is a very good example of those who supported brexit without having any plan about what to do afterwards.
of course if we leave the european union we will still have to negotiate fishing quotas under the un convention on the law of the sea.
we have an obligation to negotiate fair quotas with our neighbouring countries.
as such it provides for close collaboration to promote the sustainable exploitation of fishing resources in those waters and it also supports the efforts of the country to develop the blue economy in the interests of both us and them.
on one side the ivorian fishing industry in particular the small scale fisheries need structural support from the eu to contribute more effectively to national development and food needs.
on the other hand the evaluation of the previous protocol concluded that a renewal of the protocol would help strengthen monitoring control and surveillance and contribute to improving governance of fisheries in the region.
this is a win win situation and tomorrow we should vote in favour and give consent to the conclusion of this protocol.
the persecution of mr titiev is of grave and great concern.
there have been colleagues who have added other important topics to the text.
i don't want to engage in a hierarchy of the gravity of human rights violations but i do want to draw your attention to the risk of mismatching the title with the substance of the resolution.
we are all aware of the challenges faced by the fishing sector in the western waters.
fishers in my constituency in the southern coast of ireland face significant challenges due to the obligations of our fisheries policies targeting specific species in this region. it is difficult due to catches being mixed and this combined with the landing obligation and inability to discard catches makes life difficult.
finally i welcome the agreement on recreational fisheries.
any restrictions on recreational fishing should be based on scientific evidence and objective criteria.
problems only arise when these rights start to proliferate and it becomes impossible to know whether a right is fundamental or not.
we are currently in the midst of an inflation of rights.
if you do not keep the two separate we politicise the law and legalise politics and that is not compatible with democracy.
third if we frame everything in the language of rights then compromise the keystone of democratic politics becomes difficult to attain.
finally if we are indeed dealing with fundamental rights these must apply to everyone even handedly and indeed equitably.
if this even handedness is absent we create privileged groups and exclude others.
that is the high road to trouble to serious trouble indeed.
look around europe today to see what i mean.
i commend commissioner vella and my colleague mr salafranca on the proposals here tonight to try to get more cooperation essentially between the member states so that we can come to terms with this terrible affliction.
what form of hell can be worse than watching the descendants of our wartime enemies seize control of our economy culture laws rights and employment?
the function of the ombudsman therefore is to ensure that in these areas of activity accountability and procedural consistency are observed fully. in this regard the institution of the ombudsman performs a very useful function equilibrating between the different institutions of the european union.
the only problem that arises from this is an ancient one who guards the guardians?
once upon a time the proper operation was democracy which was predicated on the political actors behaving with due regard for self limitation. in the ideologically polarised world of today self limitation has fallen down the memory hole. so the more guardians the better.
the agreement which was reached between the co legislators is a very good result and i want to thank you alain for working tirelessly to ensure a solid and sustainable result that can work in practice. i also want to thank you for ensuring a timely adoption as you mentioned ahead of the uk withdrawal from the european union.
the baltic sea and the north sea plans are the blueprints for the western waters plan but where it was necessary to reflect regional specificities the co legislators wisely agreed to find new approaches by addressing for example issues linked to recreational fisheries.
it continues on the path of regionalisation allowing member states to submit joint recommendations for example on discard plans to implement the landing obligations.
with this new plan we ensure that fishermen have the necessary tools for sustainable fishing practices for example by adapting their gear to fish more selectively.
it is now for the stakeholders of the western waters to put these tools into practice and to ensure tailor made solutions to specific challenges in the different fisheries of the western waters.
that the working conditions of the people working for the buses and coaches and the truck drivers are assured and furthermore strengthened in the future.
madam president we have seen unprecedented demonstrations in france over the last few months by the yellow vest movement. now this is not a protest movement isolated to france but it is the most forceful and visual across europe.
why are they protesting?
because of the loss of democratic accountability because of an oppressive tax regime because their living standards are being driven down and because of mass uncontrolled immigration that is changing european nations into something unwanted and unrecognised by their native inhabitants.
above all it is because of a political elite out of touch with their own citizens.
mr macron is a figurehead for the european union. throughout european history there have been peasants' revolts against oppressive regimes.
the eu is the ancien rgime of the modern age and no amount of state brutality can prevent it being swept away.
therefore we need a debate with resolution on this matter this week.
the nato foreign ministers in the munich security conference will be discussing it this week and this parliament should have a position before they meet given its direct and major impact on the citizens that we are all here to represent.
the inf treaty has ensured the reduction of thousands of weapons covered by the treaty and it has increased all of our safety.