kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
a prosperous future for all europeans.
with our demographic realities that is simply not sufficient to sustain our social model our european way of life.
if we want to be in a position to provide for our parents our children for everyone in need if we really want a sustainable social model for our societies we need to move much more quickly to a sustainable economy to a low carbon resource efficient circular economy.
we know that the development aspects will be covered by a new consensus on development.
it is something about development policy exactly what you said commissioner timmermans and we need to move away from that we need to get this comprehensive agenda. i was pleased with what the presidency said about bringing the member states together and their coordination.
i have just got few specific questions for the commission stemming from new york.
how are we preparing for the first meeting of the high level political forum which takes place in less than two months' time?
how will the commission be represented?
i think it is a very important statement of intent that you are all here tonight to embrace the concept of the universal agenda of the sdgs. when you talk around the capitals of europe and indeed in this parliament to be honest we get the impression that we are still talking of sdgs as a replacement for the mdgs.
we have seen progress and statisticians have done their job they produced these statistics these indicators.
two thousand and thirteen a european parliament resolution a letter from fifty meps and a meeting request from almost every irish mep has not persuaded you to meet so could i please reassert the urgency to meet with the vice president to discuss ibrahim helawa but also the wider situation in egypt.
over forty zero political prisoners five hundred and forty four forced disappearances since august two thousand and fifteen human rights organisations and their families living in fear of arbitrary arrest and detention a free press that is virtually non existent and political opposition crushed.
i have repeatedly asked the vice president to meet to discuss the case of ibrahim helawa who will spend his one thousandth day in prison on friday arrested as a juvenile for attending a pro democracy rally in.
the work on the implementation of the two thousand and thirty commitments and towards the adoption of the new european consensus will continue.
there is little i can add but allow me to underline that the council is devoted to continuing our exchange of views in the coming months among member states and also among institutions. it is important.
on three may two thousand and eleven the commission published the results of a feasibility study by the expert group on european contract law and we invited all stakeholders to comment. the commission is analysing the results of the public consultation and then it will prepare a detailed impact assessment
we have never taken advantage of this.
i have taken note of the assessment of the report on the policy options presented in the green paper and the support for the innovative solution of an optional instrument which means no harmonisation but giving consumers and businesses a choice of having a europe
non. if we do not have that we will fail in all of our activities.
the internal market needs to be boosted.
to only a few member states. that means they miss out on the possibility of utilising the internal market.
we need the internal market if we want to have growth job creation and innovation. what is the current situation? only one in four businesses trade across borders and those who trade limit their operations
we have seen that internal market failures are due in part to the differences in national contract
that means that we have here a non functioning of the internal market both for businesses and for consumers. that is the reason why the commission has launched a consultation on policy options in the field of contract law in response to which parliament is giving
i have taken very good note of what has been said by parliament namely that any future instrument whatever it looks like should give consumers a high level of protection in order not to deprive them of the protection they would otherwise enjoy under national
that is why we need to get rid of those obstacles one by one starting now with contract
now is the time for action and if ever there was a time when the internal market needed a boost in terms of additional transactions it is now. the committee on legal affairs favours an optional instrument a second eu contract law for all citizens and enterprises. we believe it could help.
but we have said that there will be tough criteria for the next step.
there must be a high level of consumer protection higher than in many of our member states.
it must be easy and user friendly for smes;
it must give them a badge of honour to conduct their business under this optional contract and there must be no detriment to national law.
the process must be evidence based impact assessed and with full parliamentary involvement and on that basis as i have said the time for talking is over and we need to move forward.
there are those who are nervous and say well let us just use the idea of a toolbox.
can i say to those who have that idea be very careful because i have a suspicion that a toolbox without an optional instrument is potentially actually more invasive of national law than a toolbox with an optional instrument that is voluntary
that respects the autonomy of the parties and is not detrimental to national law.
that really gives us an instrument which means justice for growth.
we must and we will continue our efforts in close and continuing cooperation with this house the member states and stakeholders.
drugs is one of these. i would like warmly to welcome the successful conclusion after four years of the intense and demanding interinstitutional negotiations on the new psychoactive substances package.
i would like to thank both of them personally for their constant efforts and support and their commitment.
this action plan enhances and updates existing actions while it also identifies new priority areas such as online awareness raising activities targeting young people in particular and exploring the potential connection between drug trafficking and the financing of terrorist groups migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
psychoactive substances. in my constituency you go down some streets and you find these little gas canisters on the street.
you're trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube you're trying to stop something that is already happening and by the time you have stopped it another substance is on the street another legal high. unless you recognise and look at the social problems behind it unless you realise that throwing more money more money and more money at the war on drugs is not working unless new ways are found then you are just going to be wasting taxpayers' money that could be spent on healthcare education or defence or on combating the problems and the criminality associated with drugs
but not necessarily addressing the drug problem itself.
legislation like this legislation like any in the war on drugs is always reactive.
the alternative is to face a life of ruin for taking a safer substance called cannabis. the war on drugs is a war on people.
the law rather than the drug destroys their lives.
mr president it is fairly obvious that if there was no prohibition on the consumption of cannabis the synthetic forms of cannabis would disappear from the market in the same way that the demand for melteddown boot polish plummeted after the repeal of prohibition of alcohol in the us.
this is the main reason why young people take these dangerous cocktails of drugs.
in ireland alone in the region of one hundred zero people have a criminal record for possession of cannabis. it prevents them from travelling from parenting and from access to decent employment.
some countries have chosen to take a softer approach whereas others most notably the philippines enact a zerotolerance policy on drugs.
and whilst this may appear to show the eu taking the issue of drugs seriously it fails to tackle the fundamental problems that facilitate the drug issues in the eu that of course being the borderless schengen area.
mr president combating the distribution of illegal drugs is a global issue that requires all countries to cooperate in order to effectively fight.
if the eu wishes to take the protection of its citizens seriously it must dismantle schengen and it must dismantle it straight away.
a europe without borders not only facilitates the free movement of drugs but also the free movement of weapons terrorists and illegal migrants.
it is our moral and political obligation to act.
it also ensures that an effective process for exchange of information is in place and that our european drugs agency has the competences and the resources to provide the relevant expert advice.
we have a lot of work ahead.
still too much of eu cohesion money is deposited in the concrete;
and again to invite money is no longer an option.
i believe these figures are more than enough to expect that the eu authorities make every effort to simplify common rules and measures foster synergies of different programmes boost diversification of sources for smes and strengthen policy coordination.
since its inception the criticism has been rather constant. however we all know what a huge impact for growth and development the european structural and investment funds had and have for many eu member states.
also the cultural gap needs to be bridged between the structural fund procedures and smes' daily business practices in different countries and the regions.
the only way to meet and empower this important eu investment instrument is to think talk and act for effective and innovative employment of public resources which would bring maximum impact and added value.
in the eu we are dealing with about twenty three million smes which make up around ninety nine of all businesses and generate two in three private sector jobs.
we should also be making it easier for smes to access structural funds.
we should be looking to make it easier to use those funds together;
once again our own regulations can help with that.
you only have to look at the figures the jobs created the businesses created in your own regions to know it is a success story.
this does happen but of course that are many obstacles in the way.
i think our own regulations can help in terms of improving simplification and bringing the regulations of the two funds closer together.
traditionally we have focused our investment in cohesion funds on infrastructure training and job creation but we should not neglect the opportunities to also invest in research and development.
but again i believe we can do even more on this.
any strategy on smes must include support for cooperatives social enterprises and alternative business models because these have so much potential for a more ethical way of doing business and can bring about accountability to the private sector.
innovation is by definition a cross cutting concept.
businesses scientists and artists all argued in favour of a more global approach to innovation and to jointly explore their common impact on societies.
last july i attended the european science open forum in manchester in my northwest constituency where i cohosted a session on the links between the arts and science together with my colleague eva kaili.
we must therefore facilitate their ability to operate and trade across europe especially in the creative and media sector.
this session confirmed the demand in both communities to change the silo mentality.
this should be the essence of smart specialisation strategies.
we must also ensure that vulnerable excluded groups have access to entrepreneurship education particularly women and girls who face greater obstacles and prejudice. with reference to innovation and the need to build synergies between cohesion policy and innovation strategies
so i welcome the efforts to better coordinate funding tools that are crucial for the sustainable development of european regions in both urban and rural areas.
mr president cohesion or regional subsidy is too often a means to throw good taxpayers' money after bad.
in the real world to help smes to deliver growth you have to make markets work and make them deliver high quality competitive products and services from satisfied wellpaid workers.
you put the role of the market centre stage but only as a vehicle to deliver prosperity not as an ideological end in its own right.
getting markets to operate in the general or public interest is one of the most vital yet difficult tasks of politicians.
what is required is not cronyism but proper competition which is not rigged or manipulated.
that has to mean lots of players in the market none of whom is able to achieve dominance.
dominance does not just mean monopoly.
it also means a small number of big players effectively operating as a cartel.
as usual the eu starts with worthy intentions but because it does not understand the nature of the problem it will waste money achieve little and probably make the situation worse.
this being said our anti torture policy would be far less effective without the persistent efforts to address torture and ill treatment within the un framework.
similar efforts are being made to eradicate violence against women and our recent endeavours focus in particular on the elimination of female genital mutilation.
in particular human rights dialogues with forty two states allow us to address individual cases of concern and to encourage the ratification of key international instruments notably the optional protocol to the un convention against torture the so called cat.
even the right to life has exceptions but the right to protection from torture usually does not have any exceptions.
based. however as we know such regulation is not sufficient to ensure that third countries abolish capital punishment and to prevent torture from occurring in such countries.
in order to address the root causes of this phenomenon the eu is engaged in efforts to reduce all forms of violence against children through more effective child protection systems and to raise greater awareness about children's rights including their right to freedom from violence. in parallel in order to prevent the torture of children the eu asks the partner countries
which have lowered the criminal liability age to reconsider their decision.
guided by the commitments of the eu action plan on democracy and human rights and also the eu guidelines on torture we promote the eradication of torture through all bilateral contacts with third countries.
we must and we will talk about it but it something that we may need to compromise on.
so we are at risk in some of the renewable sectors of citizens not quite being on the same plane as perhaps the policy drivers are and i think these are real issues which need to be addressed. i would like to say to the commissioner that i mentioned on one occasion the issue of agriculture and emissions and commissioner i think we need to talk about this.
so there is a disconnect between the real work that we have got to do and the success of this conference and what citizens are talking about.
in ireland plans for large scale wind farming have raised huge concerns amongst citizens in those areas.
people want and know the importance of saving energy.
and yet if we were to look up at the citizens who are listening their needs and their concerns might be more immediate about jobs and about growth.
but could i challenge you on renewables for example?
i think if we went out to our elections next year with a poster saying ditching carbon' i do not think it would work.
i think there has been a real failure by us in this chamber and outside to communicate how real climate change is and how we need to tackle it.
we must start it and we must leave warsaw with a very clear agreement among all that two thousand and fifteen the paris agreement is not just an agreement but that it is an agreement that is ambitious enough actually to make the world stay below the two degrees.
it is six years after copenhagen and nobody should be able to say that they cannot be ready for paris.
that is also why we have said that when we have all the pledges there we need some kind of assessment phase to see whether all these combined efforts will actually make it likely that the world will stay below the two degrees that world leaders pledged in copenhagen in.
this is incredibly important to many of our friends in the developing world and in the most vulnerable countries so it is very important that we also push for this adaptation agenda including on loss and damage. that will feature prominently in warsaw since agreement on an institutional arrangement is expected at this cop.
this means that all parties need to swiftly start doing their homework and urgently prepare the proposals to be tabled. we suggest that should happen as early as next year.
how to cooperate more globally on renewables and efficiency would be other examples.
our approach asking for early proposals for commitments together with transparent information and an assessment of the ambition level and equity pre two thousand and fifteen is clearly gaining ground with our partners.
finally on climate finance we should not be mistaken in europe.
it cannot just be an empty agreement where we have a perfect architecture and legal form and so on;
you all know that this is a very challenging process. you also all know how important it is that europe can play its leadership role there.
this is just to say that we are still working very hard on trying to make the rest of the world move in the direction in which we want them to move on these challenging issues.
i have already heard at international conferences some big parties saying we cannot necessarily be ready for paris.
we understand that the top down approach alone did not produce enough buy in from parties but it is also clear that the bottom up approach alone will not give enough ambition.
because it is not such a sexy conference where you can say that there will be a huge number of firm decisions taken when we leave warsaw.
i just mentioned what was said in july but in new york during the un opening week in september many more countries moved more into the european way of thinking saying yes we know we have to do our homework we have to get our numbers ready' and i think mr ban ki moon has also been very clear that that is what he hopes parties will have ready when they attend the leaders' summit next year.
how can we have tangible progress in the discussions on enhancing pre two thousand and twenty ambitions and what about implementation of past decisions including on adaptation and climate financing?
that is of course a bit more difficult to explain but it does not mean that this is not an important cop.
the same clear signal also emanates from the council conclusions adopted last week.
otherwise we can discuss any ets reform but it will not achieve anything. to conclude regarding the polish presidency who unfortunately cannot be here.
that is also part of this resolution now because we need the targets now in order to make sure the eu leaders come forward in march.
i also think that my colleagues on the right have to realise that they should be reading the ipcc reports a bit more carefully.
if you look at the cumulative emissions the ipcc clearly states that if you want to meet the two celsius target cumulative emissions can only reach one trillion tonnes of carbon.
what i would like to stress is that two thousand and fifteen is very close.
therefore what we expect and please poland surprise us is an ambitious timeline and especially an ambitious plea from the eu presidency next year in order to move forward to the ban ki moon summit and to have a good result in.
then later on we as europe can play the leading role in the ban ki moon summit in september because if we do not do so who is going to take the first step?
this is also the moment when parliament should be pushing our own leaders in the eu to come forward with ambitious targets.
we are rather concerned about the polish presidency.
three years ago we were told it was going to be a warm mild wet winter and it was one of the coldest we have ever experienced.
we should not forget the issue of revenues.
we should also recognise that ninety four of the eu budget is spent by member states and therefore it is not surprising that most fraud is committed at member state level.
from this parliament and of course it could try to improve cooperation and coordination between member states in tackling these issues.
there is also the issue of revenues.
when we look at the figures for individual elements within the budget once again we see the need to improve the situation in cohesion policy and in agriculture.
not all of course we are not going to agree on everything but i welcome most of them because i believe that what we are doing tonight this debate and this vote tomorrow should reassure taxpayers that this parliament takes the topic of tax and tax fraud and fraud in general as a serious issue and indeed others should do so as well particularly member states.
it is all about looking at the extent to which eu funds and revenue are at risk of fraud and this of course is a very important topic for eu taxpayers. sometimes we are also guilty of not recognising when there are improvements. in two thousand and eleven for example reported fraud was down by thirty five
for example they are currently blocking two vat directives and i call on the council to unblock those initiatives as soon as possible and other initiatives as well.
that is why my report does call for a full evaluation by the commission of the shared management system.
so obviously individual member states are using different ways to measure and to deal with fraud in their own countries.
they could monitor control systems in member states standardise the definition of fraud in member states establish a uniform reporting measure consider the lack of harmonised criminal law across member states promote greater transparency which is called for in my report and many other reports
between two thousand and five and two thousand and ten illicit trade in cigarettes deprived the european union and the member states of more than eur ten billion.
vulnerable member states should be given stronger support to protect borders against cigarette smuggling.
i think that it is really important that in the final stage of the adoption of the programmes both legislative authorities follow the simplification path in this programme.
this month even the commission intends to table its proposal for the establishment of the european public prosecutor's office.
it will also publish its report on the protection of the eu's financial interests for the year.
there. firstly the commission services will continue implementing the audit and discharge recommendations issued every year in order to improve the management control and protection of the eu
action. thirdly the post two thousand and thirteen legislation must reflect the issues identified in the simplification agenda for the new multiannual financial framework and the simplification scoreboards adopted by the commission.
budget. with this report the commission will give more inside views and explanations on the performance of its multiannual preventive and corrective
finally the commission's action to protect the eu budget through its multiannual corrective mechanisms needs to be taken into consideration when assessing the effectiveness of its management and control systems. it should be put in perspective with the error rate estimated by the court of auditors.
budget. secondly for all programmes under shared management the member states must ensure that their management and control systems are functioning as required.
i wanted to reassure colleagues that i have no intention of watering down the report and that is why i intend accepting most of the amendments.