kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
it is important we need a strong start for this conference and we don't need it just in this house we need it especially beyond the confines of this house.
article nineteen is very clear.
but more importantly i hope that the conference carries something more and that is the emotion the emotion which we saw in the run up to the last european elections when voters' participation increased in unprecedented numbers across the eu member states.
this is essential and i just want to respond very quickly to the remarks from the farright corner of this house.
third the commission has been and is taking broad and coordinated action with respect to alleged conflicts of interest in the czech republic.
the commission services carried out audits in the czech republic in january and february.
let me now say a few words on the stork's nest project.
the contradictory procedure is ongoing and the next step is a bilateral meeting with the czech authorities.
confidentiality of the audit is a basic principle and of utmost importance.
the ongoing national judicial investigation is the exclusive competence of the czech authorities.
this means until the commission has taken a final position as appropriate in relation to the follow up that the audit team will give to it.
the final audit report provided to the czech authorities does not represent the final step of the audit process for the european regional development fund and the european social fund.
first the commission has zero tolerance for fraud or misuse of eu funds.
they are currently at different stages of the procedure.
no payments from the eu budget under the european structural and investment funds are being made to projects that could potentially be concerned by alleged conflict of interest.
let me assure you that while the audits go on the eu budget is fully protected.
mr president honourable members thank you for the opportunity for the commission to present the state of play in this matter. let me start by making three points very clear.
the czech authorities withdrew the project from eu financing and recovered the funds from the beneficiary. consequently there was no impact on either the eu or the national budget.
two thousand and nineteen these audits relate to the european regional development fund the european social fund and the european agricultural fund for rural development.
in relation to the rural development fund the commission is not reimbursing to czech authorities the amounts related to projects that could be potentially concerned by the alleged conflict of interest.
under the confidentiality rules i will therefore not comment on the substance of the audit findings today.
finally as regards the situation in other member states the commission will equally follow up on allegations of non resolved conflicts of interest in other member states. in addition the commission is providing support to all member states to correctly implement measures aimed at avoiding conflicts of interest.
the contents of the final audit report should therefore remain confidential until the procedure is closed.
the audits for the european social fund and the european regional development fund are now in the follow up stage.
for the rural development investment measures the commission has communicated its letter of findings to the member states including preliminary conclusions and recommendations to avoid any situation of conflict of interest in the future.
for all funds the whole procedure until adoption of possible financial corrections can take up to twenty four months.
second the commission always diligently follows up on information or complaints with respect to conflict of interest in all member states.
it recommended to the commission to recover the full subsidy.
you're manipulated ' they say to voters by misinformation or demagogues'. in other words you can't be serious about consulting citizens if you demonise those citizens unless they sycophantically act as cheerleaders for the eu.
actually european citizens do speak out; they do debate freely all the time without the help of bureaucrats. european citizens often shout their opinions loud and clear in national elections and in referenda but they're often dismissed by people here.
with all this talk about citizens' assemblies and consultations there's a danger that it is superficially bringing citizens into the decision making process but is really stagemanaged tokenism.
perhaps just a last thought for the council you know sincere cooperation and transparency do not hurt particularly if they serve the best interests of the citizens and of the union and european values.
it is a disgrace what you are doing to the place that hungary deserves in europe.
you know nobody made anyone join the european union.
hungary grew and developed so beautifully using and with the help of european money.
it is a choice towards progress and a commitment to european values that your country made and you disrespect this choice.
i want to talk about the fact that it is a disgrace what you are doing to your own country mr orbn.
it's a disgrace what you are doing to media freedom to academic freedom to artistic freedom to civil society to all kinds of freedom.
and now you are literally building empires of hate of disinformation and of manipulation using european money.
if we don't have legislation then we should make legislation and take every measure needed to prevent you and anyone embarrassing their own country in this way.
they associate the eu with mythical rules on bent bananas and banning bagpipes because of a right wing media that has spread lies and disinformation for decades.
i believe that people want to feel involved enfranchised represented and consulted.
brexit is a cautionary tale and it could have happened to many of you.
going it alone is not the answer and the citizen's voice is the most important one of all.
this conference on the future of europe is an ambitious project and it needs to be if it is going to secure the future of this unique union of nations.
we are the democratically elected representatives of the european people and for them to have a proper say this house must have legislative initiative.
mr verhofstadt we're talking about the future of europe but one of the key concerns of mine for europe and for your future is your dependence on your geopolitical foe. you mentioned russia and putin but recently the nord stream two channel pipeline which will bring gas from russia into europe was completed with the denmark signing of a further eur one hundred and fifty million to complete that.
do you agree with me that europe has no chance to be energy independent while it is still reliant on russia?
it directly influences the daily lives of our citizens and the environment in which our businesses operate.
two thousand and nineteen the first hearing was general in scope and covered all the issues raised in the european parliament's recent proposal.
the second hearing focused on specific topics freedom of expression including media pluralism academic freedom and independence of the judiciary as laid down in the standard modalities for hearings as referred to in article seven approved by the council.
the very fabric for our societies rests on democracy the rule of law and fundamental rights.
one cannot exist without the others.
shortcomings in this area make our societies and our union more vulnerable both internally and externally.
on ten december right before the second hearing an informal exchange between the ministers and the european parliament took place.
but be careful we don't want to mix participative democracy with representative democracy.
another thing is institutional representation with all the liberal heavy touch from our ruleoflaw states and we should keep these two spheres very clearly separated even if we have to engage in this project in a manner that we can
so my hope is that we can for the first time have a process of reform of the european union where citizens are really heard and where their opinion matters.
we need a very very deep and broad debate and discussion to prepare our institutions and to prepare our union for the challenge of the future.
what is really different is that this time we want to use in the preparation all the skills and all the tools that we have available to engage citizens in this debate.
perhaps you could get together afterwards and resolve that issue?
these events marked the beginning of the second world war and these are the facts.
we will commemorate the seventy fifth anniversary of this event on twenty seven january.
it is a fact that soviet soldiers were first to push out the german soldiers from central and eastern europe after immense sacrifices by the peoples of the soviet union.
this is why it is important for europe to be very clear on these matters.
organised and targeted dissemination of distortions and disinformation is something we have to oppose and reject. i myself will work under my mission to strengthen the european democracy to allow us to live in freedom from these threats.
our collective history and how we commemorate and share it is fundamentally important for europe's present and future.
the eu evolved out of the ashes of the second world war and the holocaust and in the context of the cold war these memories are the foundation of the european project and our responsibility for the future.
and keep their memories alive and also to study diligently the root causes and behaviour of the totalitarian regimes especially because today eighty one years after the opening of this dark chapter in european history our common values of human dignity fundamental rights rule of law and democracy are challenged again by extremists nationalists and divisive rhetoric and actions.
we have to recognise those facts to understand our own history and build a better future.
the european union has established twenty three august as the official day of the memory of the millions of victims of totalitarian regimes.
we also must recall the occupation of the baltic countries and bessarabia events hard to imagine without the existence of the treaty dividing the continent by a zone of influence of the evil regimes.
the commission is committed to contributing in line with its responsibilities to the promotion of the memory of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes in europe and the commission encourages the member states to consider the possibility of adhering to this europe wide day in the light of their own history. it is our duty to preserve the names of the millions persecuted
the dream of the european union was formed right after the war with the clear aim to create new strong foundations for long lasting peace in europe.
as the nowfamous quotation goes everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts'. the commission's role here is to talk about the facts. the european commission fully rejects any false claims that attempt to distort the history of the second world war or paint the victims
distortion of historical facts is a threat to our democratic societies and must be challenged wherever possible.
these historical facts are not open for debate.
history is complicated and we cannot forget about the role that the soviet soldiers played in the crucial part of the war when stalin and hitler became enemies.
that's why we're having this discussion here today because in poland these values and principles are sadly at risk through the actions of the current government.
a holding pattern is no longer acceptable and i stand with the justices from across europe who upon seeing and injustice happening move to the fore to stand up for the rule of law the rule of law that is worth protecting.
i urge them to do so and to stop the denial we're seeing here today.
these very values guide our work here in the parliament day after day and are the very essence of what makes us europeans.
however should this not occur the second option must be advanced the council must take forward the article seven procedure and make effective use of it.
action taken to change the situation through the initiation of the article seven procedure has regrettably shown little progress.
i sincerely hope firstly that the polish government changes course and takes action to respect the judiciary as outlined in the commission's recommendations of december.
this could mean associate individual eu citizenship which i would strongly support.
we have conferred citizens' rights on irish citizens in northern ireland and across the uk and give other citizens' rights including voting rights to citizens of malta cyprus and other commonwealth countries. so it can be done and it would prevent this unique deprivation of rights from existing european citizens.
and can i pay tribute to guy verhofstadt who has won many fans in the uk for his relentless focus on citizens' rights during this process including those of brits in the remaining eu member states.
madam president can i enlarge on my vote just now for this parliament's resolution on the british withdrawal agreement including its frank criticism of the uk's inadequate and arbitrary settled status scheme which is already unfairly treating our eu twenty seven friends neighbours colleagues and family members in the uk.
in paragraph twenty the resolution recognises the many uk citizens who don't want to lose their european citizens' rights and calls for this lost to be mitigated.
if the idea of international citizens' rights for foreign nationals seems odd there is a successful example and it's britain.
you say liberal freedom is an eu value but you illiberally deny free choice politically.
part of that struggle for freedom for countries like hungary and poland was regaining their sovereignty from ussr domination.
i personally am passionate about free speech and press freedom but unlike some hypocrites in the eu who regularly censor ideas they dub as hateful i genuinely respect diverse decisions made by diverse electorates around europe even if i don't agree with them.
this time it is the eu not the soviet union acting as a bully deploying soft authoritarian tactics.
how ironic then that these article seven proceedings are being used against hungary for daring to assert its democratic sovereign decisions today.
you say diversity is an eu value but you ban diversity of opinion.
mr president i would like to pay tribute to my friend the brilliant english philosopher roger scruton who sadly died this week. before christmas he was awarded the hungarian order of merit in recognition of his contribution to liberating east european countries.
i think that we can achieve the maximum implication of ordinary citizens and ngos in this process national parliamentarians and then come up with a set of answers to the policy challenges that we are facing and we cannot ignore.
but we are going to do this with the citizens in a conversation with the citizens and with organised civil society.
it's very important that we ensure the participation as well of the organised civil society.
and if you look at the world now some others have already said it it is totally different from the world of. two thousand and nine at that time we didn't have brexit;
allow me to express hope that with the approaching a seventy fifth anniversary of the end of the worst war in the history of humanity we will not see the multiplication of efforts to distort history of the event and to mask victims as perpetrators.
i want to fulfil my mission to build up the resilience of our democratic systems by strongly focusing on education plurality of media and in particular by keeping close to the facts and evidence.
allow me to repeat in conclusion that if one member state were singled out in efforts to distort its historical role the european commission would always protest and counter disinformation and fake information while preserving freedom of the press and media pluralism. hannah arendt famously noticed
only through clear and loud action can we keep the distinction between true and false.
when we have brexit a big country that is leaving the european union it's difficult to say oh fantastic we work well'.
that doesn't mean that we have to become an empire on the contrary but we want to defend a europe in which our children and grandchildren can survive in this new world which is not the case today.
we have a problem.
that is that for the first time nearly twenty years i think after the start of the convention the three institutions agree again on the necessity for an in depth reform of the european union.
and when russians and americans are deciding everything in our neighbourhood in syria and in libya and in ukraine well we have a problem. in fact the reality is that on the international stage we are mocked
that's the reason why we want to reform europe;
the reason why we want this conference is because there are problems that we recognise in the european union.
this is already an important fact because it is twenty years after the start of the previous convention and for the first time these three institutions say ok an indepth reform of the union is absolutely needed'.
this was only the second time i had done so since my first election as ombudsman.
as in previous years accountability and transparency related inquiries made up the highest proportion of my office's work.
however i do ask that this issue is discussed further and in a more comprehensive way and especially with the commission and council and i hope we can find an agreed way forward.
as the european ombudsman i also coordinate the european network of ombudsmen which consists of ninety six offices in thirty six european countries with the european parliament's committee on petitions also being a member.
at the start of the ombudsman's new five year mandate it is important to ask and to examine what role it should play within the architecture of the eu in two thousand and twenty and beyond.
i was very grateful to receive the overwhelming support of the plenary for my proposals. while these recommendations have met some resistance from larger member states i welcome the growing coalition of governments in council that have publicly expressed support for such changes.
without that right being exercised the blame brussels' culture will continue with national ministers obscuring their own role in the making of laws that affect their citizens.
this parliament will provide the democratic oversight of course and the ombudsman must also provide oversight of an eu administration which arguably is more directly hands on and on the ground than ever before.
that special report concerned an inquiry into the accountability of the council of the eu notably through the lack of transparency of the legislative processes used for discussing and amending draft eu legislation.
the vast majority of cases are dealt with through a strong collaborative engagement with the administration and it is important to acknowledge that.
we apply not only eu law in our analysis but also the principles of good administration seeking a just outcome for citizens who are often overwhelmed by the at times technocratic nature and distance of the eu administration.
however this year is particularly significant as i am presenting our work to a new parliament with many new members and which four weeks ago voted confidence in me and in that work by electing me for a second mandate.
i also very much welcome the presence of commissioner efovi at this debate which comes at the very beginning of this commission's mandate and i wish it well in the vital work it does for everyone in europe and also for many beyond our borders honourable members as ombudsman i am the bridge between citizens and the eu administration when problems arise and complaints are made.
i am very grateful for that trust and i intend fully to live up to it.
the complaints come from individuals civil society organisations businesses journalists and often from members of this parliament.
this is not because the eu administration lowered its standards but because many more people became aware of the work of my office and what it has achieved and can achieve.
it is always a great pleasure to present the annual reports of my office to parliament.
we are not advocates but we try to create a balanced playing field between the often powerless complainant and the very powerful institutions.
in two thousand and thirteen i told parliament that this power should be used very rarely and only in particularly serious cases where an institution does not act upon ombudsman recommendations.
we are receiving record numbers of complaints and dealing with more and more complex cases.
i am grateful to the eu institutions agencies and bodies for their cooperation in this work.
it is in the interest of all of us that the ombudsman's office is fully equipped and resourced for the twenty first century.
at the moment it is ten member states and i hope that the current presidency and the following german presidency will take up this issue of importance to european democracy and indeed legitimacy.
the public has a right to know how their governments contribute to shaping that eu legislation.
whether it is frontex coordinating forced return flights for migrants or easo interviewing asylum seekers in the greek islands or the european defence agency trying to envisage the technology required for a twenty first century battlefield the eu is changing and so the ombudsman must also adapt in order to keep pace with that change.
the two thousand and eighteen annual conference took place in april in the european parliament in brussels with michel barnier as keynote speaker and i am very grateful for the highly professional support of parliament in helping us make the event such a success.
if the von der leyen commission is going to be the geopolitical' commission and become more involved in migration issues foreign policy defence cooperation and in tackling the global climate crisis alongside several eu agencies then who will provide oversight of this work?
yes i highlight problems because that is my job but i also witness all of the good work of eu officials and have indeed publicly and tangibly acknowledged it through an awards scheme introduced to showcase and praise their work and to share good practice throughout the administration.
the lack of resources of my office has already been recognised by parliament in the annual budgetary process and in the ongoing revision of the ombudsman statute.
i was a regular and repeated critic of theresa may's grudging attitude and her slowness in recognising the rights of settled eu nationals.
written forms or physical forms of id when they oppose id cards as a party and when i hear them criticising the uk government without a word of criticism for member states that have failed to reciprocate i have to wonder what their motives really are.
twenty seven it's simply not true that people are denied there's no mechanism to deny people status. they can be asked for more proof.
but the system is now up and running and is working far better than the reciprocal systems of any member state that i can think of among the.
madam president a lot of this debate seems to have taken place in a parallel universe one that barely intersects with the reality of what's happening.
mr president it was almost one and a half years ago when the european parliament asked the eu member states to launch the article seven procedure against the hungarian government and all we have seen since then is one and a half years of hesitations in the council pushing the hot potato from one presidency to the other.
he continues to undermine judicial independence to destroy media pluralism and to incite xenophobic sentiments and as a european union we let him do it.
seven i urge the croatian presidency to take the article seven process forward seriously and make it a strong priority.
the council continues to block progress on article.
madam president while we in the european union are better than a lot of the world's economies in terms of dealing with climate issues it doesn't mean that we are good enough.
for me it represents the fact and some of the votes on the amendments show that we talk the talk but aren't prepared to tackle the vested interests who are responsible for the greater scale of emissions.