kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the key test of this partnership is whether we and our acp partners have a shared vision of the future.
i can guarantee there will be no opening of public services no pressure for privatisation.
they are partnership agreements founded on the shared goal of development that make trade the servant of this objective and not the reverse.
the answer was twofold everything but arms' for the least developed countries and economic partnership agreements for the developing countries in the acp.
it also means that epas should be dynamic and not static able to react to future events and to account for different regional interests and needs.
we began epa negotiations during a period of unprecedented expansion of investment goods and services trade and soaring commodity prices.
i have heard them and i have listened to them.
that promote and encourage the regional integration that will help acp countries flourish in a globalised world;
before i say anything else i would like to make one thing completely clear i have absolutely no interest whatsoever in negotiating agreements with acp countries that could make these countries poorer.
acp; agreements based on genuine partnership not paternalism;
over the months i have listened carefully to the views expressed and my aim is to set out the case for epas and to dispel the myths around them so that every member is able to cast an informed vote when the time comes.
while we should be ambitious there must also be no imposed dialogue which is why issues like government procurement have already been removed from some negotiations and singapore issues only included when they are welcomed and wanted by the countries concerned.
we do not need a fixed deal that is redundant by the time the ink is dry on the paper.
and the arguments that have been set out here rather than on any preconceived ideas you may have.
in short they are the future and i hope on that basis members will give their assent.
regional integration within and between acp markets has also been a key objective of this process and a subject that has attracted not surprisingly a lot of attention in oral questions.
the agreements are of course a two stage process interim agreements to ensure we do not face the wto challenge and to create some breathing space for the second stage the negotiation of full epas.
most of all they are agreements that provide the opportunity for acp states to lift their citizens out of poverty through the dignity of their own labour and the genius of their own ideas.
for an innovation based economy. in west africa i see an emerging regional market access position many thought impossible and in east africa i see an emerging customs union that did not exist when negotiations started and is now building an epa around their own integration plans.
in fact we would rather seek to strengthen than limit acp rights and capacity in these areas.
i firmly believe these partnerships will only succeed if they are anchored in an enduring partnership based on trust and mutual respect.
has now been replaced by more diversified trade in manufactured goods services and ideas in the twenty first century.
going forward my vision for the negotiations of full epas is one where each negotiation reflects and respects the regional specificity of the parties to that agreement a flexible process.
western countries failed to regulate properly the big international banks operating on their own territories so you have to ask whether it is really wise to open up the banking sector in countries where there is much less of a regulatory regime in place and when the wto rules do not require such a move.
mr president if we take a step back to the start of the epas process the cotonou agreement of two thousand established that the eu has a legal obligation to take developing countries' interests into account in all policy areas that are likely to affect them.
in two thousand and five the commission identified this policy coherence on development as being key to the attainment of the millennium development goals.
opening up the banking sector may help big companies but it can drive local banks to join the pursuit of high value customers and ignore small businesses leaving them with even less access to credit than before.
finally i was glad the commissioner mentioned services because i am concerned about the opening up of banking in particular.
are available for the cariforum countries over the existing edf and other financial framework periods up
firstly that the review clause in the agreement is a genuine review clause and will be taken seriously by the commission that we will look at development priorities such as the alleviation of poverty sustainable development economic diversification and the contribution to achieving the millennium development goals at the five year point to ensure that epas are working in the interests of all these things not against their interests. secondly i would like to hear the commissioner reassure us on the finance for epas. calculations suggest that roughly eur five hundred and eighty million
i have said to the commissioner before that i entirely understand that the european union should insist on exactly the same terms and conditions that the caribbean countries give to the united states or another major developed power.
trade experts by their nature aim to get the best possible deal for the european union.
lewis carroll the author had one of his characters humpty dumpty say in a scornful tone when i use a word it means just what i choose it to mean neither more nor less'. frankly until recently trying to understand some of the words in the cariforum epa has been a bit like that trying to get clarity as to what the text actually means has not always been easy.
that is what they are trained to do.
secondly the artificial deadline that was set for completing the full and interim epas meant that negotiations which should have been between equals were in fact not between equals because the acp side had something to lose if the deadlines were not met.
as this epa has been signed we cannot amend the text we only have an opportunity to say yes' or no' to it.
we have as a parliament since the conclusion of the negotiations been trying to square the circle between trade and development.
epas have a difficult history in this parliament. there has been real tension between trade and development objectives. some of that could have been avoided but some of it is frankly intrinsic in the nature of the agreements.
furthermore we have to make sure that the member states deliver their part of the eur two billion that has been promised for aid for trade' across the developing world.
i want to concentrate my remarks as rapporteur for the cariforum epa which of course at the moment is the only full economic partnership agreement.
as many of you know glenys is giving up at the end of this parliament and i think we will very much miss the work that she has done in relation to the acp and epas in particular.
but that is the reality of the negotiations.
firstly they were forced on us by a wto ruling and one way liberalisation which is essentially what epas required is not easy to negotiate.
i believe that if the commission and the commissioner are able to give us certain assurances and certain interpretations of the text we could be in a position this week to give our assent to the cariforum epa.
we are dealing with a series of agreements here tonight that have the ability to affect the lives the quality of the lives and the health of literally millions of people in the developing world.
i would like to hear the commissioner today reassure us on a number of points.
they did not necessarily aim to get the best development outcome.
i absolutely agree with that.
it could be the basis for others but each epa has to have its own individuality and we have to learn the lessons from the cariforum negotiations as well.
i was delighted that the commissioner said she believed that regulation had to be in place prior to any liberalisation and opening up of financial services. for some of us in this chamber that is also extremely important.
she indicated as we already knew but it was important to have it on record that nothing in these agreements forces privatisation of services in any of the caribbean countries and that there is no expectation through this agreement that privatisation of public services will take place.
let me turn to a separate issue which is the resolution.
a couple of my conservative epp colleagues have made comments about this.
for the socialists there are still red lines in terms of the current state of the resolution which is different from the assent vote. actually all the things that the council and commission have committed themselves to are our red lines. so if the house is supporting the council and commission i see no reason why it should not support our compromises and compromise text and get those into the parliament resolution.
epas may not be perfect but many of my friends and family in poorer countries are fed up at the lack of access to goods and services and at being forced to rely on state run monopolies or companies with links to corrupt politicians.
let us not forget that import taxes often mean poor citizens having to pay more for imported food and medicines.
that is a critical issue and the agreements have been reached before the ink has even dried on the cariforum agreement.
there are still problems caused by the tensions that have been created between the various countries in the caribbean. there is also the issue of haiti.
interim agreements are goods agreements aimed at preventing disruption of acp trade and promoting gradual integration.
these you will need to redress i do apologise if i missed you saying that earlier on.
this will provide a level of legality essential for protecting acp markets and securing a more stable environment.
i believe these resolutions highlight both the opportunities and challenges facing the negotiating parties in a key step to ensuring parliamentary oversight and approving of the relations with acp.
commissioner you mentioned at the very beginning that trade was so important;
i totally agree with you.
we also said we are in a particularly difficult financial situation.
this is something which i believe you have taken to heart and that you are working extremely hard on.
i congratulate you on the way you have handled these more power to your elbow as we say in the uk.
we are at a difficult stage and trade will be the only option and not just for these countries but for the rest of the world.
it is so important.
you took over halfway through at a difficult time.
if this report is true then lord kinnock would be guilty of treason. the documents now available must be investigated at the highest possible level by the british authorities and lord kinnock given the opportunity to answer the soviet evidence.
if the report given to mr gorbachev is true it means that lord kinnock approached one of britain's enemies in order to seek approval regarding his party's defence policy and if elected britain's defence policy.
mr president soldiers from the united kingdom and many other european nations are fighting and dying in afghanistan.
we are told that the reasons are to keep our country safe by preventing the return of al qaeda or to protect democracy or to fight drugs or to support pakistan or to uphold the rights of women.
there is no clear political strategy and i do not know what the death of our soldiers is supposed to achieve.
far from bringing us security i fear our presence is increasing the dangers allowing us to be portrayed by islamist extremists as foreign invaders supporting a government of warlords and drug barons in a civil war. our actions foster the growth of radical anti western islamic beliefs.
we need a diplomatic strategy;
we must talk with the taliban we must promote reconciliation and seek to broaden the composition of the current government and we must be prepared to withdraw our soldiers from afghan soil.
mr president tomorrow tens of thousands of public sector workers in ireland take national strike action. low paid civil servants nurses teachers and local authority workers are sick of being scapegoated for a crisis in irish and world capitalism and being forced to pay for that crisis for which they are not responsible.
i want from this european parliament to send the warmest support to those workers on strike tomorrow. this irish government has no democratic mandate for its savage programme of cuts.
i urge workers in ireland to extend the action to bring down this undemocratic government and force a general election and let the people decide.
these institutions have even less credibility this week after another cynical deal between the epp and the social democrats for the presidency and for appointing as high representative for foreign affairs a lady who was never elected to a public assembly but derived the new position by being placed in a chamber of feudal fossils
as a result of being a labour party british trustee.
clearly workers all over europe have to stand up and fight themselves rather than depend on this neo liberal majority in this chamber.
eco innovation also presents many opportunities for smes niche businesses entrepreneurs and micro enterprises.
these employment opportunities will cater for various skill levels requiring both academic and practical skills. this can contribute to decreasing unemployment and to reaching the europe two thousand and twenty targets.
relevant skills should therefore be incorporated into education systems and into vocational training programmes.
eu funds such as the esf should support this where possible.
the new regionalised approach to decision making is particularly welcome. it is clear that a brussels centred one size fits all approach was not working and it is imperative that we put fishermen at the core of developing technical and conservation measures in order to secure a sustainable fishing industry.
the devil is in the detail as we have seen through the reform of the cap.
as you know the commission would have preferred more ambitious labelling rules in the interests of consumers.
therefore the commission was not in a position to support the final compromise between parliament and council on this point. here as well our priority must be implementation.
avoidance of by catch waste is a welcome theme of the stevenson report with adult commercial fish to be allowed onto the open market and the remaining by catch being used for some other commercial purpose fish meal pet food etc.
in the end by catches must be reduced possibly with gear that distinguishes between different sizes for selective catch and release such as the pot trap developed by my constituent mr jeff stockdale in.
mr president it has taken us two and a half years to get here but it was worth the wait.
we have a policy which has been much criticised over the years and now it is one which i will be able to defend with pleasure because at the heart of it is the determination to rebuild our fish stocks as the commissioner said above maximum sustainable yield.
but progress has already been made on the discards issue which the commissioner pushed very hard personally.
at one time fishermen were saying it could not be done and now on a daily basis we hear of new techniques being developed to reduce by catch.
i think the commissioner and our rapporteur deserve our thanks.
i voted against then because it did not include steps towards zonal management.
now member states at least have an opportunity to build on the text that is in this reform package to determinedly push for more decision making to be made on a regional basis.
i hope that they will and i hope that the commission will let it go through.
and that for me should include the detailed decision making about discard elimination a very complex problem partly caused by cfp regulation.
and despite legal constraints the new cfp includes greater regionalisation and bottom up decision making particularly for technical and conservation measures. the attention will now quickly turn to the implementation of the policy especially in relation to the discard ban. so the introduction of the discard ban will only work in practice if principles of avoidance and minimisation through more selective gear are followed.
to our seas and oceans.
so i would like to thank you all.
mr president ukip have forced a vote on the second reading by virtue of tabling the only amendment. we are concerned at the intimidation of gibraltarians by the spanish government and wish to remind all parties that gibraltar never opted into the common fisheries policy making it permanently free from eu interference.
leave gibraltar alone is the polite title of our amendment.
at first reading we were astonished to witness the conservatives voting against the repatriation of our uk fishing waters when given this golden opportunity.
they have been banging on about repatriation of fishing waters for years; so what is going on here?
in a recent study on the profitability of the eu fishing fleet all member states were invited to submit data.
some submitted more than others but greece submitted nothing whatsoever despite the fact that the greek commissioner actually holds the fisheries portfolio.
the study did receive enough data however to declare that slovenia germany ireland and finland are running their fisheries at a net loss despite the subsidies received.
without the data we just do not know.
if we add the acknowledged environmental damage created by the overzealous search for fish we have to ask what is the point of the cfp?
mr president i would like to thank mr samaras for entertaining us this morning with his grand vision of europe which i have to say i thought was particularly ironic given that greece more than any other country has suffered at the hands of grand abstract visions that are not rooted in reality.
if we had a cosmonaut in this chamber as i think we did until fairly recently he would tell you that a star reaches its greatest destiny just before it explodes.
of course mistakes do happen and to be fair you acknowledged them in your speech.
let me raise a couple of points that are included in your dossier for the greek presidency.
with the srm the council has come up with an agreement that works and that we should support.
it needs to listen to people from across the eu who are now calling for major change.
in france president hollande is now beginning to realise just how disastrous socialism can be.
i wish you well in the months ahead. i truly hope that the greek presidency will remind europe and the world that greece is a nation of great people and that it has a great heritage and with the right reforms at home and in the eu a great future.
let me quote to you from a recent article some others want to change things acting against the tide of the brussels elite'.
if we do not learn them then of course as the saying goes we are destined to repeat them.
prime minister just as bill clinton once said that the era of big government is over today the era of the big eu is now over.
many people in this chamber and elsewhere dreamt of the common currency the ultimate symbol of european statehood but of course they were not honest about the cost that would have to be exacted should a crisis occur.
this parliament in my view would be ill advised to hold this deal to ransom just because some elements are intergovernmental in nature.
in the eu i fear that we are not willing to learn the lessons of the euro crisis.
the people of greece are paying the price of those mistakes.
we think the agreement reached by the council on the single resolution mechanism is a fairly innovative way to protect eurozone banks and of course much more importantly to protect taxpayers from across the eurozone and non eurozone countries.
well perhaps the three million people who are unemployed in your country might think that those fruits are perhaps turning a little sour today.
if we can drop the abstract visions lose the dogma and focus on a better more practical europe we will be able to tell the greek people that their hard fought lessons have not been in vain.
these are the modern the courageous the defenders of a realist europe.
now that was not written by some eurosceptic british conservative mp.
in his article mr bittner rightly concludes that the best way to prevent this is to activate the reverse thrust for certain parts of the unification project as a way to reduce the continent's political stress.
prime minister that is the agenda that i would like to have seen your presidency advance. your country is best placed to sound the alarm bells for the eu to warn of the cost of grand abstract plans and to suggest a looser freer europe. unfortunately you have chosen business as usual.
in greece the federalist dream has become the nightmare of the greek people.
secondly i look forward to the publication next week of the two thousand and thirty climate and energy package.
what is important is that we learn the lessons from those mistakes.
firstly the banking union has been mentioned the single resolution mechanism.
we need to put what works before grand abstract concepts.
we hope that the greek presidency will further promote the real inclusion of the eu's largest minority.
madam president i welcome the fact that the greek presidency has given priority to fostering economic growth in order to promote social cohesion and political stability with special regard to striking a balance between fiscal consolidation and growth enhancing policies. being a hungarian mep and representing the hungarian ppe group here it will be a very interesting period for us to share our experiences with you because we have been coming up with some good policies.
i would also like to welcome the presidency's focus on enlargement for the roma population of the western balkans.
it was also one of our greatest challenges and it is the same for you at european level to find a way to grow out of the economic recession and simultaneously maintain and develop our social achievements.
to this end it is very important that the greek presidency is committed to moving forward the implementation of the eu two thousand and twenty the compact for growth and jobs and the european semester.
it was a kind of applauding machine at the beginning but we have big problems and i would expect greece to address them because greece knows what mistakes we made.
those are the issues to be addressed.
and on climate greece is still importing eur nine billion of oil every year so i would expect that greece to be a frontrunner in fighting for an ambitious climate and energy package.
that is not the way. if we are not addressing all these kinds of issues then what are we doing here?
and no debate on real balanced social economic policies instead of the austerity driven obsession of right wing politics.
but what is greece doing?
it was not welcome last week because it was not part of the party.
i would like to ask the presidency to join parliament in sparing no effort to have the new regulation adopted before the end of this legislature.
it was established following the devastating floods in central europe back in two thousand and two and since then not even minor changes have been made to the regulation governing the fund in spite of its shortcomings and new needs.
let me just express my expectation which i am sure you share with me that both institutions while preserving their rights and duties will deal with those acts in the swiftest way possible.
we cannot afford any delay in cohesion policy implementation.
as the presidency concentrates on the completion of negotiations on the single resolution mechanism it will be crucial not to forget about this important dossier on financial assistance to non euro member states.
my second point is on delegated and implementing acts for the cohesion policy regulatory package.
if we want to encourage opt ins to the banking union then putting in place a fiscal backstop for these member states is of the utmost importance.
we are the makers of the problem because we failed to listen to those who warned us of problems we failed in ireland we failed in greece and we are failing here.