kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
conciliation proceedings are most certainly a useful mechanism in the legislative process but they become futile and pointless if participants are not prepared to negotiate and to compromise.
madam president after two long years of hard work the novel foods regulation has collapsed in disarray because a suitable agreement on the cloning issue could not be found.
throughout the conciliation proceedings i had warned that the stubborn refusal to compromise would lead to disaster and eventually it did. now we are back to square one and we have lost a considerable amount of important and beneficial legislation on novel foods.
if the european parliament is trying to show that it is a powerful responsible legislative body which is proud to have achieved the lisbon treaty i think it flunked its first test. the commission now has to move forward and prepare separate legislation to cover cloning.
if the parliament had not been so inflexible then we would have a much needed update of the rules.
was such a great idea but we still have to resolve this particular problem and perhaps dividing the legislation into two parts might achieve it. the issue of cloning is a very sensitive issue and there are animal welfare concerns which others have spoken about but the issue of reproductive material needs to be addressed.
finally on the issue of europe's standards versus the rest of the world we import meat products into the european union.
i would like to thank honourable members for their views and assure them once again that the commission will continue to work with parliament member states and stakeholders from all sectors in pursuit of the common aim of moving forward as fast as possible with both proposals on novel food and cloning.
i must stress that the position taken by the commission during the conciliation and we were advancing various proposals in this regard was that as i said before any solution or any compromise that could be reached had to be implementable.
it would be possible to implement and it would be justified and proportionate.
whatever all of us would like to have and as commissioner responsible for consumers i am all for information to consumers this must however be evidence based and we must have an impact assessment.
the commission has never put forward a position against any type of labelling but we were saying that every decision we take has to be assessed to ensure the impact it is going to have on our citizens at large be they producers or be they consumers and that is the position that i still hold.
i can assure you that the commission services and i will pursue this challenge with all determination and energy and i also assure you especially mr staes that i do not put off decisions that need to be taken.
there are over one million registered refugees in lebanon.
it showed me that our work can have a direct impact on every single life that we invest in and this makes the figures for our money our support our investments in the region real when you see the baby that was born the previous day when you see the children in school when you see the food and water coming.
for jordan for instance we are looking into a temporary relaxation of rules of origin to announce trade investments and job opportunities for syrian refugees also.
especially because i know we normally focus on the fact that they are hosting the refugees but let me stress once more their resilience is strategic to our security. this is not one region out of many;
us. ' i believe that we have a responsibility to each other and that responsibility is our duty to tell our friends and partners europe is with you as you are with europe.
and let me also mention that we discuss these two countries together very often.
if an agreement is reached and i am quite positive about that the european union could provide overall over eur one billion in two thousand and sixteen and two thousand and seventeen for these initiatives both in jordan and lebanon.
the recent census shows that.
so i think that we have a collective responsibility towards those hopes that are still alive in their minds and in their hearts.
first of all they are giving shelter and hope to millions of people fleeing syria.
in concrete terms hope is the possibility to go to school for the children to learn a job to imagine your own life after exile and for this very reason we are very much focusing especially on two main issues the support we give to children and young people and the support we give to women because we know very well that these are the two engines for keeping hope alive in the families that flee syria.
this is a very important move and i hope that relief and protection for refugees at the berm can be found quickly.
let me say that obviously we are also focusing very closely on the political situation in lebanon especially on ending the political crisis.
in fact the compacts are being designed to build on mutual commitments and let me stress how proud i was that we managed to shape these compacts in the london conference out of a mainly uk idea using mainly eu tools for the benefit of us all.
so their resilience is somehow a very strategic element of our internal security as well.
so those who believe that refugees might destroy our union should look at these figures and allow me to be blunt feel ashamed.
i agree with the wise words of the king of jordan his majesty king abdullah when he says that countries that are hosting a relatively small number of refugees should maybe act more and preach less.
and these are issues that are not debatable.
this is important for the syrian people. this is important for the host countries but this is also important for europe because it is quite clear that hope can succeed where the fear of fences and border police can only fail.
the vast majority of them are women and children and they need urgent humanitarian assistance which is difficult to deliver in such a remote area.
one five million as the unhcr as we know is no longer allowed to register new arrivals which is something that should be fixed as quickly as possible.
still have a smile on their face still find a reason to hope and still believe that it can be possible to go back to their homes.
we have seen schools paid for with european support food and clothes both thanks to our help babies born in hospitals that we finance.
and i believe that that was a reflection of our partnership our friendship which is strong as we work with each other but basically we support each other which is sometimes more important than that but that was also a reflection of the fact that those countries are facing that kind of challenge every single day that goes by.
and they can play an important role in the solution of so many crises starting with syria obviously we sit together in the international support group for syria.
for me it was important to hold the meetings inside the refugee camps in jordan that day as i did in lebanon on the previous day because in the camps but also in the local communities that are hosting them outside of the camps you very often meet people who are fleeing from the same atrocities that we sometimes experience in europe. these are in most cases people fleeing from the atrocities of daesh and who can tell you stories that you would never ever want to hear.
at the same time we also need to support the host communities and their resilience.
it. is essential that our regions renew the source of our great strength the mutual respect that binds and sustains
but let us also keep in mind that we are talking about real people behind the numbers with names faces stories to tell hopes for the future and that we have to support these countries also for the sake of the humanity that is behind these numbers.
investing in schools education job creation for the young people of syria in jordan and lebanon is also a way of investing in their future close to home.
when you ask them sometimes ten year old boys and girls in the school sometimes seventeen year old boys and girls hoping to go to university if you ask them what is your dream if you can express one wish what would it be?
we are literally giving life in those places and it made me proud of our european union.
because when we mention the effects of the syrian crisis we tend normally to focus on the refugee crisis which is indeed the case i will come to that in a moment but we should not underestimate the risks in terms of security the threats the challenges that these two countries are facing due to the
but let me mention for instance the key role that jordan plays when it comes to the middle east peace process.
in those camps and in the local communities that are hosting so many refugees both in lebanon and jordan we have almost always also seen the european union in action.
so we are working on the compacts of mutual commitments with lebanon and jordan which will come on top of the commitments agreed in london and will be annexed to our new bilateral partnership priorities.
so this is also a very pragmatic approach that we can take.
so i think we should always keep this in mind that they are exposed to different levels of threats and pressures and the way in which they are resisting this storm which is actually a perfect storm is quite remarkable.
but lebanon alone hosts almost as many syrians as the entire european union.
and i believe this is something that our friends in the uk should consider when we talk about the added value of our common instruments.
it is our region and it is the most troubled region in the world.
i would like us to keep this in mind very clearly when we speak about these two countries facing at the same time a neighbouring country that is torn by war and the threat of daesh.
because i believe that we have to reach a point where this is felt as a global responsibility not just a regional one not just a european one but a global one and i believe that we are slowly managing somehow to broaden the spectrum of actions that are taken also by other actors in order either to welcome refugees or support financially other countries that are welcoming them
we can learn a lot from each other and perhaps europe has more to learn than we would want to admit.
that is crucial to realising the full potential of our partnership and maybe we will have another occasion to come back to this proper discussion on the future of lebanon's political and institutional situation another time in this hemicycle. but let me close by quoting the words of king abdullah of jordan speaking in this hemicycle from that podium one year ago who said our victory now depends on our unity.
these are the numbers;
this is important for syria and its future.
but let me also take a moment to remember the tens of thousands of syrian refugees stranded at jordan's north eastern border the berm'.
the pledges of the international donors conference in london last february are already materialising building in many cases on longstanding efforts that as you know we have undertaken since the beginning.
on our mutual commitments for instance while we provide financial support to schools for attendance for refugee children in lebanon we also need the local authorities to create a protective environment around the children so the parents can feel confident about sending their children to school.
they show a great example of peaceful coexistence among different faiths and nationalities which is an example for the middle east an example for europe and also an example for the whole world.
we are trying to address the refugees' immediate needs but also as i said to keep hope alive.
i am aware that the issue is very sensitive and there are a number of aspects so i am very grateful to the jordanian government for its decision to allow twenty zero people from the area to be hosted at the azraq camp.
the european union is the first donor in the region.
that would create job opportunities for the syrians and for the jordanians in the host communities that are more exposed.
we will not leave you alone because our common victory depends on our unity. i thank you very
in the best interests of european citizens.
if i can share with you on a personal note it was very difficult for me in those hours to decide to keep the agenda of our meetings going with what was happening just a few metres away from our european institutions.
and this is not only about aid because when europe acts as a union as we managed to do in london we can mobilise a unique and quite impressive number of different assets ranging from trade to policy dialogues.
however no amount of aid is going to help lebanon and jordan accommodate the immense number of syrian refugees.
meanwhile we must work with these countries to address legal frameworks pertaining to their treatment of refugees.
we must end the syrian conflict so that refugees can eventually return home.
syrian refugees now make up almost twenty of the combined population of lebanon and jordan. to put things in perspective this is equivalent to the eu taking in over one hundred million refugees. the eu has significantly stepped up assistance becoming the leading donor with over eur. four seven billion spent.
one eight million refugees from syria which means that one in every four persons in lebanon is a syrian refugee.
lebanon a country approximately one third of the size of belgium with four million citizens has received somewhere between.
does this merit the crisis narrative?
in my view while we must assist lebanon and jordan we must first of all sort out our own failed asylum system rather than trying to close immoral deals or statements with increasingly authoritarian governments such as the turkish one.
the amount of asylum seekers making their way to europe over the past few years corresponds to not even.
colleagues mainly on the right wing of this house are stating over and over again that it is not the same because the unhcr and other ngos will take care of the responsibility for them but the truth is that the unhcr only has the capacity to help about fifteen of the refugees in lebanon.
how about comparing that with the lebanese situation where i together with some alde colleagues studied the situation a few weeks ago?
heads of state have stated that europe the richest continent on the planet can no longer cope with the numbers of refugees arriving. let us be clear we are facing a challenging situation. this is true but this is mainly because we have completely failed to find a sustainable common european solution.
madam president i would like to thank the high representative for her heartfelt remarks today on a very tough situation in which too many people find themselves. the risk danger and additional human suffering of a destabilised lebanon and that is what i will focus on must not be underestimated because the vast majority of the
let the situation in lebanon we are discussing today be a reality check for those who still preach shelter in the region as a mantra that will be a self fulfilling prophecy or who see the outsourcing of our problems to turkey as the only credible solution.
this would be too cynical but we do have to look at what is spent per capita also in lebanon and make sure that we look at the bigger picture including stability infrastructure countering terrorism and countering radicalisation.
let those who claim that we are the first to suffer the consequences of the ongoing terrible war in syria think again and look to lebanon.
the lebanese people are five times as poor as the average european and twenty five of the population are refugees.
it should humble and shame all of us.
do we plan to do as comprehensive a deal with lebanon or only when people reach our shores?
so when we pledge the money is there and the projects we have started to finance out of those pledges are already there.
but i would like to mention not only the money we spend but also the effects that we bring with this money.
this debate is about us supporting jordan and lebanon not only because of their hosting of syrian refugees but also because of their crucial importance and the importance that we attach to their economic social and security resilience.
every school obviously hosts many children allowing education because we also need to focus on preventing radicalisation in the future and we risk having a lost generation there which is also an investment in our security and the stability of the region.
protect people's lives make sure that our european approach to asylum is up to the values that we have in our foundations.
in my opinion it is a humanitarian duty but also an investment in our own security and stability.
there is one thing on which you can always be sure when the european union pledges money this translates immediately into projects funded.
i am not completely negative about the fact that we might come to some sort of political transition in syria in the coming months.
as very often happens probably the truth is somewhere in between.
here again when it comes to the budget i count on your support to translate our common position in words into something concrete.
here i would call for you to help me in reaching out to parliaments all over the world and asking them also to do their part in what is a humanitarian duty that we all collectively share.
let me also add that it is somehow striking that sometimes the same narrative of those who want to protect our identity including the purity of our background be it on a religious or cultural basis do not listen to the words of pope francis which tell us that this is what we have to do
i would like to mention some figures because again these translate into concrete action.
i am not a catholic myself but being an italian and a roman i can tell you that i have learnt in in my years of life something very basic.
we are guaranteeing psychosocial support for eight zero children and you can imagine how key this is for the future of the region and the country. we are supporting immunisation for three hundred and ten zero syrian and vulnerable lebanese children.
i understand that you all visited the camps so you have seen some of the projects we fund some of the children that go to school thanks to our funding and some of the health and education facilities we support.
one some of you mentioned something that i believe is critical and crucial.
we have rehabilitated thirty five public schools and i visited one of them.
this is true for lebanon and jordan and is true for other projects on the humanitarian and also on the development level.
regarding special arrangements for jordan on the rules of origin i told you in the beginning in my opening remarks that we are working on that. we will need all your support to make sure that this happens in a coherent way which means that it would be good when we come to the decisions to be supported
the generosity of the communities in the two countries is high but it might not be enough.
it is imperative to support their economic and social resilience in these difficult times.
we also have to understand that if we want a comprehensive strategy to tackle the migration crisis cooperation with turkey is of equally huge importance. on behalf of my sd group i urge the commission for the pledges to be disbursed and for the eu compacts to be finalised as soon as possible in order to immediately strengthen our assistance and cooperation with them using the full range of eu policies. finally
if we fail to help the two countries then they could become the refugees of tomorrow.
the eu has been a leading donor in the region but we have to feel the sense of urgency and take difficult decisions.
a lot was promised in february at the london conference on syria but we know very well that funding shortages means that most of the vulnerable syrian refugees in lebanon and jordan live well below the un poverty line.
there was a big eu flag there which they told us had not been there for long so now it is there! but the most touching thing was seeing kids in school the education there. the young ones like elementary school kids were really eager to learn so many of them and saying what they wanted to become when they get older also wanting to return.
as the eu has very rightfully provided the lion's share of humanitarian aid to jordan and lebanon we must be sure that the funding goes to empower women and girls in these communities so that they can take a lead in building up lives in harsh conditions and lay the ground for postconflict peace building.
the no lost generation programme aiming to provide education to more than half a million syrian refugee children is incredibly important. education must aim to empower young women and girls socially economically and politically and address specific gender based needs such as violence against women and girls.
jordan has suffered economic losses because of the wars going on around it with factories closed in the border region and many jobs being lost yet still it has managed to welcome and house millions of syrian and iraqi refugees.
the european union and its national governments bear a grave moral responsibility to provide these refugees with shelter and protection.
i do not know lebanon very well but i know jordan quite well.
they have not by and large put these people in camps but have welcomed them and integrated them into their society and made them part of the jordanian economy.
the syrian crisis however has put an almost unmanageable strain on that country.
i applaud the commission's response to the crisis in both these countries.
i hope that when more resources become available we will be able to put more money into the area but we also need to look at our trade policy and other policies to see how we can help jordan.
they are not blessed with the natural resources of their neighbours so we should be looking at how we can for example change our rules of origin to help them trade more with us to create jobs inside the country and tackle the very severe unemployment they face.
the real reason it is so generous to these countries taking in refugees is because if they follow the other millions crossing the border into greece the project would collapse.
we can see that in the polls ahead of the uk referendum and in the increasingly desperate stories being pumped out by project fear including disgraceful claims that if we leave this political union we will be plunged into a third world war.
turning to the magnitsky case this is a legitimate matter of concern to the european union.
we are concerned about the closure in march in spite of compelling evidence of the case which was supposed to clarify how and why he died.
it varies in nature and extent from one member state to the other but it affects all of us.
we agree on the need to regulate the activities of private military and security companies in order to ensure they comply with the principles of human rights law and international humanitarian law.
businesses regardless of nationality its harmful effects on societies as well as its economic costs and the negative impact on development are now widely acknowledged.
that is why in june two thousand and eleven the commission adopted an anti corruption package that included a communication on fighting corruption in the eu that sets out the main directions of future action at eu level. the anti corruption package committed the commission to focusing more on corruption in all related
money laundering and organised crime within its own borders.
although the european union is rightly perceived as being one of the cleaner parts of the world corruption is also present here.
the posthumous prosecution of magnitsky himself is unacceptable.
mr magnitsky has been posthumously declared a criminal on the basis of unfair procedures and unconvincing evidence while neither the corruption scandal he helped to uncover nor the circumstances of his death have been clarified.
the eu is so far the only regional organisation which has expressed its support for the montreux document. the european union will also continue to participate actively in the proceedings of the united nations in the governmental working group to consider the possibility of an international framework on this issue.