kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the entrepreneurs in these countries also tell me how trade barriers actually harm these countries and how it makes imports of food and medicines more expensive for the very poorest citizens.
when i speak to entrepreneurs in these countries they complain to me about how even forty years after independence for many of them they have suffered from the problems of forty years of socialism where they are still dependent on primary economies and also over dependent on aid.
mr president with your permission i just want to make a point regarding time keeping because far too often here in this house too many people are going way over their time and they are allowed to do so.
however the information we have received so far from the german and czech authorities has not provided sufficient details to fully assess whether the controls were equivalent to border checks and whether they are in breach of the schengen borders code.
the commission is aware of both.
my services are currently investigating a number of possible violations of the relevant eu legislation including the schengen borders code.
from last november to april we investigated eleven different cases involving ten different member states.
the schengen borders code specifies that the abolition of border controls does not affect the use of police powers under national law as long as they do not have an effect equivalent to border checks.
in may we asked three major czech bus companies to assist us with more information over a longer period.
on a broader note as i have said repeatedly the commission will make use of our prerogatives to keep defending the rights of citizens to travel within the schengen area without controls.
from the commission's side we naturally reserve the right to take whatever legal action we may deem necessary to safeguard the integrity of the roles that the treaties have defined for each of the union's institutions but at this moment let us not speculate on legal action.
in addition to the decision that you have highlighted dutch courts have referred two similar cases to the court of justice of the european union for a preliminary ruling.
i am of course ready to come back to you and report on these results.
regarding the dutch mobile surveillance there have been several recent cases in various dutch courts questioning whether it is compatible with the schengen borders code.
we hope to have additional facts by october which would enable us to carry out a more thorough analysis of the situation at that border.
that commitment is also reflected in our proposal for a new schengen monitoring and evaluation mechanism which included the verification of absence of controls at internal borders. i still believe that a truly effective mechanism implies a stronger role for the commission based on article seventy seven of the treaty on the functioning of the european union. i am also convinced that the political legitimacy of that proposal would benefit from the european parliament acting as co legislator.
no final decision has been taken so let us take some time for reflection and discussion and seize the opportunity to sit down to see if we can improve the text during the cyprus presidency and make sure that we have a balanced good schengen governance that all three institutions can support.
we await of course the court of justice ruling in this matter.
this is valid in particular but not only if these police checks do not have border control as an objective they are based on general police information and experience and if they are carried out in a manner clearly distinct from border checks and on the basis of spot checks. in both of the cases referred to the court of justice the commission's view is that the dutch mobile surveillance has neither the same purpose nor the same modalities as a border check.
we have not let the matter rest here.
we will not hesitate to initiate infringement procedures if appropriate.
you have highlighted in your questions here two of these cases the german authorities' controls on passengers on czech buses and mobile surveillance by the dutch authorities at their borders with belgium and germany.
in the german czech case the commission has repeatedly requested information from the german authorities on the frequency of controls and their justification.
on the contrary we want parliament to be fully involved.
reached a political agreement on these two proposals. this followed difficult discussions within the council as well as extensive contacts with the european parliament.
the schengen evaluation mechanism is substantially improved ensuring a stronger role for the commission and a more efficient follow up to evaluation reports and monitoring.
i want to assure you that this decision was taken for legal reasons even if its consequences may be felt by members here to be political.
the council was not in any way motivated by a wish to exclude parliament from the process.
in response the commission submitted the legislative package last september which included both an amended proposal on the establishment of an evaluation and monetary mechanism and a proposal to amend the schengen borders code. as you will be aware at its meeting on seven and eight june the council
in june two thousand and eleven the european council underlined that the free movement of persons is one of the most tangible and successful achievements of european integration.
that discussion focused in particular on the issues of secondary movements by third country nationals within the schengen area and of readmission and visa policy but we also took note of the comments in the commission report on the issue of ensuring the absence of internal border controls.
i am addressing you commissioner because i have full confidence in your commitment to the defence of free movement.
the joy of the arab spring was over shadowed by italy's reaction and france's decision to reintroduce border control. denmark considered that its domestic political problems could be solved by reintroducing border control as an alleged way of combating trans border crime.
border controls have been reintroduced for limited periods of time but no one complained.
mr president we have heard again and again from the council from the member states but also from you commissioner that the implementation of the schengen agreement has been very good almost perfect. allow me please to at least partially disagree.
they are not.
i am not addressing the council at this stage waiting for a better time to enlighten the member states and make them understand what the real interests of european citizens are.
if the commission continues with only half measures never daring to start infringement procedures i am afraid we will wake up one morning realising that free movement no longer exists.
for more than one year one year the netherlands has had an initiative which was considered by a dutch court as having the same effects as border controls.
however in the last eighteen months there have been way too many attempts to apply schengen rules in a much more personalised and dangerous manner.
some of them could very well lead to infringement proceedings but as i tried to explain on the two cases that you brought up in your oral questions it is sometimes very difficult to get information and that is why we are now working very hard with germany and the czech republic including with the czech bus companies to see if we can get more information so they have enough evidence to really bring the issue forward.
it is not because the commission needs more powers per se it is because we need an independent european based system so that we can make sure that we have a compulsory action plan by the relevant member states and that we can also avoid possible domestic pressures populism etc.
we maintain that view from the commission side.
mr president as part of strengthening the schengen governance the commission also proposed that we would have regular discussions on the state of play the health check of schengen.
this would be an opportunity to discuss among ministers the shortcomings and challenges of schengen on a regular basis. it would take place twice a year based on a report issued by the commission.
moreover we are also issuing guidelines to the member states the first concerning travel documents because of the background of the discussion between france and italy on the travel documents of tunisians and we are also in regular contact with the member states to see if there are other issues where we would need guidelines.
in that report we identified eleven cases that we had been investigating for the last six months.
mr president once again we find ourselves debating the schengen system and its implementation in this case by germany and the netherlands but it is becoming increasingly impossible to have a discussion on schengen separated from a discussion on the security of borders generally.
increasingly this house wants member states to have less control over their borders and concerns about this are not reactionary or short term but a belief by states that they themselves are best placed to deal with the unique security situation that they face.
what is needed for that purpose is not populist moves designed to impress voters that irregular migration is being curbed but strongly cooperative intelligence led policing.
in addition we do need better managed external borders. i speak of course as a brit who does not enjoy free movement travelling between london and brussels or strasbourg.
indeed on a brussels london eurostar journey i have my passport checked three times at present and my ticket twice.
i acknowledge there is an issue on that route because people can buy a ticket to lille but continue to london but please be grateful that most of you do not have to endure these checks in schengen and please preserve internal free movement so that even we brits can join one day.
please allow me in this intervention to limit myself to the issue at hand and not comment on external borders although we all know that the two questions are interlinked.
the council very much wants the parliament to be involved in the ongoing process on the legislative aspects of the new schengen governance arrangements.
and in saying this i really weigh my words.
we should not have a very passionate debate on this let us talk and let us find a way forward!
extent possible be taken into consideration in all its aspects before the adoption of the final text.
based on this we will try our utmost to find a satisfactory way forward and we hope that we can come to a mutually satisfactory understanding as to how that can be given a practical expression
thus enabling work on these proposals to be brought to a successful conclusion in the very near future.
let me conclude by saying that we remain as committed as all of you to preserving and strengthening the free movement of persons as one of the most tangible and successful achievements of european integration.
any climate financing agreed must be additional to existing development aid targets and it must not come from existing budgets.
regarding the council meeting in december we have seen the impact of adverse weather this week in cumbria in the north west of england which has experienced severe flooding and it is not just in europe that the weather is creating unexpected hardship.
we need action at all levels which involves reducing the amount of carbon we produce to at least.
despite the claims of the tory leader david cameron that they are a party of the environment helmer represents the danger and unreliability of conservative environmental policy.
any funding agreed at copenhagen needs to deal specifically with the effects of climate change on the developing world and should not replace other valuable aid flows. presently the focus seems to be on near term fast start finance but we also need long term commitments.
as this is the international day for the elimination of violence against women this is something that should make us stop and think and hopefully also act in the future at european level as well as at international level.
this is an important step forward.
this will again increase the democratic legitimacy of the important decisions to be taken on justice and home affairs issues.
i think it has been a fruitful and constructive discussion and thanks for all your contributions.
on climate change i can hear that there is a common view here on the active role that the european union should play in copenhagen and from now on.
that is indeed an important starting point.
i liked the metaphor that was presented here that instead of having somebody who would stop the traffic or mean red traffic lights you would have a smooth operator somebody that would actually help the traffic flow or decisions to be made in a democratic and
so again thank you very much for the debate.
secondly the new commission will have to decide on the political priorities and then put its money where its mouth is in order to actually have the budget to accompany the political priorities.
this is good news for european citizens and also for all eu institutions.
we will have the bland leading the bland but i am not celebrating because they will press on with political union and whilst our leaders may have saved face for the moment for themselves on the international stage they have all betrayed their national democracies.
so she is good at keeping a straight face and she vigorously crushed any attempt in the house of lords for the british people to have a referendum.
her appointment is an embarrassment for britain.
west? that question must be answered.
will baroness ashton deny that while she was treasurer she took funds from organisations that were opposed to western style capitalism and democracy?
here. we are about to get an avalanche of new laws because of this lisbon treaty and there is no question in my mind that there has to be a full free fair referendum in the united kingdom to decide whether we stay part of this union or
cathy ashton was an active member of the campaign for nuclear disarmament.
i doubt anybody in brussels would even recognise who he is. and yet he is going to be paid a salary that is bigger than obama's which tells you all you need to know about this european political class and how they look after themselves.
and are we really happy that somebody who will be in charge of our overseas security policy was an activist a few years ago in an outfit like
she is part of this post democratic age.
they have decided that they want their faces to be up on the global stage not somebody from the european union and so we have got appointed a couple of political pygmies.
eight and a half years it has taken you to get this treaty through and on one december you will have it.
i guess the answer can only be mr barroso because he is the only one that anybody in the world has ever heard of and is probably the big winner out of these posts.
and we have a new president of europe herman van rompuy.
no wonder sir you look so happy this morning.
it has taken you eight and a half years of bullying of lying of ignoring democratic referendums.
the kissinger question of who to call in europe has not really been answered has it?
she married well she married an adviser friend and supporter of tony blair and got put in the house of lords. when she was in the house of lords she was given one big job and that job was to get the lisbon treaty through the house of lords and to do so pretending that it was entirely different to the eu constitution.
cnd? if we really think that frankly we need our bumps felt! i do not think she is a fit and proper person to do this
in fact she was the treasurer of the campaign for nuclear disarmament during a period of time when cnd took very large donations and refused to reveal the source.
i cannot see him stopping the traffic in beijing or washington;
not. i hope and pray that we vote to leave but either way the people simply must be asked.
she has never had a proper job and she has never been elected to anything in her life.
did she take money from enemies of the
but at least he is an elected politician unlike baroness cathy ashton who really is the true representation of the modern day political class.
what is known is that these donations were obtained by a man called will howard who was a member of the communist party in great britain.
the european state is
well we have our two pygmies.
so here she is never stood for public office never had a proper job and here she gets one of the top jobs in the union.
and we stand by
unfortunately there are still many cases in europe where women are affected by attacks by their male companions or former companions.
finally since so many of you spoke and i thank you for your comments on the issue of gender balance which is so important for me for the commission and for the european institutions let me signal the fact that today is the tenth anniversary of the international day for the elimination of violence against
the information was passed to the governments of european and middle eastern nations.
this information contributed to the investigation and eventual arrest of islamic jihad union members who were plotting to attack sites in germany.
it has allowed member states' authorities to prevent terrorist attacks in europe.
we are talking about actual cases.
the draft european union united states agreement which is currently being discussed is an interim arrangement with a maximum duration of twelve months. it is needed in order to legally replace the existing one after the move of the data storage out of the united states.
he gave us the names of concrete countries in europe that escaped terrorist attacks recently because of the cooperation in this matter between us and them.
in summer two thousand and seven the same system was used to identify the financial activities of germany based members of the islamic jihad union.
women. i think this is an agenda where we also have to do something in europe.
i want to use this opportunity to show our commitment to this very important agenda which is also in our european society.
it. at the same time we have to see to it that we stay united and committed to the fight against terrorism. that is why i want to give you all the assurance that we will present to you a new mandate on the basis of the new treaty of
in early two thousand and nine this system was used to identify the financial activity of a europe based al qaeda individual who played a role in the planning of an alleged attack on aircraft.
we were the first in the world to say to president bush that he needed to close guantnamo we europeans.
twenty eight but also the western balkans and of course the negotiations with turkey need to be considered. those are issues that are now ahead of us and are a way of improving the strength of the european union in a new world where we need to be strong and to lead as regards ideas and values.
can become a competitive and leading economy.
and it is also time to see that now after all the discussions regarding the lisbon treaty it is time to see a new momentum for the enlargement process.
mr president the council meeting will take place less than two weeks after the treaty of lisbon comes into force and we have as the minister said been through a long and difficult process to reach this point.
and many regional governments like the government in wales have been leading the way in adopting radical policies to combat climate change.
there is still a missing link a vital democratic element in the relationship between the eu and the people of europe and that is the sub state or regional level of government.
not all of us had a referendum and the opportunity to give our views on the future development of europe yet there are things happening across the eu that have a direct impact on our work in facing the challenges before us and all of those policy issues that have already been mentioned employment social rights economic regulation fighting terrorism
so we must look beyond the member state level to the peoples of europe.
europe is changing and i hope that the new president will recognise and respond to this.
peace and justice and i am proud to speak incidentally as chair of the campaign for nuclear disarmament in wales.
this is where any international agreements made will be delivered.
up to eighty of mitigation and adaptation policies will be implemented at the local and regional levels.
first of all copenhagen.
what is important now is that the council does not downsize the proposals that are on the table. that is my fear for the moment.
it is obvious that we have to protect our citizens against terrorism and organised crime but maybe after nine eleven we have put too much focus on security and protection.
in parliament we are pushing for more ambitious proposals but i think the temptation for the moment in the council is in the opposite direction.
we are going in the opposite direction.
the second point is the stockholm programme.
as the president of the commission said belgium is in fact a country with an overall consensus certainly about european matters and about the future of europe.
we all know her well as someone who has both the political skill and the sense of direction to take on the demanding task of the first high representative and vice president of the commission.
we cannot negotiate against the scientific advice and this is the minimum to reach an agreement compatible with the two c objective. so we must set real and effective emission reduction targets for developed countries as well as substantive actions from developing countries especially
i will attend myself.
effective management of migration these are all areas where the stockholm programme should set out a series of concrete steps forward.
he brings a combination of the instinctive europeanism of belgium a founding member of our union a country that has always been at the forefront of this european project and his own skills as consensus builder exactly the two most precious qualities to have as president of the european council.
it is my privilege to assure this house that i will do so in the full respect of the priorities defined in the political guidelines that i presented to you and that through your vote were endorsed by parliament and i will also respect all the commitments i made to parliament on that occasion.
it must also be comprehensive covering the full range of issues in the bali road
people want to live in a european union that is prosperous and peaceful where their rights are respected and their security protected. they want to be able to travel freely and to move temporarily or permanently to another european country in order to study to work to found a family to set up a business or to
i very much look forward to hearing the thoughts of parliament and including your views in the final document.
we have led the way in defining how the developing world can make a real contribution to financing the costs of climate change in developing countries. but as the preparation of the copenhagen conference draws to its close the pressure grows.
rights; better access to the
let us make the most out of what lies
next month the european council gives us the first significant opportunity to show that we are now focused on policy substance to show that it will make a difference.
i know this goal is shared by this parliament and i urge you to work with the council to allow final adoption by mid two thousand and ten so that effective new authorities can be in place by the
it is essential that while every institution has to work within the respect of its own competences and that of other institutions we all work together for the common european good.
i would like to concentrate very briefly on three key dossiers which will be under the spotlight.
treaty. it brings this area of policy fully within the scope of our normal procedures.
areas; in partnership with the swedish presidency of the council which i really congratulate for the hard work
we have been the first to show that cap and trade can work.
the programme as it emerges from the european council needs to lay out the guiding priorities for justice and home affairs in the years to come and to show how they will be put into practice.