kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
union. after years of negotiations and hard work the remaining provisions of the association agreement with its deep and comprehensive free trade area were
and legally
this is a clear violation of international law and the european convention of human rights. allow me to stress that we have not forgotten about crimea;
at the end of this month we are also planning to launch a common security and defence policy mission to assist ukraine in the important areas of civilian security sector reform police and the rule
agreement. the purpose is to reduce unnecessary tensions by filtering out misunderstandings and by focusing discussions on possible solutions for any remaining concrete
and sustainable cease fire in order to create the necessary conditions for the implementation of president poroshenko's peace plan. president putin supported the peace plan in principle; the federation council has revoked the authorisation to use military
osce. unfortunately we are not there
nor has it used its influence over illegally armed groups in eastern ukraine to stop the violence and get them to lay down their arms. so it is now urgent that russia takes concrete steps in this direction. we welcome the diplomatic efforts launched in normandy on six june by ukraine the russian federation
in these extremely difficult circumstances we encourage the ukrainian authorities to maintain a measured approach.
ukraine. the agreement will help to drive reforms and boost growth by offering ukraine access to the world's largest market. we now look forward to its swift ratification and subsequent provisional application so that ukrainian citizens and businesses can
it underlines the importance of supporting the work of humanitarian organisations.
there are worrying reports regarding respect for human rights not only in eastern ukraine but also in crimea which remains illegally annexed by russia. crimea is where the most dramatic changes in the situation of minorities and in the enjoyment of human rights have taken place.
the increase in the numbers of displaced people is also of concern.
we must do all we can to protect and support them.
signed. this achievement is a powerful symbol of the ukrainian people's aspirations to get closer to the european union and of the european union's commitment towards
unfounded. we now hope that russia will refrain from taking any such unprovoked restrictive
it will always remain on the radar of our policy until international law is restored.
same time. the european union has engaged with russia in order to dispel any possible misunderstandings in this
benefit as soon as possible from the new opportunities that the agreement
including an agreement on a cease fire the release of all hostages border security and the effective monitoring of border crossings by the
this is exactly the reason why we need to put the protection and well being of local civilians at the heart of our policy. diplomatic efforts towards peace in eastern ukraine must continue. there is an urgent need for all parties to agree on a genuine
soil. however russia has not stopped the flow of weapons equipment and militants across the border;
yet. tomorrow in brussels the heads of state and government will again assess the situation on the ground against the conditions put forward by the last european council and should it be required adopt the necessary decisions.
this is not about fighting the popular movement in part of eastern ukraine at a time when the ukrainian authorities offer discussions about decentralisation and other democratic changes.
earlier this month the leader of the elected crimean tatar assembly was refused entry to crimea.
agreement. an agreement was reached to launch a consultation mechanism with a focus on regulations and standard procedures arising from the implementation of this
the solution is not to build other pipelines to bring russian gas to europe as austria and hungary are doing now but to find different sources and different routes.
we should be thinking very carefully about our own actions in the next hours and days so that this threat and these losses are put to an end as quickly as possible.
here i would invite commissioner fle to tell us a bit more about the normandy initiative and about the berlin declaration and what he feels that the european union should be doing to give a very strong impetus to precisely this direction in the effort to stabilise and overcome a terrible crisis.
however i also expect the european council this week to endorse further steps vis vis russia.
this is a crisis which has critical humanitarian consequences in the country and on its borders and far reaching political consequences for the country the neighbourhood and for europe itself.
i say to our epp colleagues that there is a proper debate about third stage sanctions. we support the recent decision to put separatists on the black list but what we call for today and what the council might decide tomorrow has to be credible or we will undermine our own position.
mr president we all know how important water is and in the developing world in particular where access to water is very difficult it is young girls and women who suffer the most.
i saw this in india on a delegation visit and it is very important that we invest more in water management and make sure that it does not become an impediment to the educational progress of young girls and women.
i particularly welcome the vote on paragraph two which declares that water is assumed as a public good and should be under public control regardless of how it is managed.
mr president this report sets out turkey's progress towards eventual membership of the eu.
one of my concerns is the gradual erosion of the secular republican ideal and the growth of religion in politics.
i am also worried about some of the human rights abuses in turkey that have been documented and some of the actions that have been taken against minority communities.
however it is also important for us to be honest with turkey and to say clearly and unambiguously that if it fulfils all the conditions that other member states have fulfilled then it has the right to join.
the eu should give a clear signal to the belarusian authorities that they are not welcome at the eastern partnership meeting in brussels at the end of this month.
sadly this is also taking place with the help of eu based companies who have exported technologies to belarus to facilitate this repression. this kind of aiding and abetting of human rights violations through technologies made in europe should end.
two thousand and nine meanwhile we should step up our engagement with belarusian civil society organisations and promote more intense people to people contact.
respecting these freedoms is among the very basic cornerstones of democracy which ironically the belarusian authorities have committed themselves to respect.
simply put any and all restrictions on freedom of association assembly opinion and expression in belarus need to be lifted.
it is indeed the last dictatorship in europe and we should act to turn that around and make it a democracy as soon as we can.
freedom of expression including online on the internet is under real pressure.
we may have to consider additional sanctions and indeed step up our efforts to ensure that the eu sanctions in place are enforced so that they are not just a paper reality.
the spokesperson of vice president high representative ashton therefore last week expressed her deep concern about numerous reports over the last weeks of acts of harassment of representatives of civil society the opposition and independent media'.
since april when prominent political prisoners sannikau and bandarenka were released there has been no further release of political prisoners and those who have been released remain subject to heavy restrictions on their civil and political rights.
i think it is extremely timely that we have this very strong message from a very broad part of the european parliament.
this resolution clearly urges the government of belarus to immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all political prisoners and moreover the resolution establishes the mandate of a special rapporteur on belarus who will report annually to the human rights council and to the un general assembly.
as belarus prepares for the september parliamentary elections an overall climate of fear prevails in which independent political expression or manifestation is not tolerated and independent journalists are systematically impeded from exercising their activities.
i think that this is a major success for the european union which this time gained a higher number of positive votes and a lower number of negative votes on the establishment of the special rapporteur than for much milder reporting mechanisms only last year. the situation is serious but
other recent cases against journalists include the sentencing of pavel sviardlou to fifteen days of administrative arrest for allegedly swearing in public.
as of today there is a new development because the un human rights council earlier today adopted an eu sponsored resolution on the human rights situation in belarus with twenty two votes in favour twenty abstentions and three votes against.
the vice president high representative therefore again calls on the authorities to stop all acts of harassment of representatives of the independent media civil society and the political opposition and to reverse the current repressive policies. to ms essayah and others who want an increased effort i have some encouraging
instead we have over the last weeks again seen an intensification of the repressive policies against independent voices notably by means of administrative fines and sentences.
this debate therefore is very timely as we all know that freedom of expression is an essential element for any free election campaign.
mr president in order to maintain its grip on power the lukashenko dictatorship relies on brutal repression against anyone involved in opposition activity critical journalism the defence of minority rights the defence of human rights or the genuine independent trade union activity which exists.
this parliament should also be calling for an immediate moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty.
i call on the international trade union movement to give its solidarity and its active support to the struggle of working people in belarus.
the genuine grass roots trade unions need to be built to defend the interests of the majority of the population in the struggle against mass privatisations and liberalisations of basic foodstuffs and to fundamentally democratise society and the economy to ensure that the wealth can be used in the interests of the majority of the population rather than a tiny political and economic elite.
repression as we see it in belarus has no place in europe.
poczobut was detained by the kgb and imprisoned for allegedly slandering president lukashenko in an article written for an internet newspaper. in the eu criticism of one's government is rightly considered legitimate debate and encouraged as an integral constituent part of the democratic processes. however in belarus such free expression earned poczobut the personal ire of the president a suspended three year prison sentence and enduring house arrest while awaiting trial.
it has long been clear that under the lukashenko dictatorship there is no rule of law provision independence of the judiciary or even basic standards of human rights in belarus.
eu sanctions against the regime should be increased until lukashenko steps down and gives belarusians a democratic vote to determine their own future governance freely.
by our experts and this is a positive development.
at the end of this year ministers will discuss the results of the monitoring exercise for all countries concerned.
concerning the monitoring of eu member states i have to say that the mandate for this exercise of the european union list was to look at third countries because member states are already under permanent scrutiny as far as any harmful practices are concerned.
this does not mean that it will be shorter in the future. jurisdictions that do not meet their commitment by the agreed deadline the end of two thousand and eighteen or two thousand and nineteen will be listed.
countries have been put on the list without actually giving us specific information on the basis of which criteria the selection has been made.
the work of the new taxe three commission will be fundamental in this sense.
of course we're not naive either as commitments have been made and they must be kept and there is a need to monitor the tax reforms of the grey list countries.
at the end of this year the commission will assess the actual results of those commitments made.
once the letters of commitment are published parliament will also follow their implementation.
they reveal that one member of the screening panel disagreed on the evaluation criteria for eleven jurisdictions several of which have played a prominent role in recent tax scandals for example bermuda the british virgin islands guernsey and jersey.
to end this politicisation of the blacklist we need an open process which is why my green group has written to the council presidency demanding greater transparency and accountability on the process of blacklisting. we will use the opportunity provided by parliament's new special committee on tax rulings to extend our role in scrutinising the blacklisting process.
so it does not take too much detective work to deduce that this one member was the uk keen to protect some of its most notorious offshore tax havens.
some minutes recently fell into our hands that confirm these suspicions.
madam president after delaying the adoption of an eu blacklist for more than a year it only took the council forty nine days to remove half of the countries on the list.
secondly what sanctions have the council of ministers prepared in case they do not fulfil these guarantees?
now finally we have a council representative to answer our questions.
what is truly indefensible is that the citizens of europe the parliament and the commission have been kept entirely in the dark during the process.
i have three simple questions what concrete guarantees did council ministers obtain from panama and the seven other countries removed from the list?
panama and seven other countries were removed from the list based on secret letters of intent and closed discussions in the council's working group.
finally when will the council abide by the recent conclusion by the european ombudsman that the current lack of transparency and access to documents constitutes a clear democratic deficiency and publish documents and minutes from these closed and secret working groups?
i note that some people disliked the speed with which these commitments were achieved and the shrinking of the list.
committed. that is the whole point of the discussions and harmonisation of the tax base for businesses which were relaunched by commissioner moscovici in
but the work is far from finished our attention must now turn to the precise and uncompromising monitoring of the commitments undertaken by the third countries.
lists. this is a criticism of the process that has been consistently made particularly by parliament and there is a misunderstanding here. the purpose of drawing up a european list of tax havens was always to deal with external threats to member states'
transparency will help us to move on from words to action and that is why my colleague commissioner moscovici has called for the scope of the commitments given to be made public for ngos for citizens for the media and of course for our national parliaments and the european parliament to see for themselves.
the so called grey list is more important for the credibility of the process.
evasion. of course member states are not perfect and tax optimisation practices continue within the european
we want these countries and territories to comply with our expectations in terms of transparency and good fiscal governance.
in the negotiations leading to the conclusion of the list forty seven jurisdictions made written commitments to reform their tax systems in order to avoid being blacklisted.
of having a european list of tax havens was not a plausible one at all and i'm sure you can recall the outcry when the commission simply published a compilation of national lists.
the publication of the list has triggered positive momentum.
eight of the countries listed then quickly realised their interest in cooperating with the european union and committed themselves to reforming their tax legislation.
clearly the adoption of the list has not put an end to the existence of tax havens and i want to give you some more detail about that.
this list includes fifty five third countries.
union. the abolition of these tax arrangements is a long term task to which the commission is fully
it is important that everybody can scrutinise the implementation of the commitments made.
however the blacklist is not an end in itself.
october. two thousand and sixteen at the same time and for the first time last november the commission called in its recommendation on the euro area for member states to adopt and implement measures aimed at combating aggressive tax
we will have to continue to work hard with them to ensure that they change their legislation and meet the criteria to which they have committed.
does he think this is consistent with the uk's stated support for tax transparency and does he agree with me that in future these deliberations in council should be made public?
in november two thousand and sixteen the council approved the process geographical scope and screening criteria for this work.
the next one will be in june this year.
two thousand and eighteen furthermore the council conclusions and their annexes are very explicit on substance and process.
this shows that the approach chosen by the council has led to a constructive engagement with many jurisdictions around the world and that the initiative has so far been a success.
the letter was discussed at the code of conduct meeting on fourteen february and the group approved the text of the letter to the jurisdictions requesting consent to publish their commitment letters.
let me start by recalling the political process that led us to where we are now as i believe this is very important.
the objective is not to name and shame but to provoke effective changes through cooperation.
at the beginning of two thousand and seventeen the code of conduct group then wrote to all the jurisdictions concerned to start the dialogues and constituted expert panels to screen the jurisdictions concerned against the criteria. these panels identified deficiencies in most jurisdictions.
a six monthly report by the code of conduct group on its activities concerning both member states and third countries is also available.
i am looking forward to listening to your views.
we take these commitments very seriously and we will closely monitor their implementation through the code of conduct group.
the council's code of conduct group on business taxation was entrusted with the task of preparing the necessary elements for our decision.
thank you for this very important question.
we have a clear suspicion that the country is the united kingdom and i want to say that this illustrates the problem of the lack of transparency.
we need transparency on the council side in the code of conduct group for business taxation in the way they deal with this issue on tax havens and tax transparency.
thank you for this question.
despite assurances on this the eu still put tunisia on the blacklist and damaged its economy.
i want to see tunisians and others remain in their countries or tunisians remaining in tunisia building their businesses and employing their fellow tunisians.
no it's not it's just a threat to your command soviet economy that you're trying to create here in europe.
you just don't get free market enterprise which is why britain is leaving the eu.
let's be frank the eu just hates free enterprise.
i do not see why the european union should use its weight casting about the world in some sort of neo colonial way to tell other countries what their taxes should be and what their taxes should not be.
i find this most unsatisfactory.
since then it has taken less than three months to clear almost half of the countries from the list.
if such progress continues we will have an empty list by may and therefore all the work done.
we will have eliminated all tax havens in the world.
but seriously it does not look credible at all.
we should be given detailed information about the criteria used to delist those countries and what they have committed to.
we shall see what and when will be available.
tomorrow the ep will vote on the mandate for a new committee on financial crime tax avoidance and tax evasion. this committee will carefully assess the methodology the country screening process and the impact of the eu list of non cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes as well as the removal of countries from the list and measures adopted towards
i welcome the fact that the job losses that have been announced may not take place for three years and that there is every intention by the company to achieve them through natural wastage rather than redundancy. i urge the strongest possible consultation with the workforce and appropriate trade unions to achieve that aim.
good coordination among our stakeholders is essential member states the commission the space agency and others.
a reflection along these lines is already underway following the recent commission communication on establishing appropriate relations between the eu and the european space agency.
a considerable amount of this money will be devoted to space activities.
it is at this global level where we need also to be very careful.
finally the rapporteur advances the role of the private commercial market for the european space industry and the importance of the satellite communications sector.
the commission is doing that not only in the context of the ongoing eu us transatlantic trade partnership negotiations but also for the long term by way of a study which will be issued in the second half of next year.
the commission has proposed a number of measures which could help develop the space market including services. we will take action in areas including research procurement and spectrum availability and where necessary regulatory action.
ms nieblers report is also right in stressing the need for europe to seek technological non dependence and develop the critical technology to pursue its space ambition and maintain a competitive position in the world.
it is therefore essential to ensure the most efficient possible use of such investment.
it is also essential that we ensure coherence in the programmes and avoid duplication in spending and structures.
but that potential particularly needs a lot of research and development and that takes financing.
in my own constituency a company was founded a few years ago which is taking off rapidly.
particularly we need an internal market for the whole space area and i think that is something we should be working very strongly to develop.
madam president space is i suppose a topic which fascinates many people but it does not lead them to pursue that fascination by being involved in the industry in any way and indeed the industry is limited enough across europe.
the politicians responsible for that disastrous illegal intervention should hang their heads in shame. the situation in syria was further exacerbated by those conditions and was ignited as the resolution also highlights by the plethora of dreadful abuses by the assad regime which themselves feed and fuel the conditions in which extremists can thrive.
it is important that we realise that the so called islamic state is as much a consequence as a cause of how we came to be here.
those conditions have created a flood of refugees which is almost impossible to cope with greater than the population of scotland and threatening to trip the neighbouring countries into anarchy as well.
the disastrous intervention in iraq and i very much echo a previous speaker's comments created the conditions for instability and radicalisation.