kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
we need to see respect for poland's constitution and the independence of its courts.
we have seen the reform of the national council for the judiciary get underway in a manner that even with so many polish judges resisting serves to undermine the independence of the judiciary.
the supreme courts and the highest administrative courts.
the entire structure of the justice system is affected in particular the constitutional tribunal the supreme court the ordinary courts and the national council for the judiciary.
simultaneously the commission also adopted a fourth recommendation under its rule of law framework in which we invited the polish authorities to solve the problems identified in that recommendation within three months.
respect for the rule of law is not only a prerequisite for the protection of all the fundamental values listed in article;
the changes over the past two years have led to a complete recomposition of the tribunal outside the normal constitutional process so that it is no longer able to provide effective constitutional review of laws.
we will examine this judgment very carefully as a basis of our dialogue with the polish authorities.
the independence of poland's judicial system and its respect of the rule of law are essential cornerstones for a strong poland in the european union for an independent poland a sovereign poland.
i'm really looking forward to poland's concrete reactions to our recommendation.
you cannot use the argument of needing to reform the judicial system to then introduce political oversight or political control by the executive or the legislative force of the judiciary which should remain independent.
that is why i'm so glad your parliament has taken the time to look at this so intensively again today.
the recommendation sets out clearly a list of steps that the polish authorities can take in order to remedy the current situation.
two it is also a prerequisite for upholding all rights and obligations deriving from the treaties and for establishing mutual trust of citizens businesses and national authorities in the legal systems of all other member states.
under the rule of law no government should be able to decide which court rulings are published especially if publishing is essential for these rulings to be valid.
it is up to member states to define and reform their judicial system.
it's about time for people who sell this nonsense to be called out.
in particular the commission believes that the polish authorities should address five key concerns and they could do it as follows first by publishing and implementing the three unpublished two thousand and sixteen judgments of the constitutional tribunal.
the proper functioning of the rule of law is also essential in particular for the seamless operation of the internal market and an investmentfriendly environment.
secondly by restoring the independence and legitimacy of the constitutional tribunal by ensuring that its judges its president and its vice president are lawfully elected and appointed.
however whatever the model chosen or reform carried out full judicial independence should be safeguarded in line with eu law and european standards.
i am pleased to inform you that since january this year since the new government has been in power exchanges between the commission and the polish authorities have been taking place again.
fourthly they should amend the law on the ordinary court so as to remove the new retirement regime for judges of ordinary courts including the discretionary power of the minister of justice to prolong mandates of judges that wish to stay. also the arbitrary and unjustified decisions to dismiss court presidents should be remedied.
the commission wants that to happen and i trust that this parliament will continue to show its strong determination to uphold the rule of law in all of our member states including poland.
the discussion today and the whole process that we have been engaged in for two years is not against poland and i'm really quite saddened by the fact that every time this is presented as a oneman operation against poland or the polish nation.
we are now in a new interinstitutional phase which reflects this joint responsibility.
i really hope that this dialogue will lead to concrete measures which address adequately these five key issues before the end of march because the dialogue however pleasant and intensive is only useful if it produces results.
twenty years not on grounds of new facts but on grounds of social justice.
the commission also decided to refer poland to the court of justice of the european union for breaches of eu law by the law on ordinary courts.
we need poland and i think poland also needs the european union.
i cannot overstate the importance of the rule of law for the functioning of the european union.
i would like to underline that the commission does not question the right of any member state to reform its judicial system.
there is no contradiction between being a fully fledged active member of the european union and being a sovereign nation.
two thousand and seventeen on twenty one december the polish president signed two new laws on the supreme court and on the national council for the judiciary into law raising additional grave concerns about the consequences for the independence of the polish judiciary.
their cumulative effect is to limit the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers.
the executive and legislative powers can now interfere with the composition the powers the administration and the functioning of judicial authorities in a way that in our view undermines judicial independence and the separation of powers and if you undermine judicial independence and the separation of powers there is a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law. these concerns are fully shared by a wide range of european and international organisations including the european networks of the presidents of the constitutional courts
this is about the moral authority of the european union in the world.
' the commission has set the deadline of twenty eight march but in the meantime i would like to know what the consequences are for police and justice cooperation if the polish judiciary cannot be considered to be independent member state authorities must work together on the basis of the presumption of compliance and not the pretence of compliance.
since the last time we discussed this unfortunately further worrying developments have taken place like the controversial holocaust law and the new initiatives on a full ban on abortion and it escapes me how these measures are solving the problems that you have mentioned mr legutko.
all member states have to be treated equally and yes we're criticising poland but applying double standards undermines the credibility of the european community of values.
the alde group very much welcomes the decision by the european commission to trigger article.
viktor orban the man of the dirty anti semitic anti soros anti brussels and anti migrants campaigns.
people are watching us and asking themselves will the eu rise in defence of its own values?
but of course they are a pro eu government so the iron fist of the european union is reserved purely for your critics.
well looking at the way you are treating poland i would have thought the answer must be a very big no'.
you said today you hoped that the united kingdom would change its mind and reverse brexit.
nine hundred and fifty people get beaten up by the police because they want to turn out on a sunday morning and express an opinion a totally clear violation mr timmermans of people's human rights an absolute abuse of any sense of a democratic process yet you say in that case that it is none of our business.
maybe the real reason is that he is taking on soros perhaps the most dangerous man in western democracy today. keep going viktor orbn' is all that free democrats can say.
so speaking as leader of what is still the third largest political group in the european parliament i urge you to throw away the template of previous presidencies and take the eu in a new direction. and if we can see real progress on your priorities over the next six months then in years to come we will all look back at this maltese presidency as a true turning point in the history of the european union.
let us hope that in addressing your specific issues of migration security the single market social inclusion the neighbourhood policy and the maritime sector that the maltese presidency is able to draw a clear distinction between migration and asylum to ensure that the eu delivers a policy that is tough but fair is able to strengthen security cooperation that makes our peoples feel protected and less vulnerable
this must be a proud and historic moment in the history of malta a maltese prime minister a former member of european parliament taking over the presidency of the european union and you chose as your first priority to bring the eu closer to the people by encouraging vigorous debate on the key issues.
taking tough but fair decisions on migration and asylum cooperating on security offering protection against those who wish us harm and solving the problems of the eurozone while facing the challenges and opportunities of brexit.
let us hope that these presidencies will be the new start that the eu so badly needs to face up to the challenges not just of the next six months but of the next few years.
but that closeness you desire will not be achieved by legislating every aspect of people's lives or by being preoccupied with the intrigue and the politicking of the brussels bubble but by listening and acting on the big issues facing the eu and by doing less and doing it better
but while more trilogue agreements can give the illusion of action we have to ask with each new agreement whether the people we represent feel safer;
to develop a single market that delivers less bureaucracy and more choice for consumers to encourage social inclusion that learns from the very best projects in our local communities in each of our countries and to develop a neighbourhood policy that does not mean a costly eu army but the ability to take tough decisions on sanctions when they really matter and also to encourage innovation and growth in the maritime sector to support increased open trade.
so we are waiting for the commission white paper.
we need to cooperate with third countries developing countries to help them to address their development problems. this is the real root of the challenge coming from migration.
we need to have a road map where social europe is really at the heart to reconnect with citizens making the best of the upcoming european pillar of social rights and we need also to make sure that the growth and jobs strategy will be underpinned by a more powerful investment plan aligned with sustainable development goals and these goals should also inspire our development policy because this is the only way to go to the source of the oncoming migration wave.
and then of course as you just mentioned prime minister another big test for your presidency is to come up with a real european asylum system where we can again restate our values because we cannot go on like that.
we believe in our group that the road map should be an ambitious one a progressive one.
and finally we need to translate this into credible financial instruments financial means which means to align the community budget to support all these goals and to make sure that eurozone member states also have the instruments to implement these objectives.
this is where the battlegrounds for the next elections in our member states and elsewhere will be played for at least the next generation.
i will try to touch on most if not all of the issues that have been raised by my friends.
in the short term in three months' time we will have another crisis.
i think that the main issue on which we should focus right now is not trying to be protectionist.
that is the long term.
we are inviting more trouble by trying to postpone the issue until there is a perfect solution.
so simply thinking that migration the impending crisis and the fact that even if we do something now it is not a longterm solution and thinking that this can be solved by throwing more money at the problem is delusional.
so will we find a solution to all this in the next six months?
what we want to do is to set the ball rolling in the right direction and build on the good work that has been done by our predecessors.
this is about creating humanitarian corridors where and when necessary.
it is through free trade that we can create more growth and more jobs.
my point goes beyond that.
there will be no perfect solution for border control.
there can only be progress if we really accept one another's views.
maybe we are both right.
back here i want to stress one final point on the issue of the social agenda the social pillar of the commission and the issue of free trade.
they just tell me that we need to save the people from drowning.
but i'm afraid that i will not be wrong and the situation is that we either take a decision now or we will have to take a much bolder decision when there is a crisis and when there are hundreds of thousands of people putting pressure on governments
money alone will not do it.
our country's tax system was approved by the european commission after being thoroughly examined before membership more than a decade ago so i do not see why things that were approved premembership are now a problem.
social europe does not mean protectionist europe. it does not mean withdrawing from the world. it does not mean trying to put up barriers to what we have achieved so far.
this is about having a new system to share the burden.
in the long term we are all dead.
usually i have felt a bit out of tune with my social democratic family in being a very clear advocate of free trade but seeing that even the president of china is an advocate of free trade i feel a little bit more at ease in saying that free trade is good if it is properly regulated.
that is the ideological discourse.
if we allow this to happen again not hitting these criminal gangs where it hurts not engaging with the countries on the southern littoral of the mediterranean we are in for more trouble.
my point today was and still is that we may have ideological differences actually we might have moral differences on the way we approach this issue.
so whatever we do today has a short term impact on the composition of the different institutions and the different governments in our member states and it cannot be underestimated.
first of all i would like to thank the leaders of the different groups for their extremely positive welcome and the extremely positive words they had for this presidency.
i know this is an extremely thorny issue not only at european level but in each and every one of our member states. it is an extremely emotional issue and perhaps stirs up all the wrong sentiments.
so i hope that on both tdi and china's mes we can work closely and make significant progress.
if the opinion of the advocate general is confirmed this will mean that it is a mixed agreement.
together with tdi reform they are vital in defending european jobs not just in the steel industry but more widely.
i hope his government will show flexibility in trying to find a compromise between the institutions.
european level structural reforms which will reshape europe and which will strengthen our capability to modernise our economy.
if we don't understand now that we have to stick together that we need unity that we need reform that we need a more integrated european union also for our geopolitical interests then when are we going to understand it?
start the process and let it be an open process.
it's time to work together because it is now that we have to rescue europe not in.
it's not the time to start the elections in two thousand and nineteen and to say i'm in opposition to the rest of the european parliament';
i think it is absolutely necessary and we in the house the coalition between the ppe and alde have prepared five concrete points which in our opinion are necessary for the reform of the european union.
it's not the process of two groups;
the monti report was a report on the own resources of the european union where the three institutions work together the council commission and european parliament that is the proposal we are making.
i have never seen it never heard it before and i think that it is a wake up call for us to reform the european union as fast as possible.
i wish you well and nice to see you again.
you haven't mentioned it today how very odd.
they hate the fact that you've established an offshore tax haven and good for you and i wish that britain would actually follow suit. they hate the fact that you've done that and that's music to my ears. as britain sets off on an exciting brexit future with donald trump in the white house and my colleagues here riding high in the polls i'm actually quite optimistic one of the very few who are optimistic about.
two thousand and seventeen they may not get round to your tax status as they're too busy destroying our countries' identities with mass migration putting our security at risk and their obsession with the green blob and gender issues.
there was one comment that i would like to comment on.
two thousand and sixteen therefore it was decided to delay the transposition until the new measures were adopted in order to avoid having to repeat a lengthy and complex transposition exercise twice within a limited time.
mr president i would again like to thank the rapporteur for the general support for the proposal and for the amendments which clarify and improve the original commission proposal. in fact only a few amendments were not acceptable from the commission perspective. the sprfmo transposition regulation will as has already been said by most of the members allow a faster and more efficient implementation of new conservation measures in union law thanks to the delegation of certain well framed powers to the commission.
in most cases the original provision does not allow for a simple replication.
the transposition is a complex and time consuming process.
two thousand and thirteen after this meeting the sprfmo had envisaged a medium term plan to adopt a comprehensive system of conservation and management measures by.
however it is better to refer to the entire iuu regulation in order not to lose the individual definitions of illegal unreported and unregulated fishing' foreseen in its article.
the commission proposal transposes into eu law the conservation control and enforcement measures adopted by the south pacific regional fisheries management organisation to which the european union is a contracting party. this is a challenging file because of the high number of conservation measures adopted under the sprfmo since.
secondly the pech committee proposes in its amendment five the use of the definition of fishing vessel' from the sprfmo.
thank you for your attention and for tabling this important regulation for debate and i look forward to hearing your views.
the preference should be then to keep the definition used under the european union iuu regulation which is the one used in the commission proposal.
let me assure you that the commission will continue working together with the regional fisheries management organisations to ensure better ocean governance and more sustainable fishing.
the commission considers that we should avoid a multiplication of definitions of fishing vessel' used in different eu legal texts with already existing definition in the control regulation and in the eu iuu regulation.
two the sprfmo transposition regulation will also allow a faster and more efficient implementation of future sprfmo conservation measures thanks to the derogation of certain well framed powers to the commission.
therefore the eu fleet fishing in sprfmo is unable to promote coastal fishing activities and techniques.
the commission is currently checking that the consumer credit directive has been correctly transposed into national legislation by the member states.
the current eu legislation the consumer credit directive adopted in two thousand and eight intends not only to enhance the single market for consumer credit but also to ensure a high level of consumer protection.
in line with the requirements of the directive the commission is currently preparing a report on its implementation which is due to be published in june.
the commission recognises the main message of the draft resolution which points to the fact that the consumer credit directive is not yet fully implemented in the member states.
this resolution is important because it represents the voice of european citizens on the important issue of borrowing which is a sensitive area for individuals and for the european economy.
in line with the resolution there is certainly room for work by the commission in close cooperation with the member states to improve the implementation and enforcement of this important piece of legislation.
in two thousand and thirteen the commission will organise dedicated meetings with the member states in order to discuss concrete issues relating to the implementation and enforcement of the directive.
mr president misleading or unclear information regarding the total cost of loans to consumers can cause serious financial difficulties particularly to households with limited available incomes. the commission must ensure that the consumer credit directive is correctly transposed by member states and that consumers have a right to
definite information relating to borrowing rates and charges incurred that is provided in an intelligible manner. information provided online by financial institutions has been found wanting by commission checks whereas a significant majority of the websites monitored provided either insufficient or misleading information and a significant proportion of cross border loans were taken out online.
the exchange rate and interest rate variations especially at times of financial volatility can cause sudden and significant hikes in the cost of loans.
but i first of all wanted to thank her very much for her first report for the committee. i think it is important to set this in context.
i think though that there has been considerable disappointment expressed by many colleagues here that the provisions of what is a very good directive are not actually being consistently implemented.
the broader message i would give to the commission is that in this committee we are not content just to pass legislation but we want to follow it through and make sure that it is properly implemented.
finally i would say that the commission needs to take seriously our recommendation that this directive needs no further reforms.
we actually want it to be properly implemented. we are not looking for a recast or fundamental changes to what we think is a good proposal.
to be sure that this is entirely clarified it has been agreed that the commission will make a statement to this end tomorrow ahead of the vote on this proposal.
this attachment will be of a purely administrative nature in order to facilitate the organisational and budgetary aspects.
for the action that is being taken with regard to the objective of this proposal and it will strengthen the independence of olaf's supervisory committee by very clearly separating the secretariat of the committee and its budget from the service
that they have a mandate to supervise.
we have listened very carefully to the members of parliament and to the members of the supervisory committee to make sure that we are coming with a clear solution to what has been perceived as a potential restriction of their independence.
it will not affect the independent functioning of the secretariat or of the committee nor their current budget and staffing.
whatsoever.
secondly there was a question or rather a concern expressed that maybe the secretariat will be absorbed in the commission and i just want to be very clear that we have taken seriously the question of proper allocation.
the head of the secretariat is in charge and when we looked across the services we thought that this is the most neutral non interfering place we can possibly find and this is why we have decided on it.