kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the eu and many others have long called for an end to the blockade. but the political parameters have changed.
i have created a task force to bring together all the relevant departments and expertise and will chair its first meeting on friday.
it gives outsiders with a very different agenda from ours a chance to escalate tensions.
it is a bizarre situation where flour beans and margarine are allowed in but vinegar chocolate and fresh meat are not.
we have to answer these questions together.
however it has yet to be determined who was actually the first to use violence in the case of israel's interception of the gaza flotilla.
mr president i am a friend of israel but i do not regard it as delegitimisation of the state of israel to criticise the actions of the current israeli government.
i want the blockade to end with checks on illicit arms. i will not be supporting the resolution as i think it is absurd to condemn israel for breach of international law first and to call for an inquiry second and there is much which is not yet clear including the role of the turkish ihh organisation.
i am a friend of turkey as well as israel.
turkey has reason for anger but it is very unwise to put out an official leaflet which talks about israel having lost its legitimacy with a photo which includes a placard judaism rejects the zionist state'. i hope both israel and turkey come round to reason.
hopefully this tragic event will at least unite us behind some conclusions and behind a renewed effort for peace.
reconstruction projects have been at a standstill for years because of a shortage of material. the european union has to take a lead and put pressure on israel to change its policies. the present situation is not only a problem for the innocent population of gaza most of them children and young people it also fuels extremism and the black economy.
why has it been impossible to find a solution to the conflict between them?
both sides profess that they do indeed want a peaceful outcome but what actually takes place says something else.
it is far from evident that a solution acceptable to all is still a part of the mindset of either israel or the palestinians.
indeed they both perceive their interests as being best served by the conflict because they believe any solution would result in their ending up in a weaker position that what they have currently.
from the israeli perspective although formally there is support for a two state solution it is hard to see an israel that could live on equal terms with a palestinian state.
until they are given incentives to find an option that is superior to the present the conflict will continue tragically.
a first step in the right direction was decided by the israelis. more is needed to inspire confidence in the international community.
it finances itself from the lucrative transactions of smuggling goods through the numerous tunnels which are then distributed only to those palestinians who yield to them.
gilad shalit is still in captivity. madam high representative i am sure that your task should be to coordinate work with and support those international actors in their efforts to reopen the points of terrestrial passage particularly karni that have the capacity to transit goods.
an effective mechanism can be agreed for tracing the distribution of aid and aiming at the reconstruction.
in the meantime efforts for the reconciliation of the different palestinian factions must be intensified and the palestinian authority must recover control of gaza.
israel is not perfect but it is a democracy.
it may have made some serious mistakes in this operation and i await the outcome of the inquiry assisted by a canadian and british expert before passing judgment but what is sure is that the idf had no intention to use lethal force and the commandos were shocked at the ferocity of the life threatening attacks they sustained by ihh militants and responded in self defence. my question to the high representative is why did the government of turkey collude with this provocative mission?
why were children and women allowed to be taken into a naval blockade area and a potential conflict zone?
same sex families the roma and other minority groups suffer particularly from restrictions on their freedom of movement inside the eu as we have heard on many occasions.
often we can do no more than encourage member states to do the right thing and we have certainly been trying to do that in relation to spanish property petitions but it is worthwhile recalling that since two thousand and four not one spanish property petition has been successfully concluded.
i welcome the setting up of the working group to discuss these issues in relation to spanish property law and i hope it will be not just a talking shop but rather a constructive body making specific and effective proposals to address the very important issue of fair compensation.
the commission has put its own servers at the disposal of organisers and provided extended help guidance and assistance to them for the certification process.
the report points to some of the most topical and sensitive areas subject to the citizens' petition in the field of environment and fundamental rights on which the commission and parliament are already working closely and will continue to exchange information and views.
in the next annual report on the application of eu law which will be adopted in the coming weeks we also plan to indicate the concrete number of cases which had their origin in petitions.
maybe we should take it as a compliment that people wish to raise issues and look to us for solutions and reparations.
one of those were identified as coming from spanish citizens so it is not a question of foreigners concerned about their holiday homes here we have spanish citizens concerned about their property rights.
the first is the right of european citizens and residents to their legitimately acquired property with concerns over what can happen to that property in another country.
we support wholeheartedly the underlying objective of the ley de costas namely that the environment of the spanish coast should be protected from overdevelopment;
i would like to recommend to colleagues a glance at the statistical analysis in the explanatory statement because that gives some interesting information about the origin of petitions and the subjects with which they are
two thousand and eleven in that year nine hundred and ninety eight petitions were declared admissible and four hundred and sixteen further petitions were received but declared inadmissible.
we consider the correct implementation of the waste framework directive in all member states to be of the utmost importance and we ask member states to deal with waste management trouble spots decisively and swiftly.
however the reason they are there in the first place of course is that they have concerns about the transposition or application of european legislation so it is our duty to respond in a real and meaningful way.
indeed my own member state is before the courts having failed to properly transpose that piece of legislation.
another issue that has been highlighted is the obstacles faced by persons with disabilities to free movement and it is not just the physical obstacles but the inability to travel without a personal assistant. most of us hop on a plane a boat or a train and off we go but for people with disabilities who can only travel with the help of a personal assistant i am afraid the phrase free movement of persons' is a hollow promise from the eu because many member states do not provide that service.
finally one thing i can say in light of my experiences on the petitions committee is that we need to be honest with citizens; we should not over promise; we need to be clear about the possibilities and avenues for redress and above all we should not use the petitions committee to simply pass the buck.
i feel i need some special friend standing close by whispering in my ear remember you are only mortal' but can i also thank all the colleagues for their cooperation in this report.
it shows the good spirit in the committee as well as a recognition of the important work that we do.
a number of colleagues have mentioned the important part that the commission plays in responding to our demands for information and action.
you may not always satisfy us but we know you are always trying to do so and we thank you for that.
this report and i have to say i am most impressed at the number of members wishing to speak this evening illustrates the importance which members attach to the petitions committee and to our work.
it is a vital platform for the citizens of the eu to air their concerns.
perhaps she is the person whispering in my ear with regard to the comment about the spanish authorities i aim to be as polite to the spanish authorities as i expect them to be to my constituents in gibraltar but i would like to point out that the text in the report says welcomes the spanish government's announcement' so the jury is still out on the delivery and i think that is an important distinction to make.
i understand that this house would prefer a more comprehensive review of the current rules going beyond the scope of the commission's proposal.
on the basis of that report the commission will consider whether amendments to the eel regulation are necessary in order to improve the recovery of this important stock.
i would like to repeat today that the commission is committed to ensuring the recovery of european eel stocks.
it calls on the member states to consider support for fishermen to help them diversify in the event of any member state deciding to ban the fishing of eel.
regrettably an irish management plan introduced a complete ban on eel fishing affecting the shannon the corrib and lough erne and this ban is extremely unfair on fishermen as they have received no compensation for their loss of income.
the two thousand and seven eu regulation requires each member state to implement individual management plans to achieve the objective of restoring the stock to sustainable levels and i want to expand on sustainable' later.
recognising the importance of improving the eu eel stock recovery leading eel experts in the agriculture food and bioscience institute are currently researching the biological assessment of stocking.
lough neagh fishermen's cooperative has developed the most sustainable eel fishery in europe all involved recognise the importance of conserving eel stocks and apply additional regulations ensuring sustainable fishing practices. over forty years they have invested nearly gbp five million to purchase and restock glass eels.
for that reason i am delighted to welcome what the commissioner has said this evening that she will take very tough action to produce measures that will protect the eel.
the adult eels find it impossible to get back into the sea to make their return journey to the sargasso sea.
i also welcome isabella lvin's excellent report.
but unfortunately this is the european eel with its fascinating life cycle.
basically what we are adding now to the old regulations are two very important things.
a lot of things are at stake here not only the survival of the eel but also the credibility of the eu as a serious player on the international arena promoting sustainable fisheries and even imposing trade sanctions on third countries that allow unsustainable fisheries.
i want to thank all colleagues and shadow rapporteurs that have supported this report.
it does not get the public attention it deserves. the regulation that is now before you and on which we will vote tomorrow dates back to two thousand and seven when member states after many years of discussion finally agreed to do something about the eel decline. the debate has been going on for more than ten years now and the regulation has been in place for more than five years and during all this time the eel stock has continued to decline.
the restocking of eels that has been allowed as a conservation measure is and i quote again unlikely to contribute to the recovery of the european eel population in a substantial manner'.
in two thousand and twelve the advice from ices sounded yet another alarm bell.
to those that think we should stick to simple lisbonisation' in this process i want to say that i am quite certain that future generations will not understand the logic of doing a simple legal adjustment to this regulation which has the fate of an entire species in its hands.
first of all that the commission should present a report on the effectiveness of restocking as a conservation measure. secondly we are asking the commission to come up with a new legislative proposal before the end of march next year that will with high probability save the european eel. i hope too that the council will see the need for this and that the council will not try and bury this regulation along with all the other long term management plans because of the different interpretations of allocation of fishing opportunities.
this is indeed a huge problem since many of the member states' eel recovery plans rely heavy on eel restocking that is now conducted without any guidelines or criteria at all regarding survival of glass eels or conditions to allow silver eels to escape to the sargasso sea to spawn.
the local people who depend on it have banded together to protect and preserve this vital resource.
i have always supported the commission's move towards the improvement of reporting obligations on eel management and the move towards updating eel regulations.
mr president i would like to repeat that the commission proposal aims at the lisbonisation' of our legislation what we are simply trying to do is align the existing regulation to the new treaty the treaty of lisbon.
so we are waiting for this assessment;
instead we would like to introduce to make every effort to ensure that all who have been abducted are safety returned to their families'.
they are now travelling at speeds of twenty seven knots which is a huge speed in terms of the possibility of crashes or impacts collisions and so
then we have the problem in relation to the actual age of the fleets themselves.
what i cannot accept is that containers are lost due to shoddy workmanship or to containers being overloaded or incorrectly stacked or because of a laissez faire attitude to this problem by the industry at large.
finally i want to return to the obligations of the wider maritime industry to get their act together.
the maritime industry seems unwilling to act.
secondly we would like to see action to ensure that all containers are correctly weighed in port and correctly stowed before a ship sets sail for sea as well as fitting automated beacons to aid container location.
and do nothing about it.
the transport committee is now demanding action to reduce this figure and is sending a signal to the maritime industry that we are not prepared to tolerate this state of affairs much longer. the marin institute in the netherlands found the main reasons for container stack
parliament is now demanding that shipping companies accept their responsibilities on this issue.
in addition crews on larger container ships have difficulty in assessing when severe loads are moving forward and or aft due to weather conditions which can amplify vertical acceleration in these areas beyond the vessel's actual design specifications.
it is amazing to me that in this modern day and age thousands of these containers go missing each year with the great majority of them falling off the ships into our oceans. it is estimated that a staggering ten zero containers are lost at sea each year. it would appear to us that shipping lines and insurers are quite happy to accept this figure
moreover the absence of a strict liability compensation convention for non toxic substances leaves local government picking up the cost of the clean up.
we would like to see the commission becoming more proactive in solving this unacceptable state of affairs.
in european waters two zero containers a year are lost at sea and this figure would appear to be rising year on year. these containers are a menace to navigation they could pollute the seas with both toxic and non toxic materials and they leave local authorities with large clean up costs.
containers falling off ships are dangerous.
today i am asking the commission to study the results obtained by the lashingsea project and to come forward with proposals to improve container lashing procedures and equipment.
lives are being put at risk which is why we are demanding action.
thirdly we are asking the commission to look at the compensation regime so that local and regional authorities are not left short changed.
yet we allow this to happen every year in eu waters.
it is a serious problem and it is a problem that you have to address.
i appreciate that a world agreement would be ideal and i appreciate that we need to involve the imo but the imo has got to be one of the slowest international organisations the world has ever come across.
as to whether further measures should be taken at eu level to enable debt settlement procedures to date debt settlement procedures are dealt with at national level but some jurisdictions already provide a possibility for borrowers who cannot repay their mortgage loans to be released in full from the underlying debt by handing their mortgaged property over to the lender.
the mortgage credit directive does not prevent such a procedure from remaining in place or being introduced at a national level.
let me underline that i welcome the changes already introduced in spain as they improve the protection of consumers.
it will improve investor protection for financial instruments by strengthening organisational requirements and the rules on the conduct of businesses for investment firms to minimise the risk of mis selling of financial instruments.
in parallel the commission has conducted a wider assessment of the spanish legislation and is currently in a structured dialogue with the spanish authorities.
to address mis selling in particular of preferential shares by these banks to retail clients in.
the deadline for transposition of these measures has not been reached yet.
the replies of the spanish authorities received last june by the commission are being analysed and further action will be considered if the answers prove to be unsatisfactory.
finally with regard to bad information or misinformation on products borrowers will be better informed about the loans on offer in the future as the mortgage credit directive enhances the quality and comparability of pre contractual information. the mortgage credit directive also introduces rules on the conduct
high minimum amount of investment in complex financial instruments thereby de facto barring retail clients from buying such products.
the court ruled that spanish law as it stood at the time failed to provide certain procedural safeguards to consumers.
the unfair contract terms directive is a powerful tool in the hands of national judges and in many cases spanish judges stepped in and declared contract terms especially in mortgage contracts unfair and non binding on consumers.
as a consequence the spanish law has been amended on two occasions giving the consumer an opportunity to object to mortgage enforcement and to appeal if such an objection is dismissed.
this issue has been addressed in the mortgage credit directive.
related cases referred to the court of justice were widely discussed and drew a lot of media attention.
creditors are responsible for informing consumers about the risks they undertake when getting involved in investments.
finally as regards the sale of certain financial instruments by banks to retail clients as stipulated by the memorandum of understanding on financial sector policy conditions of july two thousand and twelve between the commission and spain spain has amended its legislation by setting a significantly
expected by businesses with a view to ensuring that the creditor credit intermediary or appointed representative acts honestly fairly transparently and professionally as well as introducing appropriate knowledge and competence requirements for staff of creditors and credit intermediaries. the new markets in financial instruments directive applies to investment services.
on question number three as far as arbitration mechanisms are concerned in the context of the financial assistance programme for spain the spanish fund for orderly bank restructuring encourages the banks under its full control to set up arbitration mechanisms
this is precisely the case in spain under certain conditions.
specifically it introduces product governance rules and enhances disclosure requirements vis vis investors for the first time.
i started this dialogue to ensure that all of the rulings of the court of justice are fully implemented in spain.
two thousand and twelve based on data provided by the spanish authorities it appears that between two thousand and twelve and early two thousand and fifteen these arbitration mechanisms issued around two hundred and ninety eight zero rulings in favour of the applicants thus upholding around seventy one
hence it would be premature to state at this stage whether and what new further measures would be needed.
the european banking authority's guidelines on arrears and foreclosure adopted on one june two thousand and fifteen provide greater detail on how effect should be given to that provision.
transitional provisions of law one two thousand and thirteen are currently being challenged before the court of justice.
as for your question number four with regard to new legislation in the area of financial services let me mention some important pieces of eu law recently adopted by the co legislators namely the mortgage credit directive and the
yes many spanish consumers especially borrowers have recently found themselves in a very difficult economic situation. problems in the mortgage market triggered many legal disputes in spain where the fairness of contracts was challenged.
in conjunction with the fact that the spanish deposit guarantee fund bought back from retail clients substantial amounts of such preferential shares which had been sold in a misleading manner this issue seems to have been remedied in the meantime.
its focus was to ensure that all consumers getting a property or a mortgage on their home had adequate protection on risk.
in two thousand and eleven the commission created legislation for a fair single market for mortgages.
but sadly this is yet to be implemented fully across all member states.
since two thousand and eight more than seven hundred zero people have completely or partially lost their savings and nearly four hundred zero have been evicted from their homes. the spanish government should act as soon as possible to put an end to this situation and to put forward initiatives to keep this from happening in the future.
madam president our work in the committee on petitions of which i am a member focuses on the important role that the european union plays in giving redress to consumers this time in spain but often in other countries who have been affected by the irresponsible behaviour of others. one million british citizens live in spain;
many of them have mortgages.
to restore the confidence of consumers across europe and to protect those taking out a mortgage in the future we need to see all member states pushing banks to act responsibly and provide clear understandable and correct information.
the implementation of the mortgage credit directive will ensure a more transparent efficient and competitive internal market that should provide a high level of consumer protection in the future.
as chair of this committee i fully understand and regret to hear of the difficulties faced by petitioners.
most petitions concern the situation in spain but the same problems are also known in other member states.
the committee on petitions is the bridge between eu citizens and eu institutions and as its chair i strive for the eu to better take advantage of citizens' direct experiences of eu law and also the experiences of national implementation
because these experiences can help us as legislators to further improve future legislation.