kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
we call for an immediate review of cambodia's obligations and for the withdrawal of trade preferences and financial support in response to the recent events as well as the structural human rights violations.
the eu should attach consequences to these serious developments. respect for fundamental human rights is a prerequisite to continuing to grant the benefits from the eu's preferential everything but arms' trade scheme and eur four hundred and ten million is foreseen to go to cambodia
madam president commissioner colleagues we have addressed human rights violations in cambodia repeatedly and the dissolving of the national rescue party as well as the barring of one hundred and eighteen of its politicians from political activity for five years is another reason for deep concern.
there is now effectively no alternative to the government and when politicians are silenced despite their immunity the situation of civil society and human rights defenders is even worse.
individual sanctions including asset freezing and visa bans should also be part of the consideration of which consequences are needed and appropriate.
over the next couple of years.
in the event of a failure to guarantee political and social rights in the country further steps in the form of sanctions might be taken by the european union such as an introduction of a list of individuals responsible for the dissolution of the opposition and other serious human rights violations in cambodia with a view to imposing possible visa restrictions and asset freezes on them.
we must resort to action.
i certainly welcome the european union's decision to suspend all electoral assistance but that is not sufficient.
independent media outlets have already been reduced to silence and critical ngos have been under attack.
china has recently increased its aid and investment in the country without human rights strings attached.
to reverse this trend the eu should use all its means to put pressure on the cambodian government to restore the democratic principles from its constitution.
indirectly many thousands more will lose their jobs.
we want all procurement rules to drive up standards and encourage sustainable inclusive growth.
i have asked the commission to confirm that eu rules did not oblige the uk government to make the choice that it did and they have failed to reply to me although the deadline for response was over two weeks ago.
in my constituency of the east midlands the uk government has recently chosen to award a major train building contract to the lowest cost supplier using the procurement rules to justify this.
to achieve that the lowest cost only option needs to be the exception to the rule and social economic and environmental criteria must become the norm.
the commission must do more to make public authorities aware of the full extent of what they can do under eu legislation.
the commission is failing to make sure that public authorities make full use of this legislation.
this partnership will help people with disabilities to break out of their previous confinement to blue collar jobs and to realise their full potential through the provision of technology courses aligned with industry and industry's hiring needs.
it is of course very important that we treat all people equally. unfortunately people with disabilities have suffered more than most as a result of the economic recession especially in terms of employment opportunities. hopefully that can be addressed as we come out of recession. in relation to facilities i think we should be utilising particularly the structural funds to ensure that facilities are up to the required standard so that everybody can have access to buildings etc. thirdly i would like to highlight the role that sport is playing in helping people with disabilities
providers can extend the outlets where e payments can be made for example the customer paying for his metro ticket with e money could also purchase a coffee a newspaper or a bunch of flowers at the station kiosk as is already and very successfully the case in hong kong for example.
none of us achieved all we would have wished but i believe we will have made a significant step forward and i would very much welcome parliament's support for this project.
two thousand and one probably this was because of the high initial capital requirement and other over cautious restrictions.
new and smaller operators will have an opportunity to enter the market as the amount of initial capital needed will be reduced from eur one million to eur.
sadly this prediction was both over optimistic and premature for europe at least.
the number of e money institutions differs remarkably from one member state to another.
but unlike account based payment instruments such as credit and debit cards it works as a pre paid bearer instrument. it is used to cover payments usually of relatively small amounts to undertakings other than the user thus differentiating it from single purpose pre paid cards like telephone cards.
so clearly e money has a long way to go to become a serious alternative to cash.
it was all of eight years ago that a benjamin cohen in his article electronic money new day or false dawn?
twelve in fact two german emis were even constrained to move to the uk jurisdiction because of major differences in regulation even under this directive. in august two thousand and seven two years ago outstanding electronic money was only eur one billion and that compares with eur six hundred
e money is no different from other forms of money in that it stores monetary value and provides a convenient means of exchange.
however it is growing significantly despite the restrictions and this new directive should enable new innovative and secure electronic money services to operate to provide market access possibilities for new players and to foster real and effective competition between market participants.
there is no need of a bank account in order to use e money so it is particularly relevant to those in society who do not or cannot have bank accounts.
billion of cash in circulation.
' stated that the era of electronic money will soon be upon us.
we have been rushed through the legislative process for a first reading agreement in order to get this measure enacted before the european elections.
electronic money is still far from delivering in europe the full benefits which were expected when the first e money directive was adopted in.
credit cannot be created upon them. we have opened the door for e money only a bit wider.
we in europe can at last take up all the opportunities which e money offers.
the more doubtful regulators banks mrs bers and even the european central bank will have become reconciled that this is a beneficial user friendly service which holds no risks to the european economy.
all in all this is a very cautious step forward. it is not perfect.
the basic capital requirement is reduced to eur;
four it is not ideal that we still have the prospect of such an uneven playing field in the european union especially when we have insisted that e money users' funds will be fully safeguarded and there are also other important user friendly protections for example in redemption as mrs bers mentioned.
the three hundred was enough to stop the dumping.
forty this means that the extra two hundred and sixty does not really matter just as maybe the extra two hundred and fifty years of life in prison in the us might not matter that much.
if a trade partner behaves in a way that is unfair then the wronged party must be able to take appropriate action.
as some of us will remember from two years ago the european steel association eurofer was crystal clear that china was systematically dumping steel.
however the point is not what they would or wouldn't have done the point is that outside the eu the then british government could have imposed the necessary tariffs.
in this context as in so many others the eu is not fit for purpose.
however by the time the commission finally got an agreement and imposed anti dumping duties it was too little too late the eu put on only a forty tariff.
by comparison the united states had previously and quickly and almost in time put on a three hundred tariff i. e. one that really worked.
the fact is that the european union is just too large too awkward too clumsy too divided too inept to be able to make proper and timely decisions on trade defence instruments.
but there's a problem.
anti dumping duties imposed by the eu have to be agreed by every member state.
almost always the unfair practice takes the form of exporting below the cost of production in one word dumping'.
it should be noted that we are talking about international rules not eu rules.
you are elected to represent them not the eu.
we fought for our freedom so that we can take care of our own industries and our own people.
five thousand jobs were lost in the steel industry last year alone.
as a result thousands of welsh people from communities that have been built on steel were thrown into the dust heap of unemployment due to unsympathetic policies in brussels made by unelected and unaccountable commissioners.
yet as the crisis deepened neither the welsh assembly to which i am also elected nor the uk government could do anything substantial enough to save a single job.
we were met with disinterest when we begged brussels for help too absorbed with bigger markets in other member states and more interested in satisfying greedy lobbyists.
nations have unique economic landscapes and needs.
i wish that i and my fellow welsh politicians could have done more to save thousands of innocent workers whose livelihoods were destroyed.
we were blocked from setting our own tariffs to protect against the dumping of cheap steel.
even more disgracefully the uk government was banned under eu regulation from providing any state aid to welsh steel as a reprieve while a long term solution could be found.
campaign for a mechanism to exempt your countries from poisonous eu legislation when your people are faced with hardship. this is your duty.
but what a contrast to the attitude of our tory government.
they continue to drag their feet on granting workers and industries the protection that they need against dumping in the eu and through weak proposals on post brexit trade remedies.
here for the first time ever in trade defence rules social and environmental criteria will also now be assessed recognising the effect of unfair trade practices on workers and the environment.
we have a much more progressive alternative before us but this is just one part of the eu's endeavour to strengthen its trade defences and we now need a deal to modernise those vital trade defence instruments overall if we are really to save our european steel.
i want to congratulate all colleagues involved in the negotiations in this file and the progress of parliament made is obvious if you compare the council's initial approach with the final document we have before us.
a good job well done but it is only halfway there; i could have gone for dinner early but i agree entirely with my colleague ms maria arena this file has to be complimented by the completion of the trade defence instruments tdi file. the commissioner will recall that in the trilogue negotiations on this file both the council and the commission more importantly here the council made promises that in advance of the vote that we are going to have this week they would make a breakthrough in the tdi file.
it is very important that we do make progress in that file because as i said this is only half the job and without tdi reform we will not have all the tools and armoury we need to defend european industry against unfair competition.
as you know we have serious distortions in the key raw materials around the world natural gas minerals rare metals and others while some adjustments that the european commission has used in the past to reject the distorted cost of raw materials and to replace them with the market values when calculating this normal value
with these new rules we will ensure that the commission has a way to address such distortions and i am very happy that we have this good compromise and i would like to congratulate mr cicu for a job well done.
there has been a lot of effort and a constructive approach to the commission proposal.
it will ensure that european industries remain well equipped to deal with the unfair competition they may face from dumped and subsidised imports in the future without as the rapporteur said placing an additional burden on them.
i have repeatedly stressed the importance of free but fair trade and this agreement endorses that view.
we must be able to tackle distortions in exporting countries that affect free market principles distortions that result in prices and costs which are not in line with reality. the new anti dumping methodology will be country neutral and it will deal head on with the many distortions that we know exist in a number of exporting economies.
it will also be the first time that our legislation will acknowledge the significance of social and environmental standards in the trade defence field. this is an important development and the efforts made by the legislature in striking the right balance here can only be praised.
this is a general task that requires broader updates to the eu's rules and methods.
i therefore also welcome the fact that the eu will be the first international protagonist to take into account labour and environmental standards when looking at systematic trade distortions.
as we update our trade tools we have no time to lose to modernise them because the world is not waiting for us to finish our work.
it has been a very useful debate and it has shown a very broad support for this new piece of legislation a legislation that will protect our industry from unfair practices from unfair trade especially when it comes from market distortion.
with this we go away from our old system of dividing countries into non market and market economies.
the new methodology will look at all countries to see if there are distortions.
this is not and i would like to repeat that this is not about giving market economy status to china.
the anti dumping methodology is to capture market distortion;
it is linked to intervention in third countries or in sectors of the country.
it will ensure a smooth transition to the new methodology for the measures already in place the grandfather with a clear time frame and we strengthen our anti dumping instrument to increase our ability to capture the full magnitude of subsidisation by making it possible to address subsidies identified in the course of the investigation.
also as you have mentioned it is taking into account social and environmental standards in a trade defence context for the first time.
the draft reports for a country or for a sector where we find distortions will be made public there are no secret reports.
this is a trade defence instrument that is efficient and where we comply with international obligations. trade is good;
it leads to a lot of advantages growth investment jobs.
but trade has to be fair and we have to have a fair level playing field and with this we will assure that we can contribute to this.
the trade defence instrument is also an important piece of legislation.
we are closer to each other than has been insinuated here and i am sure that together with the council the commission and parliament we will do our utmost to get an agreement here before christmas.
this would undermine the clarity and the coherence of the commission's proposal. the commission is also against the idea of adding more headline targets to the five already agreed at political level.
i can assure you that the commission will be keen to involve parliament as closely as possible in the implementation of the strategy in the coming years.
the debate has also shown that priorities have to be made and compromises have to be struck.
on the need to put these new employment guidelines into the context of the crisis.
as i have stressed on several occasions it is of vital importance for the commission to have all the main eu institutions on board and in particular the european parliament in order to establish the necessary political ownership of the new europe two thousand and twenty strategy and to ensure that europe two thousand and twenty becomes a success.
for the commission the fundamental principle in designing the new strategy has been to limit the number of targets and objectives in order to better focus the new strategy.
it is here.
for example the implication is not that women also would have a seventy five average.
the commission appreciates the importance of maintaining jobs in declining industries.
learned. we have to pull together and that also means closer macro economic coordination. the point is to take into account unemployment which is one of the great imbalances of the economy when we try to tackle the overall imbalances under the new structures of economic governance. the european social fund will continue to be a major instrument to boost employment especially to improve the quality of supply to help unemployed
economic discussions in the discussion on exit strategies for example and we have to make sure that a premature exit from supportive measures would not endanger the recovery and a return to job creation in
the fact that now we have a better trend at the centre of the european economy highlights the importance of cohesion. i would be the last one to deny the importance of cohesion policy but would like to say that if i needed to connect cohesion with the integrated guidelines then i would have preferred to put it into the economic guidelines as opposed to the employment guidelines because
some further issues with the employment guidelines we intend to boost both the quantity and the quality of jobs.
we have extended the possibility of government subsidies to the coal industry for the next few years but not endlessly. we have to prepare for change and we have to prioritise the shift towards green jobs in the future.
it is not coming.
a key discussion for the present and the future of the european union.
please do not tell me that this is to protect workers from exploitation when the eu's puppet court the ecj has ruled in favour of companies exploiting groups of workers by paying them less than a minimum wage in no less than four countries.
are you aware that more than a fifth of newly qualified junior doctors in the uk are turned down because the wtd means they lack experience and that more are dropping out of training for the same reason?
we have compromised and broadly agreed on five priorities to improve the commission text better governance good work and equal pay for equal work sub targets for vulnerable groups gender equality and cohesion policy.
all our hard work will have been in vain though if the council decides to simply disregard it. they can if they choose to.
mr chastel i would like to ask you whether you will do your very best for our priorities.
also i would like to know whether it is true that our priorities stand a better chance of being adopted in the recitals as mrs milquet has indicated.
this is vital to know for our vote tomorrow. of my colleagues i want to ask that we all stick to our compromises.
we are no match for council if we stand divided.
the greens will certainly stand by our commitment and we count on all of you to do the same.
investing in a highly skilled labour force will go hand in hand with innovation.
of course there will be jobs that are not sufficiently rewarded by the markets and we must have policy instruments to cope with this.
fourthly there is a need to activate both labour demand and supply policy measures.
there are plenty of employment policy instruments available but they must be put together in a good and comprehensive policy framework.
as a strong believer in cohesion policy and structural funds i particularly welcome the comments about how crucial these funds are in helping people back to work.
in south wales for example i have seen the european social fund going to provide schemes for skills training and many other schemes to help people back into work.
of course when i say social partners i mean trade unions but i also mean local authorities and regional government as well.
these are big deliverers of services but they are also big employers and therefore should be included in any social dialogue on employment policies.
the eu and its member states have been contributing for several years to tackling the development and the security problems in individual sahel countries but threats to security transcend national borders and the only possible the only effective response is a regional and comprehensive one.
the security situation in the sahel is alarming organised crime networks weak state presence in the desert zones and low capacity of security sectors in addition to widespread poverty drought and food shortages.
i believe that in order to respond to the complexity of the challenges of the sahel we have to act at various different levels.
fourthly in order to prevent and fight against extremism and radicalisation we need to support states and legitimate non state actors in designing and implementing strategies and activities with the aim of fighting islamic radicalisation and promoting democratic tolerant and non violent
our endeavour will be to use in a coherent manner the short term and long term instruments that we have in order to implement the different components of this strategy.
i am working very closely with commissioner piebalgs whose involvement in the preparation of the security and development strategy is essential to ensure the necessary resources for its implementation.
that is necessary to ensure that we facilitate dialogue between the sahel countries which continue to harbour mutual distrust. we should build on the national strategies that we have where they exist and encourage the setting up of regional initiatives and tools to jointly address security threats.
firstly we need a political and diplomatic dimension.
member states' engagement to build into the strategy will of course be part of this.
i am convinced that if we set up this new comprehensive and holistic strategy continuing the political diplomatic and operational development strands of our engagement in the sahel we will give a new impetus to tackling the multiple threats and challenges that this region faces.
visions for society.
they must be able to effectively re establish the rule of law and security and redeploy state authority in the most sensitive regions.
this strategy was to be based on a holistic and integrated approach making use of the various instruments at our disposal in a coherent way so we can foster security stability development and good governance in sahel.
these threats pose a serious challenge to development work and prospects as it has become too risky for those engaged in development to continue their operations in this environment.
we need to make the ongoing european engagement in the sahel more coherent more coordinated and more effective.
mr president i will be quite brief because honourable members have been very helpful in offering not only support for the breadth of the approach that we will be taking but also raising particular issues.
one of the things we need to look at is how to balance our own actions against supporting actions from those most concerned.
i am always very conscious of looking at ways in which we intervene through our support and through the instruments at our disposal to back up and support initiatives on the ground home grown initiatives as being often but not always the best way forward.
we need to think about this approach in a very comprehensive way.
we will continue to work on this.
it is now really important that we move forward into a strategy that really does consider the short medium and long term but also the breadth of the way in which we can engage as a european union as a parliament as a commission and as a series of member states able to pack this up into one seriously thought through strategy for the future.
they have an enormous value.