kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
because even if all of the measures that were voted for on sunday night are implemented and given greece's record that is probably unlikely then by two thousand and twenty after eight more years of grinding austerity greece would still be in a worse position than italy is today.
none of the mps in greece who voted for it on sunday night seem to believe this none of the international commentators or economists believe it;
how do you eliminate such a deficit?
i was amazed that neither the commission nor the council mentioned anything about greece in their opening statements as if it has suddenly disappeared off the map.
all of the energy currently being devoted to drafting and ratifying a new treaty that is completely irrelevant to the ongoing crisis would be better employed drafting and implementing a plan for the orderly withdrawal of greece from the euro including carefully prepared support for the banks that will be most affected.
the violence and destruction that you saw on sunday is being caused directly because people are having their democratic rights taken from them;
if they do not get the drachma back you will be responsible for something truly truly horrible.
has he seen the fact that the economy far from stalling has contracted for five years in a row and is now accelerating on a downward debt spiral a contraction of seven per annum?
in the puppet's efforts to get the mps to vote for the bail out package he warned them that if they did not do so there would be a dramatic decline in living standards.
i would be out there trying to bring down this monstrosity that has been put upon those people.
he said violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country'.
what is the difference between the situation and the plan the troika offered and disorderly default?
as. ninety five eur five hundred million of eu funding is being reprogrammed so it can be used to guarantee financing provided to
greece. i hope that we will have a positive result next monday when the eurogroup and the ecofin ministers
why? because this measure is essential to fight unemployment and restore competitiveness to the greek economy.
this might not seem particularly optimistic especially for the twelve member states concerned but it underlines the rapid and effective improvements that have already been made to the way in which public finances are managed in europe.
on the basis of this the commission will put forward country specific proposals for the discussion in may and adoption at the june european council.
we have already set up action teams that will visit the eight member states with the highest youth unemployment rates and they will examine together with national authorities and social partners what we can do better how we can make better use of eu and national funds and how we can focus
while no one is brave enough yet to suggest that we have turned the corner that the worst might be over and that we might finally be back on the road to growth i think it is fair to say that we now at least have far greater control over our future.
we need to strengthen the european banking system and to build credible firewalls for the euro area and we need stability and discipline to prevent a repeat of recent events but unless we can also get our economy growing and creating jobs we will only have a partial solution and we will not win the support of our citizens.
it represented agreement among europe's leaders to concentrate on a few immediate priorities with substantial potential for growth and employment first and foremost for our young people and for our smes to help them to grow and to create jobs again. this message was already at the core of our two thousand and twelve annual growth survey adopted by the commission last november
as you know our survey is a contribution to the spring european council and we will call upon the european council to give very strong backing to the priorities we have identified.
that is why the informal european council was such an important stepping stone for the spring european council.
we need a balanced approach covering growth and jobs and the improvement of fiscal consolidations and public finances but what we need even more is implementation and respect for the commitments which we have already undertaken.
getting young people on to the labour market is an essential element of our efforts to ensure future growth.
we cannot accept the fact that we have.
for the first time this year the semester will take place within our strengthened system of economic governance based on the six pack legislation that the european parliament played such an important role in developing.
but these actions must be part of the wider reform of labour market policies aimed at getting more europeans on to the labour market and increasing their employment opportunities.
the new measures that have been proposed by the commission and agreed by this house now i am talking about the six pack and other measures are giving much more visibility to the european semester and are allowing us to take action far earlier than before and to avoid the kind of fire fighting that has dominated our discussions until now.
we need therefore a holistic approach and not one of an accountant.
regarding innovation and following up on the orientations set by the european council the danish presidency will prepare reports setting out progress achieved in this field.
i hope that a decision can be taken to give serbia status as a candidate country but that will of course also require that serbia has done what is necessary to live up to the criteria formulated in december.
the european council is expected to underline its strong commitment to an ambitious outcome of the un conference to be held in rio de janeiro in june of this year and stress the need for strong participation from the private sector and civil society.
let me recall that a number of orientations have already been set out at the informal european council on thirty january regarding stimulating employment especially for young people completing the single market and boosting the financing of the economy in particular of the smes. those measures requiring actions at the national level are to be duly reflected in member states' national reform programmes.
has reached an agreement on inclusive regional cooperation and has actively cooperated to enable eulex and kfor to execute their mandates.
the difficulty is of course that they will take place in june and the march european council should therefore take stock of preparation and signal those issues of particular importance.
the european council will seek to address the current economic crisis notably by providing guidance on member states' economic and employment policies putting particular emphasis on accelerating structural reforms to increase competitiveness and create more jobs and on fully exploiting the potential of green growth.
on the second issue on the agenda international summits the forthcoming g eight g twenty and rio twenty meetings will address issues important to the eu.
the eu position at the meeting will be thoroughly prepared in the coming months in the relevant council formations in order to ensure a strong and coordinated eu position.
strengthening the financial system and fostering financial inclusion to promote economic growth;
this is an important priority for the danish presidency and we will work in all relevant council formations to ensure strict implementation of the new rules in order to ensure their credibility but also to provide opportunity for anchoring this process at the level of heads of state and government.
enhancing food security and addressing commodity price volatility; promoting sustainable development green growth and the fight against climate change.
it will call on member states to give priority to the areas identified in the commission's ags and in the council discussion on the european semester and to reflect this in the nrps and scps.
we expect the march european council to assess the economic situation and express the eu's determination to continue to take all necessary measures.
as you are aware the european council on nine december two thousand and eleven noted that considerable progress has been made by serbia towards fulfilling the political criteria.
regarding guidance to member states on their national reform programmes and stability and convergence programmes the european council will discuss the implementation of the two thousand and eleven european semester country specific recommendations and commitments under the euro plus pact.
as regards measures to be taken at eu level the council will report back on the implementation in june.
in accordance with the conclusions of the european council in december two thousand and eleven the european council will also take up the issue of status as candidate country for serbia.
will be no exception.
improving the international financial architecture in an interconnected world;
the european council will conclude the first phase of the european semester on the basis of the commission's annual growth survey and the discussions held in the different formations of the council.
the mexican presidency will organise preparatory ministerial meetings on foreign affairs tourism agriculture and labour.
on the g twenty and the g eight the mexican presidency has identified the following priorities for the summit economic stabilisation and structural reforms as foundations for growth and employment;
on that basis we expect the european council to stress the areas where more progress is required to unlock innovation potential for instance a single innovation indicator.
the un rio twenty conference at this conference it is an important priority for the danish presidency that we should promote a strengthened global institutional framework for sustainable development and advance work on global and coherent post two thousand and fifteen goals for sustainable development.
because of the crisis we need more than ever to make full use of our new tools the european semester and the six pack.
the european council will also call on the member states taking part in the euro plus pact to update their commitments and to make them more precise time limited operational and measureable.
in the light of its examination the general affairs council will take the decision on candidate status on twenty eight february to be confirmed by the march european council.
in this context the european council will identify the main challenges facing the eu and give strategic advice and guidance to member states on the different policies.
with a view to granting serbia the status of candidate country the european council tasked the general affairs council to examine and confirm that serbia has continued to show credible commitment and has achieved further progress in moving forward with the implementation in good faith of agreement reached in the dialogue including on ibm
if the parties to this agreement wish it to be enforceable it will have to become a treaty agreed by all member states.
when the british prime minister vetoed the proposed treaty in december he did so to protect his friends in the city.
whilst member states can under article two hundred and seventy three of the treaty on the functioning of the european union bring an alleged breach of a private agreement to the court of justice there is no provision in the treaties for the court to enforce agreements on excessive budget deficits despite claims to the contrary and it might not even be able to adjudicate on them.
mr cameron saying that he does not object to the european court or the european commission being used is simply not enough for it to become a treaty.
mr president the fiscal compact which heads of government will soon be asked to sign is a private agreement open to all eu states but does not have to be agreed by all states.
i welcome mr daul's comments about the need to reduce youth unemployment. mr daul do you agree with me that a good way of doing this would be to repeal the working time directive?
this is good news for confidence in the eu meat market and it is a good job all round.
in this speech which is probably my last speech in this mandate it is worth remarking to colleagues that this is what i call a classic european parliament european dossier. it is technical it is complex it is a little bit distant from our citizens but it is worth remembering that animal welfare is of crucial importance to our citizens and fairness is of crucial importance to our producers to our consumers and to our market.
on religious slaughter i think the commissioner is absolutely right. i do not think we need to regulate that in this package so this is good news for consumers.
on the issue of religious slaughter i would like to stress that the commission fully shares the attachment of the european parliament to freedom of religion and to underline that the commission's intention is to maintain the status quo on this sensitive matter.
in slaughterhouses official inspectors perform food safety controls mainly on carcasses. they have little time and limited competences to assess animal welfare parameters.
proper monitoring and reporting on animal welfare should therefore be required in cases of mass culling. i would very much welcome your support of the commission proposal.
i would now like to say a few words on the practice of backyard slaughter.
the commission also believes that certificates of competence required for the personnel in slaughterhouses should be issued following an independent examination.
national reference centres would meet the need for technical and scientific information on the welfare of animals at slaughter and the commission considers that this requirement should be maintained in the proposal.
it has worked well for the past fifteen years and should continue to work well in the future.
where this has been properly implemented it has provided good results.
animals are also killed in huge numbers outside slaughterhouses in order to control the spread of disease. it is true that requirements already exist for animal health purposes but today's requirements do not relate to animal welfare.
therefore the commission believes that prior stunning should always be performed when pigs or lambs are slaughtered outside slaughterhouses. another point of the proposal is related to the establishment of a national centre of reference.
it is clear that there are many different practices regarding religious slaughter across the member states of the union.
the preservation of these traditions is important to the commission but there is no need to derogate from the stunning of animals thereby undermining the welfare of the animals.
the commission suggests that subsidiarity should be maintained in this area.
accepted the general approach of the proposal which is to ensure the animal welfare legislation applicable to slaughterhouses is in line with the hygiene package which was adopted back in.
in this respect we can accept in principle subject to rewording amendments that reflect the approach of the current legislation which preserves the right of freedom of religion while allowing member states to adopt or maintain stricter rules.
people consider that mass culling for disease control purposes should be performed in the most humane way possible.
this system has been developed in other areas of animal welfare both in the public and the private sector.
these days stunning equipment is complex and difficult to evaluate in relation to their welfare efficiency.
furthermore previous experience in these emergency situations has shown that it is crucial to collect information on good practices and on mistakes that might have occurred.
the treaty clearly states the need to take into account practices related to religion in the formulation of community policy.
in this regard i would note that there seems to be agreement in council along these lines.
mr president today's debate on the wojciechowski report reflects the concerns of parliament the commission and indeed of the public over the welfare of animals at the time of slaughter. the commission proposal introduces important innovations which i hope you can support. today eu legislation requires that operators from third countries exporting to the eu
in addition meat import certificates must confirm that eu standards have been respected in the exporting establishments.
with the adoption of this report we are sending the right signals to the public that we are addressing their concerns while at the same time we are setting modern standards for global welfare practices at the time of slaughter of animals.
i believe that animal welfare standards in europe are absolutely paramount to the fact that we produce high quality meat. we want to make sure that it is slaughtered carefully and to high standards both for hygiene and for animal welfare. i do actually welcome the idea of mobile slaughterhouses because i think this will be extremely good.
i also think we have to be careful because many small slaughterhouses in europe have been closed down in the past and in my own member state that has happened so we want to make sure we have got proper regulation but not too much regulation that will actually close them down.
i believe that animals are born into this world and we as man decide exactly how they are going to be slaughtered. i think the commission must make up its mind. either you accept religious slaughter and the fact that the animals are not stunned so those animals in other countries which we want to be killed at christmas can have the same process or you actually stand up for what i believe to be right and that is that we as man decide how an animal is to be slaughtered and that animals should be stunned before slaughter.
in some member states there is pre stunning and post stunning of animals under both halal slaughter and under jewish slaughter.
i wonder why it cannot happen in the whole of europe because we have to be absolutely certain that we treat all animals the same.
while i accept subsidiarity i also want to see the commission put pressure on member states to make sure that we have proper slaughtering and stunning in the future.
also when it comes to labelling i see no problem. why should we not label animals as to how they have been slaughtered?
it? so let us have proper labelling so people know exactly what they are buying in the future because it is very important for european agriculture to have very high standards.
therefore i fail to see why in the name of religion we should tolerate anachronistic unhygienic and even sadistic killings of animals sometimes done in pompous ceremonial circumstances carried out in front of both adults and children.
i therefore believe that animals should only be killed under the controlled circumstances of an authorised and inspectable slaughterhouse and no animal should be slaughtered without prior stunning.
there is still more that can and should be done. we must use the european semester to the full to enable europe to put the crisis behind us.
effective dialogue is key to a shared understanding of the challenges enhanced ownership of the recommendations and through that better implementation.
in recent years we have seen a steady increase in the number of employment and social recommendations in the semester framework.
it endorsed the presidency synthesis report on lessons learnt from two thousand and thirteen and the recommendations for two thousand and fourteen and future european semester cycles.
at european level the semester should be further geared towards implementation of the recommendations.
this could be achieved through better dialogue improving the quality of the recommendations and improving the monitoring by the council of implementation at national level.
before closing i would like to commend you for your impressive report on the two thousand and thirteen semester. i was glad to know that we largely agreed on the key issues.
i would like to take this opportunity to present the key elements of this report.
there has also been more focus on the single market starting with the annual report on the single market that the commission presented together with the annual growth survey for the first time last year.
member states took a more active interest in the situation and in the recommendations of the other member states.
i also agree with your approach to competitiveness which calls for simultaneous action on industrial policy financing of the economy innovation energy education and other fronts.
it is very timely given that we are about to embark on the next european semester cycle in a few weeks' time when the commission publishes the annual growth survey.
at the same time it is important that country specific recommendations remain focused on the main objectives of growth and jobs.
i would like to refer specifically to our effort under the competitiveness council on the framework conditions for a competitive european industry. the european semester is a tool to facilitate the necessary reforms at national level.
there is scope for improving the national ownership and implementation rate of country specific recommendations.
we have a european parliament that debates energy efficiency yet only last month told meps that they would be switching off tvs when we are not here in this building.
before the eu lectures member states about their budgetary situations perhaps we should put our own house in order.
we took tough decisions we capped benefits and we cut the deficit by a third.
yet so many politicians have ignored this very simple rule.
in my constituency of london i support a couple of financial education projects such as pfeg and mybank.
but the first lesson of financial education is that you should not spend more money than you have coming in.
really it is politician speak for what my parents used to call simply living within your means.
we need to relearn these lessons if we are going to fix our economies.
we have a european commission which tells countries how to manage their budgets yet we have not seen the eu accounts signed off for eighteen years.
secondly while we in the past few years have taken a quantum leap in reinforcing economic governance there is still much room for further progress.
likewise a key priority is maintaining the momentum for the completion of the banking union as we discussed in the previous debate on the european council this week.
the situation has been contained and stabilised.
several member states and also third countries the action plan would provide an instrument to steer the measures and monitor achievement of the objectives set out by the bulgarian authorities so as to avoid structural problems in the functioning of the dublin system.
it is in many ways a mechanism of solidarity.
activation of the mechanism would recognise the existence of particular pressure in a given country.
it is unlikely that the pressure on our external borders including in bulgaria will cease in the near future.
the use of article thirty three would send a strong signal that bulgaria is not alone and that the commission and the member states are committed to supporting this particular member state in order to overcome the crisis.
the early warning preparedness and crisis management machinery provided for in article thirty three is not meant to put any blame on a given country and this house as co legislator knows that very well.
the action plan would also ensure a long term strategy for the problems in bulgaria's asylum system including the development of integration measures for those who will stay in bulgaria and it should help to prevent further crises in the future.
and integration of those people in need of international protection who have been granted the right to stay in bulgaria. given the severity and the urgency of the situation developing the vulnerability of the people in need of international protection and the potential impact of this situation on the proper functioning of the dublin regulation it is clear that the situation in bulgaria is very serious and requires urgent action.
we know that there are many areas of distress in our neighbourhood.