kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
they clearly show that we need urgent action.
these are not the numbers of a gender equal europe nor does it reflect the talent available.
progress regarding female representation on corporate boards and business leadership positions remains very slow and uneven across the eu.
i'm equally grateful for the support you are showing these days on moving the commission's proposal for the directive on gender balance on corporate boards of listed companies forward.
on the contrary it is a tool bringing concrete benefits to european and national economies.
the commission has been engaged in discussions with opponents and supporters of the initiative.
what the proposal does instead is to require the establishment of transparent procedures for the selection of board positions in the largest eu listed companies to address the gender imbalance.
it is also a priority.
with this approach which places qualification and merit upfront it is hard to understand why we are not managing to adopt this directive. i regret to say that after eight years
we still are waiting for a general approach in council.
the commission has also just adopted new measures to reinforce gender equality at all levels of management within the commission.
the commission is striving to lead by example.
some voices try to depict this proposal as a burden on companies.
i must be clear again on this point.
despite their capabilities and educational achievements women continue to struggle against long held and systemic entry barriers into corporate boards and leadership positions.
it would send a strong clear message to the eu citizens and beyond the european economy makes the best use of all its talent.
one major obstacle is the lack of transparency in the selection process and qualification criteria and this is what the commission's proposal aims to address.
the objective to unblock the negotiations is one of my core tasks.
for the first time in its history we are closest to a gender balanced college.
it is also a priority action in the gender equality strategy for two thousand and twenty twenty five which we adopted earlier this year.
such an approach places qualification and merit of candidates as the main criterion for board membership.
at the same time this commission has put equality high on the political agenda.
evidence shows that a broad range of talents and skills in the boardroom contributes to better decisions better corporate governance and public trust in business.
experience shows that it is not.
our message is clear the adoption of the directive would represent a major step forward in our fight for gender equality in europe.
the commission is not imposing binding gender quotas.
i count on your continued support on this file and to make europe a continent where women have the same opportunities as men to reach their full potential.
the figures from the gender equality index of the european institute for gender equality are of concern.
i am grateful for your continued strong support to our fight for gender equality non discrimination and inclusion for all eu citizens.
it is only with resolute as the president of the council has said bold and swift action that we can turn things around before the situation aggravates further. our youth employment support yes as we call it package adopted in july provides a first step for such a resolute action.
and paying young people who are at work even in the context of a traineeship should be part of the social responsibility of companies.
the european parliament and its members have a crucial role to play in the next chapter of our reinforced youth guarantee.
vocational education be it at the very start of a career or along the career is not only the best transition between education and the labour market but it is also a truly effective way for re and upskilling.
seven four in the eu which shows that the young are much more sensitive to the recession and that they are the first victims of this crisis.
i know the call to review the quality framework for traineeships concerning the obligation for remuneration of traineeships.
you can raise the bar in terms of our joint ambition for implementing the reinforced youth guarantee and improving it further in the years to come.
i share your analysis;
but we need to maximize synergies between the youth guarantee the european social fund plus react eu and the recovery and resilience facility as well as the many other relevant eu funds and instruments now available to the member states.
and when i say quality jobs i mean not these precarious jobs that do not allow young people to plan their lives to found a family and to afford decent housing.
our ambition must be and that has been clearly expressed by the commission that we invest at least twenty two billion on youth employment and i also call on the member states to support this ambition.
this is why i welcome parliament's resolution on the youth guarantee.
and by the way i think a lot of companies have this social responsibility. finally let me be clear about the monitoring.
it is certainly a common priority for the commission and i'm sure also as i heard now it is a priority for the member states as it contributes to achieving the union's objective of sustainable and inclusive growth and social and economic resilience.
moreover we propose the council recommendation on vocational education and training to modernise and reform those systems and under the german presidency we had a very fruitful meeting in osnabrck really to promote vocational training.
supporting the quantitative monitoring of youth guarantee schemes based on the established indicative framework is crucial and remains a priority.
therefore i welcome what the president has just said that the german presidency is about to adopt the proposal of our strengthened youth guarantee.
in closing let me reiterate our appreciation for the work of the european parliament and its continued efforts to contribute to our common efforts to make the recovery just and fair for all including also the young.
we need to create and save jobs and i insist quality jobs which also answers your question and the recovery has to be focused on the creation of quality jobs and that's the meaning of the next generation eu.
i share your description and i share also your concerns and what the president of the council has just said about our concern we have to prevent a new lost generation.
and i think we can pool a lot of funding a lot of resources for the fight against youth employment and especially by creating jobs and i think this is also one of your major concerns.
too many young people precisely those in precarious jobs were the first to be fired to lose their jobs to lose their income and i think that we have to draw the right lessons from that.
first and foremost the commission counts on the european parliament for ensuring adequate levels of eu funding supporting the success story that is the youth guarantee.
but as a response to your first question certainly the commission is never happy if the funding is reduced.
we have to rely on member states but we also have to rely on the european parliament.
before i close allow me one word on vocational education and training.
i have some doubt if this is legally possible but i'm sure that in the years to come we can further develop a joint understanding and also a civil society and social partners would be able to contribute to such an understanding too.
you can fuel the national debates like no other institution.
the commission has renewed the european alliance for apprenticeships to ensure a sustained offer of apprenticeships and to align it with the twin digital and green transitions.
we're going to spend more money than ever and the more money we spend the better the control of it needs to
how should it
mr roth let's start negotiations on this without any further delays.
it should not be watered down.
it should not be political.
it should be objective.
it should treat all countries fairly and it should treat all member states equally.
it should be effective.
be. now is the time to invent a clear rule of law mechanism linked to european funds.
be? it should be clear.
but it is clear that monitoring alone will not bring back judicial independence in poland nor will it save the index media in hungary.
for instance in poland the commission still hasn't come up with a request to impose fines despite the fact that the polish government is disrespecting the ruling of the european court of justice and we can continue on and on.
we know that eu money has demonstrably fuelled the rise of authoritarian and corrupt politics in our member states and this cannot continue.
we know that there will be pushback and we know that some member states might reject it outright seeing as they are willing to hold the entire continent hostage to rule of law conditionality but there is a piece of good news as well.
the proposal that we put before the plenary should put the eu in a position to do much more. what we need is a permanent legally binding mechanism that first of all streamlines and makes more effective the rule of law instruments that we have;
is the very future identity of the eu as a democratic peace project.
for people of my generation membership of the european union basically meant a guarantee of life in freedom and democracy.
the eu was meant to be a place where you don't get thrown out of your job for disagreeing with those in power which is what happened to other members of my family.
the eu was meant to be a place where you don't get imprisoned if you speak out freely which is what the communist regime did to my grandfather who was a dissident intellectual.
but the problem is that this image of the eu the image of my youth the image of the eu as a guardian of democracy is now being shattered and instead it has developed a very high tolerance an unacceptably high tolerance for authoritarian politics.
we have another member state poland in which judges can be prosecuted for a verdict against the interests of the ruling party; and in many other member states we have thousands on the street protesting against years of corruption and state capture all of which begs the question where has the eu been while national governments have undermined democratic institutions or plundered public resources?
but the problem is that it will continue if the proposal of the german presidency is adopted because it is weak and will not protect either the eu budget or the rule of law in europe.
second covers all aspects of article two and all values enshrined there;
but equally importantly the council needs to stop diluting the budget conditionality proposal.
we really we do need enforcement.
way. we have a common interest to swiftly set up the rule of law mechanism and the publication of the rule of law report last week is an important first step towards this objective. pursuing this under the existing institutional arrangements would ensure the effectiveness of our cooperation.
we made sure that this process was robust transparent and inclusive.
we should maximise this momentum to bring about change in the union.
the mechanism is a yearly process with the aim to prevent problems from emerging or deepening notably by having open debates and by changing best practices.
and on using a variety of sources including via visits in the member states.
the aim of the rule of law report is to look at key developments as regards the rule of law across the whole european union. it covers both positive developments and challenges and provides a countryspecific assessment of all the twenty seven member states. with regard to the methodology as proposed by the parliament for the annual monitoring cycle the commission agrees on the importance of the consultation of stakeholders
we have also kept the parliament fully informed of all progress.
this report represents the commission's assessment but it relies also on assessments prepared by a variety of independent experts and bodies including the fundamental rights agency and the council of europe.
i can only welcome this as a very positive development. we are committed to work on strengthening the cooperation with the european parliament and the council through regular meetings and exchanges of views in order to build this process together in an inclusive and constructive
madam president i would like to thank minister roth for his very personal commitment but we have to recognise that council has basically passed on the hot potato to the european parliament because a majority of governments secretly hopes that parliament will do their dirty work for them because they are being held hostage by the autocrats in their midst.
and let's not fall into the trap that we have to accept a trade off either the rule of law or some of our other demands like our resources for example because we don't because this is not about money this is about what kind of european union will be funded with taxpayers' money in the next seven years.
will it be the illiberal democracy of orbn and his orbanettes or will it be a european community of values and a community of law?
and that is why reverse qmv has to be a red line for this house.
let me assure you that we will deliver the proposal for the amending letter as soon as possible after the mff agreement but there needs to be an agreement first.
our citizens rely on us to find effective solutions in this time of crisis.
we will work day and night if necessary to bring these negotiations to a successful outcome.
there will be simply no time to present a second proposal for a draft budget. we will need to work together more actively and constructively.
i am thus confident that this is possible and i see no reason why we should fail.
prolonging the current framework is absolutely no substitute. contingency arrangements would prolong uncertainty and entail further difficulties. the commission will of course continue to act as an honest broker to facilitate a compromise.
so what we have is that the european union's official position is that we have a member state where corruption is off the charts and there are basically no guarantees against the government pocketing eu taxpayers' money. so the question is obvious when are we going to do something about it?
because let's face it words are not enough anymore.
it says that there is a systemic lack of determined action to investigate and prosecute corruption cases involving highlevel officials or their immediate circles.
there is a pandemic raging around us.
let's act.
when the rule of law is in danger these projects should be directly managed by the commission so that they reach the final beneficiaries the small businesses the civil society those who need it the most.
is this protection?
then other voices joined them including the one of this parliament through a very powerful resolution and i am grateful for that.
because it didn't feel cold anymore and we were no longer lonely.
because it matters to them it is really important to them and we owe this to the people.
i am calling for your voice because it does matter to the people and because this voice can make the difference between a captured state and a truly healing democracy.
are you sure that this is what you endorse?
i am here today to ask for this voice of the commission and of the council and of this house because the bulgarian people need it.
it happened like this in romania it is for the people of bulgaria and at the end of the day they are the ones that matter most.
because you are endorsing a carefully knitted network of people facing serious allegations of corruption money laundering and fraud with european money and a system which is stepping on the rule of law democracy and european values as we speak. i have seen women dragged outside by the police and pictures of children sprayed with teargas.
i am quite proud to be a member of a house which has always been the champion of democracy the rule of law and fundamental rights.
four years ago almost to the day this house adopted the first proposal for an annual report covering all the member states because we see in europe today but we also see it across the atlantic that the democratic rule of law is actually quite vulnerable to attacks from the inside.
i would like to thank both commissioners for putting forward an excellent report last week but we are going to take it one step further.
i would like to conclude by reminding president von der leyen of her promise that she would treat legislative proposals from this house as if this house has the proper legislative right of initiative.
mr president honourable members i think it was quite a symbolic thing that we had a technical problem with the microphones while speaking about democracy and freedom of speech and pluralism of media because we saw that simply speaking the more microphones we have the better the debate is.
many bulgarian people according to many surveys gave us the message continue and accomplish the work properly.
the full functioning of the eppo the good representation of bulgaria in the structures of the eppo and the eppo will be one of the very serious and i believe useful contributions of the eu in helping the member states to fight against corruption and crime
as we all know no country is immune to this.
the rule of law is not the enemy of great government the belief that our values are extinguishable is!
the rule of law was not designed to protect governments and elites but to protect people.
for those that seek to stray from our shared values i hope they reach the conclusion that by respecting democracy and the rule of law there is much to be gained and far less to lose.
we have already discussed upholding democracy and fighting corruption while tens of thousands of eu citizens protest on the streets.
yet again we are noting with concern the high level of corruption the degradation of judicial independence and the lack of media freedom in an eu member state.
it seems to me that we have the same long term priorities.
however in order to demonstrate that we are fully committed to the rule of law right now we need to see concrete action resulting from this exercise.
we cannot fight an open fire only with an inventory of what started the fire.
the annual report just published shows significant deficiencies in bulgaria across a number of areas but most notably in the use of public funds.
the commission needs to act on these findings.
as a bare minimum we need to maintain the cooperation and verification mechanism and on this we disagree with the commission because no other instrument exists at the moment to challenge the situation and fight the corruption.
so this is a question of will.
if we believe we are a union of equality then the answer is natural we need an eu directive.
and yes you are right yes we do need more men to support this and this is not something about women only.
it will not happen naturally unless we want to wait another hundred years and i don't think that is what we want and so that is why we need to introduce mechanisms to make it happen.
this is for some years until we get that gender balance and then we will not need the mechanism any more.
i reiterate diversity is a strength and we are wasting that strength by not using the full potential of the many qualified women which we have.
i've listened to all the arguments here and it's not about wanting to be in the boardroom.
so really i think that people who want to understand this can understand it.
i will keep on working with the member states who have yet to be convinced that this is the right way forward.
but equality will not be achieved unless we act decisively.
i want to use this platform which you have given me today to urge council to act now.
the next item is the debate on the council and commission statements on women in decision making on company boards including the state of play on the directive on improving the gender balance among non executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures rsp.
the arguments why have been exchanged extensively.
what i find particularly interesting are the arguments against.
the polish and the hungarian governments have repeatedly claimed and we have also heard this again today in this chamber that this is merely some kind of left wing evil conspiracy against conservative values in the european union.
what absolute utter nonsense. because if we look at this proposal at this conditionality it is actually exactly that at its core.
it's conservative.
you play by the rules that all member states again all member states have jointly agreed on or you live with the consequences.
and the consequences might mean that you cannot distribute eu money to your liking anymore.
i want to show you this is where the big consensus in the european parliament starts on this left side and then it goes all the way up until here the epp.
this is not a left wing conspiracy.
let's go back to reality and talk about real arguments.
we need this conditionality and we need it now.
i had the opportunity to speak to a lot of people on the ground.
i heard that the justice system is captured and i heard that media freedom is being eroded at an alarming pace.
so i can understand that bulgarians are fed up with the speed of reform.
i can understand that they say eu money in a lot of cases is actually making things worse because systematically the eu funds that we give are being stolen by a corrupt elite.
so what are we doing as the european union? well what bulgarians see is that we are publishing another report on the rule of law.
but what bulgarians unfortunately so far are not seeing is decisive action from the european union.
the european council is dismantling the rule of law mechanism.
if you stop the money you are basically taking away the caviar from corrupt oligarchs.
we should encourage companies to promote diversity and they should choose the best qualified candidates and honestly speaking i would not like to be appointed only because i'm a woman because i'm young or because i'm black.
so in order to have more qualified female candidates we have to foster financial and entrepreneurial skills from an early age. i urge the commissioner it's time to get rid of outdated views in our society and work towards a future where women and men truly have the same opportunities.
controversial provisions relating to the automatic suspensions of magistrates in case of a criminal investigation and to the obligation for magistrates to declare their membership in professional organisations have been repealed.
it is important that the authorities are provided with sufficient resources in order to be able to fight corruption effectively. the necessary strictures are essentially in place but bulgaria has to make them deliver reserves more efficiently.
it is important to show that there is political will to fight corruption in a credible manner.
in addition lack of transparency of media ownership is considered a source of concern. finally the issues concerning checks and balances include concerns about the limited use of public consultations and impact assessments in the legislative process.
mr president i think the importance of this motion is very obvious to anybody who saw prime minister borisov and his meps bragging about the commission's rule of law report last week claiming that it vindicated his government's progress.
and sure why wouldn't they do that when they've been getting away with it for years?
playing the commission telling you what you want to hear pretending to comply and then doing whatever they like and laughing all the way to the bank.
we heard it from the epp it's because they are a pro european party. so it doesn't matter about the corruption.
it doesn't matter about the manipulation.
donald tusk says he's one of our men.
you can't even give speaking time to the one bulgarian opposition member in your group because you're afraid of what he'll say. but it won't work because the bulgarian people are off their knees and they've had enough.
they're demanding the resignation of borisov and new elections.
i find it astounding that people come in here and they support elections in every country outside the eu and you don't think that bulgarian citizens deserve the same.
this motion encapsulates the demands of the protesters.