kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
we will be there to develop standards and the necessary regulatory frameworks to allow valueadded services to emerge.
we agree that we need to improve travel information and provide integrated ticketing systems. however i also share the view of many stakeholders that we cannot merely impose one solution at eu level;
seventh more competitive and efficient transport.
we are working to gradually remove these barriers and to create a full single european transport area with high standards which can then be exported to third countries.
this is something we will keep at the heart of all our initiatives.
finally the report underlines that one of the main weaknesses of our current policies is poor implementation.
it is true that urban mobility is an area where more efforts are needed but we have to be careful not to push solutions that are not tailored to the local specifications.
camp. this is an area in which i hope we can cooperate closely in particular to ensure that eu law is as clear and simple as possible and that sufficient attention is dedicated to enforcement.
fourth digital solutions.
sixth social issues.
the current situation is not satisfactory.
this will enable europe to keep its global leadership in transport.
there are still too many barriers in europe negatively affecting the functioning of the transport single market.
we should rather make the information available and let businesses come up with solutions matching customers' needs.
the fact that there were over six hundred amendments shows the high level of engagement by members of parliament on this topic and the report is of course very welcome and timely. the commission is pleased with its general thrust and quality. please allow me to comment on seven specific points in that report.
third transport sustainability. this is an area where the commission will remain very active.
this is the area where the commission has made substantial progress.
across europe the situation is the same and we must address this urgently.
mr president this is a positive and forward looking report with many key recommendations.
i also especially want to highlight the focus on investment in this report.
i am afraid the british labour meps will be voting against those points. however in total and on balance we very much support the report and i welcome in particular the reinforcement of eu action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport by at least sixty by.
in my city of london transport investment is not keeping up with the demands of the economy and the needs of a growing population.
two thousand and fifty this is a vital statement for us to make in the run up to the paris summit on tackling climate change.
it is a big gap and we must address it consistently in the years ahead recognising that while the private sector has a role to play we need substantial public funds for investment in transport.
so let me say a few additional words on the process itself.
since many of the implementing measures of the two thousand and eleven white paper have only been coming on stream relatively recently we are not in the process of doing a full evaluation but rather of taking stock of what has already been implemented what has become obsolete and what is left to do.
mr president i would like to thank honourable members for their very valuable and very specific contributions and comments. we have taken note of all of them. both your remarks here tonight and the report will be taken into account in the finalisation of the white paper implementation report which we will complete by the end of this year. but let me stress
i hear a lot of calls for action. i like that.
how important it is to hear that we all recognise how important transport is for growth jobs and for a global lead.
two this report is full of contradictions and is unfounded so i urge you to vote against it.
with passenger numbers dropping year by year this is certainly not cost effective.
i am deeply concerned by this review especially with respect to recital eight of the directive which provides for exemptions allowing member states to impose restrictions for reasons related to road safety or infrastructure characteristics which could be removed. yet again this report champions the commission's right to interfere in the sovereignty of member states by proposing a national road charging scheme for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
it also proposes that the commission should have more powers to force through the speedy completion of the ten t project or as we call it hs.
we need to start that conversation and get to some sort of aviation agreement in that area.
we need to address the situation.
next the push to move forward with the ports directive which as it stands would in our view be damaging to the interests of a very successful british ports industry.
this is about a british sovereign territory which is a full member of the single market.
mr president i supported this report because i believe it continues the crucial work done by this house in linking our commitment to the environment to our need to deliver member states out of the current financial crisis.
i worked in housing for eighteen years and i am concerned that sufficient attention has not been paid to housing and energy especially at construction time as housing contributes significantly to carbon emissions.
using the european development fund monies to complement regional and local authorities' schemes for double glazing insulation and solar panels or for replacing old boilers for more energy efficient ones is an excellent example of how the european union can help member states to meet targets which will be of benefit to all european citizens.
focusing on cohesion policy is a sensible way for us to fulfil our obligation to communities and economies.
but also because every aspect of our economy and society is affected we need to take a holistic approach to economic and environmental recovery.
what this report does is to correct an anomaly.
the large majority today sends a powerful signal to the council and i look forward to adoption in the near future.
we have legislation on our statute book which rightly prohibits discrimination on grounds of race and gender in the workplace and elsewhere but discrimination on grounds of disability or age or sexual orientation is
mr president in the twenty seven countries of the european union we have a proud tradition developed over the last decades of fighting together against discrimination and of making discrimination illegal and something to be discouraged.
this is pointed out in our resolution and i support the position.
it is time to prove the president's words were not just pure rhetoric the international community wanted to hear.
i voted against this report because of course i also completely reject the whole concept of european citizenship.
i believe that citizenship is unique to nation states and i believe that all of the efforts that are behind this attempt to construct a european citizenship are related to the same attempts to conduct a european superstate.
many of my constituents and myself are also unhappy about being forced to become effectively european citizens.
they see citizenship as something to be affirmed or rejected based on a common set of values and ideals built up over the centuries.
but we should also be asked whether we wish to be european citizens in addition to our nation citizenship.
we have no right to renounce european citizenship even if we completely reject as i do the whole concept of such a thing.
mr president this resolution recalls the horrors of fascism and of soviet communism. no european no child of western civilisation no civilised human being could disagree.
but it then goes on to posit the european union as an alternative or antidote to such totalitarianism.
it reads the european union has a particular responsibility to promote and safeguard democracy both inside and outside the european union'.
the european union is not safeguarding democracy either internally or externally.
abroad it is doing business with castro's cuba with the ayatollahs in tehran;
at home it is striking down referendum results when they go against closer integration. now of course one has to be careful making such parallels.
but it should deeply worry us when any system claims that the ruling ideology is too important to be subjected to the ballot box.
i voted yes' because i welcome the increased high level eu belarus dialogue including bilateral contacts and the intensified technical cooperation initiated by the commission.
in all our countries we have religious schools catholic protestant muslim jewish and there is an element of discrimination in those schools because the people who are primarily accepted there are of that faith.
i support that. i support faith schools.
but the principal reason why i abstained was because this turns the whole principle of jurisprudence upside down.
we are innocent until we are proved guilty.
this turns the burden of proof the other way round and that frankly is unacceptable.
of course we are all against discrimination. we are all in favour of equal treatment but we have to recognise that the principles of law which have guided us throughout the ages remain in place.
that is why i abstained.
mr president i was delighted to support this report because i have always fought against all types of discrimination.
i think it is vital that we have a framework to prevent exploitation of people because of their religion age disability education or marital status.
without protection against discrimination on these grounds our ambitions for a social europe will be meaningless.
this will particularly be the case during the current economic situation.
there is always a temptation during these difficult times to exploit those who are less able to defend themselves to cut corners when it comes to regulation designed precisely to protect against such exploitation.
in my constituency the west midlands we are threatened with the rise of far right politics.
i believe europe has a key role to play in ensuring people know they are protected in the face of aggression and exploitation.
mr president i am very privileged this morning to be sitting next to mr daniel hannan my very good colleague whose speech a few weeks ago has revolutionised the transmission of information and political thought and will change it for the future.
the power of the internet is supremely important but is even more important over the regular media.
i voted against this report for one simple reason which is that i am not in favour of promoting european citizenship.
i am a british citizen and am proud to be so and what we should be about is promoting the individual citizenship of our individual countries and saying yes we are members of the european union as countries but we are not european citizens.
we are citizens of the countries which gave us our birth and infant nurture which protect us and which have given many of us sanctuary over the years.
that is the pride which i have and will continue to have in the years to come.
i do not believe there is any need for european legislation in these matters.
i think very sensitive traditional matters such as this are much better handled at member state level where individual national parliaments can take account of the fundamental culture traditions and legal systems that are in their own particular countries.
a number of other members have raised issues about the particular problems that will be caused by this the problems for religious groups being forced to employ somebody from a different religious base the problem in faith schools and the problem of different political parties wanting to employ people of their own beliefs and values.
essentially the fundamental problem with this is that it takes power away from us as elected politicians or national politicians and puts it in the hands of unelected judges to interpret and re interpret the legislation in ways that were never envisaged at all by the very well meaning sentiments of some of the authors of this report.
it is the bedrock of our identity.
i am a british citizen and i am proud of that not least because of the vicious campaign of the ira to try and coerce me and my constituents out of that citizenship something which thankfully they have failed to do.
thus i reject this contrivance of european citizenship which of course is a complement to the ongoing efforts to be advanced by the lisbon treaty to build the statehood of the eu and thus this notion that we all have to be whether we like it or not
want it or not eu citizens first and foremost.
here in this chamber we are using it to mean the right of people to be treated differently.
anti discrimination legislation of this kind is not a refinement of the principle of equality under the law.
when we pass such reports as this we take power away from people that one can vote for and vote against and give it arbitrarily to jurists.
if this report were applied literally it would prohibit an opera company from declining to hire men in soprano roles it would prohibit a labour politician from declining to have a conservative as their press spokesman and it would prohibit a catholic school or hospital from preferring to employ its own co religionists.
i did not realise our british colleagues were citizens.
i thought they were subjects.
the bruce stokes paper recently produced on growth and jobs also helps to promote this philosophy of backing industry not just on competitivity but also vitally on attracting investment. governments at eu level and the commission along with the us need not just to manage debt reduction but also investment policy and incentives to job creation.
we forget this at our peril.
likewise the dodd frank act needs to be interpreted in a non protectionist way.
twenty the summit dialogue needs to ensure that us politicians and regulators respect the need for parity in our financial services legislation.
in today's turmoil the eu must be talking at all levels to its key partners around the world never more so than with respect to regulating the financial markets and derivative products post the financial crisis of two thousand and eight and implementing the decisions taken by g.
extra territoriality equivalence and reciprocity are not essential but recognition of comparable systems of regulation is and we need to seek ways of acknowledging this.
we need to make sure that in the attempt to make our financial markets more secure we do not begin to limit access on the flow of capital.
the use has a single currency on the point of collapse.
the use is corporatist protectionist statist and interventionist.
the use is made up of nation states very different to just states and has a multitude of cultures and languages.
this statement may accentuate the similarities but in truth the differences are plain to see.
the usa is democratic free trading entrepreneurial and capitalist;
and when americans have frequent referenda and elect even insurance commissioners and registers of deeds;
it was the good fortune of the american republic to be founded in a popular revolt against a remote government and therefore to impregnate its institutions with a sympathy for the maximum dispersal of power.
the one is about the freedom of the individual the other about the power of the state.
the american declaration of independence holds out the promise of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
the us constitution is concerned with broad principles such as the balance between federal and state jurisdictions;
line one of article one of the treaty of rome commits us to establish an ever closer union.
our present doom was ordained from the first.
the european equivalent the charter of fundamental rights and freedoms guarantees our right to strike action affordable housing and free healthcare.
the european equivalent busies itself with such minutiae as policy on space exploration and the status of refugees.
all nations all unions grow according to the dna that was encoded at their conception.
the european in the form of the lisbon treaty is seventy eight zero words long.
the european union's tragedy is that it was founded from the opposite imperative.
let us make sure that we create jobs and growth for our citizens.
mr president fish stocks are depleting our fishing ports are closing fish markets are closing stocks of fish are getting smaller the fish themselves that we catch are getting smaller and therefore it is vitally important this report goes through and the commission accept it and act on it and that was why i voted in favour of it.
if we allow illegal fishing to continue then of course it is a global issue.
the seas are depleting right across the world and therefore all actions must be taken in a global manner.
i follow my fellow colleague mr kelly who talked about discards a huge and utter waste of a valuable material.
i think the commission must look seriously at the whole common fisheries policy.
we must put in draconian measures to stop those who buy the illegal fish and then sell them on the market.
it does affect fishing and it affects all trade agreements throughout the european union.
under eid regulations farmers are fined for inaccurate data despite serious faults with the technology.
the same is not true in scotland where the beef industry can label meat from any age of animal with the country stamp.
i have presented this issue to the commission on numerous occasions as have representatives from many member states.
madam president farming is the heart of the welsh economy yet under increasing eu legislation welsh farmers are prevented from competing successfully despite standards being some of the highest in europe.
for croatian to be an official language the treaty has to be modified.
madam president on saturday i will set sail for gaza with hundreds of other activists as part of the freedom flotilla.
two we will be bringing medicine and reconstruction materials that are desperately needed.
catherine ashton has said that the flotilla is not the right response to the situation in gaza but the eu's response is to continue to fund through research grants the israeli armaments companies that make the weapons that kill palestinian civilians.
madam president less than a year ago i set up a cross party petition for a referendum in the uk in respect of membership of the european union.
one cannot ignore the will of people forever.
my constituents constantly come to me and say when are we going to get a say on our membership of the european union?
one five million internally displaced people in nigeria one hundred and fifty five zero refugees in niger thirty seven zero in cameroon and eleven zero in chad putting stress on local communities and potentially creating further conflicts.
the objective is increasingly to spread terror and gain territorial control with the indiscriminate targeting of everybody christians muslims traditional and religious leaders teachers students farmers market traders villagers women and children.
this is the message we conveyed at the last ministerial dialogue with nigeria in november when we invited nigeria to speed up the implementation of the planned actions and to reinforce respect for human rights so that the european union and its member states can join forces with local initiatives in a more concrete and effective way.
in the short term there must be an effective military and humanitarian response to the crisis.
the countries of the region have undertaken to create a multinational joint task force which has not yet been mobilised.
the breakdown of administration and law and order in wide areas of north east nigeria will also make the holding of elections in these three states increasingly difficult.
in the medium term it is crucial that the people of these states also have the prospect of development and jobs and a government that can protect them and respond to their needs.
the attack on the border town of baga last week is only the latest in a long series of attacks and bombings and increasingly frequent attacks into cameroon demonstrate that the threat is regional and is becoming even more so.
what i think we can be sure of is that the european union or the west is unlikely to be any more successful in nigeria than we have been elsewhere in the middle east and north africa.
it has been reported that a number have been sold on as slaves and have been forced to convert to islam.
resolving this crisis will be difficult and there are no easy answers or quick fix solutions.
what member state governments must encourage is greater regional cooperation and a truly global response and this can be achieved not only through the united nations but also through the commonwealth. i would suggest that this free association of friendly nations with a shared language history and culture is far better suited
therefore we must be even more resilient in defending that openness.
forcing people to adhere to one's ideology with such extreme violence is the clearest sign of weakness imaginable.
it is also important to recognise that in nigeria the impact of terrorism has become the rule rather than the exception.
the youth service corps actively volunteered to help run the elections and as such the attack marked an attack on all sons and daughters of nigeria. this week by using a child as a suicide bomber new levels of barbarism and a lack of humanity have been shown.
open diverse societies threaten the misguided dogma of violent islamism.
we condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms and send our condolences to the families of the victims. it is important in europe that we are fully aware of the global nature of the jihadist terror in which perpetrators and victims come from all corners of the world.
not only do these extremists select symbols of freedom of expression a universal human right but in nigeria girls' education or any education at all is the prime target of boco haram which literally means forbidden book' or western education is forbidden'.
back in two thousand and eleven when i was an observer to the presidential elections in nigeria volunteers of the youth service corps were killed in terrorist attacks.
in a week when this house rightly defended media freedom of speech we must also state that international media organisations have a moral duty to bring the situation in nigeria to prominent public attention in europe and across the world because only then will we force governments to contribute positively and in a measured manner to the quest for stability and justice in.
amnesty international for example believes that at least nine hundred and fifty suspected members of boko haram died as a result of overcrowding starvation brutality and extrajudicial executions while in state custody in nigeria in the first half of two thousand and thirteen alone.
having said that nothing could possible excuse the actions of boko haram.
so there is now a moral responsibility on us all to show the same outrage and invest the same resources in addressing the causes and consequences of these atrocities as we would if they were happening anywhere else in the world.
we know about the corruption;
we know that it is difficult to get information;
there are many people who will not be able to vote in the elections on fourteen february i was an observer last time because they are displaced they are refugees.
we know that boko haram have taken out communications systems but nevertheless we would also hope that the government of nigeria also steps up and really takes this seriously and openly.
as people have been saying we know it is grossly unequal;
we know that a lot of the money does not reach the grass roots;
would it not be better to have a regional solution to this tragedy that is happening in west africa?
would it not be better to leave this to the commonwealth and to the african union rather than let our opponents use this opportunity to talk about further western intervention?
you are speaking very passionately about dealing with this evil organisation and i share your feelings on it.