kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
worse the dispute brings the entire enlargement process into disrepute.
there is no agreement it has been very clear on what the country that we are discussing should actually be called.
it really is time to find a solution.
for one i certainly do not see the name question as one of the copenhagen criteria.
i cannot think of a single precedent for when a country has come under pressure regarding what it calls itself in sum because one of its neighbours decided one day to object to the name macedonia'. note that the name never bothered this neighbour while macedonia was a part of yugoslavia.
first of all let me underline how much we appreciate parliament's interest in and support for the enlargement process.
last december we were able to sign the accession treaty with croatia which is now in the process of being ratified by national parliaments.
i would also like to begin these three debates today by highlighting the resilience of the eu enlargement policy.
involved in that terrible accident.
the closure on grounds of tax evasion of a major television channel and three newspapers which were critical of the government has raised concerns about the proportionality and selectivity of the procedure and has reduced the diversity of the media landscape.
let me briefly mention the progress which has been made on issues such as the reform of the parliament the judiciary public administration and respect for and protection of minorities before i address the key challenges that remain.
we welcome the improvement compared to two thousand and eight of the handling of the parliamentary elections on five june two thousand and eleven which were competitive transparent and well administrated throughout the country.
both achievements show that the political momentum behind the eu's enlargement policy is driven by the power to transform and bring about positive change.
both the letter and the spirit of the ohrid framework agreement must be respected by all.
this is also the case for the amendments to the legal framework in relation to the fight against corruption.
the council broadly shares the commission's assessment of the country's sufficient fulfilment of the political criteria.
in the area of human rights we are concerned about cases of ill treatment by special police forces as well as discrimination against the lesbian gay bi sexual and transgender community.
further progress has also been made in the area of cultural rights and minorities.
the former yugoslav republic of macedonia is important in the region being fully engaged in regional initiatives such as the regional cooperation council and the south east european cooperation process. it also contributes to the eu althea mission in bosnia and herzegovina. at its meeting on five december two thousand and ten the council welcomed the further progress
freedom of expression in the media remains a matter of concern.
we expect the two thousand and thirteen local elections to be handled equally well as if not better than the two thousand and eleven elections.
we stand ready to return to this during our presidency.
we welcome the opening of a dialogue on this issue.
we also welcome the fact that the government coalition has resolved earlier difficulties and has strengthened internal cooperation. it is important that the momentum of the reform process be maintained.
the council has noted that the commission has reiterated its recommendation that accession negotiations should be opened.
the process has brought prosperity and even more importantly it has proved to be a positive factor for peace and security.
this needs to be addressed.
this should allow croatia to join the union in july. two thousand and thirteen only two weeks ago on one march the european council granted candidate status to serbia.
the tenth anniversary of the ohrid framework agreement provided a good opportunity for enhanced dialogue between the communities in the country.
the adoption of a new criminal procedure code is a significant step forward in the fight against crime and corruption but requires further institutional work in order to be fully implemented.
made by the former yugoslav republic of macedonia in the area of reform as well as the fact that it is fulfilling its commitment under the stabilisation and association agreement.
integration of the roma in the education system has improved but further measures need to be taken as the roma continue to face very difficult living conditions and discrimination in particular regarding civil registration.
as for judicial reform some positive progress has been achieved.
naturally the government needs to implement fully the conclusions and recommendations of the osce odihr election observation mission particularly regarding the separation between state and party activities during the campaign period.
your active and constructive contribution to the wider debate on enlargement is highly valued and appreciated.
this is sometimes overlooked not least in times of great economic hardship and uncertainty.
on behalf of the danish presidency of the council it is a great pleasure for me to participate in this debate and to review progress on enlargement and the accession negotiations.
bizarrely reaching a solution should not be too hard. greece has made an offer for a composite name with a geographical denomination and macedonia has always stated that what it finds most important is that its identity culture nationality and language are not questioned.
i hope that other groups will vote in favour of this and who knows?
if we could just concentrate on the progress and on the hard work that still lies ahead there is enough to do as regards more fundamental rights stopping corruption and reforming the economy and the labour market.
maybe next year we will be back here and freely speak about north macedonia' in which macedonian people with macedonian identities and macedonian culture happily speak macedonian.
i would like to congratulate the commissioner for his personal engagement and the decision to start a high level dialogue as early as this week.
it is deeply regrettable and worrying that there have been a number of ethnic based incidents lately.
mr president the resolution we are discussing today is a message of encouragement and a friendly assessment of what needs to be done so the country can move forward towards the eu.
on war crimes freedom of media discrimination police ill treatment and on the roma look at the resolution and you will find such friendly but robust criticism.
i point to the improvement in elections that i witnessed and in parliamentary cooperation to economic progress to judicial and public service reform.
but to those who seek to delete paragraph fifteen even though it meets the un accord you would be sending a signal that we do not understand the feelings of the people of the country or express our desire to back a solution which is fair and just to all.
for those who are erecting hoops through which the country must jump it is one very apt metaphor that they can do it.
but the warnings are not just to the country but to ourselves not least in the incidence of ethnic conflict over the last week.
shortly this country will take over the chair of the regional cooperation council.
it is why those who wish to delete my reference to the country's success in the basketball championships are wrong.
its progress points to the european future of every single one of the countries but there has to be a european future for every one of the countries which is why this is the debate which must be heard these are the obligations which must be met on all sides this is a country which cannot be left behind.
and the decision to abolish the crime of defamation against journalists is indeed demonstration that our demands are being heard and acted upon.
mr president i would like to start by saying how proud i have been during the past year to be appointed as rapporteur to establish a very fruitful collaboration with the shadows to support the work of the commissioner whom i deeply respect and to become even more convinced that this is a country which belongs inside the european union.
it shows that we can appreciate the difference between legitimate national pride at the same time as warning against illegitimate political nationalism.
it hosted the meeting of ministers of european integration from across the balkans in the wake of this year's commission progress reports. it is a country which has excellent relations with both serbia and kosovo.
i do not see as criticism the words of those who call me friendly to the country because friendly criticism is precisely what is needed.
for the european union to become engaged in a more substantial way there would have to be a clear demand by both parties. as i have said on many occasions it is a political reality that a solution to the name issue will greatly facilitate further progress in european integration.
the united nations has a clear mandate to mediate on the name issue between the country and greece.
i therefore very much welcome the announcement by prime minister gruevski and deputy prime minister arifi that defamation will be fully decriminalised.
fourthly electoral reform needs to be completed.
a dialogue between the state and journalists has been established.
the commission will continue to support the country in addressing all these challenges through targeted financial cooperation.
we are closely monitoring developments in this field and will assess them again in the two thousand and twelve progress report.
the commission also agrees with your view of the importance of good neighbourly relations between the country and its neighbours and the need to increase mutual understanding.
one week after i attended the hearing in parliament hosted by mr howitt. today will be yet another opportunity to take stock of the developments in the country during the last year. i would like to thank especially mr howitt for the high quality report we are discussing today. i am pleased that the european parliament motion for a resolution broadly shares the commission findings in the two thousand and eleven progress report.
as you are aware the council has not acted on the recommendation but has stated its willingness to return to the issue during the danish presidency.
firstly as regards the rule of law which is a policy area of strategic importance to the european union we will associate the country with the new approach which is currently being followed with montenegro.
our aim is to move the country closer to the european union and to keep the european union agenda as the driving force of the transformation in the country.
it is by no means a substitute for actual negotiations. the dialogue will take forward the reform agenda in the country by achieving a clear agreement on the reforms to be taken in five key policy areas.
once again and the third time in a row there is a consensus between us that accession negotiations should start.
it is in this context that i am travelling to skopje later today to launch the high level accession dialogue.
finally you have requested that the european union should be ready to assist in resolving the name issue.
i have taken good note of parliament's suggestions concerning the ipa programme and the civil society facility in this regard.
as a result of our joint efforts on this i am pleased that the first steps to address our concerns have been taken by the government in skopje.
the fifth area is the development of a functioning market economy.
one of the key points discussed was the decriminalisation of defamation.
i welcome the fact that the two sides are re engaging and strongly encourage them to build on the progress made
we are helping to create a climate conducive to compromise and we are encouraging the countries to find one.
but what i would like to say to you as a greek is that your country the whole region is in economic trouble.
by taking forward our cooperation in this way we aim to create a new commitment to reforms and to boost the country's european perspective.
secondly another lesson learned is that your our identity while having strong roots in the past is defined by your our present and future steps.
first one of the lessons learned from europe's sometimes challenging past is that the best way to care about the well being and future of your own people citizens is also to care about your neighbours and the way you are perceived by them.
i also believe that a convincing track record of reforms can contribute to creating a positive political climate which remains essential in order to clear the road for the start of accession negotiations in the near future.
there i will meet with prime minister gruevski and his government and have a qualitatively new structured discussion on the country's reform process.
the discussions have focused on the areas where reform is urgently needed as well as the importance of the european union fulfilling its commitments towards the country.
in this context i would like to welcome the new high level accession dialogue led by commissioner fle.
it should remain strong and robust.
of course there are some priorities but i do not have time to mention them.
of course we should capitalise on the positive dynamics facilitated by serbia's candidate status.
in my view and in the view of my group it should stay so.
i have no problem with a mention of bulgarians but i would find it important to have a nuanced vision on this because there is a bit of going back and forth between bulgaria and macedonia in
i have been following the areas such as inter ethnic reconciliation fundamental rights and reforms and public administration.
fyrom has also made steps towards improving its human rights.
now i understand the importance and cultural significance of the name issue and i hope that this will be resolved in due course by the parties concerned.
at the same time to call anything former' is not very complimentary.
otherwise i am afraid there will be some substituting agenda in some programmes as we see for example in the area of inter ethnic relations in the country.
therefore i fully support commissioner fle's initiative to leave the higher level accession dialogue focused on the most difficult areas in the future negotiations. the main areas where progress is still needed are freedom of the media reform in judicial and public administration
and the fight against corruption.
they need to be addressed promptly.
this will obviously bring results in the medium and long term but we also have an urgent need to support tunisia immediately.
it is important that in this process we keep the partnership on a completely equal level and that we discuss and decide everything with our tunisian partners.
the european parliament by strengthening its links with the new parliament can certainly play a key role in reinforcing tunisian democracy.
how do we do that? first through financial assistance.
impact. the two european union electoral observation missions in two thousand and eleven and in two thousand and fourteen and the european parliament contribution to the ongoing eu project assisting the tunisian parliament were really significant for them and also
most of those cities were bombed while we were
meeting. but on the other side there was a strong passionate emotional feeling of needing to move forward and finding the political agreement that could allow libya to restart. that meeting produced good results in terms of concrete cooperation and confidence building measures and also an appeal to the political track to produce
on the one hand we were discussing as we do among partners the positive developments in the country in the last year the adoption of a new constitution legislative elections presidential elections a unity government and also the elements that make tunisia fragile still its youth which is highly educated but has very low employment rates and very poor
actions on border management will start shortly and a very ambitious security sector reform programme addressing counter terrorism among other challenges is now in its very final stage of preparation this will include eur twenty five million.
since two thousand and eleven the european union has more than doubled the initial commitments to tunisia.
a true progressive integration of the tunisian economy into the european internal market supporting the economic model that was chosen by tunisia and in the manner and pace suited to its own economy this could be one element.
for us. i look forward to the establishment of the joint parliamentary committee with tunisia which is provided for in the action plan for a privileged partnership.
democracy strengthens security and security strengthens democracy.
it is probably also important to give a positive sign to investors so that they can find ways of supporting economic recovery in the country.
islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack and whether or not it is true that it was actually carried out by isis we do not know the attack shows the threat posed by jihadist terrorists to the democracies of the world.
these terrorists do not seem to care who they kill muslims christians or jews.
these men are evil. they are a threat to everything this parliament and the eu stands for.
tunisia is a muslim majority country and the lone success story of the arab spring.
they only care about one thing and that is the destruction of those they view as an enemy of their utopic caliphate.
a geographical indication identifies goods as originating from a country region or locality where a particular quality reputation or other characteristic of the product is linked to its geographical origin for example bordeaux wine murano glass or irish whiskey. agriculture products such as cheeses wines meats fruits and vegetables from a specific geographical origin possessing certain qualities or made according to traditional methods may be afforded eu wide geographical indication protection.
the underlying image of quality can have a significant impact on the attractiveness of regions at local and international level.
first safeguarding jobs and wealth in economically fragile areas two thirds of the regions from which non agricultural geographical indication products originate have a poverty rate or an unemployment rate above.
the commission had decided to put this idea to the test through a green paper and a public consultation in summer. two thousand and fourteen the results of the consultation published in june of this year were supportive of such a system.
what we do know is that direct and indirect employment in the sectors producing geographically rooted non agricultural products has been estimated at around four million jobs.
fourth helping consumers make more informed choices while preventing fraudulent use of geographical indications. beyond these issues and as your report also points out there would be positive effects on trade relations with third countries too. indeed an eu wide protection system could positively impact our bilateral negotiations with emerging and developing countries interested in securing better protection for their geographical indication products in the eu.
at multilateral level in the world trade organisation the eu's negotiating efforts to improve the level of protection for geographical indications would also benefit from an extension of the protection to non agricultural products.
moving towards a system of non agricultural geographical indications would be a major step the costs and benefits of which would need to be assessed very carefully.
third increasing the distinctiveness and attraction of the relevant products would help increase sales volumes and thus the competitiveness of european businesses mostly small and medium enterprises as was the case for agricultural products.
on the positive side i can see four benefits.
such a system would imply quite far reaching regulatory intervention the proportionality of which will need to be assessed very carefully.
twenty second encouraging tourism geographical indication products have always been innovating using traditional knowhow or cultural heritage.
many of these governing bodies believe that it will recognise concretely their specificity the specificity of sport.
home grown players;
also football is always very interested in these subjects and it seems to drive the agenda.
but sporting organisations and many governing bodies think this is a bad thing.
european law recognises a worker as someone essentially with the minimum age of sixteen so what happens when a seventeen year old challenges the fact that he was not able to move to a big club in a country that was not his own in the current situation that we find ourselves in?
will the commission actually open up a forum where sport can come and talk to the commission openly about some of the problems it has and get some of these questions answered on a regular basis no matter with the treaty of lisbon or without?
so commissioner could you tell us how this recognition in the new treaty will help sport? will sport then get derogations from different aspects like employment law or other laws that they actually want to try and achieve? on legal certainty there are so many questions that the commission should and could be helping sporting organisations with now.
they are important in driving the political debate on sport forward step by step and also in strengthening dialogue structures on sport as was recommended in our white paper in.
i think this is the appropriate way to achieve more clarity regarding the application of european union law to sport in addition to guidance provided in the white paper.
i am committed to a constructive partnership with all actors in sport respecting the autonomy of sport subsidiarity principles and national and eu legal frameworks.
regarding the shape of the dialogue framework there simply cannot be a single formal framework for consultation with the sport movement.
i intend to follow up on these discussions by convening a further meeting at this high level in june.
the commission has moved swiftly to follow up both calls from the political side. however dialogue in sport remains a challenging task given the diversity of sport and the complexity of the sport structures.
finally good progress has been achieved in setting up eu social dialogue structures in sport. it started in football and i believe it will continue in other sectors.
given the specific organisation of sport the dialogue must take account of the different levels of sport.
we cannot have one large specific set of guidelines for everything.
fifa. on this specific matter of six plus five' we will continue
it is in our interest to promote principles such as self regulation transparency and sustainability and we can make several other important contributions to improvements in licensing.
now. i spoke about transfers under eighteen years
we have proposed and in biarritz i introduced physical activity guidelines which could help to promote the volume intensity and quality of physical education training in our societies and especially in schools.
level of competence.
the commission regularly receives complaints from industry that certain exports are being prevented from entering one member state while identical transactions are given a green light in other member states.
on the other hand member states will be able to concentrate their limited resources on transactions that actually do pose a risk.
the proposal for a new eu general export authorisation is designed to allow exporters in all member states to reap the benefits of simplified export procedures for certain dual use items to certain destinations.
exports of dual use items create particular challenges in this regard as such exports are subject to authorisation requirements.
many member states make special export facilitations available to their exporters. these facilitations take the form of general licences and allow businesses in certain member states to export dual use items with the minimum burden.
they are very much items legitimately used in a broad variety of industrial sectors the space industry the telecommunications industry aviation the chemical industry and many others.
many other countries are taking similar steps to prioritise their work on export control and we should not be left behind.