kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
however we can see a number of obstacles which stop the cultural and creative sectors from reaching their full potential. the ambition of creative europe is precisely to remove some of the obstacles so that these sectors can seize the opportunities of the digital shift and globalisation
indeed one of the major innovations of the new programme is a loan guarantee facility that will complement the traditional support of grants.
it lies at the heart of europe's diversity but also nourishes the deep roots that bind us together.
and yet we sometimes forget that the cultural and creative sectors are among the most dynamic in europe producing new ideas new forms of innovation and high quality jobs.
this week you have the opportunity to adopt a new and ambitious programme that will support europe's cultural diversity and the creative sectors that shape it.
the new programme will bring together the current culture and media programmes and serve as a one stop shop for the cultural and creative sectors.
that is why creative europe brings a real european added value.
creative europe will support the people and the organisations who shape and renew that diversity.
but i think in these times of austerity we have to be satisfied with a small increase rather than a decrease.
i am happy to see that parliament shares the commission's vision of the importance of culture in the creative sectors for both the well being of our societies and for the generation of growth and jobs.
without financial support it would be difficult for our artists to break into new markets.
that is why the programme deserves your full support and i thank you in advance for that.
cultural diversity lies at the very heart of the european idea.
you have supported the ambition of the commission's proposal from the very beginning and left your own imprint on the new programme.
however they are good for six to seven million jobs in europe and also have an impact on attracting tourists and businesses and fostering innovation and more importantly arts and culture expression and creativity are essential ingredients for open societies.
the intrinsic value of culture cannot always be measured by a price tag.
we try through creative europe to make a modest contribution by making the eu budget for creative and media programmes more efficient and streamlined but compared to the amount of the multiannual financial framework on which we will vote this week that goes to agricultural subsidies we fall far short of the future proof investments that europe needs.
about the cultural and creative sectors.
that is what we want to achieve in the future.
you might have seen that the commissioner who is speaking to you has been very explicit on this saying that the high guarantees which are our values which are in our european laws must not be
if you read recital ninety of the regulation you will see and i quote that the extraterritorial application of these laws regulations and other legislative instruments may be in breach of international law and may impede the attainment of the protection of individuals guaranteed in the union by this regulation'.
that is why transfers should only be allowed where the conditions of this regulation for the transfer to third counties are met.
in the framework of international law.
in the acta agreement which this house also has to decide upon the internet freedom provision has been included in the final text of the legislation precisely because of the remarks made by this house
pnr is under discussion now and you know that the umbrella agreement which i negotiated with the united states will be on the table for this house to accept or to reject.
i therefore count on your support in the forthcoming legislative process on the data protection legal framework and on the umbrella framework in order to clarify these points and in order to make it crystal clear that on european territory european law has to be applied.
that is what we have to work on now beyond the conflicts which will arise between partners beyond the international agreements which we have to vote on in this house and beyond the implementation of our european legislation
data protection rules and why i have said very clearly and you can see what is going on in other territories at the moment in the political discussions that those laws which we make here will become a world standard.
be respected and that the laws which we have decided together with this house have to be applied on the territory of the european union.
but this is the direction we want to go in and the commission will continue to work with the us and with the member states in order to identify the best way to address this issue and achieve legal certainty and compliance with the eu charter of fundamental rights.
this could involve for instance data transfer between competition authorities tax and customs administrations and it could also be for the prevention and investigation detection and prosecution of criminal offences.
rather than by the imposition of direct obligations on eu financial intermediaries.
notably when there is a justification on an important ground of public interest and the public interest has to be recognised in union law or in member state law.
any processing of personal data in the eu has to respect the applicable eu data protection law.
which is enacted by a third country cannot be directly and automatically applied in the territory of the eu unless exceptionally union law or member state law explicitly recognises the facts of such an act in their respective jurisdiction.
as you rightly said this issue has been raised in the umbrella agreement on the protection of personal data.
of course it would be ironic if it were easier for third countries to process european citizens' data in their territory than for european entities to do so in europe.
that is not acceptable for our citizens and of course cannot be acceptable to our chamber which is why we have to work together to find workable solutions.
our solutions should start from the basic premise that a law enacted by a third country cannot be directly and automatically applied in the territory of the european union unless eu law or member state national law has explicitly allowed it to be so.
we cannot lose control of this prerogative and no law of a third country should be able to short circuit eu law or national law including eu data protection law.
we must make sure that this principle can be applied in law and in practice.
i think that the new data protection package recently presented by the commission gives us the opportunity to do so as would the framework agreement with the united states that is being negotiated.
the us for example considers that its jurisdiction does not only extend to activities and actors within the us but also the activities of such actors elsewhere in the world.
with that interpretation us law has extra territorial effect within europe.
the us for example can subpoena companies with a presence in the us to provide data stored in europe.
the commission acknowledges this but what action has actually been taken to protect companies that find themselves caught between conflicting jurisdictions?
there are also other countries where european companies have a presence.
for example more and more companies have operations in china and they too can be confronted with this problem. as a matter of fact we are getting more confirmation nowadays that such companies are being confronted with this problem.
fatca notably raise strong concerns for european banks and insurers.
we do not need new legislation but it is key that we enforce existing european legislation in the interests of our citizens and our companies.
the question is under current eu data protection rules what can a company do to protect itself if it has an operation in the us and it has to comply with the subpoena?
this is not through a mutual legal assistance treaty;
the european institutions have all stated their commitment to maintaining open markets in order to keep investment flowing around the world. however we are yet to come up with a clear solution to the questions being raised tonight. as a result we are having to insert clauses in our eu financial services legislation in order to give the eu equal weighting to the us in the regulation of financial entities and products. we have been forced to incorporate word for word in emir what i consider to be protectionist language from the dodd frank act. this does not seem to be an optimal solution to this problem but i cannot yet see an alternative to us regulatory overreach into european companies and markets.
the implications of these extraterritorial provisions for access to and from our financial markets for asia latin america and the rest of the world are yet to be seen yet any solution that is proposed must above all else not just suit the us.
i welcome the award of this prize but i think we are in danger of sending mixed signals two weeks after our foreign ministers decided to impose further and greater sanctions on iran.
however as you know i have profound concerns about another aspect of this house relating to the situation in iran.
at the same time as giving this prize a delegation of meps is leaving tomorrow to actually hold talks with the same iranian regime that we are condemning.
i do not doubt their commitment to human rights but their visit will be abused by the iranian authorities and the propaganda value will be immense.
these steps are described in our report.
we hope that together we will make it because it is important both for ukraine and of course for the european union.
the alternative the eurasian union with authoritarian belarus kazakhstan and russia would pull the country at large and its talented people in the wrong direction.
however these were not nearly as significant as some of us had feared. there was no evidence of mass falsification and the opposition now occupies half of the parliament seats.
there is now a clear commitment and political will on both sides to sign an association agreement.
so with this somewhat mixed bag we further encourage and welcome ukraine's european engagement.
hopefully this can be concluded by november. two thousand and thirteen nevertheless we cannot ignore the legitimate concerns pertaining to ukraine over human rights matters and in particular the way the executive continues to pursue a policy of selective justice which keeps yulia tymoshenko in prison and lets others go free.
there were also irregularities in the recent parliamentary elections.
commissioner fle has our full support.
it should do so. if we look at the referendum law that should also be brought up to the standards set out by the commission.
there is much to be done and ukraine should take the european union seriously. we reach out our hands and i think this is true for the whole house here the commission and the council.
mr president i think that many in this house are united. we believe in bringing ukraine and the european union closer together.
this law should either be repealed by the government or should be voted down by the rada.
ukraine must act and must act by making an electoral law which is up to european or international standards.
therefore when discussing the recent parliamentary elections in ukraine we naturally evaluate the democratic reform process there.
in that respect we salute the decision of the ukraine to set up a commission to evaluate the lessons learned from the last elections hopefully with an eye to the two thousand and fifteen presidential elections.
naturally no election process is perfect and to conclude from that that the entire democratic commitment should be questioned would be an oversimplification.
the socialist group has made an amendment to the joint resolution in this direction and i ask my colleagues from all political groups to support it.
this party is a test for all others who declare themselves european and pro democratic.
but what is lacking is the understanding that coming closer to the eu is not only a technical legislative process it is also a matter of values and exactly the level of values the european parliament would like to see more.
engagement is the most effective tool for transforming a society a society which is becoming increasingly vulnerable to populist and nationalistic ideas.
despite the fact that a number of improvements were made as regards legislation and the technical organisation of the elections the main concern remained the pre electoral process which needs to be significantly improved.
my recommendation however would be to proceed without delay to the signature of the association agreement because this is the most effective way to bind ukraine to the eu to make visible and hopefully irreversible the clear european choice of the country.
mr president i think we can all recognise the fact that the current authorities in ukraine have done a lot to bring the country closer to the eu.
we will also follow closely how the inconclusive results in the five single mandate electoral constituencies will be addressed.
this is essential for creating the necessary interinstitutional checks and balances to continue modernisation and deepen democracy.
this is a very ambitious enabling framework for advancing relations between the european union and ukraine combining concrete steps with a concrete time perspective for possible signature.
this is an instrument jointly agreed with ukraine in two thousand and nine preparing for and facilitating the entry into force of the association agreement and its deep and comprehensive free trade area.
the perspective of signature and provisional application of the association agreement should provide an important motivation.
naturally we look forward to their effective implementation. further steps on judicial reform in close consultation with the council of europe and the venice commission are much needed including a comprehensive review of the law on the functioning of the prosecutor's office
therefore the association agreement is not a moving target.
we also regret that the two key opposition leaders were prevented from standing in the parliamentary elections.
we will continue our efforts to facilitate support from the international financial institutions for the modernisation of the ukrainian gas transmission system in accordance with existing agreements including the energy community treaty.
the european union has repeatedly highlighted that the judiciary in ukraine is suffering from a systemic problem which will require a systemic solution in the form of comprehensive judicial reform.
on the one hand we are neither compromising on our values nor imposing additional criteria on ukraine.
there are other cases pending before the court.
finally i hope that the european parliament will soon consider the amendments to the visa facilitation agreement which we signed with ukraine in july this year.
what we want to see in ukraine is an inclusive process through constructive engagement between government parliamentary opposition and civil society.
the modernisation of ukraine can benefit from european union bilateral financial assistance and potentially macro financial assistance as well.
let me in this context commend the efforts of the european parliament's monitoring mission to ukraine headed by former presidents cox and kwaniewski which we hope will continue.
you could still wonder whether such a sequenced policy of engagement with ukraine would serve our longer term objectives.
while these commitments were encouraging we now look forward to seeing real and concrete steps to bring them to fruition.
the european union is also ready to assist ukraine through an informal dialogue on the business climate.
without it we will not meet our goal.
looking to the final report by the osce odihr it is essential that ukraine takes early action to fully implement its recommendations and to address the shortcomings.
the european union and ukraine with the participation of the council of europe will soon launch an informal dialogue on judicial reform to facilitate ukraine's progress on these matters.
if it wants to score by the time of the eastern partnership summit it needs to play well and keep an eye on the clock.
to explain these conclusions.
the conclusions set out a number of concrete benchmarks.
the first of these was the compliance of the two thousand and twelve parliamentary elections with international standards and follow up actions to remedy any shortcomings.
but we cannot realise the full potential of our relations yet.
let me underline that we are not imposing additional hurdles but at the same time we are not compromising on our values.
these will be the basis upon which the european union will assess ukraine's progress in the three areas already defined as necessary for opening the way for the signature of the association agreement.
i mentioned the three areas where we expect progress from ukraine.
at the december foreign affairs council two days ago the council adopted conclusions on ukraine which confirmed a sequenced policy of engagement. high representative and vice president ashton called ukrainian prime minister azarov yesterday
the point she made was about a clear message to ukraine on the elements for the way ahead on what needs to be done and on what is at stake.
the european union has taken good note of the public commitments made by the prime minister of ukraine in the aftermath of the elections.
apart from these political reforms we will also pay particular attention to the business and investment climate and to those areas where sustained efforts are required to enable us to support ukraine through financial assistance.
i hope this will provide the needed impetus for ukraine to build the necessary momentum for reform.
as regards the recent parliamentary elections elections being the first criterion the european union notes with concern that they presented a mixed picture and a deterioration in several areas compared to standards previously achieved.
the role of the high council of justice also needs to be reviewed and serious consideration needs to be given to reform of the police.
let me assure you that the high representative together with the commission will monitor progress achieved in the three areas i have mentioned notably in the framework of the preparations for the upcoming european union ukraine summit the two thousand and thirteen european union ukraine cooperation council
to sum up the ball is clearly in ukraine's court.
we expect the ukrainian authorities to express a clear commitment to the early implementation of all judgments of the european court of human rights as well as a recommendation by the council of europe related to detention conditions and medical assistance to persons in detention.
this will further facilitate the issuance of visas to ukrainian citizens.
all these reforms are very important for ukraine.
this mission has a vital role to play in addressing the cases i have mentioned and in encouraging ukraine to take further steps to reform the judiciary and to prevent any recurrence of the injustice we have seen.
i have no doubt in that respect.
the recent final judgement of the european court of human rights on the unlawful and arbitrary detention of yuriy lutsenko has also confirmed our concerns.
the action plan on visa liberalisation is another very important instrument in our relations and we encourage ukraine to increase its efforts towards meeting the first phase benchmarks.
we have welcomed the steps already taken such as the entry into force of the new criminal procedure code the new legislation on the bar and the establishment of a national preventive mechanism against torture.
at the same time we want to confirm with ukraine its strategic choice for political association and economic integration with the european union.
we have already indicated that for us the top priorities are a reliable electoral system based on an electoral code and clear rules on balanced media access for electoral competitors.
issues such as electoral and judicial reforms are among its commonly agreed priorities and it addresses constitutional reform too.
two thousand and thirteen the signature could be accompanied by the opening for provisional application of parts of the agreement.
the second was ukraine's progress in addressing the issue of selective justice and preventing its recurrence. the third was action to implement the reforms defined in the jointly agreed association agenda.
the third criterion is the association agenda.
the council in the conclusions adopted on monday reaffirmed its commitment to the signing of the association agreement including the dcfta as soon as ukraine demonstrates determined action and tangible progress
and of the criminal code.
this policy allows us to work towards that end in a sequenced way.
that is the name of the game to share with ukrainians the same values the same commitments to democracy and the rule of law and to share the same european future.
what an appropriate time and place to address both the current challenges in the eastern partnership and future opportunities including the future of the eastern partnership and the role of the european perspective
and tangible progress by the ukrainian government and parliament.
second for me the way ahead is clear the european union's firm commitment to pursuing political association and economic integration with ukraine now needs to be mirrored by determined action
in that regard.
those who are able to integrate ukraine in their system will be able to master their security at that border.
we betray our values by alienating the ukrainian people who are disappointed by our hypocrisy short sightedness and unfairness and by pushing it towards a union which does not cherish our standards.
we betray our geostrategic goals because we refuse the benefit of the instruments offered by the already negotiated association agreement in order to bring ukraine slowly but steadily perhaps into our union through economic integration political association and institutional convergence thus forcing it to become a eurasian outpost at our eastern borders.
mr president i was an international observer in the ukraine elections.
i had unrestricted access in kiev to polling stations election officials and party activists.
i have seen corrupt elections where gangs of thugs sponsored by the prime minister attack opposition activists;
where council workers are threatened with losing their jobs if they vote the wrong way on ballot papers that carry traceable serial marks;
where two million voters do not even exist but still vote by post;
where at the close of polls unsealed ballot boxes are taken to central counting places by unsupervised officials;
where the election officials are appointed by the local ruling party.
but all these assaults on democracy go on routinely in the united kingdom.
please do not mix the two issues.
unfortunately like many members of this house i am also disturbed by the elections and the post electoral processes in the country. ukraine is our important neighbour and partner.
respect for and clarity in democratic processes must be an important basis for the union's further cooperation with the country.
as a neighbour it is our role to create possibilities to improve them.
it is for ukraine's politicians however to make choices.
eu water law is neutral as it concerns the legal regime of the providers of such services and this choice is left to member states.
i also know that very recently the heads of state had a very systematic discussion on the need for us in europe to be much better at implementing and when the blueprint that i referred to at the beginning comes out there will also be some ideas on how to improve implementation of environmental legislation in europe.
second the eu has developed over several decades a comprehensive water policy.
this brings together all users and stakeholders to address all pressures on the water environment in the whole river basin beyond administrative boundaries.
the blueprint will also look at ways to improve governance including analysing the administrative setup and the potential to reduce administrative burden.
the blueprint should subject to an impact assessment suggest actions in seven specific areas on land use;