kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
mr president our youth's prospects are dying of bureaucracy and its weapon of choice red tape. youth unemployment is a scourge that will affect europeans for generations.
more than one in five young people across the european union as a whole are unemployed and figures released yesterday by the un suggest that this is set to get worse.
nothing will change and instead of stemming the red tape that kills jobs the strangulation will continue.
good money will be thrown after bad.
in contrast both the uk and the us economies will grow.
the eurozone seventeen will see their economy shrink by.
is it any coincidence that the states with the worst problems are members of the eurozone?
we have to turn round our ailing economy in order to achieve a sustainable economy but we cannot solve the problem by using the same policies which brought us here in the first place.
we need an economy in which we can foster enterprise combat inequality create green jobs and support community and cooperative organisations.
we need procurement models that are accessible to smaller businesses to help the local economy and create employment. we need to invest in improving housing health and the environment this will create millions of jobs and improve society.
we have to look to the future and start refocusing investment including the huge possibilities of the structural funds and the eib.
on the need for balanced labour market reforms and on helping mobility in the european union in order to improve the situation and create jobs in the near future. it also includes action plans in three key areas including green jobs and we would like to work hand in hand with the member states in order to implement this as fast as possible.
union. i think this is a kind of obsession that has to be sidelined and we have to continue our work on the commitment to social rights social cohesion and improving working conditions.
however in order to ensure that we have to approach this with a readiness to invest more and also protect those people who suffer from the consequences of mass unemployment in the european union at this
we have a generation out of work.
plan a is not working so where is plan b? we desperately need a plan to build for the future a plan for jobs and growth and a plan to give hope for our young people.
let us hope that the election of hollande will at last trigger a change of direction for europe.
despite what those on the right say we are not calling just for more spending or for large deficits to be ignored.
we are calling for the end to the dogma of austerity in favour of a more balanced plan as in the us obama has a balanced deficit reduction while still creating jobs and generating growth. let us hope that hollande can show the leadership that cameron merkel and sarkozy have so dismally failed to deliver.
eu leaders will meet tomorrow to map out incentives and initiatives to pave the way for future growth.
this is a welcome and positive development.
however simply declaring that we need jobs and investment is so obvious that it has become a clich.
because if we decide later we need to establish and guarantee a stable and harmonised regulatory framework across member states and put a stop to the uneven competition between public and private financing.
mr president i remember that half a year ago it was fiscal austerity which was the issue of the day.
now it is growth of course but unfortunately we will achieve neither fiscal discipline nor growth in the atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability that we now have.
certainty and predictability this is what we need most at the moment.
now even some commissioners admit that this might happen and that plan b is necessary for greece.
i think that our institutions unfortunately have lost the ability to reflect public mood in the european union because in hard times as we have seen in france and in greece repeatedly people are looking at voting for strong national leaders to give responses to their problems.
let us for instance complete the single market and let us admit that fiscal discipline growth is mostly in the hands of member states.
austerity does not pull countries out of debt it increases the burden of debt by contracting the economy and reducing government revenues.
all states must embrace the principle that what is physically possible should be financially possible.
mr president every time the european union faces a self made crisis the response is always more europe.
the single currency has created a colossal mess yet what do we hear?
let me tell you something eu legislation has stifled growth and the single currency scares off investors.
and then of course we have the big policy issues we need to come back to.
so it is an urgent situation and we need to do something.
instead of people having to get their food provided by kitchens and having to queue up at soup kitchens we can give them cash to buy local food that helps them lower the costs and also gives a bit more dignity.
we know that greece is not easy.
we are hearing that there are three hundred unaccompanied children in belgrade living in squats.
elena valenciano spoke about the limbo and in this limbo what we have to try and do is make people's lives as comfortable and as near to normal as possible. one of the ways to do that is to get people onto some kind of cash voucher scheme.
these are very difficult situations and i think we just need to pull together to tackle the emergency.
yet they have not done so shame on them.
selling out their ideals to the highest bidder and whilst my own prime minister in the uk keeps distracting with an incoherent fiction about hard brexit human beings are freezing to death on the street and in camps across europe.
yes we need emergency support but if governments refuse to act then citizens must and i thank them for their compassion.
i would recommend that all colleagues here do what they can on a personal level donate to local grassroots charities go out and help campaign in person.
the un refugee agency has urged european governments to take urgent action to help these refugees and we in this house have called on our governments to act on their commitments time and time again.
but i would just simply put this question to the commissioner who i know is working hard on this.
for those of us who visited lebanon and jordan we know that there is a refugee problem all over the world but we cannot see in two thousand and seventeen a situation where the cold weather will potentially kill refugees in europe.
we understand the relocation problems and we know the context.
this is not a situation any of us want to see.
we accept that people suffer so that others might be deterred but is this really the europe that we want to live in?
how could we let this happen in our own european union for which we are all together responsible?
this will not happen.
the big problem here is the turkey deal because of the limitations it puts when turkey will only accept back refugees that come from the islands.
we need to relocate relocate and relocate.
but if it is not acceptable then we have to get real we have to transfer refugees from the islands to the greek mainland.
this is nothing. again we need the member states to act on that.
there are children with frostbite inside the european union in the twenty first century and we seem to be unable to help effectively.
but we put ourselves or not us but the council and the member states put themselves in this situation and they are putting pressure on greece not to transfer refugees to the mainland.
we need to accept that reality and finally bring some dignity to the people but also to europe.
is this the europe that we imagined when we were running for this position for example and is this really acceptable to us?
overall we need to stop pretending that people will stop fleeing from war from conflict from persecution if we just make it really horrible for them here.
i think a big part of it is the logic of trying to keep asylum seekers migrants refugees whatever out and treating them badly to stop them coming.
to assess the situation on the ground and of course to discuss and find immediate solutions.
not next week.
of appropriate shelters including closed facilities on the islands as well as the improvement of existing infrastructure.
million in eu financial and technical support for serbia in this field since. two thousand and seven of course more needs to be done to provide safe and humane conditions for migrants including through the expansion of reception
these are not of course long term solutions but these extraordinary times require extraordinary responses. we are monitoring the situation on the island closely and we will keep doing whatever is needed to support the greek authorities for as long as it takes.
we stand ready to provide available funding to create this additional accommodation capacity and we have communicated this to the national and local authorities.
states. here we are also providing significant financial and technical
proud of this very painful
in some parts of europe this was not expected.
i would like to reach out to give recognition and wholeheartedly felt thanks to them at this time.
at the same time the european governments and the union institutions have to improve the management of this situation.
we must and can do much better than this. i realise that the relocation from greece and italy has not worked. therefore in the dublin regulation that i am responsible for and currently working on i will try to present some ideas on how we can solve some of these issues
but these are long term solutions. what we need to see now are emergency measures to assist all refugees on our continent both those in member states and those who are stuck in the countries of the western balkans.
i hope that member states and the commission will do all that they can to provide the necessary assistance because today we need both emergency measures and passion and compassion for those in need.
we need to reach out in this humanitarian crisis on european soil.
generations to come will judge us on what we do or what we avoid doing today.
a painful discussion because all of us feel very uncomfortable about the situation. nobody should feel proud of this situation especially because of our moral framework
because all of us we know well and we want to offer these people dignity in this very unprecedented situation. let me take this opportunity to repeat that
because we strongly believe that no one should remain in the cold in these conditions.
of course regardless of the emergency situation and we have to meet this emergency situation in these challenging times we should not forget the need for longer term solutions.
better. thank you very much again for your support and for your help and assistance in these very difficult conditions.
now we are informed that even these excessive rules are not being implemented properly by the member states.
from the recently published evaluation of the return directive by the commission which by the way is not very informative we also learned that other member states are not even sticking to the low standards of the return directive.
latin american leaders called it a directive of shame.
one five years and this could affect several thousand people.
mr president in two thousand and eight when the return directive was adopted in this house it was harshly criticised by us greens by many nongovernmental organisations and even by heads of government.
obviously greece is using an illegal trick for detaining migrants even longer than the maximum of.
i would like to know from the commission what it is going to do against this breach of european law and whether it will take effective measures to end this.
one five years not for a crime but for the simple offence of staying in the european union without permission.
several do not have criteria for the risk of absconding which is the major reason why people are being detained.
i would like to know in particular how long migrants are being de facto detained and why did the commission not provide any information on this?
can the commission please explain that what steps are you going to take against member states that are obviously in breach of european law?
in other words you cannot sue if you put yourself in danger of loss or injury.
if their stay is a long one it is usually because of extensive court actions to avoid repatriation.
these illegal immigrants were not kidnapped in their own countries by wicked europeans who then brought them to europe and incarcerated them for eighteen months or more.
the commission therefore does not comment on ongoing or planned infringement procedures but the commission will of course not hesitate to take appropriate steps if necessary.
to ensure mutual trust between the commission services and the member states a degree of confidentiality is of course essential.
the commission has regularly visited the detention centres in the region of athens most recently in march and is ready to go back to greece very soon to check the situation in the other detention centres including komotini.
once the restrictions reach the level of deprivation of liberty they would have to be considered as de facto detention.
with the support of the european return fund some modern detention centres have been opened and some other facilities have been renovated. however there is still room for improvement. the report by mdecins sans frontires primarily described an alarming situation in the detention centre located in komotini.
in the context of the overall monitoring of the implementation of the directive and in particular in the context of the greek action plan on asylum and migration we will pay particular attention to those provisions of the directive which relate to the detention of returnees safeguards and legal remedies as well as the treatment of minors and other
while the legal time limits for detention have increased in eight member states they have decreased in twelve member states.
the only exception is the united kingdom which decided not to opt into the return directive and which still allows unlimited detention.
the commission is concerned about the practical effects of this opinion on greek administrative practice.
the return directive provides very clearly that after eighteen months administrative detention must be stopped and only lesser measures such as residence restrictions or regular reporting can be applied.
all member states including greece now have legislation in force which respects the maximum periods provided by the directive.
the return directive has contributed to a convergence and overall to the reduction of maximum detention periods across the european union.
vulnerable persons in the return procedures.
the commission will ask greece about the practical application and consider further steps once it has been clarified how the opinion is actually being applied.
the commission has already sent an inquiry to the greek authorities to know how the substantial support received by greece under the return fund to improve detention conditions in the pre removal centre has been used in practice.
in conclusion let me insist that the commission will follow up on all shortcomings identified in our recent implementation report on the return directive.
so that means that things have to be moving people have to be informed of what is happening and if that is not the case they should not be in detention.
we have reports verified reports of people tortured on return for example to sri lanka and indeed other countries.
i was one of those who negotiated the return directive. certainly the section on detention was an extremely difficult one and i think that the results are not results which we should necessarily be proud of but the directive is extremely clear that any detention shall only be maintained as long as removal arrangements are in progress
we have to avoid deliberately making people destitute and potential victims of criminals who prey on the vulnerable.
i think we also need to be paying more attention to those who cannot be returned either because of the lack of cooperation of the country of return or the situation in that country and of those who are actually stateless.
and executed with due diligence.
the courts are clear on this unhcr has raised questions about the changes going on in greece but i think we also have some issues here in terms of the follow up to the stockholm programme in what we are doing that actually helps make returns sustainable in terms of preparation prospects and indeed follow up to find out what actually does happen to people on return.
what we are doing?
we have launched a few pilot cases which means that this is a kind of pre infringement monitoring which the commission is doing and of course if necessary we will not shy away from opening the infringements.
i of course took that point.
mr president we've had strong support for the resolution today from members of this parliament the resolution on what the future relationship between the united kingdom and europe would be.
i very much welcome the fact that the situation in ireland has been underlined again in this resolution that there should be no hard border between the north and the south in ireland and that the good friday agreement in all its forms would be protected.
the eu budget is not it should not be the christmas tree which every single member states is decorating in its own way. it should in contrast reflect the priorities for the union as a whole and it should enable us to close the democratic deficit.
i believe the budget should no longer be voted by unanimity in the council.
mr president the next multiannual financial framework will set the tone for our action after two thousand and twenty and i am sorry to say that we didn't seize the opportunity to reform how the budget is voted.
that's why i am sorry that we didn't take this opportunity.
unanimity means very often unsustainable compromises where every member state competes to get the biggest rebate or to pay less.
i believe this proposal would not only lead to more transparency but as well a better understanding of the union's budget to all our citizens.
the new own resources system will significantly reduce national contributions by member states and would use a basket approach reinforcing eu policies with added value.
right from the beginning we wanted to be in a common market not a common government. even as late as february two thousand and sixteen if david cameron had been able to come back with any significant retrieval of power it is clear that he would have won the referendum.
so we find ourselves now having to look for such a deal from the outside.
but faced with the choice the other twenty seven or the commission or from whatever breakdown it was clear that people would rather lose the second largest financial contributor than set the precedent that powers could float back rather than just upwards.
i have to say there were a lot of voices in this house that before the referendum used to argue for precisely that particularly among my federalist friends who used to say we need to find associate status for the united kingdom in the market but outside everything else. i understand that people are affronted that the referendum has jangled nerves but surely that's still the best outcome for both sides.
the british problem or from our perspective the european problem is very simply stated.
getting own resources will strengthen the union increase its capacity and lessen the burden we put on our citizens.
we therefore have to explore new possibilities to finance the union such as collecting revenues from the emission trading schemes.
getting own resources is also a possible way of solving the problem that occurs every year in the council when twenty seven or twenty eight heads of state fight over who will pay less and get a rebate.
it is overwhelmingly in the interests of both the uk and the eu twenty seven to have a unique deal with the freest possible trade and the closest possible security relationship.
we share the aspiration for a strong and effective partnership covering trade foreign policy internal security and areas of thematic cooperation but we cannot support a resolution which ignores the parameters set out by our prime minister.
mr president we welcome the acknowledgment of the importance of our relationship our common values our close connections and our historical links.
to suggest that the best solution would be membership of the single market and customs union to pay into the budget and to accept the jurisdiction of the ecj is to call for eu membership in everything but name.
differences remain and tough talks lie ahead but i believe there is nothing preventing us from reaching a unique and mutually beneficial agreement reflecting the new rights and obligations apart from the political will and a sense of pragmatism.
the good friday agreement strengthened the relationship between communities in northern ireland between north and south and across the irish sea between communities that had been torn apart by violence and conflict.
the philosophy of it was that when you strengthen one of the relations you strengthen all of them.
the risk now is that by damaging one we can damage them all.
i therefore plead with the negotiators to be careful negotiating the future of the relations.
i understand that every side is out to get as much as possible in the negotiations but if we lose the peace then the eventual gains are worth nothing.
it is important to provide maximum certainty for our citizens and businesses as soon as possible.
thus the resolution proposes setting up a welldefined governance framework for a comprehensive association and partnership.
it highlights four main pillars for our future relationship such as economic relations foreign affairs security and thematic cooperation.
the commission is currently investigating whether the single delimination line has any adverse effect for union fishing vessels operating in the waters in question and whether it is in any way contestable under applicable international law and the relevant provisions of the united nations convention on the law of the sea in particular.
i am very surprised by that.
nine hundred and eighty one to two thousand and ten ice covers a considerable part of the maritime zone around svalbard most of the time but now that is changing.
but i would say that if any claims from the norwegian side on taking responsibility for the fishing protection zone around svalbard are going to be taken seriously by environmentalists and maybe also by the eu i suggest that norway sides with those arctic democracies that want to have a fishing moratorium on the high seas and not side again with russia to exploit what should be left alone.
if you go nasa's website you can see how the ice is melting away at a frightening speed and new waters are opening up for transport oil gas exploration and fishing. of course this attracts a lot of interest from others.
the waters under the ice cap have not been accessible for more than eight hundred thousand years and of course we must take the responsibility before it is too late to protect these sensitive ecosystems. as is often the case norway has a particular role to play in all of this.
i respect a lot of norwegian fisheries policies and of course norway is a neighbouring country to my country sweden.
during this meeting canada denmark and the us are trying to convince russia and norway to establish a high seas arctic fishing moratorium something norway has shown very little interest in.
let me underline the sensitivity of this important fishery related issue.
the implications of the newly drawn murmansk line' for fisheries in the waters in question are still being considered within different commission departments.
with regard to questions two three and four formulated by the honourable member of the european parliament there is no established european union position on those yet.
it concerns delicate aspects of international law and more importantly has a bearing on our relations with norway which at present and historically has been our most important partner in fisheries and also other marine related including arctic issues.