kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
how exactly that transition goes forward is for the yemeni parties themselves to work out.
all the documented allegations must be followed up properly whoever the presumed perpetrator is.
but we also recognised the importance of our continuing support and tonight we will focus on egypt syria yemen and bahrain where the latest events remind us of what we were saying two weeks ago.
yet the worst thing now would be for these tragic events to stand in the way of democracy.
that is why the unity of the people and the new political leaders on the ground is essential.
about sixty more civilians aside from those medical personnel have been sentenced in these courts.
we were all shocked and appalled by the violence against a peaceful demonstration by the coptic christian community that led to the death of twenty five people with more than three hundred injured.
the conviction and sentencing of twenty doctors and nurses who treated injured protestors was appalling.
however in order to fulfil our role as a friend of bahrain we must be honest and when things go wrong we must say so clearly.
we look to the bahraini authorities to take action to inject real confidence into that process.
i welcome the establishment of an independent commission composed of international figures to look into the events of recent months and into allegations of human rights abuses and i join with baroness ashton in saying that what bahrain requires is a genuine dialogue between government and opposition.
so we are now saying clearly to bahrain that we demand respect for human rights and the upholding of political freedom.
i am pleased that following the intervention of the international community the bahraini government has nullified those sentences.
as a european union we must heed the failure of the latest session of the un human rights council to agree the decisive action needed to provide real protection and support for the region's democracy protestors.
here in the european union itself we have no excuse not to do so.
the disappointment of the eu expressed in the council conclusions must be reinforced by increasing pressure on international actors to take a strong stance against the killing mass arrests and torture of civilians in syria.
the revolutionary wave that calls for democracy in the arab world should not be left to wither.
high representative i believe that this week's statements on bahrain syria and the violence in egypt were very good but what actions will now back up those words? the eu can seek stronger overlap between values and interests but not if it continues to navel gaze or fragment.
we should leverage the impact of our single market to make it work for stability growth and the defence of human rights.
obama has announced oil sanctions for syria.
while the eu is syria's main trading partner it was unable to unite or to lead in this issue.
looking inward also hurts our relationship with turkey while we need to cooperate and engage on north africa and the middle east in a more intensive way. we are largely failing our neighbours and the next generation and with that our own interests.
the arab spring is turning into a winter and we must stand more closely with those people and their future. in egypt the supreme council of the armed forces is behaving no differently than the mubarak regime was.
citizens are tried in military courts for blogging like maikel nabil or for speaking out like asmaa mahfouz.
in syria an illegitimate government continues to kill people and there are now threats to europe concerning that might happen to us if we recognise the opposition council.
those threats were made mr pttering by the grand mufti and syrians in the eu are also facing threats.
it is up to the syrian people to determine their own future but we must protect their human rights and we are not doing enough.
let me specifically highlight the need to ban the export of surveillance security and censoring technologies to countries that use them to violate human rights.
in bahrain the prosecution of doctors in military courts for treating people indiscriminately shows disregard for human life.
please highlight their cases too.
we must stress the need for egypt to ban all discrimination based on religion language gender or ethnicity.
cooperation and coordination between member states is crucial when fighting trafficking. our response has to be clear in order to address the problem by ensuring that victims are also treated as rightsholders as well as we have to stop these criminal gangs on time.
allow me in that light to remind us that two thousand and fifteen sixteen will be remembered as the years when the european union and european governments failed to respond to the humanitarian needs of refugees and migrants seeking safety in europe.
within the eu out of the twenty seven member states concerned twenty six have now communicated to the commission full transposition of the anti trafficking directive. there is one remaining germany and they have informed us about the political agreement reached.
an infringement case against this member state remains open on grounds of non communication.
we must work together to ensure that we prevent the crime from happening because after that it is too late.
there we all have a role to play including in cooperation with countries beyond eu borders.
in this report we identify areas of progress and achievement but also expose gaps and efforts that are absolutely still to be made.
the eu raises trafficking in human beings in the framework of its human rights dialogue with over forty countries worldwide and that is an important component of our action plan on human rights and democracy.
the commission with the support of the external action service will continue to address human trafficking in the external relations of the european union.
we are currently in the process of developing the post two thousand and sixteen policy framework and this resolution and the report are indeed very timely.
i count on this parliament i know your strong commitment on this issue to continue to work in this direction. trafficking in human beings has quite a short story in the external action of the european union but we need to do more and to consolidate that work and this report is an important step in that direction.
we must ensure that the victims are not treated like criminals.
the report on the extent to which member states comply with the directive is foreseen to be presented by the commission in the fourth quarter of this year.
to do this we must work together.
we must demand a strong political will and commitment by the leadership of other countries. only then will the voice and the possible assistance of the eu have an ultimate impact.
i would also like to inform you about a milestone the commission reached recently at the end of may with the adoption of the first report assessing the progress made in fighting trafficking in human beings.
we also support international efforts in this field advocating and funding joint actions with various international regional fora such as the united nations the oece and the asia regional forum. more importantly we must ensure that we do not foster a culture of impunity for those who exploit and use these victims.
we are expecting information very soon on the transposition.
the content and priorities do not match today's most pressing challenges especially when it comes to internal and external security and climate change.
are diverted from functioning programmes with better and more justified aims.
i wish him good luck and tenacity for the upcoming negotiations.
mr president the draft budget as presented by the commission contains interesting proposals in some areas and problems but i see with regret that in terms of volume it proposes an even lower percentage of gni as compared to two thousand and ten for both commitment and payment appropriations.
i look forward to hearing from frontex clear proposals that can be funded with confidence.
last week the council made a proposal to expand the resources and staffing of frontex for the protection of the union's external border.
and the oral amendment that will be moved are helpful in this respect.
mr president i want to talk about two specific areas that will need consideration during this year's budget trilogue.
ten is the number of consecutive atlantic storms that have developed to hurricanes;
' of course the budget is about the future of europe and i just wish to point out three figures.
also the erasmus programme has been mentioned.
again that's good for young people.
first of all trademarks are registered in forty five different classes of goods and services and you can have the same mark in different classes in the same register.
the use of general clauses gives some leeway to the member states but ensures at the same time that the directive is future proof.
in this connection the commission considers that marketing legislation is not the most adequate instrument as it is a matter of freedom of expression.
as regards the statements in relation to advertising in the form of comments posted on social networks forums and blogs it is important to note that whenever consumers acting on behalf of a trader and or are in any way financed by a trader to make certain representations without this being made clear in the opinion or statement this is actually covered by the unfair commercial practices directive as a form of hidden advertising. as far as mere opinions are concerned these of course do not qualify as advertising.
as suggested by the draft report we will definitely continue our work on the guidance and update this document to take account of new issues and developments.
in order to find out how to best address the challenges arising from the development of the internet and new technologies the commission has consulted widely on the existing legal framework for data protection throughout two thousand.
and nine and two thousand and ten the consultations have confirmed that the underlying principles of the current eu data protection legislation are still very much valid.
in this connection the guidance on the application of the unfair commercial practices directive is one of the initiatives taken by the commission to make sure that full harmonisation is effective; in other words to ensure that the same rules are interpreted and applied in the same manner in the member states.
the commission is also developing a legal database on the legislation jurisprudence and academic work which will foster uniform application of the directive in the member states.
the commission considers that such differences some of which the commission is solving through cooperation with the member states are marginal and that the desired level of harmonisation seems to have been attained.
underlines that enhancing indigenous representatives' efficiency during un events is essential by supporting adequate logistics documentation and information;
it is our task to make sure that the eci is a strong credible agenda setting instrument and a tool for participatory democracy in the eu.
there are a few technical aspects of my report and a voting list which i would like to clarify before we proceed to the vote.
joining a customs union means that you cannot sign a free trade agreement with anybody else.
i am sure you can guess where this argument is going.
i have to say i have every sympathy with those ukrainians who want to sign an fta with europe rather than a customs union with the eurasian union for this basic reason a free trade agreement is not exclusive.
you purchase free trade within that customs union at the expense of trade elsewhere.
the united kingdom unusually exports more to non eu markets than to eu markets but we cannot sign free trade agreements with china or india or australia because we contracted that policy out to brussels on one january. one thousand nine hundred and seventy three given that every continent in the world except europe is now growing i say that is a pretty uncomfortable place to be.
two efta is going all guns with its trade talks with india and expects a comprehensive commercial agreement early next year.
india is the fourth largest investor in the uk.
mr president two pieces of news from the last couple of weeks. one the european union has now stalled its trade talks with india.
no one is expecting an fta in the foreseeable future.
we have the same business language the same common law system the same commercial accountancy practices but we cannot exploit the immense benefits of south asia as long as we are trapped by the eu's common external tariff required to defend a more protectionist policy than suits us because there are cossetted industries in southern europe that fear competition from india.
given that india grew at.
no country stands to benefit so much with trade from that rising leviathan.
mr president i welcome this resolution on green infrastructure as it allows us to recognise and make the most of all the different benefits that a piece of land can offer.
the environmental dimension such as supporting biodiversity and ecosystems or flood protection is extremely important but green infrastructure policy has to offer much more in terms of economic and social benefits such as creating jobs and offering services.
i support the call in this resolution for information on green infrastructure policies to be shared and for awareness to be raised.
i think the best practice examples could be extremely useful to ensure successful initiatives in this area.
i also support the need to integrate green infrastructure into other policy areas such as public health and youth employment.
i agree that innovative smes have a role to play in this area and that should be recognised.
mr president a century and a half has passed since the french writer frdric bastiat destroyed the notion of state funded jobs with his unseen and seen costs thought experiment.
he pointed out that we could pay people to go around smashing windows and on paper that would create lots of jobs for the people to clear up the glass and the glaziers to replace it and so on.
but of course what we would not see are the costs being taken out of the economy the extra insurance the costs that would have to be passed to the customers the people who were not able to take space in the vans because they were all filled with glass and so on.
this is a precise analogy to the debate that we are now having about green growth and green jobs.
we are still talking about taking money out of the market and redirecting it by state fiat in order to do something that there is no natural market for.
mr president i want to condemn the brutal state violence against peaceful protesters in kiev.
i defend their right to protest and the demands for democratic reform and an improvement in living conditions decent jobs and a real future.
they managed to maintain complete silence when police were beating protesters off the streets from athens to madrid within the boundaries of the european union.
the people of the ukraine have every right to speak out in favour of signing an association agreement with the eu if they wish but i do want to send them a warning. just like the putin regime the eu leaders do not have their interests at heart.
they are interested in playing a power game with the people as pawns trying to expand the interests and the influence of the eu or russia. an independent movement of workers and young people is needed to put those interests first and to put forward a plan for a real transformation real democratic and socialist change.
why is this calendar being pushed through now in such a rush?
i would like to see your legal justification for doing that.
there has been no opportunity to get any legal opinions on what the judgment actually means.
we agree that we have to comply with the judgment but we are asking for a reasonable delay in the proposal allowing you mr president to think again about your judgment allowing the conference of presidents to think again about its proposal and perhaps you never know allowing the council to put an end finally to this travelling circus.
it is only available on the website so i ask again why is this being pushed forward in such a hurry?
most members here have not seen the new calendar.
no copies of it have been sent round.
finally repeatedly a large majority in this chamber have voted for us to spend less time here in strasbourg saving both time money and carbon emissions.
you mr president have decided in your wisdom to rule out of order any calendar amendments that propose moving either for or against the period of four days either more or less four days. in my opinion that is not in the legal opinion from the court.
my reason is that we do not need to take a decision on this now.
i have had no opportunity to see it.
there has been no opportunity to examine the judgment properly.
why indeed stop at having just the eurocrats when you can have an army of consultants and contractors and other rent seekers stimulating the economy around them?
why have just one private jet when you can stimulate the economy twice as much by having two private jets?
the truth colleagues is that the money has run out in the private sector because of our policies.
there was an almost perfect symbolism when it emerged that in the last mandate the president of the commission and president of the european council had flown to the same summit in russia in two separate private jets.
why have just one bureaucracy when you can have twice as many regulations by having two parallel bureaucracies?
contrary to the commission's wishes the definition of cities and urban areas and i represent london must be decided at member state level given the differing size and economic and administrative resources in each member state.
the uk is currently undertaking a sub regional process where eu funds are placed under a single portal allowing a common platform with a single application payments monitoring and evaluation process. this shift from supranational to subregional approach for the application of funding represents a positive change for structural funds beyond two thousand and thirteen and i welcome that aspect of the report.
nevertheless i do welcome the stress on subsidiarity and flexibility.
we need to simplify the process of applying for eu funding in general.
this approach demonstrates a growing rejection of a one size fits all funding model and shows that subsidiarity works and i welcome that.
as my colleague julie girling said earlier it is quite right that they should focus spending on those areas of most urgent need. we should all tighten our belts and we should focus on those areas that really need the money because at the end of the day the money comes from somewhere and we have to ensure that we encourage wealth creation to create those taxes that people can spend
some see it in more political terms and some see it as a sort of socialistic utopia of redistribution of wealth but whatever happens or however you view cohesion policy you have to accept that the money comes from somewhere and that money comes from the taxpayer.
mr president what is cohesion policy? in simple terms cohesion policy is a way of ensuring transfers of taxpayers' money from richer countries to poorer countries or from richer regions to poorer regions.
that is why at a time when countries across the eu and across the world are having to tighten their belts and cut spending it is ridiculous to suggest that the cohesion budget for two thousand and fourteen two thousand and twenty should be maintained at current levels.
to create those services that we want to see.
so for these reasons i regret that we had to vote against this report although the principle of the report and what it was trying to get out and establish in the law was very good.
however we cannot support the mechanisms suggested in paragraphs twenty eight thirty two and thirty three as the solutions proposed consist of prior informed consent and mandatory requirements on disclosing the origin of genetic resources during the patent proceedings. the proposal in its current form i am afraid and rather regret to say
i have particular experience of this representing the only region in the uk that has ever received solidarity funds in two thousand and seven when we had some very bad flooding.
we welcome the acknowledgement that in these challenging economic times there is no sustainable argument for increasing the budget line allocated to the fund.
i can confirm that those funds arrived almost two years after the event and they were simply used for paying back money which had already been advanced by the uk government.
rather the report concentrates on improving the functioning of the fund and particularly on the issues of speed and simplicity and getting the money to where it is needed as quickly as possible and with as little loss through administration as possible.
on many occasions in this chamber we have heard about the difficulties with administration and we have heard about the difficulties with allocation and it seems that there is a general desire to reform rather than abolish the fund.
there are now some seven hundred pirates arrested and not tried for this gross violation of international law.
and help them to grow food because we have been giving them aid for a long time but not helping them to grow more food. we have changed our policy and we are now going to help them to grow more food.
the pirates get the money.
we have to go after the people who are arranging and managing the piracy.
catching little chaps off the boats is one thing but to get at the people who are behind it all is a key strategy that we should put into place to try them in our international courts.
people get commissions;
but piracy for example in somalia has become an acute problem.
the european union started the share programme and we have now provided about eur two hundred and seventy million which will help people in that area to grow better food to build emergency interventions and strengthen the livelihoods of agro pastoral communities
the report calls for the cohesion funds to be maintained at the current level. cohesion and structural funds are the second largest item in the eu budget accounting for one third of the total expenditure.
london should continue to receive these subsidies and they should be delegated to london to be managed directly.
this is not because i do not agree with its objectives.
the report also inflates the supposed importance of the bureaucratic european groupings of territorial cooperation.
this report does contain a number of examples of best practice and cohesion policy across the eu but our delegation has a number of concerns which prevent us from supporting the report.
first and foremost the report calls for the cohesion budget post two thousand and thirteen to be maintained at its present level.
savings can easily be made by restricting funding to those regions and member states which really need the funds.
none of these presently exist in the uk and our government rightly sees no fruitful reason ever to introduce them.
these were priorities that i held during my term as lord mayor.
the development of liveable and attractive cities can be a crucial factor in economic recovery. as a former lord mayor and councillor for dublin city i welcome the emphasis placed in this report on restoring cities including marginalised areas the conversion of disused spaces and concentrating resources on deprived urban areas.
a regulation on a european law of administrative procedure will make clear the principal of good administration that all institutions must respect.
people are entitled to a swift and efficient reply to their request. this right is founded in article forty one of the charter of fundamental rights.
this regulation will create a unitary code of conduct across different institutions and make possible external monitoring. citizens must be able to control the work and practices of the european institutions.
the union is the most important donor and provider of humanitarian aid in the region.
the latest statistics provided by the food and agriculture organization in march two thousand and twelve show that more than eight million people are in need of assistance.