kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
if we do not do this all our talk laws or actions against corruption and organised crime are useless and at the very least naive. our laws and practice must be based on the principles follow the money' and follow the money across borders'.
it decreases the level of investments reduces public financing and undermines citizens' trust in institutions.
first we need a full and tough implementation of national anti corruption legislation.
furthermore in its two thousand and ten internal security strategy the justice and home affairs council referred to corruption as one of the main challenges to internal security and called for further action at eu level.
clearly much remains to be done but we are starting to get some of our partners to take the issue seriously where once it was simply accepted as a part of normal life.
in december following lengthy and complex negotiations the council was able to confirm that it had reached political agreement on amending regulation no one thousand and seventy three one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine which is the basic legal act establishing olaf's powers. the new regulation once adopted will strengthen olaf's independence and clarify the tasks duties and scope of action of olaf's directorate general and of the supervisory committee.
the council considers that the integrity of the eu's institutions can be best demonstrated through the continuing development of measures which translate the principles of good governance into best working practices.
the first of these reports is due later this year and the council looks forward to the opportunity that this will present to review and strengthen european anti corruption measures. but in addition to the measures undertaken by member states the eu institutions also need to be seen to be taking the issue of corruption seriously. we require a clear commitment from each of the eu institutions to take responsibility for ensuring that effective anti corruption policies are in place within their own structures.
the commission's proposals for participation in greco were published in october;
two thousand and eleven the package includes the decision to establish a new evaluation mechanism to assess anti corruption efforts within the eu.
much has been and is being done to combat corruption but we can never afford to be complacent.
the eu has had considerable success in getting corruption on to the global agenda.
the council is convinced that these reforms will make a significant contribution to increased protection of the union's financial interests and very much hopes that agreement in the council will open the way for an early second reading agreement.
it undermines the rule of law on which all of our national systems as well as the european union are based.
that goes not just for europe but also beyond.
corruption is a significant threat to the foundations of our democratic system.
it saps public confidence in the institutions and organisations which are supposed to be at the service of every citizen.
it is a further step towards increased transparency and provides an incentive for member states to ratify and implement existing international anti corruption instruments.
we seek to use our influence through trade and other instruments at our disposal to encourage a more robust approach to corruption.
the council and the eu as a whole take the fight against corruption very seriously indeed. that involves support for anti corruption measures in the member states but also includes ensuring that our own institutions are an example to europe as a whole.
two thousand and twelve following preliminary discussions we understand that the commission is reviewing its proposal. we will engage constructively with the commission on this and we look forward to receiving a revised proposal from the commission in due course.
there are still several key conventions in this area which have not yet been ratified by all eu member states.
the evaluation mechanism announced by the commission in two thousand and eleven provides for reports every two years which will assess member states' overall efforts in the fight against corruption.
the council will work constructively in order to take forward its negotiations with greco so that we can find an appropriate solution to eu participation.
this is essential for the credibility of action at eu level and for the maintenance of confidence in the political decision making process.
this includes areas such as effective codes of ethic clear rules on addressing possible conflicts of interest unambiguous regulations on lobbying and increased transparency in policymaking.
these statements reflect a strong political will to tackle corruption within the eu and they are gradually being turned into concrete measures which constitute an effective and comprehensive eu anti corruption strategy. the commission adopted an anti corruption package in.
within the eu there has been a strong political commitment at the highest political level to tackle corruption. in the stockholm programme the multiannual strategic framework covering the area of freedom security and justice for the period two thousand and twelve to two thousand and fourteen the european council called for concrete measures to strengthen the eu's anti corruption policy.
it will also provide for clear reporting obligations as well as for more timely and effective exchange of information between the various institutions and authorities involved during the different phases of investigations.
it is an issue that certainly is not confined to certain member states.
it is one that affects every member state and one that crosses borders and therefore needs a strong european response.
and putting in place concrete steps to tackle it.
it is that we set very high standards when we talk about enlargement and candidate countries but in order for the european union to be in a position to exert pressure on countries to reform and to meet the criteria we have to
be in a strong position ourselves.
in other words we have to adhere to the type of standards and the type of transparency that we talk about and that we insist upon during the accession process.
a number of points have been made in respect of olaf.
it is important to say that the irish presidency is very pleased at the fact that agreement was reached in council in respect of the olaf regulation.
i think this will help to address some of the concerns at least that have been raised by members such as mr tavares.
one point in respect of the proposed directive on the fight against fraud to the union's financial interests this is a priority for the irish presidency.
i know that within council some member states have concerns about some of the details of the commission proposal. however i am absolutely confident that we will be able to reach agreement as there is very strong support for its aims.
we will work on the substantive issues and look forward to engaging with parliament in the very near future on that.
i have taken good note of the concerns and of some very constructive suggestions that have been made here during the course of this evening's debate and i want to say that as the presidency we will certainly ensure that there is continuing and full cooperation and engagement with parliament.
nevertheless the eu will provide election assistance through the training of several thousand domestic election monitors and capacity building activities for the high electoral commission.
stipulates that the relations between the parties should be based on respect for democratic principles and fundamental rights. these include of course freedom of religion or belief freedom of association freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
that is our position.
this provision has been applied to blogger alaa abdel fatah who is accused of having incited violence against the armed forces and of having assaulted military personnel in front of the maspero state tv building on nine october.
that is the high representative's position and the position of the commission as a whole.
at the same time the eu and catherine ashton speak in empty phrases and seem to put stability once again before clear and unequivocal support for human rights.
no further call on the egyptian authorities to actually implement their pledges and to respect fundamental human rights.
since march two thousand and eleven more than twelve zero civilians have been tried before military courts.
we demand their release and civilian trials for civilians.
together with my colleague ms schaake who just spoke we have urged the high representative to re examine the facts and to support the european parliament which has repeatedly condemned military trials for civilians in the strongest terms and continues to do so today with this urgency resolution. the eu has no choice;
if we stand aside in the interest of false stability we risk losing the little credibility we have left in the region.
we believe that this is not an atmosphere and an environment in which truly democratic elections can take place.
more than twelve zero civilians have been tried before military courts since the revolution.
i stand with those egyptians who believe military courts do not have legitimacy. this is also true according to article ten of the universal declaration of human rights.
his wife is due to deliver a baby boy any day.
the injustice goes on and we support the egyptians' peaceful call for a truly new egypt.
they demand justice and human rights to be respected.
i truly hope we can speak about a new egypt but i worry about the way in which the supreme council of the armed forces is showing the exact same characteristics as under mubarak.
we support their calls for freedom and we are humble about the decisions that some of the european member state governments have made in the past but we are equally ambitious and committed to establishing a real partnership with egypt in the future.
that must start with the end of military trials for civilians and the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
tomorrow he will celebrate his birthday in a cramped prison cell.
alaa abdel fatah is a symbol and there are many other symbols that represent the thousands who are imprisoned including maikel nabil another blogger who has been mentioned.
human rights defender and blogger alaa abdel fatah is one of the latest victims.
he also awaits the birth of his son.
they had faith in the birth of a new egypt an egypt that would provide opportunities for the new generation.
they want to determine their own future opportunities no corruption.
certainly we need to do more to stand up for christians and indeed everybody who is being persecuted in the name of religion around the world.
the case of mr fatah is particularly important today and he is to be congratulated on his courage in not accepting a trial by the military junta and of course he has been put in prison as a result. we have to support in every way we can the no to military trials' movement which is asking all egyptians not to cooperate with the military tribunals. in that way we might
the southern and eastern neighbourhoods should be both synergetic and symmetric in this context.
so far i hope that this six hundred will be fine but i have one important remark in order to eliminate all the controversies.
we know that it is the priority of the czech presidency although we do not have the pleasure of seeing the czech minister in the chamber.
that is key for the stability and security of the european union.
the conflict in georgia and also the gas crisis in ukraine are just two examples of the periodic crises and the instability affecting this region.
to these two crises we now have to add the financial crisis which hits our eastern neighbourhood particularly hard. while each crisis requires its own immediate response we also have to provide medium and long term action to prevent new problems from arising and in addition to these immediate issues our eastern neighbours
mr president i am very glad to have this opportunity for a timely debate on the eastern partnership.
increasing our support for reforms and helping our partners to align with the eu acquis will help stabilise our eastern neighbours.
it built on prior ideas by our czech polish and swedish friends and it built on many of the european parliament's suggestions including deep free trade agreements more mobility of people and greater funding.
we need to strike the right balance therefore between ambition and realism and we need to move fast.
in short this is not an excessive sum it is a necessary investment in our long term security.
i hope that today's debate sends a strong signal to the twenty seven member states in the run up to next week's european council and in preparation for the eastern partnership summit on seven may.
it is in the eu's direct strategic interest a new security crisis in our eastern neighbourhood would have implications not only for our neighbours but also for the whole eu and its citizens.
we suggested making the european parliament's euronest initiative an integral part of the eastern partnership and setting up an eastern partnership parliamentary troika for the european parliament the osce and the council of europe.
we proposed measures to enhance cooperation on energy security and importantly increase support for economic and also social development to address the imbalances within countries that are so often a destabilising force. we also recommended setting up a multilateral framework for the eastern partnership with four thematic cooperation platforms firstly democracy and governance stability; secondly economic integration and convergence with eu policies;
to implement all these proposals and step up support for internal reforms the commission asked for eur three hundred and fifty million additional funds over four years.
i am glad that we all share the goal of bringing our eastern partners gradually closer to the union and also tackling the threats to their stability. the eastern partnership is a key tool to accomplish that.
two thousand and nine the eastern partnership goes to the very heart of the challenges we face today.
you have said that the commission proposals do not go far enough or fast enough particularly for the mobility of people but other voices have said the opposite.
i know some of you would like to do even more for our eastern partners.
as part of the eastern partnership we also proposed upgrading our political relationships through association agreements with each partner but only once they have fulfilled the relevant political reform criteria.
it is one of the flagships of the european union's foreign policy and its strategic rationale is clear more security more stability and more prosperity in our eastern neighbourhood.
the european union can and must respond to these challenges and the eastern partnership is so to say our political answer.
these have had a direct impact on the union and its citizens.
all want stronger links with the european union albeit to varying degrees.
it could be compared to establishing four common spaces between the eu and russia but the main element of this relationship will be reciprocity and conditionality.
consequently the real substantive issues of the black sea area like energy and frozen conflicts are approached either through the eu neighbourhood policy where the money is; the future eastern partnership designed to increase the security confidence of the countries involved and secure the energy deliveries to the eu after the georgian war;
or the accession talks with turkey.
not much i should say apart from seminars and studies on how to extend the existing european initiatives towards the area and non political issues.
that is my first comment.
a lot can be said about this eastern partnership.
it is a principal question.
security. energy security today is one of the important issues where we have a real win win situation we are highly interested and they are highly interested. we have to bring that together.
mr president as rapporteur for the eastern dimension of the european neighbourhood policy i welcome the commission's commitment to deepening relations with six countries to the east in the new eastern partnership.
however i hope that the eastern partnership will not lead to new dividing lines being drawn between those countries in the partnership and those countries further east and outside of it.
we must bear in mind that countries in central asia like turkmenistan kazakhstan and uzbekistan are looking west to the eu for assistance and engagement.
we must therefore be careful not to lose sight of our responsibilities to central asia simply because we wish to strengthen relations with countries adjacent to the eu to its immediate east.
i have long advocated a carrot and stick approach whereby president lukashenko's efforts at democratic reform and openness should be recognised and rewarded by closer ties to the european union.
as to whether mr lukashenko should be allowed to participate in the summit in prague to launch the new eastern partnership in may such a step to my mind is probably premature as president lukashenko still needs to demonstrate an irrevocable commitment to eu common values and democracy.
a relationship without condition. when we were in minsk we obviously met the democratic opposition leaders and we also spoke with the press.
it is clear that lukashenko does want good relations with us but this is not out of the goodness of his soul it is because he has very serious economic problems and wants to stay in power.
are we supporting them or are we supporting the dictatorship which for the time being rules over them?
one could hardly imagine a regional strategy there without turkey and russia but these particular countries are left out of the process.
what all these countries have in common is the fact that they were all part of the soviet union and they are all neighbours of russia as much as they are neighbours of the european union.
in other words we are dealing with a common neighbourhood.
the real challenge is how to develop an eu russia common policy in respect of their common neighbourhood.
russia is less democratic and less a market economy than those neighbours so no joint policy will bring us closer to that goal.
three and a half years later we can be proud that important progress has been made in europe and that the action plan has contributed to increasing international awareness about this serious worldwide public health concern.
on patient safety i am glad to see that the report while recognising the progress made so far seeks to go further and do more for the safety of citizens. i also welcome the call for enhanced cooperation with stakeholders in the interests of a coordinated comprehensive and sustainable eu approach to
for many years this issue has been a priority for the commission.
i am confident that together parliament the member states the commission and civil society we can succeed in improving further patient safety and in stepping up the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
in two thousand and eleven we launched the five year action plan based on the one health concept involving all sectors and aspects of antimicrobial resistance.
patient safety.
amr knows no borders and can spread between humans animals the environment and food.
two thousand and thirteen this amendment is totally in line with the political agreement reached in the conciliation committee last week in the framework of the joint text concerning the two thousand and fourteen budget.
ninety so there is an urgent need to act to retain clinical trials in europe and to increase their numbers for the benefit of patients and industry alike. at the same time high level protection of the subjects involved in such trials must be ensured so swifter trials but at the same time maintaining patient safety.
secondly a harmonised procedure for the assessment of applications for clinical trials which will eliminate duplications and unnecessary delays and perhaps most importantly of all the extension of the so called tacit agreement principle to the whole authorisation process which without compromising safety will give sponsors in particular smes and academics increased legal certainty.
because clinical trials are key to the development of new medicines and to improving comparing and refining treatments using already authorised medicines.
in addition to benefiting patients by promoting research and investment including inward investment from outside the european union clinical trials can also make an important contribution to growth and jobs.
thirdly simplified reporting procedures which will spur sponsors away from submitting broadly identical information separately to various bodies and in different member states; increased transparency regarding clinical trials and their outcomes even in cases where something is refused
moreover and this is an important point clinical trials that are conducted outside the eu but which are referred to in a clinical trial application within the eu so where the clinical trial takes place outside the eu but the application for an authorisation of medicine takes place within the eu will have to comply with regulatory requirements at least equivalent to those applicable inside the european union.
this new regulation harmonising rules across the eu creating a single application portal and a clear system for cooperation between member states would radically change that. sadly sam white passed away last september but his work goes on.
i want to start with why i first got involved with this legislation.
currently only half of clinical trials are published and positive results are more likely to be published than negative results.
all trials positive negative or inconclusive will need to upload a summary of results to a publicly accessible database one year after completion and once marketing authorisation is applied for the full clinical study reports will be uploaded.
and by introducing the concept of low intervention trials we make simple less risky trials much less burdensome to conduct. but at the heart of the legislation is patient protection. we have made it clear that ethics committees will always be involved in assessing clinical trials and have the power to stop them going ahead.
once again thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this stage and i hope the whole parliament can give the regulation their support today.
they provide opportunities for new treatments as well as supporting thousands of skilled research jobs.
by facilitating cross border trials we can cut unnecessary bureaucracy;
he was a great inspiration and i hope that what we have managed to achieve will help to improve life for others and treatment for others in sam's situation and push up survival rates for childhood cancers and rare diseases.
we should all be proud that the eu will now be leading the way globally in clinical trial transparency which is good for patient safety good for scientific progress and good for public trust in medicines.
but we have to make sure that all trials contribute towards better medicine.
but we have to ensure that clinical trials take place here in europe.
i would have liked even more patient involvement and shorter approval times but i understand that member states had strong views on these issues and overall i think we have reached an excellent compromise.
we know that since two thousand and seven clinical trials carried out in the eu have dropped by.
twenty five i hope this regulation will reverse that trend.
we also have a comprehensive text on protecting vulnerable populations and ensuring that patients are fully informed before participating in a trial.
with clear and forcible timelines we provide certainty to companies and academics;
this can give a biased picture about the safety and efficacy of medicines and can lead to unnecessary or even dangerous trials being repeated. so the transparency measures this law will put in place are a huge step forward.
we also have a clear statement that these reports should not be seen as commercially confidential and i hope that will support the ema in their quest to publish the data they already hold.