kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
it was the acknowledgement of this fact that led to the establishment of the structural reform support programme back in.
we now have a historic opportunity to implement these recommendations and provide citizenship initiatives with proper funding.
it is in part a response to the outpouring of compassion shown by many young people in response to numerous natural disasters such as devastating floods in my region and to the refugee crisis.
following the charlie hebdo and danish attacks in two thousand and fifteen the twenty eight eu education ministers signed the paris declaration calling for the use of education and active participation to promote fundamental values.
however i must take this opportunity to reaffirm the key role of citizenship education and active participation of young and less young people more generally and the importance of properly supporting all relevant initiatives in this field through the next eu budget. citizenship education and active participation facilitate intercultural dialogue and promote personal and collective development and wellbeing and empowerment of individuals and communities.
we must prepare a generation of young people with the motivation commitments and skills including critical and creative thinking so that they can be audacious problem solvers and responsible citizens in a more fair and inclusive world.
the initiative is a unique chance to strengthen the european dimension of volunteering hopefully enabling exchange of best practices among member states and encouraging wider promotion of active participation and volunteering at national level.
but promoting our fundamental values through dialogue diversity and education is a shared responsibility of societies and all stakeholders must be included in that strategy.
mr president i believe the european solidarity corps is an interesting and timely initiative which gives young people the chance to take part in projects that will benefit communities across europe.
eu has done a lot to try to protect forests worldwide but it can do better. namely the eu already has excellent tools which can be used to assist our partner countries on the way to better development. we have for instance the eu forest law enforcement governance and trade instrument which we call the flegt action plan and we have linked this with the voluntary partnership agreements which have proven to be indispensable tools in improving forest governance in partner countries.
in order to tackle corruption which is often the cause of deforestation.
i want to stress that there is a need for sufficient resources for these mechanisms and that parliament should do more to secure those resources. what is urgently needed however is a coherent all encompassing eu action plan to stop deforestation and forest degradation. this is already several years overdue and i hope very much that the commission will now take inspiration from this own initiative report and will urgently open a genuine stakeholder consultation
the good friday agreement will be undermined and the decision taken by the eu will continue to impact all of us after brexit so strong voices will be needed here in the european parliament post brexit.
the north of ireland should continue to have representatives here post brexit.
legal advice by barrister mark bassett demonstrates that it is legally possible and permissible for a dedicated ireland north constituency to be established and for the two additional mep seats to be allocated to the north by the oireachtas simply by adopting a wider provision in the european parliament act. one thousand nine hundred and ninety seven out of twenty eight member states twenty two afford nationals not resident in their member state the right to vote in european parliament elections. currently ireland deprives those of us living outside the jurisdiction of the state that right. with only two hundred days before brexit no matter what its shade the people of the north must suffer most.
so it is time for all of us to acknowledge that there is only one way to maintain the full integrity of the irish border and prevent the economic and social downturn that brexit will inevitably bring and that is to stop it.
mr president ideologically imposed austerity and an ineffective devolution deal from westminster have left northern ireland less economically developed than other regions of the uk for decades.
they are bureaucratic unworkable and designed to paper over the cracks of a divided tory government rather than deliver a deal that works for the british people.
two years on from the eu referendum the government are yet to lay out a single workable plan to maintain the integrity of the good friday agreement one of the eu's most celebrated symbols of peace.
the conservatives' dirty deal with the dup and the collapse of power sharing in stormont with no imminent sign of its return further add to the lack of northern ireland's democratic voice during the negotiating process.
that's what the majority of the people in northern ireland want.
the government's own impact assessments predict a devastating eight hit to the economic growth of northern ireland if the uk leaves the european union and others have put the figure far higher.
and the principle of non profitability.
mr president i want to raise the issue of the irish humanitarian worker sean binder and the syrian rescue swimmer sarah mardini who at this moment are sitting in separate greek prisons accused of actions related to their aid work in greece. these two young people have been working on the island of lesbos for the last few months for one of the many grassroots organisations based in southern europe who have had to step into the gap left by the failure of european leaders to provide protection for vulnerable migrants arriving through perilous routes across the mediterranean.
this arrest and others like it has exposed pervasive efforts to put a chill on civil society volunteers working to prevent deaths at sea and give medical assistance and education to those lucky enough to reach a place they see as safe.
sean and sarah who herself fled the conflict in syria should not be sitting in cells.
they should be lauded for their courage and compassion for their life saving work.
tonight i ask the european parliament to join with me in calling for the immediate release of both sean and sarah from detention while the investigation is still ongoing and for an urgent political response against the criminalisation of humanitarian workers.
but i think in general the comments were very very welcome.
there has been huge economic improvement and tensions have been reduced but we do know that those tensions still bubble away.
when we were there on the delegations one of the things we were told was that some survey work had been done and since the referendum attitudes have hardened amongst the community.
we should continue to fund interreg and the peace programme.
in the regi committee we spend a huge amount of time talking about bureaucracy and simplifying things so we all want to reduce bureaucracy and we also want to make things as simple as possible particularly for users.
they have delivered on the ground. as i said in my earlier contribution one of the reasons why they have delivered on the ground is because local people themselves have owned it.
they have decided how they want to spend the money.
they have decided how they are going to spend the money on important things which are going to impact on their communities.
i hope everybody in this parliament right across the political divide right across the chamber would support this report tomorrow and send a clear message from this parliament.
we also had other big forest fires in europe and i think it is important that we look at them with a more holistic view.
this has not been without faults.
in respect of innocent victims of terrorism i would question the reports premise that this has always been viewed as neutral money in how it has been allocated.
and in more recent times community organisations including voluntary and womens organisations have argued that red tape has curtailed benefits for local people. of course it is money that also originates from uk taxpayers as an eu member state and so our focus going forward must not be on how it is lost but on how it can be used to bring even better benefits.
the government has indicated that there will be a shared prosperity fund across the uk post brexit.
it also wants to agree cooperation accords with the eu to collaborate in specific areas of investment. moving forward we will continue to work with our government to ensure that the commitments towards peace and interreg programmes are honoured.
this is necessary and positive work and we look forward to working in goodwill and cooperation.
to build a network of volunteers who are willing to help and support other people and other communities.
just try to imagine how we would react if luxembourg has been asked to change its name because there is a province of luxembourg in belgium.
we would certainly think the demand was almost ridiculous.
they have found a solution overbridging emotional historical and identity issues on both sides and they have to be helped to finalise the issue.
mr president we need to hold our governments and our businesses accountable for the way they engage with other countries especially when it comes to preserving natural resources.
last december in kenya the sengwer community faced a wave of forced evictions from their ancestral land despite the fact that their forest is included in the water conservation programme financed by the eu and some sengwer were killed in the eviction process.
the eu temporarily suspended its funding and now we need to continue engaging with the kenyan authorities on the ground to ensure full accountability for the human rights violations that occurred.
it is also important that the eu delegation in nairobi doesn't let the current negotiations drag on as many people's livelihoods depend on the viability of this project.
we need to keep this experience in mind in order to ensure that human rights due diligence in particular when it comes to indigenous rights remain at the heart of any future eu engagement with other countries.
our dialogue about priorities is deeply political because it is about the sort of europe we want to create.
but more effort is now needed on legislative proposals that have not really progressed so far including on the european deposit insurance scheme and the common european asylum system.
so i look forward to the three presidents' agreeing later this year on a new joint declaration to shape our work for next
on that basis i look forward to further exchanges between us all.
some of these challenges were predictable.
when this house rises for elections in two thousand and nineteen citizens will judge for themselves whether europe has done what they expected.
we want rules that will actually be implemented and thus bring real results on the ground with a special focus on small and mediumsized enterprises.
in the autumn we will present further measures including on tackling tax fraud and tax evasion and on eu company law.
the string of brutal terrorist attacks on european cities again shows that we must deliver on the european security agenda by reaching timely agreement on tackling money laundering and on the european travel information and authorisation system.
we have shown with the european border and coast guard and the european fund for strategic investments that when we all work hard on a shared priority we can achieve the right results at the right time.
with rising security threats and instability in our neighbourhood we need to make good progress on the european defence fund and i see a lot of political momentum on this subject.
the commission has launched a broad debate on the future of europe with you and with national parliaments with local and regional authorities and with civil society at large.
only together can we achieve tangible results in the key areas where our citizens and businesses expect the union to provide an effective part of the solution.
we have many important proposals on the table and we will redouble our engagement with you and the council in the coming months to ensure real progress on measures such as the european pillar of social rights where i look forward to the interinstitutional proclamation to be signed by parliament the council and the commission before the end of this year.
but our cooperation does help to ensure that where problems or delays arise everyone is focused on finding solutions.
the opinions of the refit platform will feed into the discussions on the commission work programme so that we continue to deliver on our shared policy ambitions without any unnecessary complexity.
as usual our letter of intent will be sent to you in parallel.
our digital agenda for example addresses the need to adapt to and lead the fourth industrial revolution that is underway. others such as the migration crisis have evolved at a rate and on a scale that requires us all to be innovative and quick on our feet in finding ways to manage the situation effectively.
we have kept the focus on the big things where effective european action can make a concrete difference in addressing the challenges facing europe.
we will deliver on our circular economy strategy with important proposals on plastics.
this joint declaration process is not a matter of fast tracking or undermining the quality of scrutiny and decision making by the co legislators. that would be counterproductive as it could only lead to poor results that do not address the challenges we face.
today we see what is happening in italy and we have just been discussing in the college of commissioners today the series of immediate measures that can be taken by the eu member states the commission the eu agencies and italy itself to accelerate our response to the pressing and dire situation in the central mediterranean.
but what we have in common is a desire to address europe's shared problems in a practical way with a programme of constructive reform.
we face many social and environmental difficulties as has been outlined by commissioner timmermans but i want to focus on the enormous economic challenges we face competitiveness the loss of jobs to overseas employers low growth rates eurozone stagnation.
if we can get that right so many of our other political social and environmental problems will be easier to overcome.
so as the commission designs its work programme for two thousand and eighteen the foremost objective must be to address europe's economic weaknesses by pursuing measures that unleash and encourage the creative capacities of our entrepreneurs and businesses especially smes.
this will deliver benefits for the whole community.
these have led to unemployment levels in parts of europe that are far too high and poor wage growth that has led to stagnant household incomes for far too long.
if we are economically weak we will be dominated by others who may not share our democratic traditions or political principles but if we are economically strong we will be in a position to defend our values and promote our common interests in what will be a very difficult century ahead.
mr president the european union will only thrive if we take reform seriously.
so we have come together on the specific issue of the two thousand and eighteen work programme to help set a strong and positive agenda for reform on key issues which would deliver tangible benefits to all our citizens and i commend it to you.
of course our groups have very different political visions for europe there are many areas where we do not agree.
what is really needed in the european union today?
progressive forces and i believe the majority of citizens are sure that we need to have a new growth and jobs strategy driven by sustainable development goals.
has a decent labour contract and full access to social protection.
we also need to make sure that we have the means to invest in people particularly in children with the child guarantee'.
finally we know that in order to cope with these external challenges we need to strengthen internal cohesion among europeans and this means tackling the divergence in the eurozone with the banking union and fiscal capacity being introduced.
we need to turn europe to the future and not to the past.
well i would like to say that the absence of the council is fairly ridiculous because we are three eu institutions the council representing the member states and the member states are responsible for a very important part of the implementation of the things that we are talking about today.
it is very symbolic that the council is absent because we all know that there is a big problem in the implementation and the enforcement of european policies.
we do our homework we adopt policies and then the problems start because the member states fail to implement.
when it comes to implementation and enforcement i would also like to look at the commission because yes we are talking about important topics today that we would like the commission to take initiatives on but we would also like the commission to be a bit more assertive when it comes to enforcing eu law against the member states.
why does it have to be the americans who take action who find out?
if we agree that it is the national authorities that implement eu policies we have to be absolutely sure that that is what they are doing implementing applying enforcing the policies.
another request to the commission we note that when it comes to files relating to for example fighting terrorism there is a systematic absence of impact assessments.
can we please make sure that from now on every proposal relating to the fight against terrorism and crime will be accompanied by an impact assessment?
i think that is very funny because when it is about other topics i am usually accused of being left wing so whatever.
i would say you know conservative forces are right wing and left wing these days.
on your topic of a social europe the liberals are very much for a free europe but also for a fair europe.
and that means fair opportunities for everybody and confusion is often in social europe equates a socialist europe well we see it differently.
we believe in opportunities in opening our borders and giving young people access to the labour market rather than replacing outdated social security systems at national level with one at the european level.
let's finally give young people an opportunity.
people have been excluded from the labour market yes dear colleague excluded from the labour market.
let's finally give them the same chances as those who are already in a job.
i hope that we can do this together with the commission.
i hope for some understanding of the fact that i am not going to go into individual questions which by the way sometimes have nothing to do with the commission work programme.
migration very clearly we are tackling today what is an unacceptable situation in italy and european solidarity is warranted. and urgently warranted because the italian people have shown an incredible level of humanitarian outreach to people in need
but they cannot be left alone in solving this problem. and that is when europe needs to act.
the same applies to the situation on the greek islands.
it is a lot better than a year or a year and a half ago but still far from being solved and we need european approaches to solve those problems.
we are talking not just about inequalities within the member states and between social groups and because so many people were left behind in the crisis but also about inequalities between member states.
the whole idea of european integration and the structural funds and all the influence we have is to create convergence between member states.
if you can create economic convergence wage divergences will decrease.
and we need to use the opportunity in the coming years to use the instruments we have already put in place the digital single market;
the depth of the challenge but where i would like to caution you a bit is not to be too gloomy about where we are.
economic growth is increasing in every single member state.
he said this because he thought there would be a wave of ultra nationalism breaking up our european cooperation and the european union.
indeed a patriotic spring!
a european patriotic spring because after the election in the united states the rest of the world is looking to europe to make sure the paris agreement will stand and to take the lead in making sure the paris agreement will stand.
after the election in the united states other parts of the world are looking to europe to create free and above all fair trade agreements so that we maintain the values and economic growth that we stand for.
europeans have come together.
european leaders have met in bratislava and in rome to say that they want to chart the future of europe together and not be left alone or think that they can find solutions individually.
yes we still have a lot of problems but things are looking better than a year ago better than two years ago.
we have things to build on we have opportunities to create a dynamic at the european level that will make europe the global leader in many of the main issues the world is facing today and tomorrow.
despite the fact that the ecb has capitalised the banks it is not being passed on.
every weekend i meet business people who cannot get credit particularly in my country.
we should change that to a mantra of smes being too important to fail.
it is not too much to ask and this evening by discussing the new instruments to support smes we can certainly go a long way in doing that.
i can only speak for my own country but bearing in mind the support that the sme sector has received from the taxpayer in ireland that sector is the engine of growth in the economy.
many viable businesses continue to have difficulties in accessing affordable credit from the banks.
all that we in the commission parliament and the council do is to create an economic atmosphere conducive to investment and we must continue to do that.
in nepal abortion was legalised in two thousand and two and we have seen that immediately maternal deaths started to go down in numbers.
i want to get rid of these kinds of hypocritical interventions which are calling for a total ban or even criminalisation of abortion in the name of some obscure ideology in defence of life.
if that is what you want then change your thinking.
we do not quite yet know how far it goes but we can estimate that the work of non us based ngos in all areas of global health assistance including family planning will be jeopardised.
we can also say that a good quality sexuality education with a permissive abortion legislation is the best way to bring the numbers of abortions down.
we are talking about access to contraception here.
we are talking about maternity care for pregnant women.
we are talking indeed about the sustainable development goals and sadly we are talking about an old white man in the white house who in one of his first actions in power has threatened all of these things.
we are talking about the lives and the well being of millions of women worldwide.
so my opinion is why would anyone especially those calling themselves feminists complain that a global abortion industry is losing some of its funding?
and if someone has a different opinion if president trump decided on a different approach it would have to be respected.
and also there are reasons which come from reverence reverence to life reverence to dignity of life reverence to the right to be born and to live and reverence to those who cannot speak for themselves for those who are unborn yet and cannot speak for themselves.
mr president yes women must have good quality health care especially when it concerns the unique contribution to our society of having babies.
if she kills her body she dies.
what i condemned on this industry is that it is a mixed thing;
let us help children to be aborted let us fund it.
but the other side does not speak about the very different approach which admires life.
probably you need to answer in thirty seconds. of course i did speak to a lady who was in a difficult situation.