kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
and helping them to access the labour market and get a job. implementing the initiative may involve three avenues where possible reallocating structural fund resources;
helping young people gain their first work experience and on the job training;
designing effective policy through the european semester;
the aim was to see what measures should be taken and how the eu funds available could be refocused.
likewise we are now finalising the operational conclusions of bilateral meetings with the seven other member states involved.
over the past few weeks the commission has been looking at member states' national reform programmes under the european semester.
that is why the action teams looked at stepping up programmes and measures that are performing well to give young people additional support quickly and reduce or abandon programmes that are performing less well.
they will provide practical policy guidance for smooth school to work transitions and the fair treatment of young people.
as you know that means the individual member states are responsible for using the amounts allocated to them.
the commission has agreed on practical follow up with the eight individual action team member states.
this should benefit at least four hundred and fifty zero people.
this year i will be presenting two other initiatives that are very close to the concerns of this house.
it was not me that said this first. it was commissioner barroso himself who just under two years ago said in this house that red tape was strangling small businesses.
as for what i mean i mean all the petty small regulations which so hamper small businesses and drive some of them to the wall and some of them to distraction as the owner sits up late at night completing this form or that form or accounting for this penny or that penny.
nothing ever is.
but it would be a jolly good start if small businesses in particular were freed of much of this red tape so they could get on with the job of doing what they are doing and then because they have got more capital to spend employ young people and help youth unemployment.
to tackle a problem resulting from its own policies the eu is proposing another expensive commission programme.
rather we should stop taking money from small businesses in particular and remove the red tape burden from smes which are the employers of half the workforce.
that will free their businesses up and allow them to employ young people reducing unemployment.
we should reduce taxes on big business in return for them taking on young people in apprenticeships and training.
for businesses offer actual practice and training forming the habit of working and taking home money which has been earned creating the dignity of providing for oneself which can only help society.
however it is important to recognise that some member states are already taking quite considerable action.
certainly we in the uk are acutely aware of the problems we have with youth unemployment.
we recognise that short term job creation based on subsidised loans and other public borrowing is not a sustainable long term solution so we have made sure that our support measures are available to unemployed young people and are flexible targeted and based on individuals' reasons for unemployment their level of experience and their level of education because we want to make sure that we provide the right support for the right person.
how can we ensure that this european initiative is complementary to the national schemes already put in place by member states and is not overly prescriptive?
can we expect these mechanisms to be coupled with existing member state programmes or to be accessible through some sort of one stop shop with clear guidance and information for users?
mr president in july in the committee on the environment public health and food safety we voted on lulucf and here the central debate in the committee was around whether we supported the commission's proposal to have a historic reference level or we supported a different proposal coming from a minority of countries and a minority of meps for a future reference level. the sd supported the commission position and the environment committee went on to support the position of the commission. and now we find ourselves in a strange situation
it is a compromise but it is fine we all agreed it we can work on it but there is only one amendment notice only one amendment and that amendment must be opposed because it represents narrow minded individual country interests.
if you remove the word intensity' from what is in front of us tonight what is it that you would be measuring in relation to european forests?
so if this amendment goes through then you take the heart out of what it was that we at the environment committee and at the commission level were trying collectively to achieve.
the whole purpose of the accounting system proposed by the commission is to measure the intensity with which we use our forests in the future compared to how we used them in the past.
so please when it comes to the vote on wednesday support the motion as it is produced by the rapporteur from the epp.
because having lost the argument about historic reference levels the minority of countries and the minority of meps have come back with a wrecking amendment a wrecking amendment that would remove the guts the heart from the commission's proposal.
there are two things on the table there is how we manage our forests which admittedly is a nation state responsibility but there is also how we tackle climate change and that is an eu wide responsibility.
you have to decide ultimately which is more important individual country plans for forests or how we tackle climate change collectively at an eu level.
i know which is more important.
i know which is more important for our children and the future of this planet.
i hope that you would realise.
whilst the eu is trying to protect this particular forest it is simultaneously incentivising logging elsewhere in europe through failing to control land use and biofuels.
enhancing carbon sinks through sustainable land and forestry management has long been recognised as an important pillar of carbon reduction but the sloppy carbon accounting put forward in this regulation on land use management leaves a gaping loophole which would allow for increased logging in the eu.
at the same time the biofuel industry are pushing for high targets and renewables that would also increase deforestation.
we need the eu to show leadership and take our paris climate targets seriously.
madam president i think the paris agreement has had the effect of creating more awareness amongst member states businesses individuals of the part they need to play in meeting our commitments. i think the agricultural sector
a couple of weeks ago i attended an open day in my own country in gurteen college called energy in agriculture' where the amount of innovation that is taking place in relation to trying to reduce emissions and create renewable energies in agriculture was breathtaking.
i think the important aspect is that while we all know it is a carbon sink and the forests can be used for various products especially for renewable energy once we have a policy of increasing not decreasing the amount of land under forestry we can work everything out from there.
they provide oxygen raw materials and energy and they are a crucial element to tackle climate change. on the one hand they can cool the climate but at the same time intensive felling and deforestation can have serious negative climate impacts.
we are aware of the important role that forests land and ecosystems have if we want to reach our paris agreement targets.
i could not help but follow the negative campaign that has been going on before the vote will be taken during this plenary and i saw also amendments attacking the delicate position that was achieved in the committee on the environment public health and food safety envi on this legislation and i believe that if we end up adopting a future reference level rather than one based on what is well documented and known we will end up with a system which will not work and will not address our climate change concerns.
the report of the parliament's environment committee is a step towards a better climate policy. it aims at a robust and transparent accounting system for forestry emissions rather than one which will have the potential to hide emissions from increased forest cutting.
once again we need a strong parliamentary position on lulucf one that gives proof of our climate commitment and ensures the capacity of our forests to store carbon.
the lulucf regulation is not a policy that prescribes in detail what member states should do with their forests.
it does not even regulate whether a government or private company can start or stop harvesting a forest. lulucf is an accounting policy.
by correctly checking the exact amount of emissions released or absorbed by forests agricultural land and other forms of land use we know how much emissions budget is left for other types of emissions.
member states can on the basis of the account decide themselves what specific measures they want to take on forest and land use or on other sectors of the economy such as transport and energy.
let's not fool ourselves by tweaking the rules though.
lulucf is like managing your financial budget.
is together through a genuine and effective security union in europe where the security of one member state is the security of all.
they have to live forever with the memory of the atrocities.
what i confirmed in this visit is that we managed to build a solid relationship of trust and partnership with these companies.
we want to keep our citizens their users safe.
we are here united to pay our respects to the memory of the victims of terrorist attacks.
improving the way we exchange information interconnecting our information systems to make sure we connect all the dots; establishing our european pnr system to track the movements of dangerous persons;
year. what we agree should be fully and correctly implemented
i heard how they want to work with us to bring the smaller more vulnerable platforms into our partnership.
we do this through stepped up intelligence sharing local risk assessments innovative methods and technologies and the key role of operators for a successful implementation of measures.
and finally working to counter radicalisation in our communities schools prisons and especially on the internet.
concrete results from this partnership are already visible.
i very much look forward to hearing how the eu is going to solve that problem and address the fundamental issue.
all muslims are not fundamentalists and terrorists but the more muslims you have in a population the more islam you will get and the more islam you have the more terrorism you will get.
they read the bits that say make war on infidels strike terror into the hearts of infidels and kill infidels wherever you find them' and they act accordingly.
if you want to address the problem you first have to understand and confront its fundamental cause.
only a tiny minority of muslims are fundamentalists and fanatics and literalists but it only takes a tiny minority to plunge our societies into endless terror.
it is true that most muslims are law abiding decent people but all muslims are followers of the cult of mohammed.
it was just one in a very long list of tragic and pointless acts of violence by religiously motivated fanatics. they carry out their senseless violence in the name of allah and islam.
they take literally the passage in the hadith that says judgement day will not come until the muslims fight the jews'.
that cult is an ideology of blood soaked regressive nonsense.
more accurately they act in the name of mohammedanism the cult of mohammed which has always fed on blood for the one four hundred years of its existence and mohammedans kill their fellow muslims just as much if not more than they kill non muslims.
our arrogant and illiberal political elites of western countries have created the problem by their open door immigration policies and the doctrine of multiculturalism.
as my country seeks to leave the european union i believe it is of utmost importance that the uk stays as pluggedin as possible to all of these programmes and that security cannot be a bargaining chip but instead be settled as a top priority early on in the brexit negotiations.
it is a reminder to us all in europe of the challenges that our societies face as we seek to prevent radicalisation of our young people.
cooperation with service providers has proved successful and approximately ninety of the content considered illegal is taken down by service providers.
it will provide more stringent rules in terms of deactivation of firearms.
the european counterterrorism centre operational since january last year is more and more fulfilling its role as an information and cooperation hub in support of member states.
another important part of our joint endeavours concerns the rights of victims of terrorism which have been significantly strengthened by last week's adoption of the directive on combating terrorism. this directive includes a catalogue of specific measures and services for the victims of terrorism.
the european day of remembrance of victims of terrorism on eleven march last saturday was an important reminder of why it matters so much to continue our efforts. all citizens have the right to live free from fear whatever their opinions or beliefs.
the highlevel expert group on information systems and interoperability set up by the commission last year is equally important.
member states will have to carry out systematic checks on all persons also those enjoying the right of free movement under eu law when they cross the external border both at entry and exit against databases and in order to verify that those persons do not represent a threat to public order and internal security.
looking back at where we were before two thousand and fifteen i think we can safely say that we have come a long way.
in the present international environment europe must do more to protect its citizens and contribute to peace and stability in its neighbourhood and beyond including by committing sufficient additional resources.
the figures are quite promising for example regarding europol's databases.
it also introduces a coordination mechanism in case of a terrorist attack.
i hope that together we will be able to meet this call.
let me start by saying that i agree with you that it is time to take stock of where we are one year after these attacks in terms of security and i welcome this debate.
it welcomed the real progress made in a number of key areas.
in two thousand and sixteen together we successfully concluded the negotiations on the directive on combating terrorism within a very tight schedule so that it could be signed today.
this complements the efforts undertaken by the commission in relation to the recently launched network of national prevention coordinators.
i use this opportunity to highlight the fact that last week the european council reiterated the call it made last december for us as co legislators to agree on the proposal for an entry and exit system by june of this year.
we are therefore working hard to implement the two thousand and sixteen roadmap on information exchange and information management containing fifty actions for improving information exchange.
finally the new directive also prohibits some dangerous semi automatic firearms. radicalisation is something that obviously must be addressed primarily by member states but also by a coordinated and broad approach at eu level.
we have started updating the set of guidelines agreed in december two thousand and fourteen to complement the revised eu strategy for combating radicalisation and recruitment to terrorism to bring it into line with the current developments.
we have also been called upon to speed up work on the proposal for the european travel information and authorisation system.
one of the keys to ensuring the security of our union is better information exchange and better information management.
the content of the europol information system increased by thirty four between two thousand and sixteen and two thousand and seventeen and the number of data on foreign fighters increased by.
in relation to external borders an additional safeguard will be provided as of next month when the amendment to the schengen borders code to reinforce checks against relevant databases at external borders in light of the increased terrorist threats will enter into force.
finally i can assure you that we are continuously striving to improve to close gaps and to enhance our security including by assessing our structures and policy which can contribute to ensuring the eu policies are fit for purpose.
one four million searches were performed in the europol information system in two thousand and sixteen an increase of.
building on that momentum work will be taken further and the european council will revert to this issue in june to provide further strategic guidance.
together we have adopted a number of legislative instruments and other measures to prevent and fight terrorism.
at the eu internet forum ministerial meeting in december last year the internet companies involved announced the creation of a new shared database to facilitate identification of potential terrorist content on their platforms.
we have made major progress in the last two years but we continue to face unprecedented challenges.
we are confident that these efforts contribute to enhancing trust amongst member states and europol and to increasing information exchange.
putting in place measures to prevent and fight terrorism whilst maintaining an open and free society is a delicate balance. while stepping up our counterterrorism tools we should preserve our values and fundamental rights.
nineteen as regards information sharing by security services europol has created the possibility for counterterrorism units to communicate bilaterally using the secure information exchange network.
after the endorsement of the eu global strategy by the council in december two thousand and sixteen the european council addressed this topic at its meeting last week.
the new directive will enhance the traceability of firearms.
the firearms directive is another important achievement in the fight against terror. yesterday you approved the compromise text and this will allow the council to vote and successfully close the legislative procedure at first reading.
we have to give those people a voice support to return to life and we have to remember those we have lost.
we have gone after the money and tackled terrorism financing and crucially we have moved forward towards better support for the victims of terrorism.
we identified where we need to do more.
the loopholes that were exposed by the berlin attacker for example who had fourteen different identities must be closed.
cooperation with third countries in listing and implementing anti terror measures needs to remain on the eu's agenda and i am convinced that we will get there.
prevention and prosecution of criminal behaviour must be made more efficient by having a fully functioning eu criminal record system in place and at the same time it is essential that we have a coordinated approach to stop the trafficking of illegal arms so often used by terrorists during terrorist attacks in europe.
our it systems must be able to operate in tandem with each other and we need to look at what law enforcement controls need improving.
my children still get scared when they realise that we still need soldiers outside many public events and it is true that every time we hear a police siren a part of us goes back to that fateful day a year ago.
we will not cease in our efforts until we secure a europe that is safer.
our way of life will go on despite the fear that we must all sometimes feel.
we have introduced systematic checks at our external borders.
our fear did not define us determination did and it will continue to do so.
freedom and security are not simple buzzwords that look good on our twitter feed or in press releases.
keeping europe safer is at the top of our agenda and will remain there.
anyone who like many of us here thinks of brussels as a home from home will never forget the moments of panic of anger of helplessness and of grief for the victims of those attacks. but since the horrific events of last year our shock has given way to a grim resolve to counter this terrorist threat and to address both the immediate danger of more attacks and the causes of radicalisation that plague our societies.
but it must continue.
we can look to the citizens we represent and we can be proud of the work we have done so far to boost the fight against terrorism.
and that is why it is so important for the epp that we are having this debate today.
nothing is more important to our citizens than the basic right for them to feel safe doing the things that they have always done and living the lives that they choose.
they are the very core concepts that underpin our way of life because without them there can be nothing else.
we have done a lot but there is much much more that needs to be done if we are to continue to address people's security concerns in europe.
now in this parliament we have worked hard to speed up efforts on common eu rules on better information about passengers travelling from and to the eu with our pnr system.
we stood up and we gave a european response.
we need to improve our use of biometric data.
information sharing between member states must be improved and we have to ensure that our law enforcement agencies have all the tools and the resources that they need to respond and to remain one step ahead of the terrorists and their networks.
the eu is not alone in its fight because terrorism is a global threat that requires a global response.
but it is true that apprehension remains.
terrorism leaves so many hidden victims that its mark stains for generations.
we have pushed forward strategies against radicalisation against those who preach hate and incite terror.
when our continent came under attack we did not shy away from the challenge.
the key dimension of the security strategy is prevention.
we can prevent only by working together and exchanging information on time.
it is key to find financial resources european and national for this purpose. we do not need to collect more data but to make sure that the data are used more efficiently that the police officer in the field will get the information when it is necessary and will be able to use it.
as minister borg said last weekend we were with some of those victims including some of the victims of the brussels attacks i was struck again as i am each time i have the privilege of meeting victims by their bravery and by the power of their testimony.
however on this occasion i was also struck by the welcome that they gave to the just adopted counter terrorism directive and in particular to the elements not least those introduced by this house and reinforced by this house on the rights of victims.
they welcomed the fact that we were requiring member states to make sure that victims have access to the support they need not only immediately after an attack but also for as long as necessary thereafter.
these attacks across europe display a common factor many aspects of their preparation and execution are transnational.
as a number of you have said that is why it is so important that we work together to ensure the most appropriate response and increase our collective resilience.
it is crucial that we maintain this momentum and continue to work for their rapid and effective implementation.
many of you have mentioned the importance of information sharing.
as we discussed in plenary last month i believe we are moving in the right direction;
i hope that this house will move quickly now to support the proposals that we have brought forward for the reform of the schengen information system including for the first time a provision to oblige member states to share information on terrorism.
step by step we need to continue our work to build trust.
improving information exchange is also at the heart of our work on interoperability that a number of you have mentioned.