kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
over the years a large number of our services have developed regular dialogue with stakeholders.
there is a need for a common operational framework to ensure that these consultations are carried out in a transparent and coherent way.
it plays a very active role in european integration and fulfils an important function in the communication between european citizens and the institutions. civil society helps citizens in exerting their right to participate in the democratic life of the eu.
of course we need to constantly reflect on how to further promote awareness about the launching of a specific consultation so that more people are aware of the fact that a consultation is beginning.
therefore in two thousand and two the commission set out principles and minimum standards for consulting external parties. according to these standards attention needs to be paid to providing clear consultation documents consulting all relevant target groups leaving sufficient time for participation
as such they will be alerted to consultations published on the commission's single access point for open consultation your voice in europe.
the european transparency initiative has also made a commitment to further reinforce the application of the current minimum standards for consultation.
i think that the major instrument that is why this discussion was very much one of the topics of the g twenty summit should be channelled via imf support.
i could also mention that this macro financial assistance if it is given to any of these states should also go through the consultation process via the european parliament.
procedurally in case of incompatible aid the affected party can refer the matter to the joint committee established by the agreement and it can take safeguard measures if the granting party fails to put an end to the practice in question.
while remedies for incompatible aid are harder to obtain in swiss cases the commission still endeavours to apply the provisions of the one thousand nine hundred and seventy two free trade agreement whenever possible and necessary.
a satisfactory solution to this issue.
in the world' the objective of the commission is to try and negotiate stronger rules on state aid and better remedies such as the application of a dispute settlement mechanism in future free trade agreements.
the commission is aware that provisions on state aid found in existing trade agreements such as the one thousand nine hundred and seventy two agreement with switzerland need to be improved and that is why in line with the conclusions of its two thousand and six communication global europe competing
under protocol twenty six of the eea agreement it is entrusted with equivalent powers to those of the european commission in the field of state aid.
two thousand and nine however the timing of the legislative proposal is not entirely in our hands it also depends on the timely and successful response by the bonus consortium in revising the tentative action plan.
it would in particular greatly contribute to the implementation of mainly the environmental part of the european union strategy for the baltic sea region that the commission is planning to present to the european council in june. two thousand and nine we are now moving ahead swiftly with the preparation of this legislative proposal on an article one hundred and sixty nine
if the latter reaches the commission by the beginning of june this was agreed by the bonus consortium then i am quite confident that the legislative proposal can be tabled still under the mandate of the current commission.
two thousand and nine we are making every effort to table a legislative proposal as soon as we possibly can in.
commission is also implementing a eur one hundred and fifty million crisis response package financed under this instrument which aims to leverage in the short term an amount of eur five hundred million in loans from international financial institutions. the package includes
regarding candidate and potential candidate countries of south eastern europe large amounts of technical assistance supporting structural reforms and institution building have been programmed for the period two thousand and seven two thousand and thirteen eur.
it has first to be noted that economic and financial conditions differ greatly among these countries.
the initiative has been accelerated and implementation is now starting.
the eib has no mandate towards direct bank capitalisation in this region and its activity is limited to the sectors of transport telecommunications energy and environmental infrastructure.
imf is making available large amounts of financing in support of comprehensive stabilisation programmes.
finally a number of pre accession and neighbourhood countries have requested macroeconomic assistance from the european union.
in order to further help the real economy the neighbourhood investment facility has been designed to bring together grants from the enpi programmes and the european union member states with loans from the european public financial institutions.
in the countries of eastern europe covered by the european neighbourhood policy ukraine belarus moldova and the three caucasus countries the european union instruments available to deal with the needs of the financial sector are more limited.
yet here too the eu provides substantial technical assistance through the national and regional programmes of the european neighbourhood and partnership instrument in support of the joint action plans under the european neighbourhood policy.
it is a first step towards a western balkans investment framework that will also include investments in other socioeconomic sectors like smes or energy efficiency.
much of the financial support to the economies of the region is provided by the bretton woods institutions primarily the international monetary fund the.
let me now say a few words about the support to the commercial banks in the region being provided by specialised financial institutions. here the ebrd is the most active and it is mobilising its full panoply of instruments including equity and short term debt.
this instrument has provided eur seventy one million in grants in two thousand and eight which underpinned large infrastructure projects worth around eur.
hard hit by the global economic crisis.
measures ranging from the provision of micro credit and sme financing to energy efficiency and specific technical assistance for financial sector supervision and financial regulation. in order to further support the real economy the commission the eib the ebrd and the council of europe development bank have jointly developed an infrastructure initiative that provides technical assistance and cofinancing to priority infrastructure investments in transport
but traditional publications including posters postcards and outdoor installations are also being prepared.
our objective is primarily to inform voters on the date and relevance of the elections and thus encourage them to vote.
moreover the commission is developing a multimedia campaign for young people in all member states and involving multipliers via on line social media blogs and on line magazines.
amongst others we will transmit tv and radio clips produced by parliament to illustrate the priority topics of the european elections on europe by satellite and eu tube.
we will also assist in their dissemination through national regional and local broadcasters in the member states.
special attention will be given to women and young people with dedicated products and activities.
all major web pages for example europa have the election logo and link to parliament's elections website.
in member states all of our representations have been mobilised to organised elections linked activities and to mobilise all of our multipliers and almost five hundred europe direct information relays are organising events to disseminate promotional material and provide a discussion platform for candidates.
however the preferential treatment of holding and mixed companies remains to a large extent.
in addition i would invite the persons and undertakings concerned in ireland to provide any further information they may have on this case to the commission services to enable us to take a position.
following that decision the swiss authorities have entered into a dialogue with the commission to find an appropriate solution.
as they feel appropriate.
it is important for the commission in this review to strike the right balance to allow european consumers to take full advantage of the internet to overcome geographical barriers while at the same time allowing manufacturers to organise their distribution systems
however that does not mean any retailer can sell on line or otherwise the manufacturer's products to final consumers.
unless those prohibitions are objectively justified.
even within selective distribution networks used notably in the luxury sector and distribution of complex products such as electronics regardless of the suppliers' market share any restriction to on line sales imposed by the manufacturer on its appointed dealers clearly infringes the competition rules.
it is therefore clear that suppliers cannot impose restrictions on the distributors' use of the internet they cannot stop a distributor from having a web site using whichever languages they prefer on that site or sending e mails to individual customers
under the current rules selective distribution is presumed legal up to thirty of the supplier's market share since it is considered that in the absence of market power it brings more advantages than any possible harm to consumers.
a manufacturer is free to impose criteria on distributors for selling his goods on line in the same way as he is free to do so for sales in brick and mortar shops.
the current eu competition policy towards vertical agreements is very supportive of internet sales and i am sure that you are aware of that mr president.
the following actions have already been implemented in the framework of the strategy.
fourth steps have been taken to explore new sources of financing critical marine research infrastructures particularly through the structural funds.
one thing however remains clear even in the current difficult economic and financial circumstances we should not lose sight of long term objectives such as sustainable development and the low carbon economy.
it is still premature for any assessment on how and if the member states will follow these recommendations.
this culminated in the adoption by the commission in september two thousand and eight of the communication on a european union strategy for marine and maritime research.
finally two projects will be financed to foster cooperation between marine science and maritime industries as well as a stronger integration between the different actors within the marine scientific community.
and build new governance with the marine and maritime scientific communities particularly through increased cooperation between marine science and maritime industries.
on the need for stepping up and improving the quality of investment in knowledge and research for economic recovery.
where candidates could immediately access the commission for information on particular issues like that.
commissioner with over six million european citizens suffering from dementia and many millions more europeans having to care for them or being affected by this critical disease i warmly welcome the commission's decision to make this a public health priority.
that was a comprehensive answer.
but could i ask when you discuss the disability action plan that you as a commissioner and as a commission bear in mind that the effect of alzheimer's is a cross cutting effect across disability the field of ageing and public health and that you maintain a comprehensive strategy not just identifying alzheimer's but including all the related aspects
in this regard we must take account of voter registration which remains sadly at around only fifty a figure that in my mind is insufficient to deliver a true legitimacy and credibility to any elected government.
elections by the end of this year lie at the heart of those plans and i welcome that this will be the key point under discussion in paris. ensuring that these elections are accepted by all in advance will be vital to preventing a repeat of the two thousand and twelve elections which resulted bizarrely in rival competing administrations.
secondly i also note that saif al islam gaddafi has made a stated intention now to run in any elections.
one year on since president macron also launched similar talks we do hope on this occasion that there will be a more positive outcome.
given the icc's renewed calls this month for his arrest such a presidential bid could pose genuine problems for ending impunity for war crimes committed by his family.
madam president madam high representative as we speak today rival factions in libya and their supporters are meeting in paris for renewed talks at finding a road map for peace.
we need now to reach a point whereby an internationally recognised government reflects the situation on the ground and not merely western aspirations.
some of the militia members will need to be integrated in one security force under civilian responsibility.
on top of that we are talking about libya which i hope everybody understands is different to talking about norway.
libya. the last point but not the least the most important one. some of you referred to a paris agenda let me be very clear on
work; and all of this converging under the un umbrella and leadership.
even if we know very well that solving the libyan crisis would also be the best possible way to fight the traffickers' networks to save lives and to guarantee a sustainable manageable humane approach to this.
map. there is no competition between agendas here. it's a matter of uniting forces for a coherent regional and international accompanying work to the un because we realised that if the regional organisations the neighbouring countries starting from the european union the african union the arab league all the neighbouring countries in africa but also in europe do not join forces to accompany every single step of the work done by the un and by the
this is also what has been discussed in paris and this is mainly what the un special representative is working on with our active accompanying role and support because as i said we have a specific competence and know how in this.
i didn't touch upon this because we have discussed several times the situation of migrants inside libya and i believe that for once libya deserved a discussion on libya and libyans and not purely focused on the situation of migrants in the country.
last but not least two points one on the elections.
leaders; unity of international and regional actors to accompany and support this
we have been working on this with several different conflict areas and crisis areas in the world.
and just last week in brussels when we had the college to college meeting between the european commission and the african union commission we decided to extend the work of this task force so we will continue working together on the ground in libya.
path. so the unity of the international forces and the unity of the regional actors starting from the european union the arab league and the african union is essential to support the work of salam of and of the united nations. this is the sense of the meeting that i had this morning
this is an effort that is always complicated at the end of a transition of a conflict.
we have also committed to increasing our support for the organisation of the elections and eventually if the conditions are in place we will contribute by sending an electoral observation mission to
if we have these three conditions in place i believe that commitments can turn into concrete steps that would help lift the country out of the
i will touch upon a few specific points that were raised either in comments or questions and specify maybe in a better way than i've done previously the sequencing and the meaning of the paris meeting in relation to the overall work we are doing in the international community. first of all the specific points that were raised transfer of the eu delegation to tripoli. we have been working on that constantly over the last months
must step up its efforts to support stabilisation in libya.
this is the central focus it was what you said it's what mr panzeri is saying in his report.
and this process is about peaceful elections and good governance. we heard repeatedly in our visit that people must accept the eventual outcome of those elections and it really focuses on what everyone is saying and our colleagues from the committee on foreign affairs have been working on this holistic approach.
of course the dominant media images and suffering that we saw in the tariq al sika detention camps were very disturbing but it is very very obvious that there is a holistic approach required to solving many of these problems and i wish everyone involved in this the very best.
i want to say from my committee very quickly that the question of arbitrary detention and human rights abuses are very obvious and detention must end. the whole question of the libyan coast guard was one that we investigated very thoroughly the question of the do not harm' principles;
the question of libyan authorities facilitating the regularisation of migrants living and working in libya.
this dominant issue is not going away.
yes security is improving i agree with what the high commissioner has said.
but this is a long term battle and this element must be absolutely central. i will say this finally libyans are suffering too and are leaving too and this was a very sobering visit.
that is why we have the intention and this will be important for parliament to submit a mid term review of the implementation of the stockholm programme in two thousand and twelve in order to ensure that the programme remains in line with european and global
the action plan will guide us in delivering an ambitious set of very concrete measures in a field where the added value of europe will be very visible to our citizens.
the action plan in the area of justice and home affairs is the first strategic initiative of the new commission in order to put this work programme into practice;
as all these actions are interlinked indispensable and consistent with the scale of ambition which have been fixed in the treaty of lisbon and in the charter of fundamental rights we have to reach this ambitious outcome as quickly as possible in line with citizens'
how they are going to implement european union decisions in their national law;
it is also a powerful message reiterating what we have been discussing before that the treaty of lisbon and the eu charter of fundamental rights are actions for the citizens.
this action plan is a guide for very concrete measures to be taken during the next five years.
the set of initiatives laid down are a roadmap a roadmap to a free and secure europe.
of europe as well as a very clear expectation from our citizens that the eu must act rapidly and decisively.
expectations.
madam president i would like to refer to the mechanism to assess corruption in the member states the mechanism that is provided for in the action plan.
two thousand and eleven i would like to suggest having it done before the end of.
therefore we need strong political will and commitment from the member states for such a mechanism to come into place.
nor the commission and where the european court of justice had no possibility to intervene.
we have to build this mutual trust with the legislation and with the measures to boost the rights of citizens in all our member states so that the judges also implement
rules and proposals have to follow the normal way under which you parliamentarians have asked the commission to conduct its work.
in two thousand and eleven a comprehensive text about protecting the victims all kinds of victims for me there is not a victim here a victim there and a third category of victims all kinds of victims have to be considered.
it is not about who is going to do what because certain things you simply cannot
now what i propose to you is to take them one by one and solve them one by one in full cooperation with
if you want the commission to continue to do as has been done over the last number of years just tell me and i will come with a proposal every week.
in five years' time with your help we will have changed this continent.
there are many elements in this report which say where we have to move.
that has to be done by those member states alone.
that is why i am very happy;
because that is also a part of the whole thing and it is not the easiest part of the whole issue.
it. same sex couples well you know perfectly well that it is the prerogative of subsidiarity the competence of member states to regulate the way they treat same sex couples. where the european union comes in is the cross border
do. we have started already to see that in terms of mobility in terms of citizens rights in terms of collaboration between the legal systems in terms of eliminating the borders
second public consultation in order to know whether the ideas that we put on the table will be accepted or not by civil society by industry by the member states by the national parliaments which are now
the rules we have been looking for and yes we are advancing very quickly on this.
and then impact assessments in order to see if what we are doing is the right way.
we will have many things to do together very technical questions which will have a very important impact on our society.
week. it is going to be on your table.
a player in all these questions and which conduct the subsidiarity test.
an action plan well the colleague is not there any more but an action plan for combating the violence against women.
i need your very constructive help. i know i will get this help but help me to work on one element after the other even if it has to be one element per
we will have to do something; we will have to explain to the citizens what we are doing.
i am willing to come to your committees as often as you call me madam president and we will discuss this over element by element.
there are hundreds of measures which have to be lisbonised' which have to be taken out of the hole and brought into the light of day which have to be adapted to the real rules of law hundreds of measures that do not work.
that still exist in this single market which sorry to say is not a single market when it comes to citizens.
yes we have to take measures for instance on illegal immigration and asylum and as you have seen my colleague cecilia malmstrm has very concrete proposals on illegal immigration on border controls on legal migration. yes it would be important if the parliament could together with the council adopt the existing proposals the asylum package the simple permit proposal the joint resettlement
treatment of these same sex couples.
of course it is not carried out in the member states because the construction around the mutual recognition and the mutual trust which is at the basis of the mutual recognition has not been built up.
i would like to lead all of us to the way where the citizens will understand that the added value of what we are doing here is of real benefit to them in practical terms.
but i cannot do the work for france for italy for poland for romania for greece and for luxembourg;
i am sorry i cannot by decree insert mutual trust in the heads of the judges all over europe!
you know what is my bible?
first a thorough analysis of what is feasible what is good what has added value.
yes we have been working on data protection;
and do you know what will happen with those proposals?
we will not continue like this any more and yes chairman of the committee you know that your committee and the other committees are fully integrated in the way we are preceding.
that is where we are starting from an impossible situation. where de minimis decisions were not even carried out at national level where citizens did not have the means or the instruments
i would like everybody to speak about the reality.