kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
they are often highly prone to errors as member states put more emphasis on spending a maximum amount of eu money than on the quality of the projects supported.
increased need for payments in later years once more.
mr president like other speakers i am very satisfied that this mff adaptation is happening and that even the darkest corner of our legislative triangle the council i mean is not causing any problems. programmes under shared management present a series of difficulties.
therefore it is often parliament which has to defend the principles of good management and quality spending when it comes to programmes under shared management.
although this is not a problematic or disputed issue here in this house it was essential in order to ensure that member states do not lose eu funds allocated to them.
in the report they highlighted that at the end of last year only a small percentage of operational programmes were adopted.
i am pleased to say that in wales we managed to adopt our operational programmes in november of last year and already we are funding projects.
unfortunately in england that is not the case. because the uk government changed the management structures the operational programmes there have still not been agreed and of course this has consequences consequences for those who want to apply for new projects but also for those who have existing projects they want to continue.
that is having real consequences for those who work in those projects and for the beneficiaries of those individual projects as well.
that is why it is so important that this parliament later on this afternoon accepts these changes to transfer the money in order that we can start to fund the projects right across europe.
i would indeed urge the commission to put pressure on the member states and also urge the member states themselves to take action to make sure the operational programmes are now agreed as quickly as possible.
if as a country we in the uk or others in whichever member state send money across to brussels and then brussels sends it back we could achieve the same result or better by financing those projects directly in the member states from a national government that actually understands what is going on on the ground in those countries.
while i agree that anti dumping measures must be used where they are necessary the problem is of course whether you use them as a protectionist measure.
mr president i would say this to the commissioner since the start of the economic downturn the commission has repeatedly promised not to turn to protectionist policies but to embrace liberalisation which you yourself have been very much in favour of create opportunities for european businesses and make a more attractive opportunity in europe for investment.
a useful product used right across the united kingdom and europe for the manufacture of a number of products.
in actual fact they have come to an agreement and they have sorted it out themselves yet you have not dropped the anti dumping legislation against that particular company.
the sheer number of anti dumping investigations at the moment would suggest that they are being so used.
is the number of complaints received by the commission and the quality of the evidence provided.
however in this case the impact is small because china has only fourteen of the eu market.
the commission is calculating this potential impact under the public interest test. smes can participate in the proceedings.
the commission's trade defence policy is a rules based system in line with wto rules.
mr president i am happy that the european parliament shares our view that the defence of eu production against international trade distortions should be considered as a necessary component of an open and fair trade strategy.
i share your view that trade defence instrument tdi decisions must continue to be founded on technical and factual elements and i am confident we have one of the most effective and fairest trade defence systems in the world.
i am aware that in anti dumping and anti subsidy investigations there are many interests at stake and that some stakeholders attempt to influence the decision.
most statistics show that the number of cases in the eu remains lower than in our main trading partners.
eu law stipulates that where a case is withdrawn the proceedings can be terminated unless such termination would not be in the community interests.
in the absence of international competition rules and other rules associated with properly functioning markets trade defence instruments are the only possible means of protecting our industry against unfairly traded goods.
we seek to use these rules in the most efficient way for our industries. the existence of time limits ensures quick action for the industry and predictability for exporters.
i intend to keep our instruments effective and fair for the benefit of all the economic operators concerned.
the eu position there is clear we want to maintain the effectiveness of our instruments while protecting our business against protectionist actions by others.
this is why i have commissioned a study to look at the specific difficulties that smes face when dealing with tdis and at possible solutions to alleviate these difficulties. regarding the institutional aspects you will have noted that the comitology proposal submitted by the commission in march provides for
is effectively ready to make a proposal on the alignment of the trade defence instruments with the new system of control of delegated and implementing acts this is the so called trade omnibus'.
however as you are aware there is significant discussion between the institutions on the overall issue of implementing acts.
the commission is carefully following the discussion and gauging on the basis of contacts with the other institutions when such a proposal should be adopted by the commission.
we have indeed observed an increase since the beginning of the economic crisis.
wto. in many cases the commission's actions lead to the termination of the investigation without the imposition of measures.
two final questions were on whether we are going to review the trade defence instruments.
cases are introduced by companies.
we consider the arguments that are put forward by the companies concerned so if a company were to put this before us then we would certainly look into the matter.
the intention to reintroduce the death penalty in the philippines for drug offenses also raises grave concerns for the future direction of that country and illustrates that duterte's claims that he will continue in the same vein until his presidential term ends in two thousand and twenty two are not empty threats.
the self styled strongman president duterte continues to pursue his war on drugs a campaign that is so far estimated to have cost the lives of over twelve zero people many of them youngsters.
all taken together the trajectory of human rights in the philippines under president duterte appears to be heading in only one direction and that is not a very nice one.
mr president just over a year since our last resolution on the philippines the situation is sadly little changed.
away from his headline grabbing story minorities including indigenous peoples continue to be marginalised and victims of human rights abuses.
those who dare to criticise the duterte regime face harassment torture or arrest this is the fate of activists journalists and indigenous people.
this is not just an issue for my party.
or they're simply banned from entering the country as happened to my colleague giacomo filibeck the deputy secretary general of the party of european socialists who was detained and expelled from the philippines on sunday while on his way to a political congress because he had been critical in the earlier visit.
human rights violations including extrajudicial killings and widespread impunity have been a long standing problem in the philippines as highlighted in the gsp report.
the list includes inter alia the united nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people.
we also addressed recommendations to the philippine government and i have also personally conveyed them to the minister that they need to do more to address the issues we have discussed here. we are monitoring the situation closely and this year's gsp monitoring mission will focus on the issues related to the war on drugs.
the issues that have been raised are the issues you raised here the high number of killings associated with the campaign against illegal drugs the climate of impunity the declared withdrawal from the international criminal court the possible reintroduction of the death penalty as well as a possible lowering of the age for criminal responsibility to nine years.
the issue of the gsp commitment was raised by several of you as you remember we discussed this in this plenary in january where we highlighted that indeed there are several areas of progress by the philippine government when it comes to the work on gender equality health education social and economic rights labour rights fight against corruption protection of the environment.
regarding all the individuals on the list the eu expects the government of the philippines to fulfil in all its proceedings on the matter its obligation under national and international law in particular the respect of the rule of law and human rights and to ensure their physical safety.
we are disturbed by the denial of entry into the philippines and the subsequent forced deportation from the country of the pes group deputy secretary general giacomo filibeck. he was blacklisted for participating in supposed illegal political activities where as you know and you also referred to he was officially invited to attend the congress of akbayan an opposition party which is represented both in the senate and in the house.
that includes the right to due process the independence of the judiciary and a fair trial for every individual.
we remain convinced that both the philippines and the eu have most to gain from constructive engagement.
and this agreement foresees the establishment of a structured human rights dialogue between the parties which will be an important forum for addressing all human rights issues.
we note that un special rapporteurs are protected by specific diplomatic protocols during their united nations mandated work.
further the issue of the general situation of human rights defenders have been raised the arrest of senator de lima and challenges to the freedom of expression and opinion as well as to the independence of institutions including the impeachment procedures initiated against the chief justice. this has been raised in different declarations and statements by the eu twenty eight human rights council the high representative's spokesperson and we addressed it
we immediately raised the matter with the government as this is the first case of a foreign national and an eu citizen being expelled from the country for political reasons during the current administration.
we are closely monitoring development especially now regarding the petition of twenty one february by the department of justice which includes a list of more than six hundred individuals alleging that they are members of the communist party and the new people's army.
however and this was also very clear in the report extra judicial killings especially in the fight against drugs related impunity and the possible reintroduction of the death penalty were mentioned.
and the eu will assess recent developments before deciding on the next steps.
it is extremely disappointing that the philippines has decided to withdraw from the international criminal court.
it is an attempt to avoid accountability for the crimes committed.
the icc initiative to inquire into this matter of crimes against humanity in the philippines is highly welcome and needed and all those responsible for the heinous crimes must be brought to justice.
in addition to the killings and massive violation of human rights there is harassment of human rights defenders critics of duterte's actions indigenous peoples and so on not to mention duterte's own unacceptable behaviour with his remarks and calls for violence that amount to violation of international humanitarian law. the threats intimidation and violence must stop.
through ratification of the partnership and cooperation agreement the eu and the philippines confirmed their joint commitment to the principles of good governance democracy the rule of law the promotion of social and economic development and to peace and security in the region.
i am particularly concerned therefore about the decision to withdraw from the rome statute which deals with the four core international crimes of genocide crimes against humanity war crimes and the crime of aggression.
it is our obligation to take stronger action than before even if this meant that we would have to reconsider gsp privileges.
violence against women in all its forms fgm domestic violence and the exploitation and trafficking of vulnerable women must be tackled with commitment by all of us.
it showed us the current extent of violent crimes against women and the chronic under reporting that leads lawmakers and law enforcers to become complacent about the problem.
but again we have yet to see the plan.
in fact one in ten women has experienced some form of sexual violence one in twenty has been raped and one in five has experienced some sort of physical or sexual violence from a current or previous partner.
thankfully the commission has picked up on the issue of female genital mutilation important in taking european action on violence against women.
these issues cannot be seen in isolation but rather as part of a larger problem society's attitude to women.
when we quote statistics we do need to personalise it so i am sure it has been difficult for you to do that.
people with convictions for abuse violence and often of course criminal gangs trafficking women across the eu have complete free access to the uk with no questions asked.
madam president one thing i am sure none of you will mention is the complete free movement of people across the eu.
what we need is proper border controls with checks which will make it more difficult for criminal gangs trafficking people and those with a history of violence to enter the country.
because of this open door immigration policy we cannot even check the criminal backgrounds of newcomers.
then and only then can we have a better chance of dealing with the problems that we already have.
we cannot even do a background check thanks to eu rules.
so before you start calling for more useless bureaucratic unaccountable and expensive eu quangos let us stop giving criminals and people with convictions for abuse free access to our countries.
we have come a long way and we can go further.
now it is unthinkable that he would say that today but still on average two women per week are killed by their partners in the united kingdom.
well we have criminalised fgm we have criminalised forced marriage we have passed something called clare's law which allows the police to disclose information on request about a partner's previous history of violence thus waiving that partner's rights to protection under the data protection act.
but what have we done?
so ladies and gentlemen please let us get together let us find ways of working together to end this rather than squabbling about how we attack the commission.
let us learn from each other.
in london thirty years ago the metropolitan police commissioner sir kenneth newman who was in charge of police for the whole of london said stray dogs and domestic violence rubbish work for police officers'.
can you tell me how you can check that scottish criminals do not move to london or london criminals move to northern ireland?
i do not want to wait because this is the time for action.
we have other instruments in the meantime before we decide whether to adopt a new directive to do many things using the instruments i spoke about before.
but this is not normal.
i will finish with this last comment because i know we have a shortage of time.
we spoke about statistics and said that every third woman experiences violence.
they want all member states to sign up to the call for action to end sexual violence in emergencies.
many of your member states have not signed up.
we need the action plan to be a real plan for real action.
it is not a question of checking that it is a question of actually knowing where these people are when they have criminal records and making sure that people innocent victims actually we need to know where these people are. it is vital that we protect our women really it is.
no i am sorry i do not accept that.
one area where we can move forward is to ratify for everybody to ratify the istanbul convention. commissioner you said that only eight countries have ratified this convention. my own country has not ratified the convention.
i have spoken to our minister for justice and we intend to do it by this time next year when everything is in place.
the council is the place where the gravest human rights violations are publicly condemned and where new partnerships can be forged with countries from all regions to take resolute action to prevent and respond to human rights violations and abuses and to fight discrimination and violence.
our collective commitment to the universal peer review or principal decision to cooperate with all special procedures of the united nations are extremely important for our credibility and for the credibility of the human rights council.
on the protection of race and religion.
we are the long standing sponsor of resolutions on the rights of the child both in geneva and new york and support in particular the protection of children from war violence and abuse.
discrimination and violence allegedly committed in the name of religion or belief.
this is why when the time comes we will support also the role of the icc in addressing these violations. third finally let me mention south sudan a country we will discuss afterwards and where the conflict spares no one not even young children.
with this initiative we want to express support to and solidarity with human rights defenders and civil society representatives.
this is a complex phenomenon which requires a firm response by states regional organisations religious or belief communities ngos and by media representatives. let me say in this respect that realising all human rights for all and fighting marginalisation discrimination
the result is a spiral of violence and destruction which is difficult to control.
here the eu urges the african union peace and security council to consider the report of the african union commission of inquiry.
third and finally let me recall that the credibility of the un human rights systems rests primarily on the independence and integrity of the office of the high commissioner. we must defend this independence by supporting the office financially and by staving off attempts to place its activities under the scrutiny of member states.
since we know from experience that restoring justice to the victims of atrocities is crucial to achieving sustainable peace and reconciliation.
secondly we must lead by example.
unavoidably the debate in geneva is very much focused on the many human rights crises resulting from ongoing conflict or fragility.
for this reason it was particularly important for the vicepresident high representative to participate in this high level segment last week.
i think we are going to see these findings in june after the israeli elections so i would ask you commissioner in the spirit of both the foreign affairs council and this resolution what will the commission the external action service do to reflect the spirit of paragraph sixty eight and the foreign affairs council conclusions and given that there will be recommendations from this independent commission of inquiry could you commit to their being implemented by the external action service to recognise past abuses and prevent future ones?
support for the un commission of inquiry into gross human rights abuses within the occupied palestinian territories now. there is a sense of momentum behind this. last february even for the first time the foreign affairs council identified the human rights situation within the opt as an eu priority.
this is a priority for the commission at large.
true much more needs to be done to protect and empower women and girls worldwide including in our own countries.
although it does accept that collectively the eu plays a very active role in the work of the council in proposing resolutions and making declarations on the protection and promotion of human rights and freedoms and establishing and developing the system of un special rapporteurs on human rights issues.
isis continues to broadcast its acts of horror in syria iraq and libya murdering torturing raping and even selling children which was highlighted a few weeks ago by the committee for the rights of the child as well as mass public beheadings and the burning of people alive in cages.
i am proud personally to say that my country the uk is living up to its commitments to the un to safeguard fundamental human rights at a time of escalating violence particularly in the middle east.
this is the only way to raise the visibility and influence of the european union as a global actor and to encourage all moderate states in the united nations to stand at our side on highly important matters like for example what is going on right now huge violations and abuses of human rights in europe in ukraine and in crimea. i would like to state my satisfaction at the call in the resolution on the eu member states to actively oppose any attempt to undermine the concepts of universality indivisibility and interdependence of human rights to focus on the need to keep special procedures and to preserve the independence and adequate funding of the office of the high commissioner for human rights as well as sufficient funding to keep regional offices of the high commissioner for human rights
mr president a great deal has been achieved in the protection of human rights across the globe since the formation of the un human rights council.
it is right that we celebrate the successes that we have already had.
throughout the globe there is still areas where severe violations of human rights occur.
whilst it is right that we look around the world and act through international organisations such as the un and the very generous act of giving money to charity it is important we also get our own house in order and to no longer be afraid of speaking out against abuses when they happen within our own borders.
for that purpose two elements are required first proper legislative instruments and second political vision and the will to implement those instruments.
the question is not if but how the community should act in order to make member states secure in the energy field.
in spite of the fact that this is widely recognised in practice the eu is incapable of stopping its increasing dependence on energy supplies from actors with strong political agendas who do not hesitate to exploit the eu's increasing vulnerability. this is due to the resistance of some new important members.
the issue is not only economic but highly political too because it has a strong impact on the foreign policy of the eu and consequently on its international standing.
the russia ukraine gas crisis was an artificial problem caused by neo con interference in the politics of eastern europe.
the answer is to stop baiting the bear' and to leave the nations of europe free to buy the gas that russia needs to sell us.
instead the crisis is used as an excuse for the eu to seize control of gas supplies and ensnare us all in a web of interdependence designed to enforce the union that voters would never approve.
this is not about gas supplies. it is the creeping tyranny of a socialist superstate using deceit to grab what it cannot get democratically.
when it drops the mask of reasonable necessity its new fascism will be imposed not with castor oil but with deadly cold.
our various geopolitical situations require a european approach and the european approach requires full completion of the energy market.