kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
european word. normally we tend to be humble and this is good. one can be a power one can be even a superpower using that with a sense of being humble and facilitating dialogue and mediation and yes we are a superpower. we are a superpower that won the noble peace prize and i think that the major responsibility and lesson we have to draw from what has happened
and very weak. that might be the case but that image of french citizens clapping the image of europeans standing strong and together has to give us the responsibility to work on our own perception
less than two weeks. or our relations with the united states. that is normally automatically associated with the negotiations for ttip which is something we can
term strategies. we tend to react to whatever comes in
it is not the first time that out of a tragedy we are able to build positive things.
ourselves. the third lesson i think we need to work on in the coming months on foreign and security policy is that there is no simple answer to complex problems. if we look around us whether close by or far away we see complexity as the first element. that is evident in the middle east and let me take this opportunity to thank this parliament for its excellent work over the months of november and december on the resolution on the middle east
in front of us. if you want i have a long list twenty three pages actually of single issues and single countries and our concrete commitment on each and every one of these issues and these countries
the absence of war; peace is also respect and the promotion of human rights security
together. this image of the citizens of a country that had been attacked only a few days before with the sense of tension and difficulties in sight clapping what was somehow a picture of europe is something that i think we have to keep in our minds
and regions. i would tend not to go through that list but just say that there is not one single global issue or region of the world or country in the world where we can afford as europeans not to increase our presence our role as
the second lesson that i think we have to learn is that there is no real border between external and internal events and so there must be no real border between our external and internal action.
and equality. i do not know if that answers the question of what kind of foreign policy challenges we have
white issue. this means that we need on one hand as i said a mix of measures and instruments and to make sure that all the things we do go into a coherent
as well. the second will be the preparation for the june european council where i will have the responsibility of presenting an assessment of global security and let me also share with you the fact that i believe that that will also be the opportunity for starting a process to have a new security strategy for
discuss obviously. but we also have to be aware of the fact that a lot of the strategies and challenges that we have before us will need to be developed together with a partner that is probably going through difficult times
of our power. and i will use the word power which is not a usual
in the region; or obviously a discussion on ukraine and russia which we will have just after this discussion today; or our relations with asia or africa where again i will be participating in the african union summit in
actually the european union was born out of the ruins of the second world war and out of our main tragedy our founding fathers one of whom resigned today as president of the italian republic were brave and wise enough to be able to build the most successful experience of regional integration in history. that experience was recognised with the nobel peace prize. if you do not want our europe
not purely a security or securitarian
in recent weeks is that we have to be the major superpower for action for peace for action for human rights dialogue and respect knowing as only europeans know that peace is not only
so i think ultimately labels are not what matter and should not be the issue it should be the solutions. solutions are what matter.
so let us all remember the four little children who were playing on the beach in gaza and the other five hundred and twenty little boys and little girls that were murdered during the last attack in gaza.
it grants jurisdiction to the icc over any war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the occupied palestinian territory and applies to all parties in the conflict there.
amnesty international said that israel the us and the eu member states must refrain from punishing or threatening palestine for taking this positive step.
granting access to justice for thousands of victims is a positive way forward.
high ranking global players from across the world were there at the gujarat summit. meanwhile the eu was not. president obama is visiting india once again for the second time.
failing to increase engagement with these countries would equal failing to deliver growth high social standards stability and progress on tackling climate change.
our absence in india china and asian states is short changing our businesses and citizens.
i hope that in two thousand and fifteen we will finally connect the dots and adopt a proactive asia strategy in which these countries are approached as real and equal partners.
we saw an illustration of this just this week in india.
instead we need to push for a coordinated and comprehensive global response in dealing with terrorism.
unless we deprive them of the initiative by putting them on the defensive they will continue to surprise us nastily.
ms mogherini is right to look for concrete action right to say how essential it is for our internal and external responses to be integrated and especially right when she says we must de link the words islam' and terrorism'. for me it is not wrong to share in an emotional response to this attack.
we can best support the human right of freedom of expression by refraining from passing anti terrorism laws which themselves infringe human rights. so we must consider the problem of foreign fighters;
but my own country is wrong to consider actions which themselves might breach the conventions on statelessness. i am dismayed that a representative of a party which includes the proud name of my own country stained the memorial in this chamber by seeking to use it to blame immigration.
they should remember that the charlie hebdo attackers were all french citizens just as the london bombers were all british.
there is no legitimate cause for the fighters but there are causes as to why they fight.
yet after every crisis we hear the same mantra from the european union that the simple answer is more europe.
today you are speaking about the main aspects and basic choices for cfsp and csdp.
it seems to me that the choice is very simple you can continue on the path of ever more expansion of structures and tasks just to promote the visibility of the european union as a global actor in its own right or you can focus on a very limited set of tasks where the eu might do something useful and add value instead of merely competing with other organisations or seeking to displace
the position of our member states.
speaking here yesterday european council president donald tusk said that the european union was and i quote a political organisation a tool not a destination.
however most worryingly some still cling to the idea of a state called europe as the eu destination and i would suggest that the way in which the european external action service has developed is precisely part of that drive in the wrong direction towards an integrated european state. instead the demand that we hear from many of our citizens and from the british prime minister is for a new direction for an end to ever closer union.
my concerns about the european external action service are repeated in regard to csdp another supreme example of the eu quest for image and visibility in the most vital and sensitive area of national responsibility.
as our socialist friend also mentioned we should also try to make sure that the response to that heinous attack should not jeopardise but strengthen the core values that the european union is based on human rights human security and an open society.
some of them are military some of them are outright war and some of them are on the brink of becoming cold wars.
one of the major lessons from these crises so far in my estimation and in our group's estimation is that none of the member states is capable of dealing with crises on its own or even in some sort of combination.
these crises put together are bigger than any combination of former or present great powers within the european union.
we need a comprehensive coordinated strategy.
you do not need to be an ideologically committed federalist to see that there is no other way out of these crisis situations than through more coordination especially on foreign and security policy.
i am afraid that we are more in the second position than in the first so although i fully understand that this is basically the council's responsibility i would like to ask you what we the european parliament could do to help you in that exercise.
firstly the european union as we all know is especially powerful in its immediate neighbourhood. therefore it is necessary to strengthen the eu's set of external instruments.
the european neighbourhood policy should combine a long term structural engagement with better instruments for a short term impact.
secondly the european union should have a key role in terms of strengthening the eastern partnership on the one hand and maintaining the dialogue with russia on the other.
with regard to the eastern partnership summit in riga which will take place in may i welcome the fact that the latvian presidency has announced a more individual approach towards the countries in the eu's eastern neighbourhood since we all know that one size does not fit all.
we should be very clear on this and call for implementation in all areas.
i have been going to that country for more than a decade and i have never seen any evidence that the ukrainian people or ukraine's political class are being instructed by the united states as to what the country's geopolitical determination should be for the future.
ms anderson i of course welcome all states eventually signing the rome statute and becoming part of the international criminal court although i have my doubts whether the palestinian state is ready because it is not yet recognised as a state internationally.
i really would like to pay a tribute to your expertise and knowledge of that particular country and region.
renewables policy is the golden goose that is actually delivering real co two reductions as well as the precious eggs of jobs and growth so do not kill it.
some people have argued that we should just have one target for two thousand and twenty a greenhouse gas target and just leave the market to do the rest.
just one example from one small town in my constituency blyth.
mr president eu policy on renewables is a success story.
where there have been problems with renewables is where feed in tariff support has become a victim of its own success and governments have failed to intervene soon enough to stop a bubble developing. so i am glad that the commission is due to issue guidance on support schemes which need to be flexible and appropriate for the different levels of maturity of different technologies.
it would be madness in my view to undermine that success but undermine it we will if we do not put in place soon a two thousand and thirty target for renewables.
but the fact remains that unlike the emissions trading scheme and unlike carbon capture and storage the renewables part of the climate package is on track.
in the uk green industries overall contributed more than a third of all growth last year and have created almost a million jobs. growth has brought significant cost reductions in renewable technology especially for onshore wind and pv contrast.
we need to remember that it is the rise in gas prices that is responsible for two thirds of the increase that people see on their household energy bills.
let us support an ambitious renewables target for.
one think of what that would mean in terms of jobs not just directly but also in infrastructure and support industries.
the port of blyth in northumberland plans to double its capacity because of the expanding renewables sector creating an extra five hundred jobs.
by completely taking away all support even retroactively for renewables.
it is going against competition in the spanish energy market because renewables bring more competition to the market.
price for carbon and the reluctance of certain governments even to support a backloading proposal in support of that price?
i think if you look at this debate the greens and the ppe group would have made up the majority yet you decided to take one from every group. i think that was not the best way to do it.
i call on the european external service each and every case of repressed crimean dissidents must be followed by our action i mean by asset freezing and a travel ban against those who are responsible.
the commission must act and take all legal measures against these sanctions violators.
this scandalous and shocking political business scheme must be stopped immediately and investigated thoroughly.
in addition the eu does not recognise the illegal annexation and therefore we do not recognise the application of russian law in the peninsula including the politically motivated sentences given to mr chiygoz mr umerov and mr semena.
to two years in prison for defending ukraine's territorial integrity in television interviews.
restrictions of fundamental freedoms that there have been multiple failures to uphold the right to a fair trial and not least that there are arbitrary detentions enforced disappearances ill treatment and torture.
currently we are following closely the situation of four crimean tatars detained on monday.
all illegally detained ukrainian citizens in crimea and russia should be released and their right to legal counsel and access to consular officers must be fully respected.
eu officials regularly meet human rights defenders and journalists from crimea to be well informed about the situation on the ground.
the three cases before us regrettably illustrate very well the worsening situation.
these three cases are clear violations of fundamental freedoms particularly that of expression.
the european external action service has issued a statement in each of these cases. the eu also raises the issue of human rights violations and abuses in crimea in public statements in international forums.
mr president it is important that we keep on speaking out on the human rights violations that are happening on our doorstep in ukraine and occupied crimea.
this resolution makes a clear call for the release of imprisoned tatar leaders and activists.
but we should not forget ukrainian political prisoners in russia who have been languishing in prisons for years now.
in particular i have followed the case of the talented filmmaker oleg sentsov who is in prison in siberia convicted on trumped up charges.
we must send a message out from this house that we will not be quiet and we will not forget these people who have been locked away.
the eu must continue to put more and more pressure on the russian government to end its human rights violations and let these people go.
any state established upon the rule of law must ensure the protection of minorities and freedom of speech.
the charges against journalist mykola semena should be dropped.
mr president russia's illegal occupation and annexation of crimea continues and so must the eu's resolve to protest about its action.
it is also the case that the crimean minority group the tatars continue to be persecuted which echoes the treatment of their grandparents under stalin.
the indigenous turkic speaking population must be allowed to live peacefully in their homeland of crimea and any efforts by the russian government to force them to leave the peninsula through policies of persecution or withdrawal of their democratic rights is totally unacceptable.
today we highlight the cases of two crimean tatar leaders and one journalist.
but the problem is much much broader.
there is a disturbing pattern of repression of independent voices.
so often across the world minority groups are in vulnerable situations and we must secure their rights.
we demand that the de facto russian authorities reverse their convictions.
they must end the persecution and harassment of crimean tatars human rights defenders journalists lawyers and all other target groups.
we are speaking here about ongoing grave abuses by the russian federation of human rights in the illegally annexed crimea region of ukraine. the recently published un human rights council report about the human rights situation in crimea states that imprisonments arrests tortures and abductions were amongst the actions targeted against people opposing the russian annexation of crimea.
these inhuman and shameful practices demonstrate once again that russia continuously violates international law and is a threat to european security.
also the imposition of russian citizenship has affected tens of thousands of people.
i think it right however to point out that rail is still one of the safest modes of transport and certainly it is the intention of my committee to do all that we can to ensure that this remains the case.
we here in the european parliament have always taken rail safety very seriously.
this has culminated in the recent rail safety directive and follows on from a long line of railway initiatives and reports taken by parliament over many years.
yet we have a frustration born out of the inability over the years of both railway companies and national governments to act in key areas.
this manifests itself when you examine key legislation and in particular the implementation of such legislation in international law which has been at best patchy and at worst downright protectionist.
the commission's own progress report on the implementation of the rail safety directive says that national standards and rules are creating a barrier to a fully integrated rail system.
this then poses the question as to whether those national rules are also compromising safety.
and what about interoperability in the rail sector? are national barriers preventing progress in this area as well or is there an unwillingness on the part of the rail industry to embrace the concept of interoperability?
why is progress on ertms so slow and are we going to fail in our attempt to have the ecm scheme in place by the end of next year?
and allied to that we would like to know from the commission what national barriers and loopholes are currently halting progress on interoperability and which member states are the most obstructive.
following on from that will the commission use any legal powers at its disposal to ensure compliance with community law?
i know that the problems particularly in regard to rail freight but not exclusively in that area lie firmly at the door of council.
i and my committee want to work with the commission and the industry to develop a safe integrated interoperable railway network.
my committee is now beginning to question whether the safety side particularly as it refers to freight wagons is starting to be compromised by this failure to implement european legislation.
if this is so then action is needed urgently.
but action is also needed to deliver both integration and interoperability if passenger railways are to develop to their full potential and if rail freight is frankly to survive.
in any other organisation new priorities would be met by compensating reductions elsewhere but not in this house it seems.
it is ridiculous that you maintain so called information offices in every member state at an annual cost of forty million when it is the job of seven hundred and thirty six meps to answer any questions their constituents may have. it is a continuing scandal that this parliament has not demanded that member state governments stop the strasbourg circus once and for all.
meps bear the brunt of public blame but it is the overinflated bureaucracy needless excesses and the redundant buildings which cost the money.
instead it continues in a self indulgent manner with its costs and staff numbers constantly increasing with no thought of constraint.
an evaluation of a secretarial allowance and the global cost of employing more staff including accommodation i believe is also vital as is a medium and long term building strategy for the parliament and other institutions which perhaps we should be working with much more closely than we are already.
the sd group have tabled a few more amendments to be voted upon tomorrow which we believe will improve the guidelines even further. one amendment points out the difficulty of putting all administrative expenditure under heading; five another amendment calls for the early publication of the guidelines and estimates to ensure we can make our decisions in a proper and timely way.
the committee on budgets tried to balance the need to recognise our responsibilities following lisbon with the need to keep increased spending as low as possible and that is particularly important with margins and public finances being so tight.
i am sure all members will take that point on board. that is why deciding our priorities in these guidelines is crucial and of course it is not just about spending money.
it should not be a unilateral decision.
there should be only one budget priority slash spending and stop robbing britain.
our pensioners soldiers and cancer victims need the money more than the eu.
taking that money without a democratic mandate is not a victimless crime. fifty thousand of our pensioners died of cold this winter because they could not afford to heat their own homes.
thousands of cancer victims are denied expensive life saving drugs.
six four billion would right all those wrongs and still leave change to build eight new hospitals and fifty schools.
what is important is implementation. that should be at cruising speed
challenging problems.
e. four annual procedures.
can somebody explain to my voters how the fact that this parliament has two seats one in brussels and one in strasbourg will help them pay the mortgage feed their children and educate them because this is a big part of the gbp two million cost that i spoke about before.
they only lack job opportunities.
how can we explain to our constituents in normal times let alone in times of crisis that the total cost they are paying for each one of us exceeds gbp two million per year?
how do we explain to all those who are losing their jobs that we the meps need more staff because of the lisbon treaty?
how can we tell them that if they want a high level parliament which some take pride in this is the bill they have to pay?
or that the officeholders in this parliament need an increase in their allowances because they work harder?
as regards the commission it is all very nice to talk about noble objectives such as investing in youth and education promoting the study of languages and fostering innovation for economic development and job creation in europe but the auditors' report gives no comfort on how european union funds are being spent
we continue to work with all the stakeholders to maintain a political process but the plight of syrians continues to worsen.
and their host communities in the neighbouring countries together with providing basic services to syrians organising their lives in all areas.
six five million internally this humanitarian crisis is quickly rising to the top of the gravest disasters of modern times.
with twelve thousand people fleeing syria every week and already.
today we focus on minorities and their vulnerable positions ethnic and religious minorities but also women and children suffer disproportionately among the civilian population that is increasingly crushed between jihadist extremists and a murderous regime.