kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
this could be done by looking more specifically into the suggested fallback clause in article twenty one in cases brought by the employee against the employer defining as relevant the place of business from which the employee receives or received day to day instructions
two thousand and twelve for instance the new brussels i regulation provides for the right for employees to sue several employers together and the right for employees to have access to courts in europe even if the employer is domiciled outside europe. the commission will
i ask you therefore to enforce the standing order and refer these reports back to committee so that they do not take up our time when they should be sorted out in committee.
mr president i understood that it was a decision of the conference of presidents that any report that had more than fifty amendments had to be referred back to the committee to be resolved.
we have four reports in front of us today the langen lepage eickhout and pieper reports all of which have more than fifty amendments.
mr president i would just like to thank all the political groups and particularly the leaders of the political groups for a very smooth arrangement that allowed us to fill these two vacant places.
the directive requires that farmers take all responsible steps to ensure that animals under their care are not caused unnecessary pain suffering or injury.
the report also invites the commission to use scientific evidence as the basis for proposing new measures for housing requirements for breeding does and for rabbits reared for meat production. i would remind the honourable members that all farmed animal species including rabbits are protected by the rules of directive ninety eight
this priority is particularly relevant because we continue to see a widespread lack of compliance regarding animal welfare rules across many member states.
this opinion provides member states and farmers with data on aspects of farming systems which may put the welfare of the rabbits at risk.
as honourable members will know member states are primarily responsible for the implementation of eu legislation.
rabbit production in the eu is essentially concentrated in a few member states mainly italy spain and france.
the rules of the directive should be seen in conjunction with this opinion.
in addition in two thousand and five the european food safety authority published an opinion on the impact of the current housing and husbandry systems on the health and welfare of farmed domestic rabbits.
against this background and in line with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality the commission takes the view that the member states involved are better placed to address the relevant issues concerning rabbit production.
fifty eight concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes.
in consideration of this analysis and given its limited resources the commission does not consider it appropriate to propose an initiative on the welfare of farm rabbits.
the report encourages the commission to take a number of non legislative actions such as drawing up a roadmap to include guidelines on good practices and a commission recommendation relating to rabbit health welfare and housing.
better enforcement of the eu animal welfare legislation is one of the key priorities for animal welfare and the commission has invested substantial resources in pursuit of this aim.
therefore i strongly support the report's focus on the need to ensure implementation of existing eu legislation in the member states.
this stimulates growth and job creation in europe and increases our energy security.
furthermore an internal market for energy is an important part of the path towards more sustainable energy production. that is quite obvious to us all but we should also recognise that there is a long way to go before we can realise our vision for an internal market for energy in the eu. one reason for this is that legislation concerning the creation of the market is delayed in many member states.
today the european parliament is sending out a strong and unmistakable message to the governments in europe that they must live up to their commitments in the third energy package and we are also highlighting the importance of a more coordinated approach at eu level towards national capacity mechanisms. national capacity mechanisms can be necessary in some circumstances but much too often they are counterproductive as regards the aim of creating cross border markets. i therefore strongly support the call to the commission to ensure a stronger and more coordinated approach capable of guaranteeing that capacity mechanisms will be transparent
before the european elections next year we can implement much of the legislation mentioned in my report.
the commission will take its stand express itself and make commitments if necessary at the time of the first reading vote.
and analysing the possibility of introducing targets for separate collection or recycling of bio waste within the review of the recycling targets of the waste framework directive by two thousand and fourteen at the latest.
therefore the commission plans to initiate a number of actions aimed at improving bio waste management including setting criteria for the production of high quality compost using the end of waste' procedure envisaged in the waste framework directive;
however as optimal bio waste policies may differ from country to country or even between regions further analysis on the grounds of subsidiarity is necessary.
as you know on eighteen may the commission adopted the communication on future steps in bio waste management in the european union. this communication is accompanied by an annex with a detailed technical analysis of the measures that could be taken to improve the management of bio waste in the eu as a whole and in each member state
analysing the viability of setting minimum standards for the use of bio waste in agriculture within the revision of the sewage sludge directive;
so it is with great regret that i have to say that i do have an argument with one part of it.
the rapporteur lost my support on the point where he talks about a mandatory that means compulsory separate collection regime across europe.
i object to this in principle on the grounds of subsidiarity and i object most particularly on the grounds that it seeks to lock in a method that in many places is being superseded by high tech autoclave and other technology.
in other words it is becoming outmoded before we have even set it up and this really puts eu regulation in its worst possible light.
i object to the knee jerk reaction to call for more regulation rather than create incentives and i urge the commission to maintain its position and oppose the call for compulsion.
in addition in terms of success in helping the development and the placing on the market of medicines for rare and life threatening diseases the commission has already authorised one hundred and six of such innovative treatments.
this commitment was highlighted in the commission's communication of april this year on effective and resilient health systems which among other things focused on increasing accessibility to health systems.
the commission is therefore looking forward to the debate planned by the italian presidency on therapeutic innovation at next week's informal council of health ministers. the outcome of this debate will help inform the new commission about the interest of member states in continuing an eu debate on the affordability of innovative health products.
these are determined by member states individually.
however the commission can offer help for example by pursuing improved exchanges of information among member states on their pricing policies with a view to minimising negative effects on the accessibility of medicines in the eu.
the commission has however no competence to regulate the level of prices of medicinal treatments.
of course the discussion on the impact of prices on the affordability of medicines for public payers and patients goes far beyond the specific case of hepatitis c treatments.
thus there can be no price caps imposed by the commission.
as regards support to research and development the commission is hopeful that the ongoing innovative medicines initiative will help speed up the development of better and safer medicines.
eu pharmaceutical legislation contains a number of tools to facilitate early access to medicines for patients with unmet medical needs.
the communication stressed the need for improved cooperation increased transparency and better coordination to minimise any unintended effects that current national pricing systems may have in terms of accessibility throughout the eu'.
another way in which the commission could assist would be by further exploring the use of the joint procurement mechanism to obtain more advantageous price offers from the pharmaceutical industry.
lastly i want to add my voice to the long list of organisations including the european consumer organisation age platform and the standing committee of european doctors asking commissioner juncker to revisit his decision to move medicinal products and health technologies into the portfolio of the commissioner for the internal market.
the commission itself in its country specific recommendations tells us that limitations on access to healthcare may weigh disproportionately on the more vulnerable sections of society the people who rely disproportionately on public services. in my own country ireland the cuts in health expenditure between two thousand and nine and two thousand and eleven were of the order of seventeen
they are caused by supply issues they are caused by production issues and most certainly they are caused by affordability issues.
he will also have people from his team who are listening to this debate and taking notes.
there are other things for instance the exchange of information.
there are other things and as far as i understand it the informal health council will actually have this on their agenda at their next meeting.
thank you very much for the input.
the third point and the key point i would like to underline is and maybe i am just an observer getting it wrong but it seems to me while the african union does play a role we see that the mediators' mission has been postponed and honestly i would have expected the african union to be much more vocal and much more engaged.
sometimes we forget it.
sometimes we focus on our own limits or divisions and for sure we have both limits and divisions but when we look at the work the european union does from the outside with the eyes of the citizens of gabon who were welcoming our mission we recognise how relevant our work is how important our values are how powerful our instruments are and how much expectation as well
this is really a key part of our common work that i appreciate very much.
we will look at what is happening and follow and monitor the situation in these critical hours and days extremely carefully and i know that you will do the same.
the eu is ready to contribute to this process. no electoral process is completed without transparent post electoral mechanisms. transparency is one of the fundamental principles of free fair and competitive elections and must also be ensured in the days after the election day. in the case of gabon this needed to be ensured by publishing the results of the voting stations and by a transparent appeal process. this also applies to the current complaint procedures at the constitutional court. i am sure that our observation mission
the commission believes that the text has reached an excellent balance.
but that was difficult to achieve in practice.
defending the effectiveness of competition authorities is good news for the victims of anti trust infringements.
consumers and small companies especially have found it difficult to obtain compensation for the harm they suffered.
one way to do this is by allowing victims to use the infringement decisions of competition authorities in their own claims. in parallel the directive also clarifies the relationship between public and private enforcement of eu competition laws in particular when it comes to accessing documents that are in the possession of a competition authority.
the directive includes rules that remove the current obstacles.
i would like to underline the importance of the directive.
when vice president almunia was before you in his hearing four years ago he promised that parliament would be fully involved in this file as co legislator. as a consequence today we bring this file negotiated under the ordinary legislative procedure to a successful end.
we especially welcome that we can adopt this today at the very last moment before you all go campaigning.
it has been described by the press as the most important development in competition policy of the last years and as a democratisation of the competition law enforcement.
the text that you will be voting tomorrow preserves a company's incentives to cooperate with competition authorities through leniency programmes and settlement procedures.
it gives victims better access to the evidence they need to prove their claims and it ensures that victims can overcome the burden of providing a competition law infringement.
the more decisions are taken the easier it will be for the victims to claim damages.
it enables citizens and businesses harmed by anti trust infringements to effectively exercise the right to compensation that the eu is granting them.
in recent years we have seen very few actions and many of them have failed because of inadequate legal frameworks.
on the one hand it will be easier for victims to exercise the right to compensation.
more than ten years ago the court of justice first recognised that any victim of anti trust infringement had a right to compensation.
large companies smes and consumers will be able to effectively claim full compensation before national courts throughout the union for the harm they have suffered.
in addition the right of compensation will apply to the victims who have actually suffered the harm including those who had no direct dealings with an infringer because they were further down the supply chain.
i want to stress that we are indeed talking about full and fair compensation.
we all agree that multiple compensation for the same harm should be avoided and the directive includes provision to achieve this goal. at the same time the text regulates interaction between the public and private enforcement of competition law leading to an optimal overall enforcement of competition rules.
the effectiveness of essential tools of public enforcement such as leniency programmes is maintained and even enhanced while respecting eu rules on transparency as well as the fundamental rights of the victims.
the other continents are surging ahead but the eurozone economy is the same size that it was in.
are represented by one twenty eighth of an eu official i think at the moment a swedish former sociology professor.
we have to make our way in the world through what we buy and sell. that means we have to be where the customers are.
free trade makes conflict both pointless and unduly hurtful to the perpetrator.
the customers are not in europe and we need to leave the european union and take back our place in the wto.
that is not just a problem in theory it is very much a problem in practice when we think that europe is the only continent on the planet not experiencing economic growth.
yet and this point is still not widely understood despite more than forty years of membership of the european union the uk does not have a separate voice or vote in the world trade organization we.
free trade is particularly in the interests of small and medium firms and of consumers in a country like ecuador.
they can go further when they think the eu is being unduly protectionist;
it is also and we always seem to forget this point mentioned as one of the primary objectives of the european union in the treaty of rome.
application and oversight etc.
they will have a field day here because there is so much simplification needed.
of course people feel strongly about it. it touches us emotionally and it opens the door to what has come to be known as virtue signalling people using a legislative or political issue as an opportunity to broadcast to the world what very nice people they are.
but stand back and ask the question is it right for sensitive issues moral issues one might say of this nature to be dealt with at a continental level?
is it not precisely matters of this kind in which opinions run so strongly among our constituents that ought to be determined through our national democratic mechanisms and procedures?
unfortunately our governments in the past have not listened to thomas jefferson's words and we have become entangled with the european union thus losing our spot in the world trade organization.
as a consequence we cannot influence properly the world trade liberalisation programme.
we cannot influence tariff reductions that would benefit the people of the united kingdom.
but more importantly than that they cursed my country and they oppress their own people.
two thousand and nine this decision had been preceded by a discussion with member states in the council.
the government of nicaragua has announced that the next regional elections in two thousand and ten and the general election in two thousand and eleven will have national and international observation teams.
this represents a small part of the funds that have been suspended which amount to an additional eur forty six million.
the government has also committed inter alia to improving its civil registry and electoral role with the support of an ec project and to appoint credible and professional electoral authorities next year.
at the same time the eu is trying to maintain a balance with our long standing commitment to support the development and stability of this developing country and the central american region more generally.
without going into the details of this i think it is very important that when we take that kind of decision we have a kind of a procedure whereby we at least try to make sure that the european commission and the member states are taking the same line with respect to
there was criticism last week in the development council that there were no previous discussions on this with the member states.
following numerous contacts with the nicaraguan authorities which gave credible commitments that corrective steps would be taken the commission proceeded at the beginning of october with a single payment of eur ten million of our budget support programme to the education sector.
on the other hand recent developments such as the ruling by the constitutional chamber certainly cast a shadow on the seriousness of the nicaraguan government to live up to its commitments.
mr president honourable colleagues as you know the european union is engaged in a difficult dialogue with this country aimed at preserving democracy and restoring its citizens' trust in the country's democratic institutions.
at the end of the day implementation of these commitments will be crucial for the progressive resumption of our budgetary support programmes.
i do not understand why it is not urgent to take the floor discussing the issue of the treatment of one of the members of this parliament who has visited a country exercising his right as president of liberal international.
i do not understand why we cannot take the floor and speak about this issue and also speak about this new tendency in latin america to try to change arbitrarily the constitution of the country and stop a tradition that has always existed concerning one or two terms of office of the head of state in that country.
these presidents with extended powers have not been able or willing to improve the quality of life of their subjects.
in nicaragua we can see a warning example that such kinds of rulers do not change. they return to power only to misuse it once again.
mr president nicaragua remains one of the poorest countries in the americas. the fact that president daniel ortega has failed to improve his country's situation despite myriad socialist utopian promises upon taking office would suggest that nicaragua needs a change of leadership now.
the country's constitution permits heads of state to serve only one term sometimes a wise policy in a region prone to instability but ortega is once again showing his contempt for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law by abusing the constitutional court's powers.
both men have made their names denouncing caudillos but they themselves are turning into caudillos of the left and as such represent a genuine threat to regional democratic stability especially given the chaos in nearby honduras.
these evaluations are ongoing so it is too early to assess the state of play of the preparations.
member states of course shall be involved to maintain mutual trust among each other on their capacity to apply all accompanying measures allowing for the lifting of internal border control in particular in the field of external borders visa and police cooperation. the european parliament should indeed be fully informed of the outcome of these results of the evaluation.
on that basis and under current legislation it is up to the council to inform parliament accordingly. in this context i would like to take up your proposal and confirm that i will soon in the autumn propose a new evaluation mechanism following the entry into force of the lisbon treaty for the reasons that you stated mr coelho.
there is no real follow up at this time after evaluations are made and the recommendations are not always implemented.
i think that both member states and parliament should be involved in this mechanism.
with this new mechanism the commission aims to remedy the current weaknesses as referred to by the rapporteur.
but the first steps have been successful confirmed by the positive evaluation of data protection which allows now bulgaria and romania to get access to the schengen information system.
it is indeed the practice in the current schengen evaluation that the member states concerned report to the council on the measures to comply with the recommendations as the evaluation mechanism is now under full responsibility of the council.
the security of travel without border controls rests heavily upon trust in the ability of individual member states to perform checks to appropriate standards.
spyware allows a third party to access the same data as the user.
will we have to provide financial support for developing information gathering systems in those countries aspiring to schengen in order to mitigate the potential increase in crime related to open border policy?
in particular the equilibrium between cost and efficiency.
member states must demonstrate exceptionally advanced security and even with the greatest efforts and intentions one cannot rule out the possibility of a breach which in turn would compromise all involved.
for example at what point will the storage of biometric data be positive?
the broader the system the more data there is to access and the greater the number of criminals with aspirations to abuse the system.
similarly deeper integration alongside a broadening of member state involvement may require an expansion of measures used in the schengen information system especially as we approach the advent of sis ii.
the uk operates independent stringent checks and does not participate in passport free travel.
after the accession of bulgaria and romania to the sis the primary question must be whether these member states are at a point where they can guarantee a level of scrutiny domestically to warrant free movement across the continent. there has been significant opposition to moving towards a second evolution of the schengen information system
schengen brought with it an increase in the possibility of trafficking in illegal goods and people across borders.
the expansion of the schengen information system increases the window for corruption and creates a much larger collection of information for criminals wishing to hack into the network.
it cannot be known how many of these systems are free of malicious software. in general one in two computers have been victims to malicious infection.