kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
mr farkas as any other active or former staff member is subject to the staff regulations and disciplinary proceedings could be opened against him in case of breach including after his departure from the eba.
to conclude let me reiterate that the commission ensures or tries to ensure that high ethical standards are in place across all the agencies by having in place a harmonised legal framework.
however it is the responsibility of in this case the eba board of supervisors to implement this legal framework by taking decisions independently on post employment restrictions in accordance with its founding regulation and with the staff regulations.
it is also the responsibility of the eba board of supervisors to ensure that these decisions are properly monitored and their implementation enforced.
finally the commission is always seeking to improve the existing framework.
the existing ethical framework is the subject of constant review.
we are also concerned about the growth of radical islamist sentiment in the country.
what we say and do is of importance there.
we should continue together with like minded partners to assist the country to further develop its democratic institutions.
all the observers including the commonwealth observation mission our own electoral experts and the diplomatic watch' composed of representatives of member states' embassies in colombo and new delhi and of our colombo delegation agreed that the outcome had been credible and transparent. the election commission
we are important to the maldives which depends on tourism taken together europeans are still the single largest group of tourists and on exports of fish again mainly to the eu.
we should be open to working with any new government providing that it has been democratically elected that is the elections must be manifestly credible transparent and inclusive.
on twenty two october the election commission announced a new date nine november for the new first round but the procedure is still vulnerable to legal challenges on technical grounds and if there is a second round the constitutional deadline will not be met.
was congratulated for its efficiency and impartiality. this was not however the view of those candidates opposed to ex president nasheed.
we strongly supported efforts by the commonwealth and the un to forge a consensus on the way forward but it became apparent that the elections offered not only the best but possibly the last opportunity to ensure that the maldives can benefit from a government with a genuine popular mandate which has the credibility to address the many challenges
these range from environmental problems stemming from climate change the main target for our assistance in recent years to the spread of drug trafficking and addiction especially among young people.
the constitutional crisis which looms in mal if a new president is not elected before the current president's mandate expires could spell disaster for this small but dignified commonwealth nation.
mr president two thousand and eight saw the maldives' first democratic election in which mohamed nasheed became president representing a turning point for the country.
i therefore join colleagues in the house in calling for maldivian politicians to put the interests of their country before their own political futures and to help create a truly democratic society where it is the people and not a small band of disfavoured elites allied to ex president gayoom and the islamist parties who determine the country's future. we in the eu should apply maximum pressure to reverse the judicial coup.
we should do whatever we can to stop it sliding into administrative chaos or back into dictatorship as was the case before.
we shall certainly continue scrutiny of developments affecting human rights.
this is the reason why the liberals and democrats are the party of in europe' and not out of europe'.
in europe we can defend our core liberal and democratic values such as the clear separation of powers between the executive and the judicial institutions which we see in this case and the fundamental right of people to democratic and fair elections. i saw this in practice when i was an eu electoral observer in pakistan earlier this year.
this is why a european reaction to what is happening in the maldives is important and i welcome the fact that the vice president high representative has been vocal and has raised concerns over the halting of the work of the election commission following police intervention.
the role and the credibility of the election commission is crucial in order to give confidence to citizens.
in addition the organisation of elections cannot be either the job of political parties or indeed of the police.
we have to ask ourselves what the police are doing as far as stopping these elections is concerned.
given that the failure to hold credible elections would be to deny maldivian people their democratic rights and i think we need to see these elections held as soon as possible i would like to know what the eu is doing in terms of diplomatic dialogue.
i can only again express my regret that it has not been possible to call everybody but i hope that you will have taken something from this evening's exchanges.
you yourself mr pirker said that it had been interesting.
mr pirker thank you for your comments. i made it clear at the beginning that we are in an experimental phase and i would like again to thank the commission for its cooperation and all of you who have had the chance to ask questions.
that is what we are trying to get to.
my regret is for the fifteen or so members whom i have not been able to call but i hope because of the targeted nature of the questions that you will have got some response from those asked by other colleagues.
thank you very much commissioner.
i have to say that we have already gone over time but the positive side is that we have tonight got through twenty two questions which is far more than we would ever normally have done under the old style of question time.
does the commissioner consider the decision of talktalk in waterford to close at one month's notice with the loss of five hundred and seventy five call centre jobs to be in breach of any eu directives and in particular directive ninety eight fifty nine ec?
first of all compliments to everybody for the new format and particularly to the commissioners for their accurate and brief responses.
these groups especially where they overlap find themselves in a very difficult situation.
we are not offering this as a kind of uniform solution because the reality of the labour market in various countries is quite diverse.
question then the commission will respond and the member will have thirty seconds to put a supplementary question.
do not expect me to allow the question.
the important thing for the commissioners to note is that they will be limited in their replies to two minutes; that is two minutes for a reply from one commissioner. if more than one commissioner wishes to respond to the same question i will give them a minute
i should also remind you exactly how the ground rules will work. it works on a catch the eye basis. i am pleased to see that you are already indicating; we are taking a list. each member will have a minute to put his or her
that is what the commission is looking at.
in such cases sometimes very publicly we engage with the national authorities.
many people believe that technology is displacing jobs.
the fact is that these new iphones will be manufactured using technology with minimum labour input and most of them will be sold on the internet.
more and more students for example are using the new ipad with consequent impacts on printers and publishers etc.
given that people are living longer there will be more and more demand for care services.
while i know this is a member state competence i just wonder if the commission intends to take any action on this at european level because i think that would be useful.
involved in preparing the new commission communication on corporate social responsibility.
this different concept of workers' interests is very much central to that.
can i ask them whether this concept of workers themselves being interested in the responsibility of the business will be part of the new communication?
could they confirm that the multi stakeholder approach with trade unions and workers' organisations fully involved in implementation will be part of the follow up to the communication?
can he confirm that these and other minimum applicable international global standards will be at the heart of the commission's approach to the future of corporate social responsibility on our continent?
important proposals.
indeed we would like to ensure especially in a period when europe is emerging from an economic crisis that csr is seen as an important instrument to help the european economy and society emerge from the crisis with a lot more responsibility.
could you inform the house how the topic was chosen and why this particular topic?
i can just add that the existing forms of eu support using the european social fund and the globalisation adjustment fund might also be relevant if the irish authorities request this.
together we looked at the transformation of the european labour market.
the employment rate increased until the crisis. it was the crisis that destroyed a huge number of jobs and not technology.
i am just wondering whether we should not look at the way we organise ourselves and at creating more jobs from less work and perhaps at finding other ways of distributing wealth because that is a crucial issue as far as jobs are concerned.
however the role of the social dialogue and collective bargaining in an emergency situation cannot be the same as in normal situations.
i think it is very important that greece receives sufficient support from other european countries and other sources like the imf for example but it is also important that greece delivers in terms of reforms and transformation because otherwise we will never arrive at a sustainable situation.
i think this is a very important topic right now because of the developments not only in the labour market but also in terms of economic governance in the european union and the two are obviously interlinked.
i think it has been proven in recent years that for example without flexibility there is just no competitive economy which we also want to maintain and even further develop but we have to find the right forms of flexibility.
the social partners also cooperated in terms of finding the best form of flexibility within a particular firm or within a particular industry.
we follow the evolution of labour legislation in various member states. sometimes there is concern because it is true that sometimes a sufficient balance between flexibility and security is not provided.
there was an agreement with the commission as to the subject and it was endorsed by the conference of presidents.
the intention is very clear.
i will try to make my contribution.
directive they do not have the assurance of a level playing field of equal treatment outside work.
for instance in housing education supply of services and so on due to the failure of the council to agree over the last three or four years a new anti discrimination directive. alongside and very much related to that there is no guarantee of recognition of same sex marriages and civil partnerships including in tax property and parental rights supposedly because member states have prerogatives in family law.
but in addition to that you both talk about its importance for european competitiveness and you will recall that past work on corporate social responsibility by the commission identified the responsible competitiveness index the idea that the more responsible businesses you have in an economy the more successful and prosperous the whole economy is as well.
further than that i would not like to comment on any aspect of the working time directive because at this phase it is for the social partners to decide what they would like to do.
we do pay attention to the discussions on employment legislation in britain in this very lively conference period.
avoid social dumping is still valid.
so we will have to study this especially in this period because next year we are planning to develop a new long term safety and health strategy which has to be evidence based.
the commission has constantly tried to make a breakthrough.
i can tell you that the polish presidency is continuing the discussion on this directive and is focusing on the issue of age for instance or favourable conditions for older people the treatment of minors and age in financial services.
the commission itself needs to really push on this comprehensively.
before we move to the next question can i just say i am sure that commissioner andor is enjoying being the focus of attention but we have vice president reding here and commissioner tajani and i would hope that we could share the questions a little more equally and take advantage of everybody's presence.
we are discussing new ways of working but my question relates to the bad old ways of working and surprisingly inside the commission itself.
i must admit that i have a strong suspicion that the process was disturbed by hidden lobbying on the part of the estonian government and also by the commissioner for transport.
it is the second and third which are in the greatest difficulties.
this is also connected with the problem of segmentation which we tried to address in the agenda for new skills and jobs.
yet here is the amazing thing no one in new zealand is suggesting that in order to succeed they need to join a customs union with malaysia or join a political union with nauru or even join a single currency with australia.
it is a natural healthy thing to be independent and to trade.
they have managed to succeed by living under their own laws while remaining interested and engaged in the affairs of every country on every continent.
commerce does not require political union.
it will give us more possibilities for our businesses to find partners and of course new markets.
different possibilities in education and health services for one group of children than for another start to create an equality gap.
i recognise the importance of new zealand for my country sweden.
it is actually the eighth most important trade partner for my country and i believe it can be so with the eu as well.
ombudsmen should pay more attention to the revolving door phenomenon in the european union.
ombudsmen should play a bigger role in order to make the european institutions more open transparent and more understandable for europeans.
we should remember that it is very easy to lose the trust of people but it is very hard to restore it.
it is testament to the ongoing cooperation that the eu has fostered with new zealand.
there have always been strong personal and cultural links between the two countries.
four years ago when norwich's remploy factory shut the department for work and pensions dwp said that funding should be focused on helping disabled people into mainstream jobs but where is that funding now?
the replacement for the dwp's work program has seen its funding slashed by three quarters.
remploy did as was asked and today helps people with disabilities find and keep mainstream jobs.
when i spoke to them they told me about milo who secured a full time job working on cromer pier and brandon who said it is thanks to remploy that he now feels that he has a future.
but now remploy in norwich is set to close and experienced employment coaches will lose their jobs. the british government talks warm words about helping disabled people into work but is high time that they put their money where their mouth is.
we fully respect all of those positions.
budget the eur fifty five billion out of the total of eur one hundred and twenty billion.
for their very constructive remarks and of course i would like to thank my friend commissioner lewandowski for his comments even though on this one we are not exactly on the same wavelength but that is normal so i thank you all for this very fruitful exchange of views. it shows that our presentation of the council's position on the draft budget for two thousand and thirteen
i also wanted to say a few words on the budget of other sections.
but when we do that we will take into account that although we need to make savings and it is important that we make those savings we also need to make those savings without damaging the effectiveness of this parliament and the effectiveness of members of this parliament.
but in order to achieve that figure of.
one nine figure suggested by the commission and i think that that is good news and i think that it does show that institutions in europe recognise the economic and financial circumstances we all face and that we are being responsible.
the european external action service is also making a case for an increase larger than. one nine because they say they are a new institution and they have new responsibilities particularly in the area of security. so i think that rather than have a blanket freeze as the council is suggesting we should look at each institution individually and see what their needs are before deciding what their increase should be and i would urge the council to do that as well.
earlier in the year when we discussed our estimates report we made it clear that we would expect to find more savings in the autumn the ultimate aim being a.
i am pleased to say that most other institutions are also looking to come in with an increase of.
we need to understand what the financial perspective is
we were pushing down commitments but in such a way that through savings in many areas we are able to increase headings for growth and jobs.
this should go as far as possible but cannot be detrimental to the efficiency of the administration which is entrusted with much bigger tasks now than previously.
this heading together with subheading one a and one b and heading two is covered by a statement on payment appropriations in which the council invites the commission to submit a draft amending budget if payment requirements in two thousand and thirteen
the council also rejected the creation of new posts in the establishment plans of the institutions with the exception of posts related to the accession of croatia.
the economic crisis.
exceed expected needs.
new posts were only accepted for agencies in the start up phase or for those which have been given new tasks.
they are based on the latest information available and are subject to revision following the presentation by the commission of its traditional letter of amendment in the autumn at the end of the two thousand and twelve agricultural year.
finally with regard to the decentralised agencies the council decided to maintain the level of appropriations for operational activities as proposed by the commission resulting in an increase of appropriations of.
in the compact for growth and jobs agreed at the european council in june heads of state or government stated that the european union budget must be a catalyst for growth and jobs across europe'.
by timely agreement i mean a timely prospect for investment for.
i also welcome your recommendations relating to the further development of solvit and in particular the issue of its accessibility for users.
your report draws attention to the insufficient resources allocated to solvit centres in some member states and in line with the recommendations of the commission calls for change in that area.
our common priority must now be to focus on improvements in the existing solvit tool.
however for the time being the commission remains convinced that we have the right tool in place and that our main priority should be to develop the full potential of solvit together.
this includes our actions in the context of the solvit network as shown in the recommendations we adopted on seventeen september.
third we have decided to put additional focus on easily accessible information and assistance tools for businesses and citizens.
this is clearly developing in the right direction. we are also active in attracting more businesses to solvit. we want to double our efforts to raise awareness among companies about the potential of solvit.
the commission will analyse the situation and in order to be able to respond in an improved manner to future cases we will extract information from the solvit database and identify barriers to business activities in the single market.
our action in this field at the initiative of commissioner barnier has focused on two issues.
a lot of work still needs to be done to develop the details to make this directive operational.
inspections in third countries are important.
we also have to be selective in the type of inspections that we do.
in other countries that are not as proficient as these we have to go and see with our own eyes and touch with our own hands. this is the policy we have to push forward.
a lot of work has been done.
but even after that we cannot rest on our laurels happy that we have a nice piece of legislation that has a lot of technical details that are very avant garde. we have to inform our citizens of what it means and how they can utilise the tools that we are giving them with this
this in fact is the second pillar of the pharma package that we are delivering and the third pillar that of information to patients has already had a very good report here in parliament.
regarding the specific provisions of the agreement to be voted on tomorrow and most particularly the new safety features to be implemented i would like to ask the commission to clearly monitor the impact of this directive. in its initial report the committee on the environment stated that the measures put in place should respond to three guiding principles proportionality cost effectiveness and independence.
but in order to address this major risk for patients' safety we must also reinforce eu actions in the field of justice police and customs cooperation. the commission should go further in this field and we insist on this to combat falsified medicines properly.
for example between two thousand and five and two thousand and seven in the uk there were a number of cases reported by the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency of fake lifesaving products such as astrazeneca's prostrate cancer drug casodex and the antiplatelet drug plavix
that is why we urgently need to tighten the rules on import export and trade in fake medicines.
two thousand and eight the who estimates that fifty of drugs supplied over the internet are falsified and there are even cases when the legitimate supply chain has been infiltrated.
which protects against heart attack and stroke actually reaching wholesalers and even pharmacy shelves.
therefore we have no option but to deal with the issue of counterfeit medicine in a global manner.
only by a united eu approach can we tackle the increasing counterfeit products available to the public available not only through the shop floor but via distribution services such as the internet.
the directive presses all the right buttons and goes some way towards addressing the problem.
we have laid down tighter controls on prescription medicine as a first step.
we have addressed the internet pharmacy issue. we have looked at the safety features.
yes we could have gone further on the traceability taking it up to the patient but this is a battle that we would have lost and it would have delayed the directive.
as they say rome was not built in a day.
i look forward to building on the foundations of this directive.
a successful conclusion of this file will mark the first time that the european union has tackled with legislation the specific threat of falsified pharmaceuticals. this text is going to make our regulatory system fit for the future;
making a major contribution to protecting patients from the many dangers of fake medicines.
as members will know falsified medicines are different from counterfeit products.
falsified medicines are about public health. i was very pleased that an early agreement on the substance of the proposal was reached between the colegislators just before christmas.