kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the commission was not consulted on the draft legislation and the croatian government was under no obligation to do so.
taking out a mortgage to buy a home is the single biggest financial transaction that most people undertake in their lives.
so we need a solution that strikes the right balance one that is consistent with eu legislation that protects consumers but also investment and the single market.
some countries have already passed laws;
there is clearly a problem that needs tackling so we need to find a proportionate solution in line with treaty freedoms and one that helps maintain investor confidence in croatia.
let me give you our initial analysis.
to a lot of irish people a foreign currency mortgage may look like a great deal. lower interest rates longer maturities; it seems like a great idea.
for this reason i feel there is a need to maximise the amount of information that a bank is required to provide to consumers interested in such a loan and i call on all member states to ensure this happens. i think most of us here would agree that if loans are taken out in a foreign currency the economy becomes less stable.
additionally with deep exchange rate depreciations we have a surge in servicing costs expressed in domestic currency and this could bring mass defaults and lead to a systemic banking crisis.
if there is to be a sharp depreciation of sterling as is predicted should brexit occur united kingdom banks would be forced to offer foreign currency loans and possibly bring increased instability to their economy at a time when they would need not need any more. in this regard i welcome the commission's recognition of the problem of irresponsible lending and borrowing including the irresponsible behaviour by market participants that blighted europe and my own country in particular before the financial crisis.
finally i want to say to the commissioner that you are doing good work and we appreciate it and to keep it going. i call on member states to implement fully the provisions laid out in the mortgage credit directive.
to european consumers i say when it comes to currency loans beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing
i commend them on the work they are doing to correct these problems.
but it is a discussion today that reminds me of an additional reason for concern as an irish public representative related to our high interest rates.
she isn't the first woman to find herself in this situation and i fear she won't be the last.
she deserves to have access to a fair and transparent trial that gives her the opportunity to defend herself. as part of the european union struggle for gender equality i urge the high representative to use all the means at her disposal to prevent the sudanese authorities from executing noura who was a victim of sexual violence.
forced marriage and conjugal rape are two ways in which patriarchy operates and gives power to men over women's bodies and consciences.
the fact that noura was forced to use deadly violence to defend herself demonstrates the appalling state of affairs regarding women's rights around the world.
she is our sister in the global struggle to end gender based violence.
noura was defending herself from being raped again by a man she was forced to be married to when she was only.
sixteen in its judgment the court did not take into account forced marriage rape and other forms of gender based violence as evidence so noura did not even get a fair trial.
she deserves full respect for her right to a fair trial and appeal in line with international standards not to be judged to that sentence.
this is an inhuman and unjust sentencing of a girl a child bride who was physically and psychologically abused by her family and raped by her husband.
the sudanese authorities are the ones that need to review and reform the laws in sudan as regards the rights of women and children. the age of marriage needs to be raised. all cases of genderbased violence and sexual violence need to be prosecuted and their perpetrators held liable.
forced marriage and marital rape is a deep rooted problem in sudanese society and regarded as something normal.
in the light of these events i join the one million people currently petitioning for justice for noura calling for the rescinding of her death sentence and a free and fair retrial.
as tragic as noura's story is however it is but one in an ongoing pattern of constant human rights violations particularly against women that happens in sudan on a daily basis.
i therefore strongly support today's resolution urging the sudanese government to stand by their international human rights commitments seriously address the patterns of human rights violations in that country and outlaw the unacceptable practices of child marriage forced marriage and violence against women both inside and outside of marriage.
we therefore tabled an amendment to highlight how the eu is abandoning its core values in its relations with sudan and i hope that all the groups will be willing to support this justified criticism.
scotland is an important part of the united kingdom.
i urge the commission not to obstruct these rather unofficial processes.
it is a direct carousel.
there are one hundred and forty three million people living in russia.
if there is any compensation going begging commissioner it ought to go to the producers of scottish whisky in scotland and not to those who simply trade it on. as you know the uk is a very substantial net contributor to the common agricultural policy and some of that money coming back to scotland would be very useful.
we receive the
if only we were diplomatic with them they might stop. they might have forgotten to hit that plane in the sky that just fell down. no one has even talked about that plane. there were a lot of dutch people on it. russia will not
stop. russia will stop when they realise that we are united that we are europe together and that we will not tolerate losing a few million here and there.
stop. lithuanians will keep supporting sanctions until they
we will not tolerate them doing this to us because we are united we are a real europe.
need. look at the direct european support to the baltic states.
clearly just calling for more and more financial support is not the answer it cannot be because that would simply be a bottomless pit.
we have been using the language of emergency and crisis all of which implies a reaction to the unexpected.
of course they would hit back in the area of fresh and perishable produce for maximum short term impact.
even those member states which are not heavily affected directly will be affected in time by market impacts such as falling prices.
the ramifications of these political sanctions are very wide reaching.
it reflects the failures of both russian and european diplomacy that have impacted most on the people of ukraine but will now undoubtedly be felt by farmers and businesses across the regions.
the eu's agri food sector is in crisis and these sanctions will mean that those already struggling to survive will no longer be able to do so.
questions that therefore need to be addressed this evening by the commission include what further measures will the commission take to ensure that our small family farmers do not pay the price for political decisions they did not ask for;
will the crisis reserve cover their losses;
and will compensation be put in place for scenarios where there is a long term impact on farmers beyond the sanctions period?
small farmers now need a friend in the european commission not a bureaucracy which fails to act while their livelihoods suffer.
madam president in northern ireland the greatest impact of the russian import ban is on the dairy sector.
i am therefore calling on the commission to review the prices set for intervention and to reintroduce export refunds as a priority.
introducing these measures would protect the industry and stabilise markets across the eu.
i would also call on the commission to ensure that these safety net tools and compensation are delivered quickly effectively and fairly and not just to member states which border russia.
despite the report stating that we are well on track i believe that a lot more needs to be done in order to achieve a unified energy market and a sustainable secure energy system.
finally one issue remains almost untouched the poor enforcement of the existing legislation affecting the energy market.
i also see a lack of proper support for prosumers such as energy cooperatives to compete fairly in the market.
the commission again confirms in its report the determination of the commission to make the european union the world number one in renewables but the legislative proposals of the winter package do not live up to the promises; rather they put brakes on the energy transition and simply do not address key problems and market distortions. there is no real incentive to cut fossil fuel consumption.
according to the report there was a very modest.
for a wellfunctioning energy union we clearly need a high level of investment and cooperation among the member states and not primarily in terms of gas and electricity for infrastructure but also for upscaling renewables and increasing energy efficiency efforts and exploiting the clear synergies between these aspects.
while regulated household energy prices in about half of the eu are rightly identified as a problem there are no effective proposals for dealing with energy poverty instead of those distorting measures.
this also implies that the commission must make sure that nuclear installations are not exempted from public procurement provisions or competition law which currently is not the case.
you recognised the problem that you call carbon leakage.
the proposal to offer a tiered structure for different industry sectors only exacerbates the problem and the use of the top ten as a standard implies that ninety of european industries will be at a competitive disadvantage anyway.
a few years ago our new president mr tajani said that our energy policies were creating an industrial massacre in europe'.
you face a stark choice between competitiveness and emissions targets.
i call it driving energy intensive businesses offshore and you have decided to give these industries free allowances to redress the balance but you have created your own catch twenty two if you give them enough allowances to stay competitive you have no hope of achieving emissions targets but to achieve your emissions targets you cannot give them enough allowances.
you cannot have both. you are not cutting emissions;
we face competition from china with massive cheap coal fired generation and from the us where donald trump promises to make low cost energy a main driver of the us economy.
mr president the main element of the commission's current proposal is the revision of the ets system.
you have also created a structure which involves perpetual market intervention and distortion and creates a field day for lobbyists and lawyers as industries fight each other for an ever decreasing pot of free allowances.
we will be talking about how jointly with the eu member states we can tackle this challenge together.
i know that this readiness to provide leadership is very much welcomed by our partners across the world be it on energy transition or climate action be it in the area of development aid where we want to use our clean technology to provide access to electricity to the peoples in africa and in asia or be it on free and fair trade.
you have been highlighting the importance of putting citizens as consumers at the centre of our efforts and using this energy transition to fight energy poverty and air pollution and i absolutely agree with you.
i was listening to you very carefully and i know very well your concerns on nord stream.
it is a binding international treaty which was jointly negotiated approved and ratified and has entered into force and we are ready to continue our communication and exchange of views with the united states because we believe we have very strong arguments.
and this leads me to my last point on excessive infrastructure.
the transition to clean energy is already having a profound effect on the global energy market and there are clear indications that clean energy is delivering record levels of investment particularly in renewables and other new technologies.
this should include incentives at the level of the citizen.
within the scope of the energy union framework strategy i particularly welcome the increased focus on clean energy rather than solely green energy.
let us make sure that we harness this momentum to create recordbreaking levels of health improvement also.
the commission communication does mention health.
it is becoming ever more evident that the transition to clean and not just green transport must be given priority. i would like to see a clear preference given to investment in projects that combine the two objectives of lowering greenhouse gas emissions and lowering other pollutants.
it is no coincidence that people experiencing fuel poverty are often also those who experience the worst possible health outcomes.
i have been asked on numerous occasions in the past week what my priorities for the renewable energy directive are.
ensuring the climate is right to attract investment into the european renewable energy sector is the key challenge we face in the recast of this directive. it will be important that we put in place an ambitious but achievable and stable legislative framework.
the answer is very short investor certainty.
this is something that we have failed to do in recent years the biofuels area being a case in point.
in the current ever changing and volatile geopolitical context we need european global leadership.
other parts of the world are also speeding up their efforts;
the state of the energy union report therefore also looks forward and identifies the work that still has to be done;
showing concrete progress on the ground will help our citizens to visualise and grasp the multiple benefits of the clean energy transition.
as you may remember parliament was one of my first stops in presenting the first report as well and this is no coincidence.
what does that mean in practice?
help me convey the urgency of the energy transition and the opportunities it brings to our citizens.
this is one of the key messages of the second state of the energy union while two thousand and sixteen was a year of delivery' two thousand and seventeen will be a year of implementation'.
such an over arching approach implies strengthening the ties between the energy union project and other european flagship policies such as the circular economy the digital single market the security union our skills agenda the eu's economy and climate diplomacy our investment policies and so on.
this creates significant first mover opportunities' for european companies.
it means that we will make real progress this year on providing the missing infrastructure links.
i will therefore use this tour to campaign and push for the swift implementation of the energy union not only at national level but also at local level which is becoming increasingly important.
it means that we must step up even further our investment policies and for this purpose we will set up investment platforms on the ground in all member states.
making sure our economy is socially fair and consumer oriented;
it would also send an important message to eu citizens that when it comes to the energy union we mean business.
in line with the energy union strategy these priorities go far beyond energy and climate alone. the energy union is about accelerating the modernisation of our entire economy making it low carbon;
these are just a few examples to give you the gist of the report.
at the local level my tour will be a good opportunity to showcase some of the most promising and innovative projects of cities and regions.
making it efficient in the use of energy and resources;
it sets the political priorities for this year.
as you can see a lot remains to be done.
it give us a good overview of where we stand and what has been achieved both at eu and national levels.
simply put when we look at the modernisation of our economy we will also need to look at the huge job potential of the green economy; the heavy economic costs of air pollution;
even in the event that you cannot join me in person i encourage you to help me bring the message of the energy union to your electorates.
for instance among major global economies europe is one of the most greenhouse gas efficient.
it also means that we will make europe's global leadership more concrete by helping the developing world africa in particular jump over the fossil age.
it means that apart from the upcoming legislation on the low emission mobility we have delivered on all energy union proposals and we are now ready for the next phase.
it means we must make sure that each and every new measure benefits consumers especially the vulnerable ones.
to the greatest extent possible the commission will already start the implementation of the energy union on the ground.
this is true in the field of climate action but also for safeguarding our competitiveness jobs and economic interests.
but we are in no way in a position to rest on our laurels.
we will look deeper into how we can avoid stranded assets for example when preparing the next list of projects of common interest.
and strengthening the energy union's external dimension.
we' being all eu institutions.
they are also modernising their economies and they are also increasing their competitiveness.
there is no room for complacency if we want to remain global leaders in areas such as clean technologies.
i am glad to share with you that we are actively working on that in cooperation with the committee of the regions.
therefore one key objective for all of us in building the energy union should be to bring the european energy market up to speed with the twenty first century by bringing technology and utilities together.
in the meantime some countries are already talking about advanced smart meters that provide real time data instead of near real time data enabling real time data flows and data sharing within the energy markets with this being absolutely essential to build competitive and innovative energy markets for tomorrow.
three packages later the electricity market is still the fourthlowest ranked service according to the consumer scoreboard.
mr president three energy packages later we are still trying to achieve one important objective make the energy single market work for businesses for consumers and for our environmental goals.
but let us take smart meters for instance where eight years after the third energy package some countries are still discussing whether the deployment of smart meters is relevant or not.
please do that.
you need to stand up for the legislation that we have and the aims we have and take a clear view and clear action.
two it is increasing dependence on russia and increasing dependence on gas.
it is very easy to prove that you mean business with energy union.
it is distorting competition and it is changing the architecture of the european energy markets. it will be a means for gazprom to assume an even more dominant market position and it is also in conflict with the rules in the third energy market package about unbundling. so if you want to make the project of energy union credible and stable you need to act.
that is in conflict with the whole idea of the european energy union and in conflict with its aims and that is nord stream.
we need it to heat our homes to provide the businesses that create our food and we even need it for this chamber.
they have created this framework strategy for a resilient europe with a forwardlooking climate change policy.
this sounds positive optimistic an energy utopia but it is not the reality people will live in is it?
eu policy will control the sources flow distribution delivery and billing of the whole of the european energy industry.
it will suppress national governments' abilities to provide the best energy services and prices for their people.
infrastructure will be paid for by the taxpayer corporate subsidies will be paid for by the taxpayer and higher bills will be paid for by the taxpayer while all profits will be distributed between the eu and global corporations.
the user is always the loser in the eu.
firm action should be taken until myanmar finally passes legislation that will help minorities in that country come out of the middle ages and into the twenty first century.
as legislators it is our duty to denounce governments that are responsible both directly and indirectly for the current situation.
mr president let me begin by thanking colleagues from all political groups for their help in giving the tragic plight of rohingya refugees the attention it deserves.
while europe faces issues of its own closer to home there is a common understanding that we have a moral responsibility when it comes to saving human lives.
recent news is a testament to myanmar's appalling civil rights record and unworthy of a nation that is seeking to be part of the international community.
the last parallel is the potential loss of credibility not only for the asean countries involved who are benefiting from the gcp scheme but also for the eu if it decides to ignore these violations of international human rights law.
in two thousand and nine for example many rohingya refugees were rescued after twenty one days at sea.
what we have seen going on in burma myanmar as many have said here has basically been a form of ethnic cleansing where we see the rohingya who have been there for generations instrumentalised by the government and allowed to vote at times when it has been convenient in sham elections;
it is clear as others have said that the source of this problem lies in burma myanmar.
so it is not surprising that many of them have fled across the borders where again they find themselves at risk of being instrumentalised.
they have not even taken back the two hundred three hundred people that they have recognised as their citizens from the camps in bangladesh. so i would add my voice and that of my group to those who are saying we need to do more with the burmese government to actually make them live up to their responsibilities and to take back
the economic discrimination and persecution against the rohingya in burma is a well documented and long standing issue and more must be done to tackle it.
but i am pleased to note that in the last few days we have seen both indonesia and malaysia agree to take up to seven zero people on a temporary basis and even today in the last few hours the president of gambia has announced his intention to offer permanent refugee status to all of the rohingya refugees.
in the longer term however the only way to solve the problem is to remove the factors that are forcing people to attempt such perilous journeys.
the situation definitely calls for urgent action by all countries involved in line with their international obligations and international human rights standards. the priority has to be on saving lives
we encourage the countries in the region to jointly address the scourge of human trafficking.
this issue.
and not putting more lives at risk.
we must cooperate with these countries to put an end to these atrocities and to this extremely serious violation of human rights.
at the same time there needs to be a regional solution to the humanitarian crisis at sea with thousands of refugees stranded in very dire conditions. i welcome the commitment by indonesia and malaysia to actually take care of these stranded migrants but we also have to call on all the countries in the region to take their responsibility and at least to participate in the summit in bangkok at the end of may.
we also have to address the root causes of this crisis and this is the continued persecution and discrimination of rohingya refugees in myanmar.
the government must change its policy and must make sure that it does all that is necessary to respect the fundamental rights of all people on its territory.
it is time we adopted a comprehensive approach to tackle the problem of migration globally.
men women and children fleeing sectarian violence in burma and poverty in bangladesh are dying in camps and abandoned at sea.