kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
madam president the czech social democratic party and the sd group support the social housing policy for the following reasons decent affordable housing is one of the survival necessities of humankind having an effect on health social inclusion and in the end on the economic productivity of the population.
social housing is currently provided by various organisations including private investors and non profit organisations subsidised by their governments.
madam president perhaps the most celebrated jurist of the modern age in britain lord denning made an analogy with the relationship between eu and national law in the one thousand.
there is a fundamental incompatibility between the roman law system based on writing down an idea from first principles and then applying it to specific cases and that extraordinary anomalous beautiful product of human ingenuity the common law as practised in england and ireland which grows coral like case by case applying not abstract principles but real results.
john adams the second president of the united states called it the most excellent monument the best guarantor of human freedoms and every step towards harmonisation which understandably and naturally harmonises towards the mean is a diminution of that system which has been our defence of freedom through the centuries.
he said it is no longer like an incoming tide it is now a tidal wave that has come beyond the estuaries and is flooding over our fields and houses'.
but we also need full political and public support for those tasked with tackling such crime.
over the last three weeks her majesty's revenue and customs officials have shut down eight laundering operations with a total production capacity of over fifty three million litres of diesel a year creating a yearly loss in tax and duty estimated at gbp thirty four million.
they bring nothing but pain and suffering to the community at large.
the money gained by criminals involved in laundering is believed to fund gangs involved in human trafficking drug dealing and in some instances terrorism.
what we need to tackle this crime is a coordinated approach across borders.
in my constituency of northern ireland we have an escalating problem with the scourge of fuel laundering.
in my constituency it is regrettable that sinn fin and the sdlp have hampered the fight against organised crime by blocking the national crime agency from operating in northern ireland.
there are others who say that actually sometimes intellectual property rights inhibit innovation and that if you want to be able to create something and not have those rights you should be allowed to do so.
what we need to do is make sure that we create the right environment where all those systems can coexist peacefully.
but at the same time we have to recognise that in international trade agreements there will be some of our trade partners who want tougher ipr;
we saw that over the whole debate on acta and we are going to see it in the eu us agreement.
i particularly want to support the calls for housing to be seen as a strategic social investment rather than just expenditure.
in that respect i would particularly welcome funding from the regional development fund to support areas that are badly in need of regeneration.
there is something rather comical about the attempts of this chamber and of national governments to leap on market mechanisms and try to conscript them to a statist cause such as when we have reports saying let us have best practice'.
when a bunch of bureaucrats get together and decree what best practice is then by definition that is something different.
it is the same when it comes to consumer rights and preferences. people sometimes say that i have a dogmatic attachment to these free market models but the other way round dogma means clinging to a belief in the face of evidence.
on paper you would think that a planned economy would work much better than randomly allowing everybody to do their own thing higgledy piggledy.
but the reality is that this random process of creative destruction has raised our species to an unprecedented degree of wealth.
however a number of elements crept into this report through compromise and through individual amendments which i could not support.
a number of these elements breach the subsidiarity principle and in my view left us with a text that went well beyond the remit that had initially been given to the employment committee.
so it is quite clear that what needs to happen is that there should be better information for the consumers as to where they can turn when there are problems.
of course you can have the bureaucratic hand that mandates certain procedures but at the end of the day what we need to do is make sure that our consumers who have the information to be able to buy goods and services from across the eu also have the information to know where to turn when things go wrong working with consumer organisations and others to make sure they are actually looked after.
madam president in march of this year europol sadly and alarmingly described my london constituency as being the organised crime capital of europe.
so undoubtedly cross border organised crime is a major threat and problem both to my constituents and to the wider eu and definitely needs a coordinated response. i welcome the temporary special committee on organised crime's monitoring of the situation via this mid term report.
however i disagree with some of its recommendations and therefore i abstained overall.
despite this i would like to support specifically the key amendments involving the battle against human trafficking drug smuggling cybercrime tax evasion and the fight against terrorism.
furthermore i am also a supporter of the directives such as the fourth money laundering directive and the eu passenger name record directive.
but sadly despite these worthy elements of the report aspects such as the inclusion of a harmonised criminal law system a more complete banking union and the right to asylum prevent me and my delegation from voting in favour of this report overall.
at the same time we have to recognise the differences in our traditions of law. you have the napoleonic codified law in many continental countries and in the uk we have a system of common law based on reason and precedents.
citizens both in the united states and here want less government intrusion in their lives control of the deficit and cuts in public expenditure and for us that should mean a smaller eu budget.
that should apply to all other european countries.
we cannot afford duplication and distraction particularly at a time when defence budgets are being slashed.
turning to defence matters the recent uk strategic defence and security review reminds us that britain's pre eminent defence and security relationship is with the united states.
i very much hope that nato's new strategic concept will demonstrate a revitalised commitment to the alliance which binds the united states to europe's security. we must not allow the distraction of eu defence ambitions to dilute or undermine this.
our economic partnership is a key driver of global economic prosperity and represents the largest most integrated and longest lasting economic relationship in the world.
therefore it is crucial to recognise that time and opportunities for strengthening mutual partnership are limited. probably during the next ten years the us and eu will have a chance to set an international agenda providing for a value based and stable world but only on condition that they act together. this has to start
this work supports both our efforts on climate change and the creation of new jobs.
iran. so overall the summit will cover a range of issues that lie at the heart of the transatlantic relationship.
will consumers benefit from information exchanges between the us and the eu on dangerous products?
even if our respective approaches to economic and regulatory issues remain different consumer safety and data protection illustrate this.
on energy policy the eu us energy council will meet on the eve of the summit;
finally in the foreign policy arena we will stress our joint strategies and maximise our impact.
we will state our joint intent to resist protectionism at home and abroad.
we are each other's largest trade and investment partners;
at the summit we will press the us on the need for the cancn conference to deliver a significant step towards a comprehensive global framework for tackling climate change.
the eu and the us are still suffering from the aftermath of the economic crisis. therefore the economy and jobs will be at the heart of the summit's discussions.
we pooled our efforts very effectively in fighting the economic and financial crisis;
it should focus on three main themes innovation and emerging technologies;
we need to ensure that there is a good balance between the two in all of our work.
the relaunch of the tec is an attempt to develop this strategic relationship.
as well as working on implementing millennium development goals on food security and helping the poorest countries adapt to climate change we need to work closely on coordinating our efforts in the recipient countries so as to maximise the effectiveness and impact of our aid and avoid duplication of effort.
we need to ask ourselves today what the transatlantic market place should look like in.
the need for the tec to support and foster cooperation on all matters affecting the regulatory environment for industries and consumers in the eu and the us;
two years on the eu and the us are now moving towards the next phase the creation of smart and sustainable growth and jobs while facing serious challenges and increasing competition from emerging economies.
by unilateral activism or by relying on more effective and mutually agreed solutions to foster secure trade?
in my view both the eu and the us need to rethink and probably redefine the transatlantic partnership to adapt to the new situation.
the question is how can reinforced cooperation with the us help us to get there?
how will we approach security threats and terrorism?
i know that viviane reding will discuss this important issue including the agreement on passenger name records with you later today. the eu and the us must also work together in a more comprehensive way to tackle new threats to the global networks such as cyber effects and cyber crime.
how should we approach economic challenges posed by emerging economies in areas including intellectual property rights access to raw materials or subsidisation of domestic industries?
the eu and the us are the world's most integrated economies;
the next tec meeting will take place on seventeen december in washington.
on security recognising that fundamental rights and the security of citizens are complementary and mutually reinforcing;
it will continue to work on framing joint responses to energy security. our intention is that the summit should ask the energy council to intensify eu us cooperation on the development and deployment of green energy technologies and promote exchanges between our researchers to allow them to participate freely in each other's energy research programmes.
we will start by reviewing relevant results of the g twenty summit and will discuss our respective contributions to sustainable and balanced global recovery. we also want the summit to underline the need to conclude an ambitious comprehensive and balanced agreement in the wto on the doha development agenda.
we share common values and responsibilities for tackling global challenges on a variety of issues be it innovation or environmental challenges energy security or access to raw materials.
on development the eu and the us are the world's leading aid donors.
it needs to demonstrate the added value of the eu us partnership and its continued relevance in the twenty first century. let me take this opportunity to welcome the active contribution of the european parliament to eu us relations and inform members about our objectives for the summit.
we are aware of the deep concern amongst our citizens about the impact of the global climate change.
two thousand and twenty will the eu and the us be leaders in innovative technologies which have the capacity to transform society such as electric cars and smart grids?
will our smes prosper and access new markets by protecting their intellectual property rights?
i was very pleased to hear vice president reding on the data protection agreement.
a very large and growing part of the transatlantic relationship is about issues of justice law enforcement and human rights.
the more we anchor our partnership in shared respect for our common values the more strongly we can act to resonate those values in the wider world.
i am pleased that meps are reiterating our insistence on the aim of a free transatlantic market by.
that is why our joint resolution insists on the importance of a strategic partnership one which stresses coordination and cooperation in meeting global challenges and regional issues and in which legislators are full and serious players. that strategic partnership must be rooted in economic and political freedom.
in that context the renewed justification by former president george bush of water boarding which is unequivocally torture sums up everything that went wrong in the disastrous eight years of his presidency and that made the west both less free and less secure.
the emerging widespread evidence of apparent mistreatment of iraqi detainees by uk and us troops demands examination at the highest level including at the forthcoming summit and in independent inquiries.
on the economy jobs and growth are at the heart of the discussion.
the main themes we are looking at are innovation and emerging technologies and strategies for greening our economies and building the transatlantic market place.
in the meantime we can advance on concrete issues such as fast start finance reduce emissions from deforestation and facilitate adaptation to climate change for poor and developing countries.
in relation to the introduction of the esta fee for travellers under the visa waiver programme the commission has repeatedly voiced concern that these new requirements are inconsistent with the commitment of the us to facilitate transatlantic mobility and that they constitute an additional burden for european citizens travelling to the us.
the new majority in the us house of representatives is likely to limit president obama's room for manoeuvre even further.
governance restoring growth and jobs by accelerating reforms building an area of freedom justice and security and pulling our weight on the global stage.
that said existing barriers are often very difficult to remove but this is precisely why in the tec we are pushing for early and upstream cooperation for example before we adopt regulations in important areas in particular emerging markets and new technologies.
we need to make sure that the us does not back track on its copenhagen commitments and we must encourage them to contribute to a successful outcome of the cop sixteen meeting in cancn.
we will compare notes on the g twenty results especially financial and banking reforms and the need to deliver a global trade deal and look for eu us added value there. at the same time we need to focus more on delivering the full potential of the transatlantic market.
one of them is building a more open and outward looking eu us relationship that would take into account the full scope of relations that both the eu and the us are building with emerging powers such as china india russia and brazil.
the eu us security partnership is very important it is indispensable and that is why we should allow it to function. in the past personal data protection has been a recurrent issue.
we also know that there are currently many specific agreements on data sharing between the us and the member states and between the us and the eu.
i know that the european parliament shares my view this is a unique opportunity an opportunity to reach a high level of personal data protection while bringing new dynamism to our transatlantic partnership.
is applicable to all future and existing agreements dealing with information sharing for law enforcement purposes;
i am determined to pursue my objectives and i am confident that i can count on the support of the european parliament in order to achieve a good agreement with the us an agreement which will ensure a high level of data protection for all individuals and allow us to pursue the necessary and important cooperation with the united states to prevent terrorism and organised crime.
ensures the effective application of data protection standards and their control by independent public authorities.
that means a patchwork of different safeguards and provisions for processing personal data.
with your support i am determined to end this piecemeal approach and to negotiate an umbrella agreement that provides a coherent and harmonised set of data protection standards and includes essential principles
mr president on twenty six may the commission recommended that the council should authorise negotiations on the eu us data protection agreement and submitted draft negotiation guidelines.
we thus have a solution which is far from satisfactory and which is hardly justifiable since we are talking about a fundamental right and the right to data protection is a fundamental right.
such an agreement will also give us the opportunity to build on common ground and to find satisfactory solutions for future cooperation.
this recommendation for a mandate is now being discussed in the council.
we need a general agreement which provides a coherent and legally binding framework in order to protect personal data and to enforce the rights of individuals.
i also believe that we need to be ambitious.
i believe that citizens and businesses alike expect a single set of legally binding data protection standards which will then be applied uniformly across the union as well as to transatlantic cooperation for law enforcement purposes.
each time exchange of data across the atlantic for law enforcement purposes has been discussed the question has come up again.
i have heard that you want to establish or you have already established specific new bilateral relations between parliament and the united states congress.
trying to achieve both in equilibrium will be the content of those negotiations.
we have to show that those standards are built on our values of justice and fundamental rights and of the right to reciprocity both of which have to be very clearly put on the transatlantic agenda.
what the commission has put on the table would mean the following for our european citizens and for the citizens in the united states enforceable rights for individuals such as the right to access personal data that has been collected about them and the right to rectify and erase
it is very clear that we need to share data in order to fight terrorism and organised crime and at the same time we need to preserve the rights of citizens to data protection.
i absolutely agree with what has been said in this house.
the effective application of these rights would be ensured by the monitoring and controlling of these data protection standards by independent public authorities and in this context a non discrimination clause should also be included to ensure that all personal data is protected regardless of a person's nationality or place of residence
i visited him afterwards to say that we needed to lift the sights of this economic council to look at the long range strategic technological issues that we are both working on and particularly to work around the basis of standards which my committee has been doing a lot of work on over the last few months.
what we should be doing is creating the common standards for future technologies not creating new trade barriers by working independently.
as he said in his statement it will help us to harness common research programmes common opportunities for business and strengthen our competitiveness with our partners in the united states.
it is more reticent about telling us whether or not everybody in every country benefits.
this means that chinese goods which are already low priced because of low wages become artificially lower still because of the low value of its currency.
the impoverished home market means that there is negligible demand for consumer imports and even insufficient demand for chinese goods making china completely dependent on its export trade.
this might be a possibility if china respected international intellectual property rights.
on the agenda of the eu us summit will be increasing jobs on both sides of the atlantic.
mr president no bilateral relationship is more important to us than that with the united states.
we face an uncertain century ahead which will be characterised by a fundamental shift in the global economic balance of power away from the liberal democracies of europe and north america to states which do not all share as yet our commitments to the rule of law democracy and human rights.
as long as i hold my position in this house i will of course fight for unity between the north atlantic democracies in promoting a common vision for the future. for example in pursuing our shared goals for security we should seek the maximum cooperation to avoid unnecessary difficulty.
i therefore applaud the work that is being done on the data protection framework and the pnr agreements but i would urge caution when considering the potentially serious consequences of retrospectively applying new legislation to existing legal judgments both here and in the united states.
we must also recognise that the eu does not have legal competence over national governments' own negotiations with third parties.
i very much hope that on this as on so many issues of common concern we can find a practical and acceptable solution.
we have to insist on the development of the civilian dimension of the peace enforcement and peace keeping missions as well as of the crisis management and post crisis rehabilitation operation.
this is necessary to ensure a credible transatlantic relationship characterised by complementarity and coordination.
this is contradictory and undermines our credibility.
why do we have to learn through leaked documents that torture was inflicted and condoned in iraq?
we call for an independent inquiry.
does it consider the transatlantic relationship more important than questions from meps?
why does the us push european companies to take sanctions beyond those taken by the eu regarding iran?
the us should respect the eu's independence and its complementary role. both the eu and the us have to work transparently respect each other's independence and allow for democratic scrutiny of our actions.
is it not that which distinguishes us the us and the eu from others most notably with regard to fundamental freedoms and human rights?
there is clearly an urgent need for this framework agreement on data protection.
ms reding you have our support on this agreement.
we would like you to protect the privacy of our citizens and to protect the principles of necessity and proportionality in particular.
this is not a zero sum game.
mr president the world's centre of gravity is steadily shifting from the west towards the east with the emergence of new global powers like china and india. in this new context while the eu remains the first commercial power in the world
and the us continues to be the first commercial partner of the eu our cooperation is much more than that it is a core element of the international system as it is based on common values historic ties and strategic interests which
the emergence of a multi polar world dictates the need for a new definition of modalities for cooperation between the two sides on all existing bilateral and global issues.
we reiterate the eu council's conclusions of last september asking for fresh impetus to be given to the transatlantic relationship and for renewed reflection on ways of creating a true partnership based on our respective strengths and specificities.
the transatlantic partnership should concentrate on maximising the potential benefits of our economic relationship with the reinforcement of the transatlantic economic council.