kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
ai and automated decision making offers great potential in terms of innovative and higher quality products and services but at the same time various challenges need to be addressed in order to realise this potential.
first and foremost services and goods using ai and automated decision making create the risk of consumers being misled or discriminated against for example in relation to differentiated pricing.
will consumers be aware of the fact that the price displayed on their screen was adapted to their estimated purchasing power?
the same goes for professional services.
if important decisions are automated and thus carried out without sufficient human oversight by highly skilled professionals are consumers aware that decisions affecting their professional financial or personal lives are in fact not made by humans and if they feel wronged will they be able to demand a human review?
will a human ultimately be responsible for final decisions or will they be able to reverse them?
so my first question to you is how is the commission planning to ensure that consumers are protected from unfair or discriminatory commercial practices or from potential risks entailed by aidriven professional services?
secondly we risk that the existing eu product safety and liability frameworks do not adequately cover new aienabled products and services.
do concepts such as defective products and the legal provisions built around these adequately cover situations in which harm is caused by products operating under automated decision making?
as is the case with other products and services we should ensure that businesses and consumers are protected from harm and receive compensation if it occurs.
therefore our second question is what initiatives may we expect from the commission side to ensure that the eu safety and liability frameworks are fit for purpose?
in that respect we should ensure that marketsurveillance authorities and other competent authorities possess adequate means and powers to act.
this is especially important when competent authorities businesses and consumers do not have access to clear information on how the decision was taken.
how will the commission ensure greater transparency in this respect?
lastly talking about biased or unlawfully obtained data sets the imco committee stresses the importance of respecting regulations such as gdpr when it comes to the collection of data but also looking at non personal data use barriers and requirements.
this is something we can and should address at this stage of the design.
we should build in these safeguards privacy by design.
so i want to ask how is the commission planning to ensure that only high quality and unbiased data set are used in automated decisionmaking processes?
dear commissioner as i said at the beginning ai offers great potential in many aspects of our daily lives and many fields of the internal market yet it confronts us with many new and unknown risks.
we should address these risks in an adequate and timely manner because the trust of the consumer will be crucial for the acceptance of these new technologies in our society and economy.
i thank you in advance for your answers on these very topical and societally important questions and i and with me the whole imco committee look forward to the presentation of your plans next week.
my concrete proposal given the fact that developments both in the area and in the eu in terms of concern among our citizens are going so quickly i would propose to have a fullblown debate without resolution on the topic coronavirus ensuring fundamental rights and a coordinated european response'
i think this is just the beginning of a debate that will have in the next five or six months.
we have to avoid the idea of the fact that we have two different ideological positions prostability against progrowth paralysing all the chance that we have to review our rules in the right direction.
there are strong differences that i perfectly understand but if we are working on reducing complexity fighting against procyclicality and changing these rules i think we will work in the right direction.
my last point is this is all this exercise connected to the main defining objective that the new commission with the parliament decided which is the green transition?
my answer is definitely yes' because it's very difficult to understand how we will be able to lead this transition without having a strong commitment from the point of view of public investment.
this is the reason why i think there is a connection between our targets on the green transition and the review of our economic governance.
so thank you again and i think this is a first step in a discussion that we will continue with the parliament with the committees in the next weeks and months.
i strongly welcome the two key concepts in the methodology credibility and political steering.
the western balkans need a credible accession perspective with appropriate european engagement based on the lessons learned.
on the other side it is up to the political leadership of the candidate countries to demonstrate their commitment to join the eu by enforcing fundamental political and economic reforms assisted by the european union and inspired by our recommendations.
as the co rapporteur for the instrument for pre accession assistance ipa iii and a directly elected representative of eu citizens i expect in the future more involvement of the european parliament in the accession process and the acknowledgment and implementation of parliament's resolutions. these resolutions adopted by the majority of this house focus on the progress of the way forward for these countries.
well they delivered on the implementation of the ratification of the ilo convention.
they delivered on and this is a precedent a joint committee of our parliament and the national assembly to monitor the implementation of the two agreements.
they delivered and this is also a precedent on the involvement of our parliament in the human rights dialogue between vietnam and the european union. lastly they delivered on the independence of the organisations taking part in the domestic advisory groups.
it goes without saying that the primacy of democracy and the rule of law should be placed at the very centre of the enlargement process by opening first and closing last chapters related to the judiciary corruption and organised crime as well as respect for human rights and media freedom.
for example montenegro has been negotiating for eight years and only one chapter remains to be opened.
member states are invited to participate more systematically in the accession process then has previously been the case.
that's why i hope this document will convince more sceptical members to open negotiations with north macedonia and albania hopefully at the march council meeting. it's clear that the decision to postpone the opening of negotiations directly called into question reform processes in these countries which have been required for years.
that was directly denying support for those who implemented them.
mr president thank you very much for your kindness and commissioner thank you.
our partners in the western balkans must regain trust in their european perspective and engaged communication is the key to this trust.
i am therefore very happy that already last week on a joint visit we demonstrated this trust in belgrade when representatives of this parliament and you yourself commissioner visited our serbian partners.
now it is time to bring the council and the member states on board.
we must be united when it comes to enlargement and the first key step is to open accession negotiations with north macedonia and albania by march this year. only then can we really engage on the fundamentals.
the new methodology for enlargement and accession was an extra homework i would say an extra homework for a small minority of member states in the council who had surprised all of us with the blockade of enlargement.
of course the six countries have to do a lot. they have to help each other more they have to fight corruption.
but the negotiations with albania and northern macedonia have to start as soon as possible even before the election in northern macedonia.
this is a good opportunity here to present our idea how to enhance the accession process and how to give a credible eu perspective for the western balkans.
let me emphasise that for our geopolitical commission the full engagement with our neighbours is a top priority.
europe needs to have a strong united voice in the world and it needs to play its geopolitical role to the fore especially when it comes to its neighbourhood. this is especially valid where we must engage strongly in pursuit of peace stability and prosperity.
this is in our own interest.
it is also a question of credibility.
the priority of this commission is to accelerate progress in the western balkans keeping a credible perspective for future accession.
therefore we are working on three tracks.
the first of these is the communication on the revised enlargement methodology which i will outline for you in more detail shortly.
ahead of the zagreb summit we will complete the picture with the third track by presenting a major economic and investment development plan for the region.
the objective will be to speed up the building of a solid and resilient economy and bring these countries faster and closer to our own standards.
when it comes to the first track the revised enlargement methodology is based on four main principles four principles that should work both for the accession countries and also for our own member states.
first the process has to be more credible.
countries need to deliver on the reforms they promised and the eu needs to deliver when they do so.
to help credibility you will see an ever stronger focus on the fundamental freedoms and reforms as this is the core for real transformation.
this means the rule of law but also functioning of democratic institutions public administration reform and economic criteria.
the second principle is about putting the political nature of the process front and centre.
we intend to ensure top level engagement with the candidate countries through regular eu western balkans summits and ministerial meetings.
we want to involve member states more strongly and give them better opportunities to monitor and review the process to support and keep track of the fundamental reforms needed.
the third principle addresses the need to make the whole process more dynamic with a stronger focus on core sectors.
clustering chapters by policy fields will allow for more thorough political discussions on thematic areas.
it will also allow us to identify opportunities for early alignment and involvement in eu policies such as our digital agenda or our trans european networks in transport and energy.
i also want to highlight that when important reforms have been implemented already before the opening then the timeframe between opening the cluster and closing individual chapters should be limited preferably within a year fully dependent on the progress of the reforms.
this is an important political offer from our side to the whole region.
if they deliver we will also be ready to deliver.
it will be the first chapter to be opened and it will be the last to be closed. and sufficient progress will be needed in these areas before other clusters can be closed.
the fourth principle is about making the process more predictable for both sides.
this will mean ensuring that candidate countries have greater clarity on the conditions they need to meet and what is the positive impact when there is progress and what are the negative consequences in case of non delivery.
we need clear and tangible incentives to encourage reforms.
if countries move on agreed reform priorities sufficiently citizens should see the benefits of accelerated integration and phasing into eu policies markets and programmes combined with increased funding and investments.
at the same time member states need to be confident that there is reversibility and corrective measures will be taken where reforms go off track.
this will be done through more decisive measures sanctioning and serious or prolonged stagnation or backsliding.
finally i have to reiterate that while we are strengthening and improving the process the goal remains the same accession and full eu membership.
both countries have delivered on what they were asked.
during my recent visit to skopje and tirana i underlined the importance of reforms and called for their implementation to continue.
both countries have engaged in further reform efforts.
at the same time to be a credible partner the eu needs to deliver on its promises as well.
the commission will give detailed information on the progress made by these two countries still in february in order to prepare the ground for the council for the decision.
we are convinced that any further postponement would entail a strong risk undermining the stability of the entire region.
we would also risk further manipulation by third country actors and others offering false alternative narratives.
finally on the third track these substantially transformative reforms that the western balkan countries need to carry out can be best supported by solid and accelerated economic growth and developing functioning market economies.
therefore as input to the zagreb summit the commission would propose a new economic based policy approach as the cornerstone of a forward looking agenda for the region.
our objective is to intensify our presence in the western balkans to increase investment and to help to close the economic development gap between us.
we have to look at what concrete measures we can take to bring forward investments in the western balkans to enhance access to the eu single market create jobs and entrepreneur opportunities improve the business and the investment climate and stop the brain drain from the region.
as you can see this is an ambitious agenda for the region.
we will need the very strong political support of this house to deliver it.
we collectively have to regain trust and credibility.
this means we have to treat our western balkans partners more and more as future member states which is our commonly agreed destiny.
thank you mr manders for your question. i don't know the details now of your proposal and i wouldn't know how it would fit in the dutch or european justice system but i do think the fact that you are making it easier and
so my question is do you think that in order to get rid of these kinds of obstacles we need to harmonise national taxation systems and procedural rules at the european level?
automated decisionmaking is already affecting our lives.
it is making our lives easier with new and better services and making mundane tasks take up less of our time. if done correctly they also have the possibility to reduce human bias and human errors in the decisionmaking process.
but as with any new technology there will inevitably be legal and ethical questions raised that we must be aware of.
most of these issues can be addressed with the current rules; others may need to be adopted but we need a measured approach. we need to resist the temptation of overlegislating too quickly for these fastevolving technologies.
this would not only hinder innovation and developments in europe but also create more problems than it would solve. equally we must not generalise our approach.
the rules governing algorithms should be proportionate to the risk taken in using that algorithm.
madam president the eu enlargement policy is one of the most empowering and successful policy instruments that we possess. if the proposed methodology will succeed to streamline the accession process then it was worth approving.
however success is embedded not in a smart methodology but in a strong political will.
from the eu side it is a clear will to enlarge our european family from the aspirants a commitment to fully fulfil the membership criteria.
we must preserve the integrity and inclusiveness of the enlargement process.
the same rules must apply to all candidates.
moreover the candidate countries should reach the membership league with their hard work and no major concessions.
maintaining this understanding as well as mutual trust is a key for bringing neighbouring countries into our european family.
this strategic approach has to be immune to political manipulations.
i really like your idea of improving digitisation and training for smes also to digitise further especially since the data strategy is coming up.
my question here is where do you see the role of the eu in helping this digitisation to actually get the right set of data to measure it and to be able to share it and to analyse it?
in my opinion we cannot afford another failure in march.
but today we have to see how we can go forward together and deliver on the european aspirations of the people of the western balkans and i hope this time we will not see any lastminute surprises.
this is what we have tried to propose in our political group.
we need to reform the european union not because of the western balkan countries but because of the european union itself.
we have managed to stabilise the economic and budgetary situation in europe as a whole but i would say that the current economic governance has had a limited and not always positive role in this achievement.
we need the margin for longterm growth through investment particularly green investment.
we need a framework that is more concerned about the sustainability of growth not just shortterm budgetary indicators.
we need much more flexibility at times of difficulties and particularly countercyclical and not pro cyclical rules.
otherwise we risk prolonged stagnation in europe and one day we will be condemned to be exporting to mars if some countries insist in not correcting their huge surpluses.
an important point was raised but it would be a one minute speech not a point of order.
i am as well. i founded a political movement so it was in a bit of a different sphere but i'm also a huge fan of innovation and competitiveness.
i also therefore welcome better regulation especially decreased uncertainty.
if there is an act of human rights violations for example. also the situation is still developing very rapidly so it's very difficult to come forward with concrete conclusions.
also we risk then ending up with a very patronising stance while we should focus much more on for example coordinating with other countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
it is also clear from the debate that you all want a credible perspective for the western balkans to become eu member states. this is also a very important political message that we are able to deliver today already.
first of all of course new methodologies are proposed to make way to opening accession negotiations with north macedonia and albania.
therefore this is as i have said part of a bigger strategy in which the second element is actually to deliver opening the accession negotiations.
when we were designing the whole structure of the new methodology we were very clear that there are no new conditions.
we're still working with the copenhagen criteria and those are unchanged.
they are unchanged but they are going to be enforced better more inclusively and more effectively through the better participation not only of our member states but also of our public.
this continues to be a merit based process.
the idea of the whole methodology is to tackle the substance much better much more effectively and in a more transparent manner.
i'll tell you what is a problem mindless stupid bureaucracy is a problem for smes. but in actual fact when it comes to good regulation it's the lack of it that actually can damage smes a lot of the time.
for example we don't regulate our banking industry properly and that can be a huge problem for smes.
rents there's no proper regulation of rents in ireland.
i don't know what it's like across the rest of europe but it's this lack of good regulation that is really damaging smes and it goes without saying that a lack of real good positive government support is also a problem.
we were talking about thursday.
so this is a proposal to move it back to wednesday afternoon.
madam president we are happy that the commission has released this proposal as we expect now from the member states that the adoption of this proposal will lead to the start of the negotiations with north macedonia and albania.
can the commission and presidency assure us that once this methodology is adopted the council will show its green light in may?
i hope that all the pressure will be exerted on the member states.
how can the commissioner prevent this from leading for instance to political arbitrariness in the decision making and to more insecurity for the candidate countries? it can also be questioned from an institutional perspective that a different legal procedure is applied in the reversal moment from the one applied in
the moment of starting the accession.
it is our conviction that only common european rules would provide a solid basis for promoting investment in and facilitating the development of drone technologies while duly protecting all our citizens.
the range of drone applications for civilian use is developing fast underlining the significant economic potential of this sector to contribute to growth and jobs in europe.
these ideas are already being developed by the european aviation safety agency and the joint authorities for rulemaking on unmanned systems where experts from the european member states play an active role together with experts from the us china japan brazil canada and many more.
and yes we should find sufficient rd funding to finance the missing technologies.
if drones are allowed to operate over a longer distance in one mission the cost of the operation will decrease drastically and wider range operations will encourage innovative businesses.
the commission agrees with the report that we need to evolve towards an operation centric approach to safety rules that are proportionate to the risk associated with a particular operation.
that is why the commission greatly welcomes the support for this approach in the foster report.
everybody acknowledges the enormous potential of drone technologies yet citizens are also raising concerns about drone operations hence the challenge for us to come up with rules that strike the right balance between promoting this promising technology and adequately protecting our citizens.
the commission agrees with the report's call for a clear harmonised and proportionate eu regulatory framework removing the current one hundred and fifty kilogramme threshold separating eu and national competence.
in recognition of the rapid development of this market rpas are rightly being incorporated into existing aviation programmes such as sesar and horizon.
therefore it is imperative that we maintain world class standards for manufacturing. europe leads the world in drone development with two and a half thousand drone operators. in the uk alone we have more than six hundred rpas operations providing services from photography to land surveillance.
at the same time baby drones' designed for leisure and hobby use have become increasingly popular.
the joint authorities for rulemaking on unmanned systems is a committee comprising non eu and eu member states and national aviation authorities.
two thousand and sixteen to do this i believe that we need to establish european and global rules which will address the following areas air worthiness certification commercial and recreational use drone identity appropriate pilot training liability and insurance operations
all the stakeholders have recognised the potential of this market and we are all keen to stress that any policy framework must enable growth in it in order to compete globally.
earlier this year i brought together representatives from industry member states civil aviation authorities air traffic services the european safety agency and the commission. it was widely recognised by participants that any framework must be proportionate and risk based to enable the sector to grow while at the same time avoiding any unnecessary burdens.