kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
if we cannot stop the violations in the countries that are closest to us that not only weakens the position of the european union but also sends a very bad signal to all countries that are seeking deeper cooperation with the.
their homes are being searched and their leader is not allowed to enter the country.
as you may know mothers of the russian soldiers who are fighting in ukraine have formed an association but this association has now been called a foreign agent' and therefore could be banned just because they announced that their children are dying in the war in ukraine.
i think i can say that mr andrei sakharov whom we honour every year when we nominate the most important defenders of human rights would himself be persecuted and named a foreign agent by mr putin and his regime.
as parliament is fully aware of my special interest in corporate responsibility you will understand that it is right to recall that two thousand and thirteen was the year of the tragic rana plaza factory collapse in bangladesh leaving more than one thousand people dead people who stitched clothes for high street shops in the capitals across europe highlighting how progress in the eu on implementation of the un guiding principles on business and human rights is both necessary and as yet insufficient.
madam president i worked on the human rights report this year and the achievements it reflects in particular the creation of the new human rights dialogue with burma to seek to contribute to the process of transition in that country the agreement of new guidelines to respect the human rights of lgbti people and for freedom of religion and belief the agreement of the updated instrument on the european initiative for democracy and human rights in which this parliament was a partner and the conduct of successful election observation missions during the year including in pakistan where i was present myself and where our presence is proving to make such a real difference in defending democracy.
it used our money to defend a child raping murderous monster.
in two thousand and five the eu intervened with a legal case.
it tells us to join closer together or our external enemies will defeat us or worse still will fight each other.
all human beings need the right to freedom of expression and the expression of their opinions but most importantly the right to wield justice just like that which this place sought to deny jennifer.
i believe in direct democracy i believe in freedom of expression and i believe in the democracy that is denied to so many people under the auspices of this place and these institutions.
we are representing the democratic views of the british people.
however one issue i wish to briefly highlight is the ongoing shameful lack of action of the european union on the situation in palestine.
the eu palestinian authority's european neighbourhood policy action plan adopted by the council in june envisages a palestinian state based on the rule of law full respect for human rights development of democratic values and the promotion of a vibrant civil society.
recent events show that this is far from happening and by continuing trade relations with israel the eu condones their actions and plays a part in the oppression of the palestinian people and the continuing denial of human rights.
there is no point celebrating human rights defenders when the eu does not defend human rights itself and takes no action against israel's gross violation of human rights and allows it to act with impunity and carry out crimes against humanity under human rights and international law.
i fully agree with you that we need to develop indicators to measure the impact of our actions.
this is precisely one of our objectives and we look forward to discussing this issue with you including in the contact group to which we are committed.
rest assured that we make every effort to make our human rights dialogues result oriented and to see that all agreements contain effective human rights clauses as foreseen in our action plan and to broaden our action beyond civil and political rights to economic cultural and social rights.
i fully agree that future annual reports should be the outcome of active and constructive discussions among eu institutions.
mainstreaming human rights into all our external policies especially into development policy is an ongoing process and despite progress so far it is imperative that we step up our efforts.
challenges do not only come from the outside which is why we will strive to achieve the most challenging objective integrating human rights in all eu external policies such as trade development conflict prevention counter terrorism and other areas.
today we can be proud of our achievements but should also renew our engagement to address the many challenges we have around the world.
i am not sure that mr etheridge entirely has the point about what we are doing here when we defend human rights. what we are trying to do is support people who are fighting for democracy and in countries where their attempt to get the basic civil rights that he enjoys lands them up being tortured and in jail.
that is what we are actually doing today.
i would like to ask him does he believe in democracy?
does he believe that others have the right to self expression which he has himself just enjoyed in this place?
many of them look to us for help and support and we must offer what we can.
but underlying the many different forms of violation from rape and torture to censorship and discrimination is a wave that is swelling an increasingly successful challenge to the very principles that define us and that we are defending globally.
the universality of human rights itself has perhaps never been as threatened as it is today.
the eu is in a great position to lead an unequivocal defence of the universality of human rights but we can only lead by example.
it puts us to shame and weakens our credibility when in europe viktor orban openly pushes illiberal democracy when minorities face discrimination when women do not have equal pay treatment and opportunities when technology is used for illegitimate surveillance and hacking
we can see that the line between internal and external policies is not a sharp one and we are interconnected but if together we do not show leadership and strategically leverage our political and economic position who will defend the universality of human rights?
as has been well reported in the british media we have huge social tensions and problems now in sheffield and in london.
we are all very different people who need to be treated very differently.
turning to the subject of wilderness europe is densely populated and only one two of the territory has not been affected by human intervention.
it is also important to add one clarification to the report.
two thousand we certainly do not intend to re convert our existing landscapes into wild nature but we need to publicly commit ourselves to preserving the last remaining wild areas of europe.
it represents a very welcome input into the prague conference.
however this report provides the inspiration to look again at the wild and nearly wild areas in the eu and to see if there are instances where additional european actions can help protect these special places.
two thousand and nine this conference will offer a platform to consider the issues related to wilderness areas in europe and identify measures needed to ensure their conservation.
we are also launching an overall reflection on the future of eu biodiversity policy and look forward to the input of the european parliament on these questions.
in december two thousand and eight the commission adopted the first comprehensive assessment of progress made at both european community and member state levels.
the commission's conclusion was that we are highly unlikely to meet our two thousand and ten target of halting biodiversity decline and that further intensive efforts will be required both at member state and eu levels.
it is quite literally a question about the future of life on earth.
we greatly welcome the initiative of mr hegyi for producing this important resolution on wilderness in europe.
for example in december two thousand and eight the commission adopted a communication towards an eu strategy on invasive species'.
i would like to start by making the general observation that many of the issues highlighted in the report are already being followed up by the commission.
but despite the fundamental importance of preserving biodiversity progress to date has been limited.
issues such as improving implementation and the relationship between biodiversity and climate change must be explicitly considered.
thank you very much to the rapporteur.
let me conclude by confirming that the commission recognises that europe's landscape is the result of a long process of human intervention. the concept of a living landscape that balances the needs of nature with the needs of man is the basis of the thinking that underpins natura.
for this reason the commission considers the european parliament resolution timely.
there is an ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of our nature legislation the so called article seventeen reports but there are currently no plans to amend our legislation and the main focus is on more effective implementation.
i rise at this point because i particularly would have liked to have spoken on the excellent work of mr hegyi's report and indeed i have colleagues coming on on subjects which are not discussed in my main committee and other colleagues' main committees and i am being denied the right to contribute toward them in plenary.
i know it is a rule that was set by parliament and the members themselves signed off on but our good will i feel is being abused by the number of points on our agenda the most important points on our agenda that we are being increasingly disallowed to debate.
one simple indicator of this is to look at the official migration figures next to other known figures for migrants. in two thousand and sixteen the official net migration figure was.
a leak from the german government said that another six million illegal migrants are waiting to come to europe this summer.
it is now not so much a rescue service as a taxi service for the last leg of the illegal migrants' journey.
therefore the updated security features are needed to combat counterfeiting.
it is good that the eu is trying to tighten up on illegal immigration but since anyone who can make it across the mediterranean in a boat is going to be admitted anyway the lines between the legal and illegal immigration are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
the uk is not a member of the schengen area and is not therefore participating in this legislation.
the big problem for the eu is the schengen area itself which is a magnet pulling migrants to europe.
two hundred and seventy three zero however the number of national insurance numbers issued to foreign nationals was. eight hundred and twenty five zero clearly something is wrong if there can be such an enormous discrepancy.
our immigration system and border controls are in chaos.
document fraud is an enabler of all sorts of crime and requires a swift and joint reaction.
ensuring the security of travel and identity documents is a very important factor in combating travel document fraud.
when the commission presented this proposal in two thousand and fifteen it was in order to have a proposal for a new more secure visa sticker to counter this kind of crime. it is a matter of priority to improve the design and the security features of the current visa sticker so as to effectively counter fraudsters' activities and this is a part of a wider approach on securing travel documents such as passports and residence permits for third country nationals including by the use of biometric data.
it effectively contributes to protecting our borders ensuring our internal security and also helps us to better manage migration. so i welcome the agreement on the uniform format for visas.
the improvement of the visa sticker security is now a long time overdue and we are confident that the council will proceed with its adoption very soon.
now tinkering around the edges as this proposal indicates is not the solution.
now given the huge problems of unlawful migration and terrorist threat levels which even my colleague mr batten has mentioned it is quite clear that a european union wide visa should cease with immediate effect and be replaced with bilateral international visa exchange systems between individual member states and trusted
the safeguards against counterfeiting and falsification have failed in and i quote from the report several member states'.
madam president well an eu wide visa policy has existed for over twenty years. however it is no longer secure creating and enabling numerous threats to citizens across the european union.
trustworthy international countries.
this indicates that a pan european union visa system is not operationally effective and that security standards across the european union are not one hundred reliable.
over the past few years an increasing number of forgeries of visa stickers has been registered in several member states.
the commission is now looking forward to the adoption of the proposal by council on twenty june and to publication of the directive in the official journal in early july.
the commission notes with satisfaction that both co legislators have agreed to a large majority of the principles and elements included in its original proposal which have been retained in the final text.
the commission therefore undertook to examine the situation and after a significant number of consultations with stakeholders and also taking into consideration the latest scientific recommendations adopted a proposal for amending the current directive.
it should be recalled that the reasons for the revision of the original directive stemmed from scientific research that showed that the existing threshold values could be set higher without causing health problems.
moreover stakeholders have claimed that restrictions on mri could lead to increased use of diagnostic procedures using ionising radiation which would in turn also have an unintended adverse effect on the protection of workers.
there have also been a number of technical challenges in the development of this directive which now represents the state of the art' in terms of scientific knowledge.
this commitment allowed an agreement with council at first reading and today we have a common agreed text that seeks to guarantee a high level of protection of workers but also to ensure flexible and proportionate implementation.
the directive maintains a good balance between the adequate protection of workers and the need to ensure activities such as mri can function.
i think the failure of the two thousand and four directive demonstrates that we must base our proposals on robust scientific evidence so that we can ensure effective health protection rather than creating a bureaucratic minefield that even with the best of intentions leads to unintended consequences.
i strongly believe that we should only legislate in areas where the eu can add real value.
even taking into account the progress that has been made i still believe that we have gone down the wrong path with this directive and that through a non legislative approach we could have achieved the same outcome at a fraction of the cost to industry.
it is important that the right balance is reached between sufficient flexibility for member states and ensuring that workers are protected.
the issue of electromagnetic fields and the need to protect the health and safety of workers while also providing sufficient flexibility for innovation are important issues that have provoked widespread debate.
i am very pleased that we have been able to amend the commission's proposals to ensure that mri scanners can continue to be used across the eu.
it states that if there is conclusive evidence then the commission shall and that is a very important word the commission shall present a new proposal to deal with the long term effects.
there are a number of derogations from this legislation but only in limited and strictly controlled situations where the circumstances are duly justified.
from the medical perspective this would have been a disaster for patients because mri scans are essential diagnostic tools and they are used in the treatment of certain life threatening diseases such as brain disorders cancer etc.
i think this legislation is a significant improvement in that it deals with the possible long term effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
so following scientific data produced by icnirp the commission presented a new proposal with new action levels and exposure limit values to protect the health and safety of workers.
the alliance for mri which is a coalition of patient groups scientists and the medical profession right across the eu is fully in support of this legislation and i am pleased to hear that the commission is producing a non binding guide in regard to good practice. that is an essential part of this whole process.
let us interlink that basin and let us see that progress in reality. let it be a beacon for the rest of the eu so that we can make some substantial progress.
interconnectivity is important and we must make sure that it actually works.
what does it mean for us now?
not just those on the union but across every single one of our targets.
if it is we can make significant progress.
right now by combining each of our states' ambitions we can interlink and we can make that difference happen.
we must do some of the underpinning research and understand the implications for all our policies;
we need to look at what that ambition can represent and should represent.
it will be more difficult working on fisheries than energy i suspect.
i believe the north sea is a place where we can see that ambition in reality and i will push again mr arias caete for you to realise that the north sea is good to go and ready to go.
the real cost of failure in agreeing a progressive sustainable energy union will be more of the same.
an unprecedented extratropical cyclone which has made thousands homeless rendered property uninsurable and already resulted in job losses with one zero people immediately laid off at the famous mcvitie's biscuit factory in carlisle just before christmas.
particularly on heating and cooling we have emphasised the important role of integrating technologies and solutions to find the most efficient way of keeping warm or keeping cool.
this is absolutely crucial in the context of our common energy security and solidarity.
i am also happy that we have laid the groundwork for taking a more holistic and in my view ambitious approach to the integration of energy systems and solutions.
if we are to play a role in the future governance we have to demonstrate also that we can act responsibly and work with the common good in mind.
i would personally gladly have seen even more emphasis on the role of energy efficiency and renewables in the future european energy mix but i find that we have ended up with a constructive text which has in most respects found the right balance between pragmatism and ambition.
we in ukip are against the proposal as we reject the damaging eu ets system and this revision of it.
it has caused job losses plant closures and a massive outflow of industry and investment to outside eu areas especially in my constituency of scotland where it has destroyed our steel industry. this house has spent too much of its time trying to fix this failing
mechanism and its devastating effects on energy prices the industry of europe and industrial competitiveness in general.
we believe that the commission should recognise that the entire eu project has failed causing higher energy prices in all member states.
mr president the commission plans to revise the emissions trading scheme and its allowance system. the eu claims this will distribute available allowances more efficiently.
i am not sure whether the speaker actually understood my speech but what i was emphasising was that we need more connections and more regulation about connections in europe because we need to have a free flow of energy between our european countries.
we are not going to get the growth we all want to see across the twenty eight member states of the european union unless we have a sufficient energy supply.
we depend on others for our energy supply.
it is crucially important that we back the framework convention proposals the juncker plan and use the opportunity of investment so that we can get more interconnectors and get more networks in place to make sure that we have the infrastructure in place to create a genuine energy union across the european union.
and of course the ambitions are there and will be there for the future.
it is very concrete and it is a key issue in terms of interconnectivity.
i think that the regional aspect is also well founded. i believe that we need to reflect of course on the energy islands' that we have referred to but also on what the market flows are.
i think that it is sufficiently ambitious.
i think that the eriksson report combines these two views these two elements very well indeed.
a binding energy efficiency target would create jobs reduce energy poverty and create benefits for our economy all with one swift act.
it is actually realising these things that will make the significant difference.
i believe right now that those commitments are sound and solid just as they have been in paris. what we witnessed was a binding agreement in part and a voluntary agreement in other parts but that does not lessen the ambition.
well sir we know you are a green and in my country we have had our country polluted with useless german windmills and propellers all over our landscape.
they do not provide energy at affordable prices and they ruin the landscape.
we want things that work not things that do not work.
we want to see industry and jobs in our country.
this also relates somewhat to the first question on efficiency and renewables because it is clearly stated and it is a prerogative of all the work we have been doing here over the past year or year and a half that the energy mix is a sovereign decision for member states.
i would personally have preferred even more emphasis on efficiency and on renewables but at the same time clearly acknowledging what other groups and groupings have meant and have taken as a position on this.
mr president we need to promote an energy union with clean secure and affordable energy. we need to promote an energy union in which citizens and local authorities play a central part and we realise the potential of the north sea. we need an energy union in which the most vulnerable citizens are not left aside.
energy efficiency is the first fuel.
it is about security. it is about savings.
resistance to high ambitious and binding targets on energy efficiency is inconsistent and irresponsible.
i am hopeful that parliament will give a progressive vision of the energy union tomorrow.
other than this i would like to thank all colleagues who have worked on parliament's position on the eu budget for two thousand and eighteen all shadow rapporteurs all rapporteurs of the opinions of the specialised committee.
what we have agreed and what we are voting today is a budget for a strong future oriented union a union which can offer a perspective of prosperity and safety to the citizens.
it is important that we are sending today a clear and strong message to the council by supporting the budget with a large majority.
so thank you very much to all colleagues who have worked and supported me in this.
one eight hundred and thirty eight the final total amounts including the ten reserve should be at the level of the draft budget. these are the two technical corrections which i have to introduce to you ahead of the vote.
to you who really took your responsibility as politicians to vote in favour of no more exclusion of the twelve million eu citizens with roma ethnicity it is a good start taking your responsibility. thank you very much.
for me it is a step forward;
again we had a sample of it this afternoon.