kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the union is founded on values including respect for human dignity freedom democracy and the rule of law. these are the common values of the member states and they are an essential element of the european union's identity.
the same month this parliament called on the eu institutions to develop the necessary eu tools to fulfil the treaty obligations on fundamental values.
in december last year the council adopted conclusions establishing an annual political dialogue among member states to promote and safeguard the rule of law within the eu.
right now the council is working towards organising its first political debate on the rule of law in the course of this year. i am convinced that this dialogue will help us to ensure that the rule of law will continue to be a commonly shared fundamental value
which allows for the suspension of voting rights in the event of a serious and persistent breach of eu values.
moreover let us remember that even in this chamber in the european union we have people who are influenced by certain types of ngos which are getting money or by parties which are getting money from countries outside the european union which do not care about fundamental rights or democracy or anything else but which complain and
first of all the principle.
the principle is this throughout our history we have learned that democracy alone is not a guarantee for human rights and the rule of law.
that is why we have a tripod democracy rule of law human rights. one cannot take away the value of the other. when i express my reservations or my rejection of something that was once described as illiberal democracy' i just want to say that you cannot
use the argument of a democratic majority even if it is a two thirds majority to weaken the rules based on the rule of law or human rights.
you cannot use two thirds or even more of a political majority through democratic votes to weaken human rights in a member state.
this is one of the fundamental principles upon which this union is built and this applies to every single member state.
nobody forced any member state to sign and ratify the lisbon treaty.
nobody forced any member state to sign and ratify the charter.
but if you do and you ratify it it is national law so it is by your own national law that you will be held accountable not any other rule.
so the principle will have to remain that if we look at the situation in our member states we will have to look at all three in balance democracy rule of law and human rights.
the first level of flawed reasoning is this because the rule of law human rights etc.
are at least as important as economic cooperation in europe let us use the way we look at economic cooperation as a model for how we look at human rights.
that does not work.
the second reason why i think this is flawed reasoning is that this commission has been in its term of office for three months.
the mechanism introduced by the council was in december.
we are still in the beginnings of trying to make the system we have work.
i think it is unfair already to say well whatever you have i do not believe in it;
i want my own new toy which is a new mechanism which compares to the growth and stability pact'.
i would have welcomed it if those who raised the issue of human rights in this context had also distanced themselves from expressions such as we all know that jews do not pay taxes' or homophobic expressions that we have also heard in that context.
' this does not apply to you sir; it does not apply to your colleague in any sense.
but we all have a responsibility if these things happen in our member state in the union to speak out against
but i did hear from the independent greeks utterances to that effect sir and you will not be able to dispute that i am afraid.
in general terms if we really want to improve the situation of the rule of law we all need to speak out within the responsibilities we have and if there is a call for an independent mechanism in that sense the commission is an independent mechanism and we will look at the situation in member states take member states to task if it is on issues such as freedom of the press
you have me on your side.
madam president england has no need of an eu framework for democracy the rule of law and fundamental rights.
that democracy is now hollow as most of our laws now come from the european union and not our own democratically elected parliament and government.
our ancient protections of individual liberties such as habeas corpus have been swept away by such measures as the european arrest warrant.
we had fundamental rights in england developed over centuries under common law and such enactments as magna carta and the bill of rights.
there is nothing that the eu can teach the english about democracy the rule of law and fundamental rights.
mr president commissioner our shared values of freedom democracy and tolerance are of course the very foundations of europe and this union.
too often i think though this parliament tries to quantify in a scientific way values which simply cannot be quantified.
it has been my long experience in life that scoreboards monitoring indicators and benchmarks often do little to reflect or alleviate the realities of any situation. i believe that instead of developing binding instruments to punish member states and providing tools for political point scoring
we should instead ask ourselves are such mechanisms the most appropriate vehicles for honest frank and open discussions and hopefully therefore solutions?
' what we need to do is to develop debate and action across the eu on how we can improve fundamental rights and the rule of law within our countries and how we can better therefore the lives of our citizens.
this parliament and the commission should look at how it can help remove barriers to the job market increase access for those with disabilities eradicate discrimination against lgbti persons assist with social mobility help create more jobs for young people and remove burdensome red tape from the economy and our businesses so that europe's economy and opportunities for citizens can grow.
opportunities and economic progress in member states is how you promote fundamental rights.
a helping hand is always better than a scolding tongue.
we are not each other's masters but instead we are each other's partners.
what we do not need are new ways to threaten each other.
what we do need to do is to focus on better law making better implementation and better and positive ways of talking to one another.
these are based on some so called studies which are being hawked around the british euro sceptic press at the moment with ever more lurid calculations about these costs.
thirdly they take no account of the fact that when we do impose costs it is often deliberate in order to save money downstream.
fifteen secondly they take no account of the fact that eu legislation when we get it right cuts costs to businesses and cuts red tape by having a single set of standards common rules for the common market instead of twenty seven divergent and separate ones.
if ever small businesses needed something it is the reduction of administrative burdens.
the first concerns the proposal for a common consolidated tax base because i fear that this would remove flexibility from smes and also from member states. secondly i have personal doubts about the merits and benefits of changing the late payment directive.
i also welcome the amendments calling for implementation of the results of the high level expert group on the reduction of administrative burdens.
statute. follow up measures will be considered when the full assessment is completed
states. we have already made important progress in the evaluation of employees' rights in the european company
it ensures the flexibility companies need when doing business in more than one country.
i would like to invite you to promote the small business act in your respective countries and your constituencies to help make sure that this ambitious policy programme becomes reality and that it really helps smes in their daily business.
the sba includes a set of legislative initiatives including the proposal for a european private company statute.
we also believe therefore that honest entrepreneurs who suffer business failure deserve a second chance.
the commission agrees with those elements of the report that aim to increase the uniformity of the statute and thus promote the legal certainty of its application.
you have also suggested a flexible solution for the minimum capital requirement.
we are grateful for your support. the resolution that parliament adopted in early december was a timely and strongly welcomed initiative.
all of these make a helpful contribution which will facilitate the application of this statute.
valid. we agree with the rapporteur that companies should enjoy freedom of establishment within the single market and be able to move their seats from one country to
the small business act which the commission adopted in june two thousand and eight provides a comprehensive framework of short medium and long term actions for sme growth and competitiveness within the lisbon strategy.
the sba action plan and the european economic recovery plan propose ambitious measures in three key areas first loosening the supply of much needed credit;
smes. to conclude there are a number of useful solutions in your
finally i should like to mention the subject that has been the most debated in parliament and elsewhere which is workers' participation on the board of european private companies.
act. it is designed for
before embarking on any new legislation the commission should first evaluate how this new existing regulatory framework operates in practice.
your own initiative report of two thousand and six and your swift handling of the commission's proposal are important contributions to the success of the new european company statute.
employee participation in smes exists only in a few member states and this is why a solution based on national laws which would allow for the coexistence of different models seemed the most appropriate and reasonable approach.
parties. in particular the cross border mergers directive allows a company to set up a new subsidiary in another country and then merge its existing company with that subsidiary.
smes. therefore the commission proposed that a european private company may be set up just like any domestic company without the requirement for doing business in different member states or having shareholders from more than one country just like at
we are also not convinced that the directive would improve the existing situation under national law and the jurisprudence of the european court of justice in this
the private company statute is a key element of the small business
as i have already mentioned the commission designed a statute for smaller businesses.
in addition existing legislation the cross border mergers directive provides a framework for the transfer including the necessary safeguards for third
we are now really in a critical phase.
in the current economic crisis we need to establish priorities and focus on delivering quickly on those actions which have the strongest potential to contribute to recovery.
needs. this provision has been questioned by those who consider that capital requirements have a role in protecting the creditors of small companies.
parliament's amendments introduce additional and complex provisions that are not applicable to smes formed under national law in most member states. this is likely to make the european private company statute unattractive in those member states and a much less viable option for
full the potential of small and medium sized enterprises. this is the very lifeline of the european economy.
another. however we are not convinced that proposing new legislation now is the best solution to achieve this objective.
we need people who are prepared to take initiatives draft projects and take risks more than ever at times like this.
report. some of them could very well pave the way for a swifter compromise among the member
as you know the commission's proposal required a minimum capital of just eur one and beyond that left it to the shareholders to decide on how much capital their european private company
these include prescribing the registration of the company's business object clarifying that the ban on offering shares to the public does not preclude offers to the employees of the company or improving the rules on directors' duties and liabilities.
these reasons are still
european private companies could comply with this requirement for example by setting up a foreign subsidiary or by simply recording their intention to do cross border business.
as you know at the summit later in december the heads of state and government unanimously endorsed the small business act under the french presidency.
our economic analyses show that the level of complexity of the cross border transfer procedure would be comparable to that of the cross border merger procedure.
the sba is designed to ensure that the think small first' principle and priority for small businesses are lastingly and irreversibly anchored in policy making across the union. the sba also calls for greater recognition of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
the cost of eu regulation in the united kingdom has been reckoned to be gbp one hundred and seven billion over the last ten years.
yet much of that has had to be spent on mere compliance with regulation.
eu regulation makes their lives unnecessarily and extremely difficult.
today we need family smes small businesses more than ever because they have the type of commitment and sticking power to get us through this crisis.
madam president the fact that seventy of private employment in europe is provided by smes is a tremendous tribute to their entrepreneurial tenacity because oppressive
however they need our help and they need it by lifting the dead hand of eu regulation from them.
that is gbp one hundred and seven billion that should have been going into innovation into intensified export efforts and into growth.
you will take forward the budget talks and the eu's road map two thousand and fifty marry them together by investing in renewable energy eu wide and cutting our dependence on russian gas.
lead by example in other areas too not by letting a fossil fuel find fool you into forgetting your island's natural wealth of sun and wind.
along with my constituents in gibraltar they face the fate of being forgotten people failed by the designated guardians of the eu treaties who are too timid to take on the tough talkers.
you spoke of a better europe for our children and our grandchildren.
you must talk to turkey not overlook the plight of our fellow citizens behind the barbed wire.
lead by example in europe's fight against crime intervene against the intricate intrigue of corrupt cypriot lawyers and property developers who rob holiday home buyers of their retirement savings.
you will oversee eu talks on bank supervision and sovereign debt use the ecb and the eib to nurse our weaker nations back to solvency.
not by being mortgaged to moscow nor by evading engagement with ankara.
a divided country should unite the eu member states behind the multiannual budget which has to pave the way to the future no small ambition.
i see a certain symbolism in the cyprus presidency.
there is one more issue.
your background and your ideology as a communist will make this very difficult for you.
two thousand and ten you said in an interview on television last night not to expect a mountain from cyprus.
this is really appreciated from our side.
this is not always achievable in the national budgeting processes.
deepening of the economic and monetary union advancing the work on a banking union and of course harvesting the potential of the single market.
we are in this together not just the eurozone and the united kingdom but the whole of the european union and we need to help each other and to support each other and i hope that the cyprus presidency because between now and the end of this parliament there will not be any large member state in the presidency will work with the upcoming presidencies to work against intergovermentalism and also to try and remind ourselves that in the first half of the last century sixty million europeans killed each other.
those ten member states that came in have changed europe.
forty four billion and that eur one hundred and fifty eight billion in guarantees to the banks have been given since. two thousand and eight what that indicates is that the kettle should not be calling the pot black.
the berlin wall has come down;
furthermore the uk plans even stronger protection for taxpayers splitting retail and investment banks but the commission's proposals would make that almost impossible.
nearly half of it went on bailing out irish and dutch banks money from the british taxpayer and that the uk actually intends to implement the global agreements on bank reform but the commission's proposals dumb those down especially for french and german banks.
when we work on economic governance you produce a fiscal compact that circumvents the european parliament.
do you honestly believe that we are pleased to see so many people suffer as a result of your political project?
i was particularly surprised by his outburst yesterday here in this chamber.
mr president let me first of all thank president christofias for his speech today and for the welcome that he gave to my group when we recently visited cyprus.
the position of my group is clear we do not want to see the eu fail but if it continues to pursue the agenda of the past then it most surely will.
yesterday as part of his criticisms president barroso pointed out correctly the uk's significant bank bailout commitments made under our previous socialist government.
at the moment you are trying to move towards a political union without the fiscal union that is really required and i think that it is entirely reasonable that we should raise the alarm about what this will mean for national democracy in many member states.
turning very briefly to the multiannual financial framework it still continues to baffle me how the commission can enforce austerity on member states and simultaneously demand more money from them for the eu budget.
so why then is the commission still trying to water down the commitments the eu made in basel to implement the capital requirements directive?
the idea that throwing money at economic problems and hoping it will make them go away is surely a doctrine that was discredited in the one thousand.
but of course the one tool that must always remain the equal property of the twenty seven countries is the single market.
the presidency will also conclude negotiations on the capital requirements directive.
it is the one thing that we all support and i was therefore delighted see that the cyprus presidency has said that one of its ambitions is the deepening of that internal market.
it seems that everyone has to cut spending apart from the european commission.
we want to make sure that taxpayers never again have to bail out the banks.
mr barroso my group and indeed the uk government is in favour of more stringent bank regulation than your commission.
i agree with him that we should ensure that banks are sufficiently capitalised to present this from ever happening again.
whether or not the euro survives what is important for me is that those countries that had the good sense to stay out of it are not hampered by the decision of seventeen to go ahead with more integration if indeed that is what they choose to do.
we also agree with the implication in the presidency's priorities that the eu is not seen as relevant by many of its citizens and that it needs to become more effective and more efficient.
to suggest that somehow we take great delight in the problems facing the euro is frankly absurd.
we greatly appreciated the constructive meetings that we had with him and his government.
i have merely many times set out the options for the eurozone as i see them either an effective fiscal union or a reduction in the size of the eurozone.
it will become twenty years old soon;
old enough not to need any more custodians and limitations by nation state godfathers and godmothers.
you can certainly say one thing about the crisis economies in europe increased spending and deficits have not helped.
that is the political course that can make europe stronger again and that must be the task for your presidency.
if that had been the solution we would have no problems.
this must be the common point of departure for the work of the presidency of cyprus. i think it is important to state that where we have had a market economy we have seen an increase in prosperity all over the world and in europe.
this is the only way to achieve results to results that are stable and binding and are not hostages to fortune after decisions are announced.
it. there will be a further effort needed to adopt the two pack initiatives and to make headway on a financial transaction tax through enhanced cooperation.
these policies lie at the heart of our efforts to support growth and employment. for this reason we need in parallel to make substantial progress on the next generation of structural funds the reform of the cap the common fisheries policy horizon two thousand and twenty for results and innovation
in the intervening period the cyprus authorities and the commission at political and technical levels have enjoyed a close fruitful cooperation.
thus the banking union is very much enriched.
whilst these changes will be extremely marginal in overall amounts they need to be done for the sake of accuracy and transparency and equal treatment.
immediately after this moment of inauguration we need to continue our work.
as i said yesterday in front of this house intensive work will continue towards ensuring stability of the euro area and establishing a genuine economic and monetary union. the commission will thus swiftly put forward new proposals concerning the first steps to establish what we have been terming a banking union' namely to create a single financial supervisory mechanism in the euro area built around the
this will be in the interest of your country and in the interest of the eu as a whole. holding the presidency of the council is always a challenge for bigger and smaller countries for older and less old member states.
i know it is extremely challenging but it is possible.
one in addition the commission intends putting forward proposals under what we call the new single market act two and we hope the cyprus presidency will start work on these without delay.
we can only call for greater solidarity if in parallel we are prepared to accept greater responsibility.
this being said i have a lot of confidence in the readiness of cyprus to take on this great responsibility.
for a successful presidency it will be very important to focus on those key legislative proposals where tangible results can be achieved by the end of. two thousand and twelve first and foremost we have the multiannual financial framework one of our primary instruments for value adding investments at european level and for growth and jobs in europe.
with the overall mff and almost seventy sectoral programmes we have a formidable list of work to accomplish.
at the same time we will strive to preserve the overall architecture of the eu twenty seven soon twenty eight in particular the architecture of the single market so as to guarantee the integrity of our union and naturally the full treaty rights of the european parliament. at the same time there is much to be done to build on the proposals the commission has already made on deposit guarantee schemes bank recovery and resolution
and it is only natural that this challenge is redoubled when it is for the first time and taking place in the current economic context.
continuing our work for growth also means pushing ahead in the coming months on the fast track legislative proposals of the single market what we have called single market act.
although formally both files are separate both are essential.