kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
with decision making concentrated in the hands of the euro countries suspicion and even recrimination have crept to the surface potentially undermining our pooling and sharing effort. fourth at a time when the us is diminishing its contribution to nato and talk about a smaller alliance has already been initiated across the atlantic europe's credibility as both global actor and security provider suffers.
high representative i want to focus on a fairly narrow point that you mentioned in your opening remarks.
that was on the signing of the framework with the united states on civilian missions in kosovo and afghanistan and the number of people who are currently working on these programmes.
we all should welcome the expertise that many of these people bring and their bravery in difficult and dangerous circumstances.
i think especially of the pioneering role of former members of the royal ulster constabulary and the police service of northern ireland in iraq in training the new police force and in working with civilians to ensure the capacity to preserve peace and democracy following the withdrawal of british and american troops in that country.
at times this was both a lonely dangerous and indeed complex job.
it was however a job made more difficult and more complicated by european bureaucracy and i would ask for your assurances that the people who now serve in afghanistan and kosovo will not be obstructed in the same way by bureaucrats in brussels.
mr president the financial crisis is having a dangerous impact on our national security and defence capacities and therefore restricting csdp operationality.
let us be clear without assuming a european preference against similar measures by others we will never build the european industrial base that is needed to ensure our strategic autonomy as well as preparedness to enter into synergies with others be it in nato the un or other frameworks spending shrinking defence and security budgets in a smarter way as baroness ashton said requires getting rid of the corruption which is pervasive in the offset system and the opacity dominating security and defence procurement.
in fact homosexuality is legal in only thirteen african countries and it is a criminal offence in thirty eight others. in mauritania sudan and northern nigeria it is punishable by death.
the real threat and the climate of fear were underlined in the october and november issues of rolling stone a local newspaper which listed the names and personal details of people alleged to be homosexual inciting readers to harm or hang them.
the european parliament strongly condemns this bill and in so doing we are not imposing european values on other states as some have suggested in an attempt to avoid responsibility for human rights violations and responsibility for protecting citizens from being attacked on the basis of their sexual orientation.
equally in the future of the eu africa strategic partnership we urge that all actions conducted under the terms of the various partnerships be pursued without discrimination on any grounds including sexual orientation.
anyone in africa who woke up and said today i am going to be homosexual' would be insane.
human rights are universal and indivisible and to stand back and do nothing when somebody else's basic human rights are attacked is to be complicit in that action.
if they do not want to operate on that basis i call on the commission and the council to take the necessary sanctions to reinforce the fact that we have principles which we will stand up for.
therefore we are asking them to engage with us on shared universal principles.
the fact is that these countries choose to work with us. they choose to have partnerships with us.
according to which equality and non discrimination should be promoted while freedom of expression should be guaranteed.
the matter has also been addressed in the technical human rights working group which is a forum for developing partners in uganda to discuss monitor coordinate and take concrete action in human rights related cases.
the commission will continue to support local human rights organisations in their efforts to change attitudes in the country and to improve the legal situation for lgbt people.
it is contemptible that some politicians are also using this issue and whipping up hatred proposing even the execution of people who are gay.
i salute the courage of members of the gay community in uganda who bravely fight each day against this menacing threat to their identities and their very lives. the homophobic campaign is driven by smears lies and distortions about gay people and what being gay means. the strongest message must go out to the ugandan government including a review of aid although of course we do not want to hurt ordinary ugandans.
we should encourage active solidarity with organisations in uganda which champion the rights of gay people to assist them in this crucial fight for justice and human rights and for the basic right to be who you are.
mr president i am alarmed by the use of criminal law against consenting same sex relations taking place in private. this is already part of ugandan law and the punishment can be life imprisonment.
however the bahati bill would make things even worse.
the new bill will increase the climate of fear and hostility in a country where persecution of lgbt people is already under way.
people would be required to report on each other on privacy matters.
human dignity will have no meaning in uganda if such a law is adopted.
we must not let this happen.
mr president societies in africa are in general socially conservative.
many people in africa feel threatened by efforts to promote homosexuality particularly when those efforts are led by ngos and organisations based in the west.
there is a widely held perception in some parts of africa that liberal democracies are trying to push their own more tolerant values on societies with very different and ancient traditions.
but be that as it may it does not excuse or justify the rampant homophobia that exists widely in some parts of africa.
they are supporting a bill that would impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on homosexuals depending on the nature of their so called crime.
we have to agree that this can be done only by undertaking all possible measures by accepting necessary legal frameworks for naming the illegal use of force which manifestly violates the united nations charter.
who are willing and ready to challenge the peace and security of others.
the world's history in general and europe's in particular is full of dark pages of wars aggression destruction and other unfortunate events.
by now eight eu member states have ratified and completed procedures for enforcing the kampala amendments;
the existing momentum should be fully used to push for ratification now.
here i should make clear that the kampala amendments do not cover cases of self defence or a un security council mandate.
it is good but not enough. two thousand and fourteen is a crucial year to encourage states to start and continue the process of ratification of the amendments given the long time that ratification of international instruments requires in many countries.
in two thousand and ten the states parties including all eu member states adopted the kampala amendments to the rome statute which establishes the international criminal court. the above mentioned amendments mainly provide for adding the crime of aggression to the list of crimes falling under icc jurisdiction thereby completing the icc jurisdiction and deterring member states from illegal use of force. it is against those
at the same time we have to salute all international efforts to close legal loopholes that still exist in international humanitarian law and the rome statutes by criminalising the crime of aggression.
the resolution we are debating tonight explicitly calls for an eu common position around the issue.
they can. member states and also the european union can do a great deal to create the right conditions to enable people to make healthy choices in the way they lead their lives. the strategy for equality between women and men two thousand and ten two thousand and fifteen includes a commitment to considering gender issues in health policies. the first action is to promote gender impact assessment of policies and programmes something which the commission is doing. the strategy underlines the need to promote gender mainstreaming in health policies in line with the eu health strategy and the communication on health inequalities. i mention in particular in our work on hiv aids tobacco
doing nothing is also not an option. therefore we must not be lulled into thinking that chronic diseases are unavoidable consequences of the ageing process. there is much that can be done to prevent or at least mitigate the onset of chronic
in the college. on smoking in particular i fully share your concern about the increasing number of women who smoke especially
the commission is strongly engaged in this area for example ageing chronic diseases and health inequalities. the ageing society is of universal concern but has particular relevance to the health sector.
of approaches. for example the platform on nutrition diet and physical activity; the work on harmful alcohol
affect women. the commission works on disease prevention in different areas and with a variety
consumption; and activities to encourage people to stop smoking i hope we will soon adopt the tobacco directive
gender is a factor of health inequality. this needs to be taken into account in the drafting of all our health policies.
and cancer. let me say a brief word on the european innovation partnership on active and healthy ageing. the partnership offers and promotes a novel way of working through joint efforts and resources. we have already seen different stakeholders coming together putting forward action plans that focus on innovative activities on disease prevention and early diagnosis care and cure and active ageing and independent living.
diseases. of course not all diseases can be prevented but more often than not
young women. if disease distribution and the situation regarding specific health determinants are changing for women in the eu we need to reflect this in our prevention efforts and adapt
will they say what we should be putting into cosmetics products that we would not put into foods despite the fact that some of these cosmetics we put on our skins in our eyes even taking in our mouths?
i do not think they will do any of these things.
she wanted to support clear labelling of products about the content of nanomaterials.
and the history of this legislation will give them some ammunition fifty five significant changes over the past thirty years making it more cumbersome and confusing and hardly helping the industry or consumers.
now back in my country that is terrible that takes a way a bit of freedom for manoeuvre for member states but the reality is as we have seen with reach as we now see with this industry does not want twenty seven different interpretations of a european rule it wants the facility of knowing exactly where it stands across this
will the critics stand up and say we were wrong to insist that cmrs be banned'?
they do not tend to actually look at what the european union is doing to try and improve upon the existing situation and to put benefits into practice.
so here we have a piece of legislation that in practice has ensured that existing arrangements are simplified that red tape is cut that the legislation is clarified for all.
mr president parliament is coming to the end of its term and some of us are starting to make preparations for the elections. in the united kingdom at least i see us faced with a sea of euro sceptics and europhobes wishing to criticise everything we do at every opportunity.
and we have a directive turned into a regulation.
will they oppose proper assessments being made of cosmetics or the centralised information service which the commissioner has rightly said will actually save industry money?
my colleague frdrique ries who cannot be with us tonight wanted to ensure that steps were taken to try and avoid the marketing of counterfeit products to strengthen product traceability and to tighten up restrictions on the making of false claims about the beneficial effects of these products.
will they stand up and say we were wrong'?
we have made progress on all these areas.
i think it is a good piece of legislation and i for one as i go into this election process will be very happy to hold this up as an example of what the european union can do well.
all they were doing was virtue signalling to the rest of the world that they oppose chemical attacks on civilians.
what this parliament should have been doing yesterday was actually asking questions what proof is there that assad did it?
but who actually did it?
there were three groups that actually spoke against it and if we are sensible about this we should not just be knee jerk reacting to these terrible attacks but actually asking questions on a very serious matter who ultimately benefits?
' instead of making statements that they can't substantiate and mr tajani said that this house was overwhelmingly supportive of the bombings.
a military man if i'd been advising assad i'd have said you're about to take over that bit of territory you've clearly got the whole of that area now under your control.
there is no proof that assad's regime was actually responsible for the chemical attack and let me quote if i may a higher authority on this the former first sea lord admiral west i think we need unequivocal proof that this chemical attack was done by assad's forces.
well who doesn't?
if i'd been advising the opposition i'd have said get a barrel of chlorine gas here at some stage there will be bombs dropped on you when that happens blow it up and we can blame them because what we really want is the allies coming in'. ' yesterday in this chamber we had meps who would normally condemn president trump out of hand warmly supporting him because he is dropping bombs on the assad regime.
mr president ms mogherini said that there is no military solution to the war in syria but of course the cold hard unpalatable fact is that assad and the russians were actually close to defeating isis. i and my party the uk independence party have no sympathy whatsoever for president assad he is a tyrant who is quite capable of killing his own people i have no doubt.
' who benefits from this attack?
these were the brave men and women of syria who rejected the idea of becoming a victim of a violent state and started to defend their families and rebuild their homeland.
i am speaking of the democratic federation of northern syria so far the most successful story of a democratic model for syria.
the targeted and very limited air strikes carried out are specifically and solely aimed at impeding president assad's regime's chemical weapon capabilities and must surely be seen for what they are which is the west's determination to deter future use of chemical weapons by tyrants everywhere across the globe.
such use of the unsc veto to protect tyrants and violations of international humanitarian law or the use of prohibited types of weapons can provide in my view under the evolving right to protect' doctrine legal justification for the use of military force to deter or prevent further humanitarian crises.
the continued use of chemical weapons is wholly unacceptable and allowing this to continue with impunity cannot be tolerated.
russia has repeatedly used its veto at the un security council to stop chemical weapons related resolutions on six occasions since two thousand and seventeen alone.
given the potential for unintended consequences and escalation military intervention is a decision not to be taken lightly.
there are some in this house that question the evidence and many more that doubt their attribution to the brutal assad regime.
do we really have to choose between fighting terrorism and promoting civilian and human rights?
the evidence of the deaths and suffering inflicted by the gas attack including young children is horrific.
it is also deplorable that the british government's decision to take part in the air strikes was not brought to parliament for approval.
the syrianled constitutional committee under un auspices should be implemented now as a priority.
their world has been destroyed.
in retaliation we have seen the response from the us uk and france. it is regrettable that these countries have launched further military action in syria which could lead to an uncontrollable escalation that puts more civilians in even more acute danger.
rather than further military intervention what is urgently needed is a coordinated international initiative to achieve a ceasefire deescalation and a negotiated political settlement.
mr president the reports from douma point to an attack carried out with chemical weapons in full contravention of international humanitarian law.
it is high time that all parties in this conflict put their agenda aside and the interests of the syrian people first.
the un estimates that.
the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable to us and those responsible must be held accountable.
talks. this is what we are working on every single day with the united nations and this is what we will try to deliver in brussels next week.
the risk of splitting the country into zones of influence is increasing by the day.
a political solution.
at the brussels conference we will have over eighty delegations around the table as i said with very different positions among themselves.
now more than ever it is time to invest all our work all our convening power all our political capital to push the syrian parties towards the negotiating table and finally start meaningful negotiations; not just talks for the sake of talks but meaningful negotiations.
is it. that is what the political process in geneva should guarantee.
today we are working to enable the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons to investigate and report on the most recent attack.
not only our analysis but also the need for a renewed regional effort in order to try to put an end to the war in syria through a political process. next week exactly one week from now all the relevant international and regional players will gather for the second brussels conference on the future of syria and the region which i will have the honour and the responsibility to chair together with the united nations.
this was the message that i delivered just the day before yesterday in saudi arabia where i had the honour to open the annual summit of the arab league and where i also had the opportunity to meet the un special envoy staffan de mistura with whom i spoke at length about the current situation and how to relaunch the political process. i also had the chance there to discuss and share with all the leaders of the region
what we can do as europe as the international community is to invest all our resources to move from a context of never ending escalation on the ground which is repeating itself cyclically to one of true political negotiations.
future. many people ask about preconditions who has to step back or forwards one step in
i see this as an opportunity to collectively and consistently commit to stopping the violence and supporting the geneva process. we want to bring together it will not be easy but nor will it be impossible those who have leverage not just on the syrian parties as we always mention in part because on the syrian opposition we have the leverage ourselves and we have been working with
the main point here is this now more than ever it is clear that the only sustainable the only pragmatic the only possible solution to the war in syria is a political solution.
future. that
the geneva talks represent the only path that can lead towards a peaceful united independent and truly democratic syria in all its diversity.
un. i am also proud of one thing that i believe this parliament will understand very
with no meaningful un led political talks it is only a matter of time before the next military escalation comes.
it is a country with people and citizens and we want to bring the voices the faces the hopes the dreams but also the ideas and the aspirations of the syrian people to the
only way to make our humanitarian work sustainable which is to unlock the geneva
it will be even more relevant today in the current circumstances because it is the first huge international event that gathers different players that are let's say on different sides in this war and the eu un co chairmanship is obviously an excellent opportunity to try to build a path towards
that is the way we intend it. we believe it will have to be up to them to decide on the new institutions of the country to make them inclusive democratic and at the end of the day make sure that every syrian
clearly and i really hate to say this military brutality by the cynical coalition of assad putin and tehran steered militants is creating facts on the ground and the facts amount to war crimes.
but even now and we've heard it as the eu position over and over again the mantra is that there is no military solution to the war in syria.
high commissioner colleagues or high representative excuse me every time we discuss syria we have to mourn more deaths more who have forcibly disappeared or been raped or tortured and recently despite the alleged destruction of syria's chemical weapons despite international law hundreds including children choked to death because of the use of chemical weapons.
those children cannot possibly be terrorists as president assad claims with every citizen that he kills and this cannot go unanswered.
that is an essential ingredient for peace and so hopefully the eu as a whole can build on the dutch german and swedish initiative to centralise accountability.
this impacts us globally and certainly in europe.
it is the moral duty of the international community to prevent further use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime against its own people. i welcome the fact that the eu is supportive of all diplomatic efforts aimed at the resolving of the conflict but the syrian war enters its eight year and the situation remains critical.
indeed i am looking forward to the conference which commissioner mogherini is going to have in brussels next week i think that the european union is the only body that can actually help to bring about a resolution here.
the precision strikes allow us to expose what was so difficult to detect in the very long complicated war in syria with elements of hybrid our allies and our opponents if not enemies.
in that respect the targeted strikes by the us the uk and france staking out chemical facilities sent an important signal.
but this is not a mission accomplished.
we do need a larger strategy and we need to implement it.
so my question to the external action service is how we will use the momentum to deliver this at both eu and un level ensuring that next week's conference on syria is not just a funding exercise but underpinned by a strong diplomatic initiative.
what will we do to revive responsibility to protect the doctrine at the un and bring credible pressure to bear on russia to engage in this process?
we will take the remainder of the explanations of votes tomorrow after the voting session.
estimates put the potential figure of illegal cigarettes sold on the world market by two thousand and seventeen at over six hundred and twenty eight billion cigarettes.
one of the obvious examples of fraud not just in europe but worldwide is of course the area of illicit tobacco.
if there is one key message from this report it is the need for much closer coordination and cooperation between the revenue service the customs service and the police and border authorities to make sure we get on top of this problem.
ireland is a prime target for cigarette smuggling.
madam president i supported this report too as it welcomes the commission's new approach to economic policy with focus on growth and investment.
the report for me also insists on reforms that are very important and which are required from member states that they must be sociallybalanced and growth friendly and that the surplus countries must do more to relaunch growth in europe.