kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
i speak as presidency of the council and therefore in the name of all of its member states.
this update to the current eu vat system will be particularly needed in years to come as fraud continues to increase and to become an even more pressing issue.
what this is obviously doing is raising something when brexit is happening;
it's a disgrace that we are being punished simply because we have voted to leave and it's not surprising that even british government ministers now are saying that this is like the soviet union.
one of the sources of this distrust is that the people do not see justice delivering enough justice the justice system delivering fairness.
later today we will speak about the fight against money laundering. in all these cases we speak about combating organised crime which has a cross border scope and which requires perfect and well orchestrated cooperation at eu level.
of course as many of you mentioned here a very efficient way to stop the criminals is to cut them off from the money.
we speak about future cooperation in the fields of security and justice because this is of vital importance both for the eu and the united kingdom.
the eu wide health technology assessments will be an evidence based and uniform criteria based process of evaluation and comparison of health standards and technologies in the member states.
you said that unity doesn't have to mean uniformity. well said. by way of illustration you said that different levels of taxes in different member states are normal for
mr president i welcome the debate on the proposed regulation on the financing of three organisations namely the international financial reporting standards foundation the european financial reporting advisory group and the public interest oversight board.
the proposed beneficiary organisations play a key role in the elaboration of international accounting and auditing standards.
high quality international financial reporting and audit rules are essential for the sake of transparency comparability the smooth functioning of the global capital markets and an integrated market for financial services in the eu.
it is therefore of paramount importance to ensure that the eu's interests are properly taken into account in the process.
to achieve this objective it is necessary that the eu participates in the financing of those organisations.
it is beyond doubt that without an adequate financial contribution our ability to influence the strategic activities of these organisations would be very limited.
at the same time our financial contribution must not come without any conditions.
we need to ensure that the beneficiary organisations act in the public interest in the most appropriate manner.
this is the main idea behind the commitments undertaken by the commission in the framework of the proposed financing regulation.
these commitments include first of all the implementation of governance reforms in efrag following recommendations provided last year by mr nbsp maystadt who acted as a special adviser to commissioner barnier.
in this respect i would like to note that a study contract which raised certain doubts over the independence of selected contractors has been terminated.
this decision does not detract from our determination to carry out the evaluation.
furthermore i would like to draw your attention to the recent decision by the monitoring board to deal with the long term investment topic following an initiative by the commission.
it is also necessary to be able to exert influence on the activities of the beneficiary organisations for the benefit of eu businesses.
mr president i would like to thank the house for its involvement and participation in this debate and the comments made on the proposal. just to conclude i would like to stress that in this field we all pursue the same objective of having high quality accounting standards for businesses.
and i count on your understanding of the importance of the financing decision for us to achieve our strategic objectives in this field.
the commission and the ifrs monitoring board are both looking at those issues.
finally i would like to reassure you that the commitment made by the commission as regards implementing the reform of efrag and the evaluation of the ias regulation will be fully respected.
they felt that accounting standards had moved away from the concept of true and fair'.
as elected representatives we have a duty to ask questions where appropriate and to investigate whether faulty accounting standards played a role in the financial crisis.
as we sought answers it became clear that there were valid concerns about the governance of these bodies.
this is of vital interest. let me look to theodore roosevelt who said speak softly and carry a big stick'. we do not need to have all the decorations but we should act when necessary.
personally i hope that the impossible is possible and that the united kingdom stays with us but that we will see.
if nato cannot operate we have to do it ourselves.
nato is effective.
of course in europe we should not stand idly by.
it means that nato is the best platform for working with the united kingdom the united states and of course the countries of europe.
we have to put our money where our mouth is and invest in our defence capabilities and capacities.
mr president i am very glad that mrs mogherini as high representative speaks clear words. a brexit must not prevent us from working closely together with the united kingdom in security matters.
this is as close to home as it gets.
we have an unparalleled dialogue with our partners in the western balkans and the neighbourhood both in the east and the south. acting together using the principles of unity and coordination the eu can make a meaningful impact in the region on our doorstep.
we are still seeing the infancy of the cfsp and csdp but i continue to believe that they are the instruments for securing a strong voice for europe in the world ahead which is ever more dangerous.
focusing on initiatives such as the energy union and investment in cyber security are also very positive steps.
these are successes that we must point to when advocating the benefits of closer cooperation in europe. whatever the future relationship post the brexit referendum result between the united kingdom my country and the european union the one thing of which i am certain is that strong cooperation in the fields of foreign policy security and defence will continue. the shifting world order conflict in the middle east and north africa an aggressive russian expansionist state global migration patterns the effects of climate change international jihadist terrorism as we recently saw in dhaka all of these are shared threats and will continue to be so.
and it is to tackle this aspect of focusing on people's lives and the everyday life of our citizens and those that are not our citizens that this strategy is being conceived.
the strategy focuses on how to maximise the impact of some tools that we already use starting with development cooperation.
defence cooperation must become the norm and not the exception to make our investments more effective our industry more competitive and our citizens more secure.
this is not just a strategy for the commission;
do. and yet this is something that we do not even realise.
obviously nobody calls into question the fact that soft power is and will remain the centre of our external action also because we are the best in the world at soft power.
the strategy does not aim to change the treaties but to finally apply them in
we need for sure to rethink the way in which the european union works but we need first of all to work on the priorities of our citizens.
so such work must begin now with clear procedures and timeframes agreed by all relevant players and i will discuss this with the foreign ministers already in ten days' time at the foreign affairs council.
but we can make our aid much more effective if we work more on joint programming for instance and if we develop further partnerships between the european union institutions member states the international financial institutions and the private sector and if we deepen our partnership and cooperation with our friends in the rest of the world.
sometimes from the inside we have some difficulties looking at it in a clear way and we have to overcome
after months of consultations with all the european union institutions including this parliament with all the member states with so many citizens in the union we have agreed on a shared vision for our foreign policy and on the common actions to turn the vision into reality.
this implies concrete follow up meaning that we will need to work more and more and in a coordinated way to reinforce our partners starting with existing organisations such as the african union celac the arab league and asean and also to explore new formats and also different
our friends in the western balkans we were together in paris for a summit with the prime ministers of the region and as we face inside the european union waves of euro scepticism or a negative attitude towards the european union in the western balkans our friends have to manage the expectations of euro enthusiasm.
the strategy explicitly foresees a revision of the existing strategies sectoral strategies we already have and it also plans to devise and implement new thematic or geographic strategies in line with the priorities that it indicates.
this is a strategy for the european union and this is the first
i think it is extremely healthy for us to see what the european union is about seen from the outside and realise what is at stake what we risk losing and why we need still today and even more today to come together and act together as europeans.
that. from our region to the broader world from colombia to the philippines our partners are working already now with the european union as a global security provider and we are putting our partnerships at the core of our foreign and security policy.
basis. it will reflect on the state of play of the strategy pointing out whether and where further implementation must be sought.
time. this strategy is about how to make our foreign and security policy more effective and at the end of the day deliver to our citizens and their
so the great challenge is to make full use of all our tools in a common and coherent way and to make sure that they all serve our shared european interests.
so the strategy also focuses on our security defence and military instruments.
all these commitments will have to be put into practice.
if you look at the news every single day it is quite clear that this is the situation we are living in today.
use. so we have to overcome the debate about whether europeans come from venus or
union. a more credible european defence is essential also for the sake of healthy relationships with our friends starting with the united states and yet a more credible european defence would serve first and foremost not our partners but our citizens and their security.
and we are working more and more to coordinate the european voices within the united nations in the best possible
we believe that our citizens and the citizens of the entire world need a more united europe and a stronger european union if we want to make their lives better and safer.
it is not a matter of philosophy here it is a matter of putting together the instruments we have and realising that there are some instruments that are only effective if we use them at the european common level.
mars. we have to join the instruments we have because the limits between security and the rest is becoming thinner and thinner and we see it in our everyday lives including inside our european union.
the strategy clearly indicates how to perceive these objectives in the years ahead hopefully in the months ahead but this will depend very much on the political will to follow up coherently what we have agreed in the strategy.
we still think as national states and this is what needs to be changed.
but our union has already evolved into something much more than a civilian power alone and the same concept of human security is something that requires not only a military or security in a traditional sense approach but the whole range of tools we can
ahead. at the same time strong partnerships will be coupled with a higher degree of strategic autonomy for our
it is indeed because it contains a lot of very detailed and also some framework things but also very concrete things that we need to do and yes it is long because there is a lot of work to do but i would like to focus on a few central points. first of all the strategy builds using our union's potential which is huge.
way. i think this is going to be an interesting field of action in the years
i decided to go on with the presentation because yes the result of the british vote is going to change many things for the uk first of all for the uk's citizens and also for the european union but the european project does not stop here. i know you discussed this earlier this morning but just two days ago i was with
so our union goes on and cannot afford uncertainty.
we are stronger when the un system is strong and we know very well that the way of making the un system strong is not only to preserve its values and its centralities but also to reform it so the strategy refers to the need and the will to work on the reform of the united nations including the security council so that they can truly meet the challenges of this twenty first century.
needs. it will need the full support of this parliament to translate this shared vision into common action.
this strategy shows the way forward on security foreign policy and defence.
this is another key concept of the strategy.
the european union global strategy itself will require a periodic review to be carried out in consultation with the council the commission and this parliament on a yearly
our union as you know very well is already the biggest aid donor worldwide investing more than the rest of the world combined in development cooperation.
so the world recognises the military assets and the security and defence capabilities and capacity of the european union.
we have discussed this strategy many times in this hemicycle with the conference of presidents with the committees.
this is just not a strategy for the council;
because yes there is a common european interest that can only be served through common means.
it is very different from the world's state in two thousand and three when the previous strategy was released.
each of our countries alone has very little leverage when we negotiate with powers the size of a continent like china or the us but as a union of almost half a billion people we talk to china and the us as peers and this is something that no member state alone will ever manage to
we are also starting to explore new fields of common action such as energy diplomacy cultural diplomacy and economic diplomacy but the strategy also states very clearly that what we are so good at soft power is not enough in these times.
our citizens' interest calls for stronger cooperation on all security issues from intelligence and anti terrorism making the link between internal and external work to research and development in the fields of defence and security.
i would like to add another thing.
so i thought it was exactly the right moment to point to the need to come together and work together on the global scene as europeans if we want to respond to the security challenges but also to the economic opportunities that the world offers us.
first of all let me say that this is the first opportunity we have had to discuss the global strategy that i presented to the european council last week after the council saw and welcomed the strategy itself.
europe has never before faced such a convergence of security challenges and many of these contemporary threats do not recognise national borders. unfortunately nationalistic and xenophobic parties are gaining support across europe. the danger to the union lies in our own disunity we must work together against radicalisation and for social inclusion and integration.
the eu's response must be comprehensive and based on a coherent set of actions. responsibility also rests with the member states for cooperation on the strategy.
we must not allow the strategy to be another one off event it must become the starting point of systematic efforts to fill the eu's foreign policy with a greater sense of purpose and urgency.
this document must become a handbook for a global player. this is what the world expects a capable effective and responsible eu in action globally.
what our citizens expect is security in everyday life.
this is very well understood and it is our primary responsibility to guarantee it. however i am convinced that in this globalised reality no internal security can be guaranteed without the external one.
i for one do not believe that defence and security integration can save the union.
what i believe is that social union and a transfer union can save the union. however disunity in defence and security matters might easily break the union and therefore it is vital that we have this global strategy and that we have a broad agreement on what we want to achieve as a unified power.
the most important requirements for any power be it soft or hard power are an underlying commitment and an underlying common effort.
without that credible commitment we are going to fail.
this is what we need.
i regret that due to very unfortunate circumstances the strategy was not discussed properly at the european council and was just welcomed but not endorsed.
i fully agree that the highest priority for security and defence in this strategy is security.
short of an ambition to create a true european defence union the strategy points in the right direction of cooperation to increase defence capabilities with the expectation that the white paper on defence will bring us closer to adequately funded and i underline funded' integrated european defence.
it is as important for our neighbourhood as it is for our own states and societies especially in the light of ever closer intertwinement of external and internal security.
i strongly welcome the determination to continue a credible enlargement policy and a clear strict and fair accession process as an investment in our own security and prosperity.
i believed before that europe must act concertedly to help create a peaceful and more just world and i do not think any differently today. there is much in this strategy which socialists and democrats strongly welcome.
there is no acceptance of a relative decline in europe but rather an understanding that in a changing world europe itself must change to uphold our interests and our influence.
that is the importance of the concept of strategic autonomy.
it means that soft power may not on its own be enough but the power of soft power should not be underestimated in the quest to prevent and overcome conflict by being more than just a security strategy this strategy may be more effective in making us all more secure.
it means that it is a global strategy because europe does have global interests and it is right that we address the tensions on the korean peninsula or support for the columbia peace process as well as the problems of our immediate neighbourhood.
there are obvious dangers in an exercise such as this that it is easier to define threats than to deal with them and easier to draw up a strategy than to implement it.
the key message from my group is that this must be a strategy for europe not just in the european external action service but in every european capital.
this strategy challenges us all and it is the responsibility of all eu member states to meet that challenge.
i cannot see that far into the future but at least we should work more closely together.
an army should be effective.
in the end there will be a kind of defence union but do not look that far into the future.
in terms of development policy yes development policy should be aligned with the strategic priorities but we need a debate on what those priorities are.
you know there are concerns and in particular concerns about the migration compact and what is a kind of creeping conditionality we heard that in the council conclusions last week. we also heard concerns around the link with security and development.
i know that the intention is to make policy work properly but the devil will be in the detail and meps want to be involved in this just as they want to be involved in the scrutiny of things like trust funds and new instruments and not to be left out of these new processes.
at a time when our wider neighbouring region be it in ukraine syria or libya is engulfed in a ring of fire that also threatens the security of our citizens europe needs a common sense of direction and purpose and a vision that is up to the challenges we face.
we cannot remain complacent and keep outsourcing security to the us.
in all that text there is no clause none that requires the so called free movement of people. it is also highly unlikely that the modernised chile trade agreement which we are discussing now will have a free movement of people clause.
fake news is something that the eu crusades against.
only two of those agreements the efta and the eea agreements have a requirement for free movement of people.
nevertheless in the context of brexit so much of the media tells us that free movement is a precondition for any country having a free trade agreement with the eu and this is simply untrue.
perhaps the commissioner will join me in correcting this fundamental misunderstanding.
free movement the manipulation and denial of the facts concerning free movement of people in eu trade agreements against the clear evidence is fake news personified.
further the european union has over one hundred trade agreements. i make it one hundred and forty one actually.
good fair trade agreements to the benefit of companies consumers and citizens.
we have taken good note of your recommendations and your viewpoints in the resolution and i will make sure that you are fully informed once we start the negotiations.
i look forward to regularly informing you about how we develop in our chile trade relations.
we did a lot of very thorough preparation before we started so we have a good basis for this.
chile is such a partner but it is important as you have all said to update the old agreement because it has become obviously a bit obsolete with the changes that have occurred in the last fourteen years.
i also take note of your wish to be regularly informed or to have some sort of evaluation process of the organic products.
mr howitt recently in another meeting suggested that we should have sent eu electoral observers from this house to confirm whether fraud had actually taken place.
i believe this crack in the regime and the courage of its protesting youth whom i salute will eventually bring the whole rotten government down.
why are we not prepared to put tougher sanctions in place?
and while we continue to enjoy our place as the biggest trading partner with the iranian government do we seriously think that money is more important than lives?
it is the only language they understand.
we have consular issues that are of a multitude that is difficult to fathom.
i think we are united in what we say and what we think.
so we must condemn the killings the use of the death sentence.
those are other issues that we need to engage
so in condemning what we have seen after we should not forget what we saw before and the long term significance of that.
to engage is difficult. mr kelam alluded to some of the historical experience we have with the balancing act that that entails.
we must be clear in our call for full respect for the freedom and the rights that are there for every human being in our world.
but neither should we forget that there are some issues that we have a duty to seek to resolve through diplomatic dialogue.
i am grateful for this debate.
we should never believe that just a diplomatic dialogue can sort out every issue that has been addressed here it cannot.
we need to be prepared to engage to help individuals in different cases without believing that that is going to sort out everything at once.
we know what we want to achieve;