kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
what must be very difficult for all of you to get into your minds is that there is a bigger world out there than the european union. eighty five of the global economy is outside the european union.
there are a lot of other people that will give that to us. a return to tariffs will risk the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people living in the european union and yet what you are saying is you want to put the interests of the european union above that of your citizens and your companies.
if you wish to have no deal if you wish to force us to walk away from the table it is not us that will be hurt. do you know we do not have to buy german motor cars we do not have to drink french wine we do not have to eat belgian chocolate.
mr president i do understand national sensitivities.
if you continue with that route it won't just be the united kingdom that triggers article.
scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the european union.
the overwhelming feeling in scotland is that we are being dragged out of the european union against our will a feeling only compounded by ms may's determination to pursue a hard brexit for which she has no mandate. the resolution we are about to vote on recognises this fact but provides no solution.
i of course agree but i think the same should also apply to scotland.
edinburgh a city i have represented in this house for thirty three years voted seventy five twenty five to remain in the european union.
the council document calls for a flexible and imaginative solution to be found for ireland.
madam president in september two thousand and fourteen i voted to keep scotland in the united kingdom union and in june two thousand and sixteen i voted to keep the uk in the european union. today i face the reality that brexit will remove my country from one union and leave the other union hanging by a thread.
the scottish government has put forward a bespoke proposal for scotland which i think deserves serious attention in this house.
let us dear colleagues politicians of this very old continent show the young people in britain and in europe alike that europe is not a place of hate of pettiness or of revenge but that we can learn the lessons of the past and reshape a future in which the negotiating table will always
madam president in a couple of weeks i will take my six year old son to london for the first time;
it is for those generations of young europeans those born after the fall of the berlin wall that the remaining twenty seven member states need to stand united and together and work out a reformed and stronger european union.
but he will not understand because thank god he has never known war.
it is for those young generations of brits that we need a fair deal and a continued relationship with the united kingdom because they did not vote to leave.
although not too far away from here and you can laugh but not too far away from here children his age and younger are dying in the poisonous clouds of idlib the same clouds that we saw over flanders fields a century ago.
he will see the cenotaph and i will tell him about the bravery of those men who fought in two european wars and to whom we will be eternally grateful.
it is the start of a new relationship between the european union and the united kingdom.
the negotiations that follow will be difficult at times and you will sometimes hear an angry voice.
as we look to the future it is in the interests of all our citizens that we reach a comprehensive agreement between britain and the eu.
fifty in doing so she gave effect to the democratic decision of the british people to leave the european union.
the sovereignty of gibraltar is not part of these negotiations.
so let us go forward together and reach that deep and special partnership that will benefit all our nations.
i want britain's borders with the eu to be as invisible as possible to allow as much trade as possible.
i want the rights of all eu citizens in the uk and all british citizens in the eu to be guaranteed.
i hope that colleagues here will focus on the outcome we seek and not the process we undertake because we all need a good agreement rather than a good fight.
we see no reason to delay any aspect of any of these talks.
i want members to see today as a beginning and not an end.
my group was disappointed that mr verhofstadt felt he could only consult on the draft text with a few close political friends. we also regret that he ignored so much good work by the parliament's committees.
although we will be leaving the eu we want to forge a deep and special partnership with our friends and allies in europe.
we hope in future we can work with you in the same good faith and full transparency that you request in your motion.
the peoples whose jobs businesses economy and security all depend on us to take the eu in the right direction.
the uk leaving must not be a missed opportunity to create positive change.
that is why the ecr group adopted last week its vision of a reformed and decentralised european union.
it will remain where it is it will remain one of our most important economic political and security partners.
the united kingdom and the european union are friends not enemies.
this should not be a nasty break up but the beginning of a deep and special partnership between long standing allies.
we need to start work on a comprehensive deal right now a deal that looks at everything cooperation on security trade education research transport and yes money.
if we do anything less history will judge us harshly as having been small and petty when the challenges of our age required us to be bold and visionary.
mr verhofstadt you spent a great deal of time in your campaign for president of the parliament distancing yourself from the backroom deals of the past.
yet once again the pleas for openness and transparency feel like the same old empty promises promises which those outside of brussels are increasingly frustrated with.
the negotiation and process of this resolution have sought to exclude the opinions of some political groups and members in this parliament.
when you do that you do not just exclude the voices of those members but also the voices of their electorates.
mr verhofstadt no one is asking you to agree with everyone but you could at least listen to what they have to say.
that is not to say that we do not agree with anything in the joint motion.
we agree for example that it is essential that the rights of eu citizens in the uk and of uk citizens in the eu are dealt with quickly and fairly.
but we do not share other key points.
we believe the european parliament should seek to support the eu negotiator not make life more difficult by making excessive demands in advance.
that just looks like the same old tired tactics which undermine the credibility of this chamber.
the three year limit on transitional arrangement seems arbitrary.
we might want different lengths for different issues.
we deeply regret that all the work prepared by parliament's committees was just brushed aside.
mr president fellow members my hope is that the eu will emerge from brexit renewed and able to prevent the departure of other member states.
the next two years should be about building the faith of the peoples of europe in the decisions we are making.
if the eu is to come back stronger and if we really want to win back the confidence lost by our citizens then this is not only the moment to determine how we will work with the uk in the future but also how we can get the eu back on track.
i call on all colleagues to listen to the recent statements by several european leaders who show that there are alternatives to ever more europe.
we need to follow the path to a decentralised confederal europe.
there simply is no support for more centralising euro federalism.
for the sake of all our people the united kingdom and the european union need to work together as strong allies and close friends when we leave.
europe has been a strong friend to northern ireland and gave us strong support during our darkest days.
i am confident that friendship will continue.
i welcome the fact that all sides want a frictionless border.
however we all know that finding a solution will require a lot of innovative thinking.
any solution must not diminish northern ireland's place as an integral part of the united kingdom as enshrined in the principle of consent in the belfast agreement.
and can i make it clear to you mr barnier that i will not accept a hard border.
i would also urge eu leaders not to heed those who are merely using brexit as an excuse to break up the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.
i just want to say that brexit is a lose lose game.
i would have much preferred for us to stay together. we say in belgium and that remains the case today.
security cooperation is an area where we cannot let lose lose logic prevail.
it is in the interest of the safety and security of all our citizens british or otherwise to cooperate deeply in matters of security and what we cannot accept is that any other kind of consideration trade commercial whatever stands in the way.
there is no trade off here.
the people of wales have the democratic right to decide on their own future and that includes the kind of eu withdrawal that takes place and the way that it affects our nation.
the devolved administrations of the uk including wales should be involved at every stage of the negotiations.
i do not accept that the interests of wales can be ignored by the uk government but that is exactly what is happening despite the publication of the white paper securing wales' future ' produced by plaid cymru and the welsh government.
it is a comprehensive and constructive plan which includes our continuing participation in the single market which is a top priority for our economy and our communities.
we have a lot to contribute to this process and to build in the future and our voice must be heard.
the challenges the union is now facing in the context of the uk withdrawal are well understood and also shared by the union institutions.
the european parliament is and will be at the forefront of the process and has shown a high level of political openness and cooperation but also unity in helping to define the union's path for the upcoming negotiations.
we cannot but welcome the constructive approach set out in the letter notifying the uk's intention to withdraw and setting out the approach to the negotiations but the truth is that the really hard choices are yet to come and for many citizens transparent negotiations will be a learning process.
all this sets the right path for cooperative and above all principled negotiations based on good faith.
first and foremost we must defend and promote the interests of the citizens of the union whom we represent and safeguard the integrity and the coherence of the constitutional framework of the union.
these are the key building blocks for the negotiation and also the absolute boundaries on the basis of which the european parliament will assess the outcome of the withdrawal negotiations through the consent procedure.
we are bound to work together constructively in the best interest of our citizens to ensure a clean and safe environment and a high level of public health and food security and to pursue our common commitment to the climate change.
we will need to ensure a rapid transfer of our european medicines agency as soon as is practical as is said in the resolution because we have to make sure to avoid uncertainty regarding its future and limit the loss of skilled staff and their vital expertise.
but today i have to confess that i don't know what he would say about brexit or how he would judge the brexiters. this is a real question mark. when it comes to the status of the european citizens in the uk the negotiations must be based on the principles of reciprocity and full equality among eu citizens.
this means that we need to make sure that our citizens who currently live and work in the uk can continue to freely do so without any discrimination against them or between them based on their nationality.
evolution by the liberal democrats all allowed to pass uncorrected.
that is not helpful and all it does is pander to a press which at the moment is misrepresenting both the eu position and the united kingdom position.
but my ex partner you will recover.
your hate will lessen but you will need a bit of counselling along the way.
but it didn't happen.
that has been the amount of money that we have paid into this place.
so let's complete a free trade agreement because if not our friends at the world trade organization are looking jolly nice and very attractive and i am not seeking an affair in this divorce but a partner for life and i think that is where we are heading.
so the german speakers of this room have the opportunity of actually understanding what we're voting about but the rest of us will miss the votes if the process is not slowed down just a little bit.
the decision of the international criminal court to open a preliminary investigation into crimes under the court's jurisdiction committed against the rohingya population is a welcome step towards accountability.
the perpetrators of these most serious crimes must be held accountable.
despite the government of myanmar having withdrawn cooperation with the un special rapporteur the special rapporteur continues to seek to engage and assist with human rights issues.
the highest ranking military who supervised the attacks against the rohingya population remain in their posts.
this is not a crisis that began with the exodus in august two thousand and seventeen over a million rohingya refugees have fled violence in myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the early one thousand.
in its further report in two thousand and nineteen the un factfinding mission reported severe ongoing sexual and genderbased violence including systematic rape gang rape and forced sexual acts by the myanmar military and security forces against rohingya women children and transgender people.
two for many children those are the only places they have ever known and they are vulnerable to disease and lack sufficient access to education.
the refugee settlement has become the largest refugee camp in the world with more than six hundred zero people living in an area of just thirteen km.
we all remember that in two thousand and eighteen the un independent factfinding mission concluded that crimes against humanity and possibly genocide had been committed against the rohingya.
this is heartbreaking.
so it is high time for action. the council has prolonged its restrictive measures in place in myanmar for one year. these measures include asset freezes and travel bans on fourteen senior military and other security officials of myanmar.
myanmar has so far refused to allow a un human rights council factfinding mission to enter the country.
not only that myanmar continues to deny that these rights violations ever occurred in the first place claims that are contradicted by extensive good quality evidence and individual witness accounts.
however reality shows that they don't respect these obligations.
these persons have been arrested on the basis of vague or unspecified charges and sentenced without a fair trial. it is clear that iran is severely violating human rights and we as a democratic body that represents those imprisoned european citizens
this case is a clear example of an extremely disproportionate punishment.
moreover these women were arrested although they were solely exercising their right of freedom of expression one of the core rights of every human being.
with this resolution the european parliament is calling upon iran to suppress all these sentences and immediately and unconditionally release all human rights defenders and all eu iran dual nationals who are arbitrarily detained.
have a moral duty to support them and to react in a resolute manner.
with this resolution we urge the iranian authorities to halt their repressive actions and to implement the internationally agreed standards.
iran is one of the founding states of the united nations and has ratified multiple legally binding treaties under international law focusing on respect for human rights.
the authorities reasoned that they were acting against national security and promoting moral corruption and prostitution.
eu and other international organisations must work towards gaining access to the conflict areas and places of segregation in myanmar in order to deliver aid and to monitor the situation on the ground.
investigation of the human rights violations must take place and perpetrators must be held accountable.
the crimes against humanity and war crimes against ethnic communities by the myanmar army continue and the army and the government enjoy impunity for their crimes.
the children lack access to education and there is a rising problem of human and sex trafficking.
we must continue stressing the need for myanmar to give citizenship and full civil rights to the rohingya.
the material and human cost was immense and we've moved from mass displacement and destruction across europe to striving for peace and prosperity through common endeavour cooperation and collaboration between european countries.
the european solidarity corps or creative europe projects.
britain i hope will be outside the eu at the forefront of this technology but i hope our neighbours will rush to follow us in due course.
the result of this is not only that we are able to feed the world in a way that a generation ago would have seemed unimaginable it is not only that we have disproved all of the dire predictions of mass starvation that were habitually being made in the seventy s and eighty s it is that we are allowing nature to pour back in we're allowing for a huge revival of reforestation and of previously endangered species as the territory needed to sustain our population dwindles.
we're becoming better and better at getting more yield out of smaller territory.
the european union should be at the forefront of this technology but as so often a combination of luddite politicians and vested interests mean that we're cutting ourselves off particularly from advances in genetic modification.
the composition of firefighting services varies greatly among different member states.
in the case of mr matzak the court concluded that in his particular circumstances these conditions were met.
firefighters are a key element of emergency and civil protection services everywhere in europe.
let me be clear there is no onesizefitsall reply to the question of the status of volunteer firefighters under the working time directive.
member states may also allow workers to opt out of the forty eight hour average maximum working time under certain conditions and in exceptional circumstances such as natural or technological disasters attacks or major incidents the directive can be disapplied altogether.
in summary each case must be examined on its own merits to ensure that the status of volunteer is not used to circumvent european labour law.
however on that point the judgment said nothing new. a long line of case law makes clear that under eu law whether someone is considered a worker depends on the circumstances.
the numbers are even higher in countries such as germany or austria but in other countries like greece or bulgaria the firefighting workforce is almost entirely professionalised.
but the working time directive offers a lot of flexibility for sectors such as firefighting and emergency services.
most of the ensuing debate about the matzak case has been centered on the notion of worker'.
each specific case needs to be assessed against the criteria for qualification as a worker established by the court and if the working time directive does apply its provisions on resting time should be respected.
i understand those worries and i hope i can assuage them at least to some extent. of course the commission cannot speak for or bind the court but i can reassure you that we are following the situation of emergency services including volunteer firefighters very closely.
the central issue of the matzak judgment was about resting time and more specifically the entitlement to resting time for firefighters who while on standby are obliged first to live and stay permanently near to the fire station and second to respond to a call and reach the fire station within eight minutes. the court concluded that given these specific constraints mr matzak's standby time should be counted as working time for the purpose of the working time directive and should not be seen as free time.
for instance derogations from daily and weekly rests are possible of course if compensatory rest is provided.
the matzak judgment does not mean that every volunteer firefighter in the european union automatically qualifies as a worker and in any event the working time directive provides for flexibility to accommodate the needs of emergency services such as fire services without denying the firefighters protection of their health and safety.
somebody who pursues real and genuine activities who is subordinated to another person and who is remunerated in return is a worker for the purposes of this piece of law.
across the european union firefighting services are made up of a mixture of professional or career firefighters and volunteers.
following the judgment various stakeholders jumped to the conclusion that eu law had made it impossible to have volunteer firefighters but i believe this conclusion is incorrect.
allegations of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing have been raised by the un secretary general and in two thousand and seventeen i also brought the issue to the executive of liberal international through an urgency resolution.
mr president the rohingya are one of the ethnic and religious groups in myanmar that were not given official status as an ethnic identity and as a result not issued with identity documents.
they mean to undo the will of the british people.
it is surely bizarre then that the eu has still not ruled out turkish accession to its supposedly democratic union.
just yesterday british meps from less successful parties were calling for a further delay to brexit to sort it out'.
it's too easily led it's full of deceit and it has no conscience.
i tried again zero response.
eu sanctions led to uk marines in gibraltar impounding an iranian oil tanker only for the eu to demand it be freed to carry on its sanctionbusting voyage to syria.
the eu's desperation to have the foreign policy trappings of a national state is like watching pinocchio wanting to be a real boy.
the eu promised iran that it would get round american sanctions.
can you imagine the disaster if it had its own army?
i'm a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with iran.
i had no response.
masters of they had first spread the story that they were coming to help their slavic brothers against the nazis but their intentions soon became clear.
we keep being told that the red army liberated us that the western theatre was just a sideshow that it was really thanks to stalin that fascism was defeated.
the amnesia the selective amnesia that parts of the modern left have about the nazisoviet pact is an extraordinary monument to the follies of human nature.
sadly their plight has fallen down our list of priorities and as one of the instigators of this resolution i urge the eu we must find a solution and end this crisis.
mr president since hundreds and thousands of rohingya were forced out of their homes through mass atrocities and repeated acts of humiliation and violence in myanmar nearly one million people are still living in camps in cox's bazar struggling for safety survival and dignity as refugees in bangladesh.
i met her husband richard ratcliffe recently when we shared a platform in geneva.
freedom of speech and expression is severely restricted and it is no secret that the iranian authorities have been engaging in a severe clampdown on journalists and advocates of human rights.
has not this been a clear sign to iran that the eu can be a potential friend?
i also want to urge iran to rethink its policies and approach to human rights and particularly freedom of speech and expression.
i urge iran to immediately release all those named in this resolution.