kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
after all over one hundred governments across europe such as france and countries around the world like south africa canada and australia have a ban or moratorium on fracking.
the green fields of ireland could go from forty shades of green to fifty shades of grey.
the aviation industry is by its very nature international in scope and we must seek to work towards common international regulations such as the one proposed today.
it therefore gives me personally great confidence in supporting the commission's proposals today.
it enjoys the trust of both government and the industry. that is the organisation which has deemed the eu recommendations to be acceptable without significant risk to public safety.
i strongly encourage my constituents to read their interpretation carefully.
before we lecture the rest of the world about corruption and other issues let us make sure we get our own house in order.
they ask how they can continue to give money to institutions that do not take proper account of the way that taxpayers' money is being spent. in these difficult times when we are asking governments to cut back on their spending yet the eu is seen to be seen to be wasting taxpayers' money which could be spent in their home countries is it any wonder that there is a rise in euroscepticism and criticism of the eu institutions?
is it being put to good use?
however it is very clear that the council needs to be held to the same level of accountability as other institutions.
during the irish presidency the then presidency proposed that we establish an interinstitutional working group to negotiate possible solutions to the council's discharge.
two thousand and eleven i voted in favour of the refusal of the discharge in other words in favour of the report. there was a full consensus among all of the groups on this.
at present this is not the case so sadly parliament was left with no option but to vote to refuse the discharge of the budget of the european council and the council.
some will have seen the film gasland where people are able to set fire to the water coming from their taps as a result of fracking yet in ireland and across parts of europe politicians do not seem very concerned.
we cannot trust these politicians to look after our environment.
fracking is believed to have already caused small earthquakes and chemicals used in the process can leak into the water supply threatening public health.
mr president i voted to include mandatory environmental impact assessments for both the exploration and production phases of all non conventional fossil fuel projects.
i stand with the sixty four of people in europe who are opposed to any shale gas being developed. instead we need massive public investment in research into green energy. this can be funded by taking big oil and gas into public ownership.
but you also have to be able to communicate with them and language skills are really important.
we as legislators need to make it clear that when there are problems with eu rules we need to act faster for our patients and for the people that we represent.
mr president all members of this house will observe the situation in syria which is tragic with absolute horror and want to express their deepest compassion for the two million or so syrian refugees and displaced persons and try to help however possible.
ultimately the solution to allowing the displaced people back to syria is to seek a political solution to this terrible civil war and encourage all parties to the geneva peace talks.
however my delegation the british conservatives do not accept the use of the eu temporary protection order mechanism when managing large flows of refugees as this would potentially impose a quota of refugees on the uk possibly against our wishes.
we believe that asylum and immigration policies must be left under the control of national member states and in this case the uk government.
mr president in my opinion this was a very odd vote today.
efsa are the scientists they approved a health claim on carbohydrates namely that they contribute to the maintenance of normal health function as indeed they do.
but we do not like the message because of the fact that sugar is a carbohydrate.
so we decide that although the science is right the message is wrong and we say no.
yet on many other occasions we say that we have to base our decisions on a scientific basis.
in ireland we are in a position that we are not even able to use the words probiotic or prebiotic to advertise products.
indeed somebody working in a health food shop will not be able to recommend probiotics.
the whole thing is a crazy situation.
today's vote was just another example of it.
that is the nature of politics. but one of the issues that i think brings most of us together in this chamber is a properly functioning internal market.
at the same time for us it is essential that we make sure we tackle any problems that may arise when we impose this single market. we have seen in the case of medical qualifications and recognition of medical qualifications that there have been some tragic incidents.
both mrs ford and mr howitt spoke movingly of the deaths of one of their own constituents at the hands of a doctor who had a certificate of good standing from germany came to practise in britain and failed an english language test was employed by another authority and gave a patient an overdose.
it is quite right that we tighten up these requirements to make sure that when we are pushing for a single market and an internal market the safety of our patients and our citizens is not at risk.
mr president there are times when the eu authorities act with a symbolism that goes beyond anything i could say and such a time came with the launch of a bronze age craft to celebrate the euro region which spans the english channel.
many of the local authorities in my south east of england constituency are twinned as part of something called the trans manche region with their equivalent municipalities on the other side of the channel a very harmless way for some councillors to enjoy freebie ing around at public expense.
next to the atrocities that the european union is capable of it is a fairly minor one but there was a delicious moment when they decided that the way to celebrate the anniversary of the trans manche region was to have a replica bronze age vessel that would go from one side of the channel to the other.
the family have now taken their case to the european court of human rights.
mr president what is the primary function of a parliamentarian? it is not to stand up in these debates it is not to sit on committee it is not even to put out press releases about what a good job we are doing in our constituency. the elemental role of a legislature is to hold the executive to account over spending. that has been the one constant job of parliaments ever since we have had a parliament in my country going back to tudor or even to plantagenet times and the function of the allied assemblies that existed in the other north western european countries and that then spread across the whole continent.
but we are failing to discharge that function properly.
this discharge procedure like all the others identifies repeated flaws and problems in procurement in the procedures not being properly followed and in money being stolen and lost in graft and nepotism but we always want a bigger budget because the majority of meps would rather have money being spent badly by brussels than have it being spent competently by local or national authorities.
thus do we delegitimise ourselves and thus do we condemn the whole project.
there are more trees in britain than at any time since we started chopping them down for the first wave of the industrial revolution;
you would not think that listening to the tone of the debates in this place. we seem to have some hardwired part of our brains that makes us determined to think that we are on the brink of a catastrophe.
but the stubborn facts speak for themselves.
we in the west are breathing cleaner air and drinking cleaner water than at any time before. and what has done that? property.
it was marxism that taught that nature was a resource to be exploited.
a vision that found brutal realisation in the smokestack industries of eastern europe.
the best thing to have happened to the environment was the fall of the berlin wall.
things keep getting better.
you know that the european union has a treaty objective to promote the protection of the rights of the child.
you know too that it is the most ratified human rights convention worldwide.
it is important that children's rights are completely and fully included in that agenda and that we find active and effective ways of working on that.
i was looking at the figures and i was satisfied to see that today children's rights are a priority in eighty six of the eu delegations in the world and one hundred and sixteen have prioritised gender related issues.
i thank you very much for this initiative.
let me also refer to the need that we have to make targeted efforts to protect children from female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage.
in the spirit of the same cooperation we have actively supported the un campaign children not soldiers' jointly initiated by the un special representative of the secretary general for children and armed conflict and unicef.
however eighty five million child labourers aged from five to seventeen years old are involved in hazardous work which is one of the worst forms of child labour.
this eu children of peace initiative has been turned into a multiannual assisted programme on education in emergencies with more than eur twelve million committed since.
within the european union we have done a lot.
but let me stress mostly the work we can do with civil society organisations with ngos which i value very much as a great possibility for partnership for fruitful cooperation in particular as we work towards one of the main
war and rights violations how many children are mostly affected by poverty and how many children flee from their countries for different reasons.
again here i refer to what happens inside the european union and globally because we tend too often to think that these are problems that happen only far away from us while we are also responsible for what happens within our european union.
more than one hundred and eight zero children affected by armed conflict have already benefited from the eu decision in late two thousand and twelve to use the nobel peace prize to assist children in conflict situations.
to a legal obligation.
challenges that we will have for two thousand and fifteen which is the work on the post two thousand and fifteen development agenda.
i will close here because i know that the president is worried about the fact that we are running very late.
the un convention on the rights of the child guides the eu at the moment throughout its actions in realising the rights of the child as included in the charter of fundamental rights.
last week we celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of the un convention on the rights of the child and i welcome the unprecedented global support for the convention.
how we treat our children and those of the most vulnerable is how we should be judged as a society and as democracies. how well we protect those that do not always have the ability to protect themselves is also how we should be judged as legislators.
more needs to be done to protect children in the online world and to protect them from exploitation and bring to justice those who commit the most despicable of crimes.
every child should have the right not to be trapped by their own circumstances but for their life to be full of potential and opportunities regardless of their gender their background their financial situation disabilities ethnicities and religions.
we must end the devastating effects of children being used as soldiers being trafficked and being torn away from their homes their families and their childhoods.
this is one of those issues where our political affiliations ideologies genders and nationalities should be put aside to focus on how we can really protect and provide for the generations which will follow us.
we must also do more to battle the most basic but serious of challenges such as hunger and poverty and to make sure children no longer needlessly die around the world from a lack of access to health care.
this parliament has done a lot of work in the area of children's rights but we need to do more.
more also needs to be done in our relationship with third countries to see how we can better harness the influence and resources of the eu to protect children in conflict zones.
that is why a revised children's rights strategy is important for us in this parliament.
they clearly demonstrate also the need for every child to be able to live in peace free from violence.
yesterday's eu two thousand and twenty strategy resolution and today's resolution both make reference to the commission's recommendation on investing in children breaking the cycle and enabling all children to fulfil their potential.
we need to address the inequality of opportunity faced by many even in the european union and even in the richest areas such as london which has the highest rate of child poverty in the uk.
so there is a lot in which we can invest to help give our children better lives whether that be housing better health care or the opportunity to play in a healthy environment.
the convention has been an extremely important initiative and as we look to children's futures we can see that many of them face a very uncertain future across this globe whether that be the impact of climate change experience of conflict or the gross inequalities that exist both within and between countries.
we have yet to deliver for example on real gender equality throughout the world which is having such a major impact on so many girls' lives as we have clearly seen from the sakharov prize winners of last year and this.
we trust that the millennium development goals and the post two thousand and fifteen framework will also help move things forward.
elena valenciano talked in particular about the problems facing girls and this is something i hope the new commission will address particularly in our external policies as well as our internal and development policies because we know that girls are getting left behind with all the problems that were outlined.
mr president i think it is an important debate we are having today and i want to firstly put on record my thanks to organisations like unicef which work very hard to promote children's rights in very difficult situations all over the world.
next year we have an opportunity because world leaders will gather at the united nations in september and they will agree a successor programme to the millennium development goals.
mr president i welcome the opportunity to put children and young people's rights to the front of the eu agenda.
a lot has changed since the original un convention on the rights of the child both for better and worse and i am happy that the resolution takes note of the new challenges facing children and young people today.
we must put young people at the heart of policy and encourage their involvement in the decision making process.
we must encourage young adults to vote and make their voice heard and use their expertise to help to educate to inform and to make for example the internet a safer place. a spotlight programme recently exposed facebook photos of schoolchildren in the north of ireland being exploited.
we need to empower young children and young people to preserve their internet integrity and we need to ensure their privacy is protected.
we must continue to push children's rights globally and ensure all children have the right to a childhood free from war and all the atrocities that accompany it and i am mindful of the children in palestine whom we spoke about here earlier today.
within the eu we must put a renewed focus on children and young people as many of them have paid the awful price for the reckless bankers who created the economic crisis and the subsequent relentless austerity policies that followed and the lack of investment in our young people our tomorrow's world is absolutely appalling.
it is a great encouragement to see how the current indian government is now facing up to issues of corruption even to the extent of detaining the commonwealth games chief and addressing those non tariff barriers.
that will i hope give confidence to colleagues in this house as to our approach in these negotiations.
on all the enquiries that i have made commissioner i keep being informed that some detailed negotiations and plans are in place but as yet we do not have those details.
can i also welcome commissioner this joint declaration made by you and the indian trade minister anand sharma on thirteen december two thousand and ten stating unequivocally that nothing in the agreement would prevent the poorest from accessing life saving medicines.
i would say to you that we have to be very careful.
i am sure that the commissioner will agree that these are exactly the kind of figures that will help to stimulate the economy and create jobs not only throughout the united kingdom but also in india.
i would also agree with mr caspary on time limits.
in its initial assessment of the potential fta between the eu and india the centre for the analysis of regional integration at sussex concluded that any gains would depend on the extent to which the text identified and dealt with the key areas which the commissioner specifically mentioned such as government procurement
it states that if an agreement is largely confined to an issue of shallow integration notably the reduction of tariffs there is a strong possibility of trade diversion exceeding trade creation for both parties. the commissioner mentioned quite rightly sustainable development.
a small group of us went and it was exceedingly interesting and very valuable to go.
last year our delegation visited a project in southern india which is financed by eu money to eliminate child labour.
that is not the relationship we should have with a very important trading partner.
i really hope that some of our colleagues can have a second look at the text before simply agreeing to it on wednesday.
india although ambitious is a developing country with a huge number of poor and starving people within its borders.
major strategic importance.
india is just at the beginning of a development path which will make it one of the key economic players of this century.
an ambitious and balanced agreement with india would take our relationship to a different level by providing a stable predictable framework governing our future economic relations.
we are therefore working very hard to bring this negotiation to a conclusion and there is a real opportunity to do so.
india is clearly interested at the highest political level.
the india eu summit in december came out with a strong commitment expressed by both sides to conclude the negotiations as soon as possible.
we have made progress across a range of issues.
we are making headway on the tariff offers and are preparing the exchange of offers on services.
having said this i do not want to hide the fact that there are also still some thorny issues on the table which require difficult negotiation. as with any negotiation the last yards are the most difficult.
we are also having very intense discussions on services and the contours of a possible package are getting clearer but some of our key interests concern sectors where legislative reform is still ongoing or being contemplated in india.
however we must remain realistic.
we need to see what will ultimately be possible with a partner like india.
we need to find a solution which satisfies our expectations but also takes into account the specific situation of india.
so yes there will be a chapter on sustainable development that will be part and parcel of the agreements that will recognise the importance of relevant international standards and be based on cooperation but we also need to be clear that a sustainable development chapter which would allow the use of trade restrictions linked to social or environmental issues will not be acceptable to india.
this would also not be in accordance with the model we are advocating in our trade agreements in general.
we are not pursuing sanctions but cooperation in this area.
another issue which has been sensitive in this negotiation and the cause of some concern is access to medicines and the potential impact this fta might have on access to medicines in the developing world.
we are fully aware of the specific role played by india as regards access to affordable medicines in the developing world. therefore this fta whether its intellectual property rights chapter its investment chapter or any other chapter will not undermine the capacity of india to promote produce or export generic medicines including through compulsory licences.
it and of course we continue to believe that access to medicine and the protection of test data can coexist constructively.
further dialogue by all interested stakeholders should help to develop a common understanding on this matter.
also in the intellectual property rights chapter geographical indications are a major area of interest for the
eu. it is important to obtain in this negotiation a political deliverable allowing for the effective protection of the major eu gi names. negotiations have so far proven to be difficult.
the council is currently examining these guidelines and we look forward to hearing parliament's view on them.
let me conclude by reiterating that this negotiation is very important and i believe an opportunity we should not miss.
of course we should not conclude an agreement at any cost but only if the substance on the table is right.
i believe the debate we will now have is a useful opportunity for this house to give its views on these negotiations.
that is not to say that the other aspects are unimportant but if we can focus on trade so as to help bring about and create wealth in india and help entrepreneurs in india to create wealth and jobs in their own villages and towns that will be to the benefit of all. it concerns me when we place too much emphasis on our standards from day one in an almost imperialist way as my colleague bill newton dunn said earlier.
i think it is important that we focus on improving trade agreements to create wealth in these countries including india and help them out of poverty.
there are too many differences in the way the member states treat unaccompanied minors.
the challenges are many;
the new asylum package should be fully implemented and consistently so. the best interests of the child individual assessment dignity and legal certainty should be respected.
children should not be left in uncertainty waiting for their destiny not knowing where they are going and being sent back and forth.
that is why member states should exchange best practices and ensure access to accommodation healthcare and education.
we all know that every year thousands of unaccompanied children travel to europe to seek a new life.
many of them have lost family members along the way.
in the immediate future we are considering issuing a handbook for member states and for practitioners gathering together the various legal provisions affecting children.
before the end of the year the commission intends to issue a communication on the implementation of the return directive and it will in this context pay particular attention to the provisions relating to unaccompanied children.
we will also continue to bring together member states to harmonise policies and practices and to agree on guidelines where possible and on the numerous issues identified in the report.
i would also like to thank all those members who contributed to the discussions and provided valuable insight to the draft report.
i believe that a society is judged by how well it treats the most vulnerable people and those are children.
earlier this year thanks to the endeavours of the european parliament we succeeded in improving the conditions for those children in the asylum process and the commission fully subscribes to the principle that an unaccompanied minor is first and foremost a child