kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
one of the main uncertainties since the spectacular failures in the financial sector has been uncertainty regarding regulation including who will do the future regulating and which institutions will enforce them.
the result delivers balance balance between member states' responsibility for supervising institutions and a new european authority setting a common rule book thereby progressing the single market in financial services whilst elevating the role of peer oversight;
balance between safety in the system as monitored by the new esrb and the need for financial companies to take risks;
balance between ultimate protection of the taxpayer and provision of capital to fuel the economy.
we all have a strong interest in establishing new mechanisms to underpin the single market in financial services including the monitoring of global risk at our european banks;
ensuring a coordinated and ordered procedure across all member states in a crisis;
ensuring stronger arrangements for mediation between supervisors;
and ensuring the enforcement of the rules in all financial centres and by all financial players.
this supervisory package as it now stands delivers the balance required.
i call upon the commission to ensure that this next step works.
with this reform the president of the ecb will risk his reputation and his credibility in achieving effective financial stability in europe.
thanks to this reform doing business as usual will be more difficult for the financial institutions that have generated this crisis.
it will benefit future generations of european citizens.
the supervisory architecture train has left the station and we are expecting great things from the common rule book.
however our financial legislation is still like a swiss cheese with holes and carve outs places a single rule book will never reach. that is a shame that we will all share until we all really truly subscribe to a single market in financial services.
the new authorities give us an extra dimension to achieve cross border coordination but that means extra care has to be taken to make sure that decisions are responsive and taken close to the markets.
the esas will need to be joined up with one another and with national supervisors and they will indeed have to have fingers in all the pies to make appropriate decisions mindful that a bad decision is not made better by making it widespread.
the eu first needs to reach a unanimous agreement internally.
in particular the need for better coordination between the different member states the necessary improvement of the quality of the information that is exchanged the need to allow other member states automated access to certain data contained in member states' databases and the requirement to harmonise registration and deregistration procedures are ideas that are strongly supported by the commission.
due to the international climate the financial and economic crisis it is also a priority for most member states. i am convinced that once member states agree on ways of closing existing loopholes in the savings taxation directive it is likely that the council will ask the commission to update in a similar way the agreements with the five non eu countries and the ten other jurisdictions participating in the savings taxation mechanism.
i would like to thank you again for the priority given to the savings taxation file and for your support for the commission efforts to promote good governance in the tax area.
in conclusion and as i have already mentioned on past occasions it is clear that there exists no one single and global solution for eliminating tax fraud and tax evasion.
achieving rapid progress in the discussions on the amending proposal is also one of the priorities of the czech presidency.
this is also the reason why the commission will come forward by the end of may with a more substantive proposal for a recast of the regulation on administrative cooperation where these proposals will be incorporated.
unfortunately the commission does not possess this information as the assessing of taxes as well as their recovery are purely national competences.
there is actually a need to evaluate when and how the political commitments for enhanced cooperation which have been taken by a number of jurisdictions can actually be implemented.
it is the member state where that vat is due that will determine the procedure to be followed in order to collect this vat including from non established traders.
the ecofin also invited the commission to present legislative proposals to rectify the shortcomings encountered in the current legislation.
two thousand and eight the communication sets out a series of measures for which the commission intends to present legislative proposals in the short term.
firstly by providing further clarification on the conditions for exempting certain imports of goods and secondly by creating the legal basis for allowing cross border joint and several liability for traders failing to fulfil their reporting obligations.
the proposed amendments however could negatively affect this delicate balance.
amendments three and five go against the division of competences between member states in the overall functioning of the community vat system.
this is perfectly in line with recent developments at international level such as the g twenty conclusions favouring transparency and the strengthening of the cooperation between tax administrations on the basis of exchange of information.
however the target date for the production of this study does not seem realistic all member states would also have to make available to the commission from this year onwards the elements of statistics the transmission of which is set to be optional for them under the council conclusions of may two thousand and eight and annex v of the amending proposal. concerning the other amendments of a more technical nature which aim either at extending the scope of a particular provision like amendment seventeen on insurance or at limiting the administrative burden on the economic operators the commission considers that its proposal is already the result of a delicate balance between improving the effectiveness of the directive and limiting an additional administrative burden.
nevertheless the commission will not be opposed to any reinforcement of the corresponding provisions of the directive which could be unanimously agreed by the council.
therefore i can assure you that the commission while rejecting amendment twenty eight because it contradicts the aim of the directive has no negative view on amendment.
and it is even more relevant in the internal market in the midst of the financial crisis and the need to tighten fiscal policies in the european union.
i would like to thank parliament and in particular the rapporteur mr visser for dealing with this proposal in such a short time and for the constructive report.
hereupon the commission presented a communication on a coordinated strategy to improve the fight against vat fraud in the european union in december.
however the commission will defend the spirit of a number of these amendments in the council deliberations without formally amending its proposal.
i am aware that the most controversial point of the discussions in the committees has been amendment twenty fixing an end to the transitional period during which three member states are allowed to levy a withholding tax in place of automatically exchanging information.
they could either increase the administrative burden in a disproportionate manner this is notably the case for the amendments aimed at extending the scope or have an unfavourable impact on the effectiveness of the provisions.
therefore a trader who has not fulfilled his reporting obligations in the member state of departure will have to justify his shortcomings to the tax administration of the member state where the vat is due and not to the tax administration of his own member state.
furthermore if the commission receives complaints from the economic operators that the provision is being misused by national tax administrations or leads to unwarranted results it will assume its responsibility as guardian of community legislation and take appropriate measures.
twenty however we consider that fixing a date for the end of the transitional period is premature at this stage and could create an obstacle to the necessary quick adoption of the amending proposal by the council.
it is wrong to terminate in those circumstances and it is time we said so unambiguously.
you cannot simply talk about rights in such bland circumstances.
we need to show respect for each other but that respect has to be mutual.
who does more for the poor the suffering the marginalised people with hiv and aids the unemployed and the homeless?
this is an issue that we have to address as well where owners of the press can kill journalists' stories when those stories should legitimately be covered. i welcomed the opportunity to participate in this debate.
one last word on freedom of the press.
i know who does it in my constituency i know who does it in the third world.
it has to be shared. people should not be questioned about their religious convictions when they appear at committees in this house.
religion and religious conviction are as important to some people as say hurling is as a sport in my country and it should not be dismissed.
secondly can i say in relation to religion generally that i find this house in particular one of the most intolerant places for people who hold religious beliefs. there are people whom i have supported and issues i have supported like gay partnership votes for prisoners i have introduced bills for that but when i stand up and say something that comes from my religious conviction
those unborn did not have the right to be terminated simply because they were women. so could we all take off the blinkers and have a more informed discussion about this and could our human rights leaders take a little more interest in this particular issue?
at the same time we see opportunities in the empowerment of individuals who through social media can access information assemble and speak freely.
journalists facing trial should be able to rely on our know how and on a legal defence fund.
the end goal in all of our programmes should be that people do not depend on eu funding but that programmes can run independently that local capacity is built to stay.
there are many countries where governments are using anti terrorism and other national security laws to repress.
i believe that we have both the responsibility and an opportunity that we can take together.
in order to ensure our own independence in this parliament and to make sure that the rankings of countries are not politicised we have not mentioned countries explicitly in this report but instead we have addressed trends and problems faced and we have focused on concrete solutions.
we have worked very well as a team and it has been great to receive input from stakeholders journalists bloggers and people all over the world on an online draft that has certainly made the work of this report and the content of this report more relevant on the ground.
the eu as a community of values should aspire to lead in ensuring that the free word whether blogged or spoken and information whether research or photographs are protected. journalists and free pluralist media are essential for checks on power;
these actions speak volumes about the power of the free word.
the violence makes it nearly impossible to report independently on the violence and the war.
in russia the government has granted itself authority to use deep packet inspections of the internet.
madam president madam high representative special representative colleagues i am glad we are here together to discuss this important topic.
in syria over one hundred and fifty journalists have been murdered over the past two and a half years.
in china an estimated thirty zero people work on monitoring micro blogging sites and adjusting the terms of censorship some of which have been set technologically to make sure no search results are found when looking for information on for example tiananmen square.
in iran in the run up to the elections the media and internet have been restricted even more than we deemed possible.
self regulation and privatising of policing and law enforcement on line are dangerous.
we call on businesses to take their responsibility.
other problems are political interference through public media budgets tax fines or when politicians are owners of ever growing media conglomerates.
it will be updated on a rolling basis and i want to thank them for their work as well as the shadow rapporteurs.
these countries are not at all unique in their repression of media and journalists.
it is closely related to the digital freedom strategy for the eu's foreign policy which was adopted last december and we look forward to hearing about how a strategy for press and media freedom will be set up by the european external action service and the commission.
but the assessment on the country by country situation is left to the combined work of four ngos and the work of them you will find in the annexes.
citizen journalism makes us eye witnesses to events as they unfold.
the programmes we have should be deployed more effectively but new ones are also necessary.
in that debate i raised the question of a particular geographical area where a multitude of human rights abuses were taking place and it struck me that it was a case of double standards as the high representative had not once mentioned that area in her address.
she accepted this up to a point and said she understood what i was saying and that she would speak to me about it although she did not want to answer from the floor of the house.
clearly that set a direction which is being followed here.
turkmenistan is such a country as it is important for us for our access to afghanistan. this is appalling.
indeed for journalists two thousand and twelve was the deadliest year ever registered with somalia syria mexico and pakistan as the most risky countries. freedom of information simply does not exist in countries like eritrea north korea and turkmenistan.
the added value of the eu as an actor in the world is its potential political weight it is stronger than the member states could ever be individually.
in our negotiations on the future development policy of the eu freedom of expression is an essential aspect of the human rights based approach that the eu should have at the heart of its external action.
mr president freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. it is the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the united nations is consecrated' that is how the un formulated the importance of freedom of expression in one thousand nine hundred and forty six at its very first session.
more than sixty years later there are still countries where journalism is the most dangerous of all professions.
this excellent report by my colleague ms schaake shows the way.
in the case of some countries where our strategic interests come into play the eu and the usa show a guilty silence on the lack of respect for human rights.
my delegation for relations with iraq will hold a special meeting about the persecution of religious minorities next thursday.
three hundred and thirty thousand fled to syria and have been again displaced by the civil war raging in that country most of them fleeing to turkey.
mr president the persecution and oppression of religious minorities in iraq should give us all great cause for concern.
today with continued violent oppression and attacks there are fewer than three hundred zero christians left.
twenty years ago there were more than one and a half million christians in iraq but saddam hussein implemented a policy of arabisation and forcible relocation of the christian communities in nineveh in northern iraq.
it is time that we did something about it.
the ongoing bloody conflict between the shias and the sunnis continues to attract the world's attention while the systematic obliteration of many of the ethnic religious groups goes on virtually without being noticed.
today we have a human rights focal point officer in every eu delegation as well as a brussels based working group in the council.
stavros knows better than anyone that the support that we give is not just financial but also political legal and diplomatic.
in malawi we have spoken out against the prison sentences for gay couples and against recent events in nigeria.
we are united in our belief that there are no acceptable circumstances for violence against women and no place where the failure to allow girls to be educated is acceptable.
the substantial restructuring of the report makes it a much more effective tool for our ongoing work and specifically it responds to the request of parliament by following the structure of the action plan and highlighting concrete achievements and challenges.
he is actively engaged with over one hundred and fifty international and local ngos from thirty countries to safeguard their space to function freely and to promote our support.
when we look at our changing world i also continue to be concerned about what is happening to women and girls.
we will continue to push and press for universal abolition.
i thank this house for your input.
ngos and civil society make governments and politicians uncomfortable.
in two thousand and twelve we also saw the great difficulty faced by many who seek to practice their faith and have the freedom of their belief or none.
we condemn attacks on journalists and bloggers and are developing our own guidelines to use in our work in delegations and in our teams in brussels.
we strengthened our commitment further with a memorandum of understanding with un women that forms the basis of a partnership to help us make progress in our international commitments.
i believe that safeguarding freedom of association and peaceful assembly has to stay at the top of our agenda.
i have spoken out to condemn religious intolerance and discrimination whether in egypt nigeria iran iraq libya mali pakistan tunisia or elsewhere.
the territorial scope will now cover the eu twenty seven croatia and candidate countries. we also continue with our campaign against the death penalty.
here too we have developed practical eu guidelines to be adopted this month by the council which should reinforce the work of the european union.
some countries tried to water down the unconditional condemnation of violence against women through appeals to domestic traditions laws and cultures.
we know for example that the statements made in tripoli contributed to the release of egyptian christians held in libya.
it was adopted with an unprecedented one hundred and eleven votes in favour and a record ninety one sponsors.
he has also worked closely with civil society in europe and in other countries and helped to secure really important changes.
i have also been extremely worried about the discrimination in some countries based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
i was really pleased that we saw the successful adoption of conclusions at the recent fifty seventh session of the un commission on the status of women.
during two thousand and twelve and the first part of this year i issued fifty four statements on the death penalty on breaches of existing moratoriums in india pakistan indonesia taiwan japan and gambia on persistent executions in iran saudi arabia and china and on violations of minimum standards in the united states malaysia and singapore.
in that regard i would like to underline how tremendously important parliament's sakharov prize is. there is no question that two thousand and twelve was a challenging year for civil society in so many countries.
as you know we have contributed to multilateral efforts especially in the un as well as at regional and bilateral level.
the importance of this issue is why we wanted our new guidelines and why we have consulted widely to make sure that they have a strong and clear content.
we should rightly take some of the credit for that.
the report also demonstrates the steps we have taken to increase our interinstitutional cooperation and our policy coherence visibility and effectiveness across our work.
i would like to pay tribute to his energy commitment and determination. he has worked with over a hundred ministers and ambassadors across the world and worked closely with you and with teams on the ground to raise the profile of human rights.
honourable members in this house know that no society can function well and no economy do as well as it should without the input of the rich talent and ability of half its population women and girls.
our revised guidelines further refine all aspects of our policy and pull together all of our available diplomatic action.
i will continue to do so and with the support and help of stavros and the work of our delegations we will continue to try to ensure that civil society is given the space its needs and that governments old new transitional or permanent understand that this is fundamental to the perception of them and fundamental to the kind of society they wish to create.
i believe that safeguarding the work of civil society is fundamental to the work of the european union.
i congratulate all those involved in the extensive lobbying which played a pivotal role in the success of the un general assembly sixty seven resolution.
we use our regular dialogues to raise this discrimination and to promote tolerance supporting campaigns in russia croatia turkey montenegro and brazil to support local and international ngos in campaigns against discrimination.
no society can hold its head up where women are forced to keep their heads down.
that exactly is what they are supposed to do to push the boundaries to watch over the way governments work and to get under their skin.
the increased violence against journalists and restrictions on press freedom in many countries including our neighbours must be challenged.
we make it clear this is an inalienable human right and an essential pillar of society. it is an integral part of our political dialogue with third countries.
the commission is already implementing a pilot project mandated by the european parliament on a european centre for press and media freedom.
i want to thank him most warmly and look forward to many more achievements in the future.
we have raised our deep concerns with uganda and cameroon about proposed parliamentary bills further criminalising homosexuality.
it was the tireless work of our eu delegations that was largely responsible for the defeat of those attempts.
there are new challenges and existing challenges supporting countries going through transitions helping them to refrain from restricting human rights and to see that it was for those rights that people have fought and tragically died working with countries who describe themselves as developing' so that they develop the right approach to human rights and most of all reminding everyone that for human rights to apply to them there is only one criterion which is to be human.
we have fully developed human rights country strategies and a much stronger annual report which allows parliament and civil society to measure our performance against our commitments.
the protection of ngos and human rights defenders is a core priority for both stavros and for me.
during the same period i instructed our delegations to carry out thirty dmarches reiterating our position and calling on authorities to refrain from executions.
the report rightly points out that we cannot be at the forefront in this struggle unless the eu and all its member states live up to the highest standards of media freedoms.
we need to work hard on strengthening eu mechanisms and particularly the authority of the commission to react promptly and efficiently whenever there are clear signs that authorities or private interests endanger the independence of media.
we cannot turn a blind eye to these deeply worrying trends.
macedonia poses a specific problem as almost all media critical of the government have been shut one by one due to political or financial pressure.
lastly i particularly welcome the fact that the report urges the eu to play a more significant role with regard to media freedoms in enlargement and neighbourhood countries.