kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
in this context riga should highlight first and furthermost that we have moved to a new level in our relations with the three partners with whom we have signed the most ambitious ever bilateral association agreements but it should also signal our readiness to work for more tailor made agreements with others to ensure that the partnership remains an inclusive framework. i believe
are highly important.
together we must help partners realise their full potential.
we are profoundly appreciative of your support and are cognisant of the fact that your support and your good work increase the responsibilities that lie on our shoulders to be able to continue to do things better and work together with the committee on petitions of the european parliament with a view to serving citizens even better. i am very grateful for that and for your encouragement.
this was a long overdue reform and i can only applaud it as a colleague and convey through you our happiness that this is the case.
as the ombudsman reported himself it offers a clear and exhaustive overview of the ombudsman's activities for the past year and represents a very useful tool for the other institutions as well. both reports remind us very clearly of our common goal which is to ensure open efficient and independent european administration for our citizens. i would also like to thank
as i have repeatedly stated the support of parliament and the collaboration of the petitions committee are essential contributors to the success of the european ombudsman.
two thousand and eleven i would like first of all to say that i am grateful to parliament's continued support for the work of the european ombudsman.
we should not underestimate how important it is for citizens to be guided to the most appropriate complaint handling mechanism and body from the outset and to be spared the frustrations and delays associated with having to identify the right institution on their own.
during two thousand and eleven i received a total of two five hundred and ten complaints from citizens companies ngos associations and others.
one hundred and eleven in large part i attribute this decline to the fact that by using the interactive guide more citizens are finding the right address to turn to the first time round.
in two thousand and nine i adopted a mission statement for the european ombudsman institution which reads as follows the european ombudsman seeks fair outcomes to complaints against european union institutions encourages transparency and promotes an administrative culture of service.
in view of the level of dissatisfaction with transparency in the eu i used the occasion provided by the celebration of international right to know day' on twenty eight september to call upon the eu administration to be more proactive as regards transparency.
in order consistently to deliver good administration a key component of being citizen friendly institutions and bodies need to nourish and nurture a culture of service to citizens.
to emphasise that a central function of the ombudsman institution is to strengthen and deepen a culture of service in the eu institutions and bodies by promoting and supporting best practice.
three objectivity;
furthermore as regards my own services in early two thousand and eleven i began publishing on my website information on new inquiries as soon as they are opened.
with these considerations in mind i concluded that it would be useful to produce a concise statement of these and other public service principles which could help promote citizens' trust in the european civil service and the eu institutions.
over the last three years the number of critical remarks has averaged just above thirty four whereas the average was just above forty six in the period.
one commitment to the european union and its citizens;
the institutions' willingness to cooperate with the ombudsman to achieve a satisfactory resolution to complaints constitutes an important expression of their commitment to this culture of service.
i am grateful to dg personnel for having distributed the principles to everyone working within parliament on four october.
a sustained reduction in critical remarks issued by my office is further positive evidence that the eu institutions are positively responding to my recommendations and that they are taking a more proactive role in resolving complaints and in enabling win win outcomes.
a new type of inquiry was introduced this past year to allow complainants to clarify their complaints in cases where i am not initially convinced that there are grounds to ask an eu institution for its opinion on the case.
according to a special eurobarometer survey on citizens' rights and on the performance of the eu administration which was commissioned by the parliament and the ombudsman and was published during two thousand and eleven the right to move and reside freely in the eu is considered to be the most important citizen's right
as the submissions to the public consultation made clear the staff regulations the financial regulation and the ombudsman's widely adopted european code of good administrative behaviour already embody such standards both explicitly and implicitly. furthermore the idea of producing a statement of pubic service principles was not to develop new ethical standards but rather to make clear the expectations of both civil servants and citizens for making an everyday reality of the ethical standards to which the eu public administration already adheres.
' major speakers in this event included the president of the european council mr herman van rompuy the then vice president of the european parliament mrs diana wallis and the vice president of the european commission mrs viviane reding. i also published in two thousand and eleven a booklet entitled problems with the eu?
in order best to implement this mission statement in two thousand and ten i developed and adopted a strategy for the institution which forms the basis of my initiatives and activities during my current mandate as ombudsman.
the principles do not seek to duplicate existing instruments or to be a substitute for revisiting revising and supplementing those instruments where that may be necessary.
that is showed an increase of eighteen. this strength confirms that increasingly the people turning to the european ombudsman are doing so for the right reasons.
' this new publication provides information on a whole range of problem solving mechanisms available to individuals who face problems with the eu.
second identifying best practices from ombudsman colleagues through amongst others cooperation in the european network of ombudsmen;
the added value of making the standards explicit is to help generate and focus a continuous constructive discussion among civil servants and between civil servants and the public about what behaviour is ethically appropriate.
this guide aims to direct complainants to the body best placed to help them be it my own services the petitions committee of parliament the services of national original ombudsmen in the member states or existing problem solving mechanisms established by the european commission such as the your europe' portal or the solvit network for
making a priority of the policy goal of informing citizens in march two thousand and eleven i held the biggest stakeholder event ever organised by the ombudsman which was entitled is the lisbon treaty delivering for citizens?
he aims to build trust through dialogue between citizens and the european union and to foster the highest standards of behaviour in the union's institutions.
the public consultation demonstrated the value of such a debate.
two thousand and eleven furthermore the ombudsman's website received over two hundred and ninety five zero unique visitors. in contrast to the reduction in the number of complaints outside my mandate the number of inquiries opened in two thousand and eleven rose to three hundred and ninety six
key points of this strategy include first strengthening the ongoing dialogue with complainants civil society and other stakeholders in line with central commitments enshrined in the treaty of lisbon;
i also note that in some of the cases the constructive engagement of the complainants themselves also proved crucial to obtaining a win win outcome.
president honourable members as i have repeatedly indicated this statement of pubic service principles is neither the first nor the last word about the ethical standards that apply to the eu civil service.
allow me to mention them briefly.
the large increase in inquiries opened is also a result of changes i have effected to my own procedures to make them more citizen friendly.
four respect for others; five transparency.
in that context i called on the eu institutions to adopt useful citizen friendly online registers of documents.
a body which seeks to promote such a culture of service will encourage the members of its staff not only to respect good administration as a legal right but also to be polite helpful and cooperative in dealing with citizens willing to explain their activities and the reasoning behind decisions taken and ready to accept public scrutiny of their conduct.
two thousand and six two thousand and eight this year i have again included in the annual report the category of star cases' in order to highlight illustrative examples of exemplary administrative practice by institutions and bodies revealed through my inquiries and in addition
two integrity;
the number of inadmissible complaints submitted to me continued to decline in two thousand and eleven this time by.
this new practice makes it easier for citizens to follow the progress of inquiries right from the start.
rather i expect them to be a rich source of ideas on which i will draw in working with the institutions of the eu in the future to encourage and nurture the institutional culture that makes the principles a living reality.
i note that the demand for this booklet has been higher than for any other publication in the entire history of the ombudsman.
and third enhancing the ombudsman's role in promoting an administrative culture of service in the eu institutions.
i try to help every complainant who turns to the ombudsman even in cases when the complaint is not within my mandate.
i wish to thank you for this opportunity to address you on the subject of my annual report for the year.
in january two thousand and nine i launched an interactive guide on my website which is accessible in all twenty three official languages.
how are we going to improve our quality of work?
clouds of doubt have recently been cast over the institutions regarding what the media have termed dalligate' or the resignation of former commissioner dalli.
speaking at the committee on budgets last year commissioner emeta emphasised in his proposals for a more efficient olaf the importance of certain procedural rights contained in the charter of fundamental rights being protected in the course of olaf investigations. given this i would like to know if the ombudsman intends to investigate the circumstances surrounding the olaf report
into the issues surrounding the tobacco directive as certainly there seem to be serious questions surrounding the procedural integrity of the whole process. i wish to thank the ombudsman for being here.
finally last friday the inter american commission on human rights removed colombia from the black list of countries violating human rights which it has been on for eleven years so we can vote now with the knowledge that our principles and fundamental rights are respected.
the plan for the long term management of the stocks within the north atlantic should not be fiddled with.
mr president would you trust an economic forecaster who had recently said this the euro has done more to enforce budgetary discipline in the rest of europe than any number of exhortations from the imf or the oecd'?
or this the euro has already provided great internal stability for the eurozone'?
or this if we get rid of sterling and adopt the euro we will also get rid of sterling crises and sterling over valuations.
this will give us a real control over our economic environment'.
all three of those quotations come from our former colleagues in this house nick clegg and chris huhne now alarmingly ministers in the british government.
we always said that an ecb rate determined by the needs of the core would be disastrous for the periphery.
i am not expecting any humility from those who got it so disastrously wrong. i am sure they will still be wheeled out by the bbc as disinterested experts and i am sure that we will still be portrayed as doctrinaire hardliners.
believe me i am not gloating for the sake of it.
a friend of mine just said that there is nothing more irritating than being wise during the event.
but please listen to us next time.
mr president parliament the council and the commission have spent hundreds of hours over the course of the last twelve months discussing and negotiating a suitable text on eu legislation to establish the principles of good economic governance. now is the time to deliver these carefully crafted words through definite actions by thoroughly implementing the agreed rules and measures and ensuring their compliance in all relevant countries.
unpleasant and unpopular actions are required to ensure a competitive eu for the next decade and beyond.
we do not need at this time any more grand plans or structures or statements.
the eu will be judged by its results in terms of concrete measures which will assist stability and go towards re establishing investor confidence in the european economy.
the time for delivering the existing plans is here.
the ink may not yet be dry on this afternoon's signing of the legislation but deep structural reforms are only just beginning in certain member states.
it must be monitored and then enforced.
it would be fatal to institutionalise a smaller club within the bigger club.
it is a crisis of excessive indebtedness.
for those left outside it would be unfair and unacceptable to be sort of' expelled and then obliged to re enter for the second time the true so called core europe.
moreover they are with two exceptions committed and obliged no derogation as you said to join the eurozone.
plus. it equals twenty three at least.
many non eurozone member states are much more in the de facto first speed when it comes to growth fiscal discipline and reform my country poland included than some eurozone member countries.
that would lead to unravelling and undoing the reunification of the continent creating disunion in place of the union.
dividing lines if unavoidable although deplorable should not go between the seventeen and the. ten they do appear de facto between macroeconomically healthy and unhealthy countries.
the present crisis is not a crisis of the euro as a currency it is a healthy currency.
you should all be held accountable for what you have done.
when mr papandreou got up and used the word referendum' you mr rehn described it as a breach of confidence' and your friends here got together like a pack of hyenas rounded on papandreou and had him removed and replaced by a puppet government. what an absolutely disgusting spectacle that was.
you an unelected man went to italy and said that this is not the time for elections but the time for actions.
mr president here we are on the edge of a financial and social disaster and in the room today we have the four men who were supposed to be responsible.
none of you actually have any democratic legitimacy for the roles that you currently hold within this crisis.
what in god's name gives you the right to say that to the italian people?
yet we have listened to the dullest most technocratic speeches i have ever heard.
we are now living in a german dominated europe something that the european project was actually supposed to stop and something that those that went before us actually paid a heavy price in blood to prevent.
you should all be fired.
and not satisfied with that you decided that berlusconi had to go so he was removed and replaced by mr monti a former european commissioner a fellow architect of this euro disaster and a man who was not even a member of the parliament.
yesterday the interest rates for spain were.
it is time for the council and the member states to act and to act quickly also in the field of taxation.
today. governance is not just an objective issue regarding the substantive issues of economic
euro area. without this increased integration convergence and discipline we will not be able to sustain a common
this means appropriate fair taxation.
the treaty further requires that member states' economic policies do not risk jeopardising the proper functioning of economic and monetary
other. such bonds could if well designed strengthen financial stability and fiscal discipline in the euro area and thus facilitate sustainable growth and job creation in europe as
we have to have some kind of instruments to fight the current financial instability in
currency? ' so the governance issue is a substantive
so far we have not received a mandate from the council to negotiate with third countries to fight tax evasion.
we have the resources in europe to respond provided there is the political will.
the reality is that our member states spend more than they receive from taxpayers. this is the reality. when the point has been reached where you can no longer cut expenditure you need to think about raising revenue.
concern. that is why we think that draft budgetary plans should be assessed at european level before they become
decisions. this is why it is important to discuss these matters of governance.
union. these are the guiding principles for the package of proposals for deeper economic integration which the commission is finalising for next week. we aim to find a package with the right balance between substantial reinforcement of economic governance on the one hand and assessing options for stability bonds on the
a whole. let us be very honest about this. there are no miracle solutions.
system. regarding the more general debate about economic governance the treaty requires that member states regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern all the member states not only the euro area countries and that their budgetary policies are guided by the need for sound public finances.
europe. if we want to keep a common currency something more is needed in terms of the common instruments to fight this financial instability.
about growth. they should also speak about
in return the council would agree to specific powers to the commission in assessing in detail national public investment plans plans contained in draft national budgets on the basis of a list of public investment spending recognised as productive public investment.
i agree with him so i would like to suggest some positive actions.
they would have meaning for the people on the streets of my region and your region.
that would follow up a proposal by the commission to the december summit and that system should aim at grouping at least two trillion euros of eurozone public debt in a joint guarantee fund by the end of.
this should involve a special european youth unemployment fund to finance targeted programmes in countries with the highest youth unemployment rates.
two thousand and twelve third the march summit should also define a european strategy of investment for growth with the objective of raising average eu public investment to.
they would actually give us the chance of growth and employment.
mr president president barroso has said we need some positive action.
two thousand and twenty this should be accompanied by a declaration by the commission regarding the implementation of the new stability and growth pact committing the commission to a differentiated use of the rules in the interest of strengthening public investment.
mr president it may at first sight appear strange to be addressing the issue of longer term reforms to our system of economic governance when we have not yet completely dealt with the immediate difficulties which are the legacy of past mistakes.
the eurogroup of finance ministers will together with the commission and the ecb remain at the core of the daily management of the euro area as is explicitly mentioned in the conclusions of the eurozone summit.
again all these questions are interlinked and changes in one respect cannot always be assessed independently of changes in others.
however improvements of all kinds are possible and in themselves desirable.
what is it that we have achieved so far?
it is thus a perfectly normal part of our current institutional arrangements a specific working method.
let me mention the three issues in the mandate from the euro summit statement strengthening economic convergence improving fiscal discipline and deepening economic union.
to give a few examples for a start all governments now realise much more acutely how the conduct of another country can have an enormous economic and financial impact on their own.
we need to find the right balance between intrusiveness and legitimacy discipline and incentives effectiveness and accountability.
we have come a long way from the empty and now discredited toolbox i discovered when i took office which i still consider as a major error all the more so that during the convention warnings were given by lucid observers.
indeed the combination of these three pressures is already producing results.
for treaty changes a unanimous ratification is needed by every single member state.
but above all today i want to listen to your views your ideas and your suggestions;
in the same way as the european council does for the union as a whole we will also organise a better coordination among the eurozone institutions and strengthen the existing administrative support without creating new bodies.
this will enable all twenty seven to contribute in the full european council meeting and make points should they so wish on the issues to be discussed among the seventeen and likewise the commission and the parliament will continue to play their substantial roles involving their members from all member states.
the events of the last weeks show how effective this can be for some countries.
it is clearly the starting point for any reflection on where to go further.
we now need to go further and we need both fiscal discipline and economic and fiscal integration focused on growth not only to punish the sinners but also to link our policies to demonstrate that we share a common destiny.
finally twenty three of the twenty seven member states have agreed to go further and work together in the euro plus pact on structural reforms that have a bearing on their competitiveness over and beyond the important europe two thousand and twenty programme.
we should examine the goals and only afterwards the legal instruments required to get there including limited treaty changes should these prove necessary.
when his mandate expires next year a decision will be taken on whether his position should become a full time one based in brussels.
a better structured euro area is in everybody's interest while ensuring coherence among the.
should we provide in extreme cases for further sanctions such as suspension of voting rights suspension of structural funds or other payments or power for a central authority to intervene in national budgetary procedures? thirdly and finally in terms of deepening economic union is there a need for harmonisation in certain areas such as taxation or even some social fields?
the longer term perspective also presupposes that we can turn the corner on the current crisis but in today's debate i will focus as parliament has suggested on the longer term.
finally a number of member states have adopted further reform measures not least as a result of these pressures.
there has been much exaggerated talk about this; it is time to de dramatise this debate. after all it is perfectly natural that those who share a common currency take some decisions together.
in areas of economic policy that are crucial for competitiveness.
improving fiscal discipline and deepening economic union including exploring the possibility of limited treaty changes.