kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
it is up to us all to make this a success. honourable members let me be very clear we are no longer politics as business as usual. the old way of doing politics no longer works.
we are at a key moment in european political history and are facing a unique opportunity as well as a challenge.
cooperation and courage are the new keywords in this process. we must be brave and find new creative and innovative solutions to make our democracy work even better for citizens.
i believe that pre determining the outcome would cause more damage to democracy than if it did nothing at
i am committed to visiting regions in my role as vice president and i want to hear from citizens from all corners of the european union.
honourable members by confirming me in my post as vice president for democracy and demography you have shown that you have placed your trust in
this would be the content of the joint declaration i referred to earlier.
certainly not this is an open process.
one on policy with debates clustered around the themes including the commission's political priorities and the european council strategic agenda.
the european commission will adopt its contribution to the shaping of the conference in its communication on twenty two january next week.
here the role of the commission is that of honest broker.
to this end a joint declaration from all three institutions can pave the way for this unique partnership.
member states and their national parliaments must also be involved.
honourable members as directly elected representatives of the citizens you are crucial to this process and i welcome the resolution of this house as well as your commitment not to pre determine the outcome of the conference.
their cooperation will be an asset to this process. to ensure we reach every citizen especially those who do not always engage directly with us we rely heavily on cooperation with the committee of the regions and the european economic and social committee.
my colleague vice president vra jourov is responsible for following this institutional strand.
the second strand addresses institutional topics such as the election of the president of the commission and transnational lists.
this communication is the commission's contribution to the discussion that needs to be held in the coming weeks between the three institutions aimed at agreeing together on the scope formal structure and objectives of the conference.
as the conference progresses hopefully others will join
us. there are two strands to this process.
we must do this together as partners the parliament the council and the commission.
once the general affairs council has discussed the conference on the future of europe on twenty eight january we will be able to move to the next phase including to determine the date for the start of the conference ideally in the first half
getting this right will have repercussions not just for the present but for the future.
citizens want us to hear them and we must listen to them and give them the feedback they need.
this is an important part of what the conference on the future of europe is about.
cooperation in this field as well.
i would like to also stress the fact that our daily exchanges with the ombudsman help us to do it better every day and that we jointly want to provide citizens with very high administrative standards which are based on the principles of non discrimination courtesy impartiality and consistency a few of the points you also highlighted in your interventions.
your resolution and the report of the committee on petitions on the annual report on the activities of the european ombudsman stress areas where our institutions do well and where they can improve and i would just really like to promise you that in the coming weeks the commission will examine your resolution and will reply as in the past to all the issues which you raised and which concern the commission.
i also would like to inform the honourable members of this house that on tuesday the commission appointed a new secretary general fully following the procedure and i believe selecting a highly competent and exemplary professional and good european ms juhansone who i'm sure will be an excellent secretary general.
an open accessible and properly managed administration from our side in the european commission.
we either go forward or we go backwards.
this conference on the future of europe is a timely democratic exercise.
this conference is the way forward for all member states including future member states.
this conference is needed because we are under attack.
scotland is looking forward to contribute to the debate as a future member state of the european union.
any attempt to weaken the judiciary any attempt to intimidate judges is unacceptable and the european parliament will fight strongly.
we saw how people decisively big numbers came to the streets to defend the rule of law and they came out with the european flag in their hands expecting that the european union and the institutions of the european union would stand by their side.
we will stand with you to defend european values in every corner of europe.
the president of the country convoked a referendum and the people spoke loud and clear.
and i say the same to the judges in poland it's our duty;
we are not attacking the government of poland but defending the people of poland.
we are defending the right of the polish people to have an independent justice system they can believe in.
if we have to choose between this polish government and the polish people trust me we know on which side we will stand. to conclude to my colleagues in the ecr group sincerely do you realise how much your government is damaging your country?
as i prepare to leave this house for the last time tomorrow i implore you commissioner and all my fellow meps to be radical be passionate be strong stand up to the money men and the vested interests the oil barons and the chemical giants.
it doesn't matter about the colour of our skin or the language that we speak.
i won't be here to fight for it but you will make sure you do.
the hideous fires in australia in which half a billion animals are thought to have perished should serve as a wake up call to all of us.
we must take serious action now to set concrete binding targets to protect nature reduce carbon emissions and address the climate emergency.
the biodiversity we have inherited is a precious resource that we all share and that we simply have to protect for our children and our grandchildren.
we only have one planet.
mr president it doesn't matter where we sit in this house or where we put our cross on the ballot paper.
the commission is doing its democratic and its legal duty and more particularly its duty towards the czech citizens that are demanding justice.
the millions in question have to be paid back and we need that new rule of law mechanism that's been proposed to ensure the independence of the national bodies that the eu has to rely on.
the leaked commission audit of december is dry and factual and it establishes that mr babi is in a clear conflict of interests as he's using taxpayer money to enrich himself.
i disagree with that ridiculous conspiracy theory.
the hitlerstalin pact was a crime against peace freedom and democracy.
but every politician inside and outside of europe also has the responsibility not to play with history.
today's eu and today's nato are the children of liberty democracy and freedom for central and eastern europe.
every german politician has to assume the responsibility of our country.
it's about our future because neglecting historical facts means ignoring the future.
the hitlerstalin pact was the beginning of a raid on several european countries poland finland estonia lithuania latvia and romania. the hitlerstalin pact meant for millions of european citizens in large parts of europe decades of oppression fear suffering and dictatorship.
but it would be an absolute tragedy if the eu didn't learn lessons from the calamity that is brexit.
madam president brexit should serve as a dire warning to all of us as to what happens when ordinary people see the eu as distant unaccountable and out of touch.
this process cannot be reduced to a tokenistic rubberstamping exercise.
it's worrying that powerful lobbyists and big businesses find it easy to influence the politics of any government anywhere while ngos and ordinary citizens are too often muted and kept in the cold.
so if the conclusions of this conference are to be worth the paper they're written on the voices of citizens and civil society must be heard loud and clear.
we are indeed starting this work and i can announce to you that today in brussels ambassadors will have a first informal exchange of views to that end and that the general affairs council on twenty eight january will discuss the issue.
we also look forward to the commission's input which we understand will come back next week.
the conference should build on the success of these dialogues over the last two years.
we believe that priority should be given to the implementation of the strategic agenda for two thousand and nineteen two thousand and twenty four agreed in june last year and to delivering concrete results for the benefit of our citizens.
the european council asked the croatian presidency to work towards defining a council position on the content scope composition and functioning of a conference on the future of europe and to engage on this basis with the european parliament and the commission.
we think the conference should contribute to the development of our policies in the medium and long term so that we can better tackle current and future challenges. we also believe the upcoming conference should be an inclusive process involving our three institutions in full respect of the interinstitutional balance of our respective roles.
as prime minister plenkovi told you yesterday as far as the council is concerned we are starting work to define our position regarding the establishment of the conference.
yesterday my prime minister underlined how the conference could be an opportunity to listen to citizens so that we are better able to meet their expectations.
the priorities outlined in the strategic agenda closely echo those raised by our citizens for instance in the citizen consultations and dialogues.
as you know the december european council gave us guidance to this effect.
madam president i voted against this resolution because whilst i constantly have argued since the referendum in two thousand and sixteen that those eu citizens who wish to live in the uk should have their rights guaranteed and criticised the tory government for not doing so they should be offered settled status this motion criticises the government for the wrong reasons and says the process
this deprives a nationally sovereign government of having control over monitoring what happens in its own borders.
not wanting freedom of movement is not about being xenophobic it is not about hostility to people from european countries moving to or working in the uk.
i also think this motion has been politicised churlishly by including within it the idea that freedom of movement is a great tragic loss for the uk because to note this just spits in the eye of those who have explicitly voted to leave the european union with one key issue being freedom of movement.
what also strikes me is that you're going straight against the interest of your people.
now did you tell your voters that before you went to the elections?
well apart from the fact that that's already thirty years ago and some of the judges are actually rather young what strikes me about this is that some of the parties in your group like for example the dutch forum for democracy is using the exact same language in my country to attack to the judiciary there.
please turn around come back into the fold respect european values and keep poland firmly in the heart of the european union.
the polish people are amongst the most pro european in the whole european union but if you don't recognise the european commission the authority of the european court of justice the decisions of this house or indeed the eu treaties then we're talking about a de facto polexit'.
it is wrong because the whole procedure to produce this document was a disgrace.
so you have the tyranny of the majority again. it is wrong because it has a predetermined outcome as we have heard this morning.
but we should not be surprised. the advocates of ever closer union have always been very good at antagonising people.
two thousand and thirty for the benefit of all people yes we need to be ambitious.
let me reassure you that i have taken good note and listened carefully to your call for legallybinding targets to your comments on pesticides sustainable agriculture deforestation and genedrive organisms.
as the commissioner for environment oceans and fisheries i am particularly sensitive to this topic and i can reassure you that i will make sure that our green deal will also be a blue deal because as you know green without blue is only yellow.
mr president i wish to thank members for their contributions and support for an ambitious biodiversity policy within the european union and globally. i can only agree with mr luena when he said we have only one planet and no planet b'. we have a huge responsibility to implement the transformative change that is required to put
of course this should be evidencebased and well assessed.
nature on the path to recovery by.
i am particularly grateful to mr kokkalis ms o'sullivan mr melo and mr karleskind for raising the important role of oceans not only for biodiversity but also for mitigating climate change.
i'm looking forward to collaborating with the parliament on implementing the european green deal on shaping an ambitious european union two thousand and thirty biodiversity strategy and on preparing for a successful biodiversity cop fifteen in october in kunming.
we will need to explain very clearly to citizens and stakeholders why we need to change our patterns of consumption and production highlight the benefits for wellbeing health and for the economy and ensure a just transition.
we are still discussing the biodiversity strategy internally but action oriented targets should be about integrating biodiversity across policies and sectors including agriculture forestry and fisheries and about protecting and restoring nature.
i am looking forward to the resolution that you adopt tomorrow.
these challenges have led the council to adopt the countryspecific recommendations on judicial independence already mentioned by vicepresident jourov. the fact that the president of this administrative authority resigned in november to become a member of the constitutional court
to conclude i regret that i cannot report improvements of the situation in hungary since the tabling of the european parliament's original proposal.
the european anti fraud office plays a key role in this regard and you know the commission has proposed a regulation on the protection of the eu budget in case of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in a member state.
the implications of this judgment including for possible disciplinary proceedings call for a careful assessment because the very functioning of the eu legal system requires that national courts have unimpeded access to the european court of justice.
the commission has zero tolerance towards fraud with the eu budget and expects the same level of commitment from member states which are mainly responsible for the management of some three quarters of the budget.
at this stage i would only regret that such reform has been carried out at a fast pace without consulting the venice commission and without public consultation.
i can assure you that the commission is working on a comprehensive european rule of law mechanism as a matter of priority.
however new legislation was adopted in december introducing structural changes to the functioning of the justice system.
it will cover all member states and provide a synthesis of significant developments related to the various competences of the rule of law including for example systemic problems with a process for enacting laws lack of effective judicial protection by independent and impartial courts the capacity to fight corruption
the commission has initiated an infringement procedure against hungary regarding segregation of roma peoples in mainstream education and is closely monitoring the steps being undertaken by hungary to remedy this situation.
it is a tool to protect the eu budget and ensure sound financial management.
does not resolve the structural concerns related to the possibility of arbitrary decisions in the management of the judicial system.
i note that the new legislation does not intend to address the existing concerns about the increasing challenges that the independent national judicial council faces in balancing the powers of the administrative authority managing the judiciary.
in order to control the use of eu funds and to protect the eu's financial interests against corruption and fraud each member state needs an independent justice system effective investigation and prosecution services and an effective functioning of public authorities implementing the union budget.
i apologise for that but we do have a formal sitting at twelve and we need to prepare the chamber so you have to accept my ruling on this for now and perhaps you could discuss this procedure at a future time.
just briefly ms huhtasaari you are the next speaker but you also indicated to ask a question which i'm not going to allow. i'm afraid that i'm subject to the rule of time and my advisers tell me that i need to discontinue the blue card system.
congratulate you for your recent re election by the plenary of this european parliament.
it's an appreciation of your work enhancing greater transparency and access to documents although the regulation has yet to be updated.
the work has been blocked by the council despite the efforts by the committee on civil liberties justice and home affairs libe which i chair. there is also much work to do in order to make sure that conflicts of interest are no longer there that revolving doors are out of the scene that your inquiry on certain practices of certain industries in particular pharmaceutical industries are compliant
with the un convention on persons with disabilities and finally that the code of good administration is upgraded into a real european regulation.
there are no prejudices from me i can guarantee you.
people scrimp and scrape money together to pay their taxes and it ends up coming here. we've got to make sure that that money goes back to the right people.
we cannot monitor every last cent of cap money once it ends up in the nation state.
however we can create the architecture under the current review process to make sure that it is as difficult as possible for the money to go astray whether that be legitimately or illegitimately because currently there's money going astray and it's actually legal to do it.
just look at the vast amounts of biodiversity killed in british waters by dutch electric pole fishing a method banned by the chinese for being too efficient.
or the super trawlers working in the channel gigantic factory ships which scoop of whole shoals of fish together with anything else in the area such as the under strain sea bass and highly intelligent dolphins.
these are only two small examples of the eu putting profit before biodiversity. until the eu takes action to stop practices which threaten the environment of its backyard it has no right to lecture anyone else.
the first one is that we actually follow up on the outcomes of this debate so that we have treaty changes so that we have procedural changes so that we go into the regular processes here in this house and in the other institutions and follow up.
the second one is that we don't only go bottom up as mr verhofstad said but that we also play back our results to the citizens and say do you agree?
do you think these are good results?
a real democracy recognises the separation of powers and the checks and balances that we need in order to respect not only the majority but also the minorities and the rights of everyone in a country.
now this is under threat and i would really hope that the polish people and especially polish politicians really look into the facts and look at the rule of law and the rules of the european union to see where they are falling short.
a new decade may have begun yet the old ties refuse to be broken.
human rights are universal and protected not only at the eu level but at many levels. the rule of law is a key point there.
the eu has a solid record on protection of human rights.
don't step away from this.
we need the eu to step up to protect the eu and uk citizens' rights now more than ever.
send a clear message a resounding message throughout europe that this parliament sees and hears the difficulties eu and uk citizens face without an automatic registration system.
you keep repeating the same thing saying that we are making allegations.
do you include in the left wing media three successive epp led european commissions? the venice commission?
they're all independent institutions they're not left wing or right wing if anything they are indeed epp controlled the council the european parliament in the majority left wing right wing part of your group where are the left wing media you're referring to?
madam president today we have voted on perhaps the most important action the european union will ever take. the european green deal marks a necessary effort to stop climate change and protect biodiversity for good.
the framework for action must be agreed at a european and international level.
pollution never has and never will stop at national borders.
it takes every individual every local community to act.
in my home town of faversham air pollution is three times in breach of legal limits and the government in which our own mp is a minister permits it to continue.
local councillors and the community are pushing our own environmental projects we have become a plasticfree town.
if you give communities power they will fix their problems.
europe's new green deal promises prevention of environmental damage that harms us now and endangers our children's future.
we cannot go on destroying nature.
you can do that yourself i think.
we are discussing this in our group we are discussing this in our family and we will discuss this in the future.
this is all that i have to say to you about it.
i will say this in english because you might listen to me.
the investigation into individual cases in allegation is the task of the national prosecutor and judges and of the european anti fraud office and soon also of the european public prosecutor's office.
recently we have been having an increasing number of historical debates and it's not easy dealing with these topics. it's not our role and it's not our responsibility to exonerate anybody
from their historical record.
historical truth is not at the disposal of the powerful nor at the disposal even of parliamentary majorities but we must defend the facts as we best know them.
but when a victim is being turned into the perpetrator of a crime we have to speak up and if a wolf cries wolf we should call it out.
i believe that these kinds of conversations are rarely just about the past.
shifting historical blame can easily be a first step in the direction of identifying a target for more than just rhetorical aggression.
as an ecological educator i have always liked explaining by example.
if we don't protect biodiversity the time will come when children won't know what it is to pick a wild flower and we'll only know butterflies and ladybirds in picture books. this is the eu's moment to prove its commitment to stopping the huge destruction of habitats and the decline in species globally.
this process cannot be completed without addressing the issue of agriculture and fishing.
today we voted on a resolution on the european green deal.
probably the eu's most ambitious environmental policy ever but we know not enough is being done in regards to reforming the way we farm and fish in europe.
we must get serious.
but seriously thank you so much for everything that you did for vulnerable citizens.