kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
the eu has cleaner hands than most in this discussion and cleaner certainly than most of our member states.
because they are all interlinked in various ways.
islamic state is actually the latest evil incarnation of this process.
the end of the world style results we must face today.
if we believe as i do that it is in our interest to take action and that domestic and foreign threats are increasingly blurred we must work not only on increased eu efforts but also with partners notably in the middle east to end the horrors of islamic state and alleviate the human suffering.
on top of the assad regime's ongoing use of violence including the use of barrel bombs against their own syrian citizens daesh has added new dimensions of unbearable horror and suffering to millions of people's lives people who want a future for their children safety and freedom just like you and i.
we cannot allow this to happen.
i have seen little children's feet on frozen ground but with rising temperatures the risk of epidemics also rises.
for youth there is mostly no education.
daesh's barbaric violence sent two million iraqis on the run in two thousand and fourteen alone. we saw them with our own eyes as we visited northern iraq but most areas throughout iraq are not even accessible to humanitarian aid organisations because they are so violent. and we see a downward spiral of despair and suffering that in turn helps the success of recruiters for jihadist organisations.
for girls and women who are violently abused by militants there is no specific psychological help.
so i ask you when does the risk of a lost generation turn into a sombre reality?
this is a shame and a tragedy.
it is also a tragedy with far reaching consequences.
it is a shame as the international community is standing idly by in light of ongoing fighting in syria where we have stopped counting the dead.
what we are getting in not serving these unfortunate people is a more and more traumatised young generation.
clearly the syrian assad regime is at the root of the problem but most recently the existential threat to the region and its minority communities such as the christians mandaeans yazidis shia muslims and lgbti communities has come from the barbarous and fanatic so called islamic state.
we must also coordinate intelligence gathering and sharing and ensure that the laws are in place in our member states to prosecute those who have committed atrocities including kidnappings bombings false religious conversions and ritual execution of hostages in cold blood.
however tragically for the meantime the desperate humanitarian situation continues in the region.
it has been some six months now since the american president obama gathered together around sixty countries into a military coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy isis.
therefore my group welcomes the most recent jordanian and uae escalated air force response against isis following the horrific murder of a captured pilot.
in my mind the three main target priorities for the coalition must be to interdict and destroy is money raising facilities such as oil installations and destroy their ammunition dumps and their training camps.
i would like to take this opportunity also to thank and congratulate the kurdish peshmerga and salute their amazing courage and bravery which has been so evident with the reports confirming their resilience and protection of innocent civilians such as yazidis following the recent attacks on them by isis and helping the ypg liberate kobani in syria.
madam president the humanitarian crisis in iraq and syria has reached catastrophic proportions with an estimated two hundred zero documented killings in the conflict so far.
the uk is a major military power so we must do more from my country to step up the efforts and along with all the eu states adopt an uncompromising approach towards eu citizens who have gone abroad to join isis and other militant jihadi groups.
as president of the iraq delegation i encourage international partners the iraqi government and the kurdistan regional government to redouble their efforts in terms of financial and logistical support in providing essential services land allocation and site preparation for idp camps.
seven six million in syria. one issue disclosed at a recent iraq delegation meeting is that there is very little information on those in isis controlled areas. the real extent of the humanitarian challenge is well hidden.
many of those internally displaced have been subject to the most unthinkable of crimes with large numbers of women and children raped or sexually abused by isis.
as the brave peshmerga and iraqi forces push to regain territory from isis such as at kobani so we see the true extent of the underlying damage and deprivation.
there is a great need for counselling support not just the basics.
these are the real faces of
to that end the commission is taking its responsibility.
and this is precisely what we are delivering.
war. these people and more depend on our help not only on words of sympathy but on tangible assistance.
they were very grateful for what our assistance has done to improve their living conditions for example by upgrading the local water system to allow access to fresh
especially taking into consideration the size of their population and the fragility of their political situation. we wanted to send a message of our ongoing strong support especially to the most vulnerable women children the elderly. let me say once again we cannot allow a lost generation of syrian children.
access for aid workers is heavily restricted and many times becomes impossible.
march. we count now on our member states to match this
workers. these are our common universal
syria. i met a fourteen year old boy supporting alone his mother and six brothers and sisters.
our funding also contributes to the stability of these countries and the wider region.
this number includes.
has a strong responsibility to take action.
but i am afraid that this is not sufficient. i think that we need to be aware that we need the strong and united commitment of the european union and the member states to be politically engaged in the areas of crisis and if need be to be engaged in military terms wherever it is meaningful wherever needed and wherever it will lead to a concrete result. i think that this commitment at the moment is insufficient and is missing.
seven million refugees especially children are under threat from the winter months right now.
it is imperative that funding of the humanitarian emergency is top priority and all necessary actions are taken to ensure the safety and protection of the most vulnerable.
it is however even more crucial that we sever the problem from the roots.
the international community must realise that the only way forward for syria and to defeat isis is to address the root cause of the conflict namely the assad regime. that is also largely responsible for the humanitarian crisis facing the country. the eu must increase its pressure on the regime and help restore peace and security in the country and thus in the region.
mr president almost everything has been said about the humanitarian situation. i would like to touch upon two elements that need to be addressed just as urgently as humanitarian needs if we want to ensure that the region will still house its rich mosaic of peoples in the years to come.
first of all heritage sites need to be protected immediately.
through the destruction of heritage the identities and histories of minorities and communities are erased.
peoples' identities and claims that they have a right to be there are tied to the presence of monuments and religious historical buildings which stand as proof of their presence in the land.
it is also documented that is partially funds its operations through looting and selling archaeological artefacts.
if we genuinely seek a lasting resolution to this regional instability and a tragic humanitarian crisis then the time has come for member states and a wider international community not least moderate islamic nations to confront the root of this cancer.
well functioning gas and electricity markets will secure affordable energy prices for consumers as well as improving industrial competitiveness.
unfortunately the internal energy market is still kept divided by too many different national policies we are looking at a dragon with twenty eight heads all looking in different directions.
therefore if one really takes this seriously it is a clear agenda for energy efficiency the fastest cheapest way of reducing our dependence on energy and renewables.
maybe we could have merged those two discussions because very clearly energy security and climate protection can and should go hand in hand.
madam president there is almost no problem which cannot be made worse by regulatory intervention and energy markets are a perfect example.
in my country where we used to have a comfortable spare capacity margin we are now down to low single figure percentages in winter.
the rapporteur is right to call for energy conservation measures and indigenous energy production especially shale gas.
we have set aggressive targets for biofuels and then cut them doing huge damage to investors.
we need to understand that we cannot continue to rely on expensive and intermittent renewables.
is it any wonder we are seeing investors shy away?
do we not understand that intermittent renewables can never replace baseload generating capacity?
but more than that we need a stable regulatory environment to promote investment.
we have hit them with emissions targets an emissions trading scheme including backloading and a market stability reserve feed in tariffs renewable obligations certificates and in my country the uk a carbon price floor.
i fully support many points included in the report.
in particular the issue of clean coal has not been discussed at all which i found very surprising.
however there is no solid evidence that a massive and rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewables is indeed technologically feasible and economically viable in the foreseeable future.
the main weakness of the document is that it is one sided and focused excessively on environmental and climate aspects of energy policy at the cost of energy security as such.
clearly the issue of the impact of the energy security strategy on the growth and competitiveness of european companies is not given sufficient attention.
a good illustration of these biased proportions is that the word renewable' appears seventy four times in the text of the report while the word competitiveness' only appears ten times.
reducing dependence on fossil fuels particularly gas and oil has created local jobs and a competitive economy as well as a thriving export base in the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in my own country denmark.
madam president the eu energy security strategy is at the very heart of our energy politics in these uncertain times.
we have taken a step further by also addressing the link between the need to reduce gas imports and the benefits that more efficient use of energy and renewables can bring.
by fundamentally changing the way we supply distribute and consume energy we can ensure that european citizens do not have to fear such threats in the future.
this will not only address security of supply but also offer significant opportunities for local jobs and growth within the eu through productive investment in infrastructure and renovation.
i am glad that in this report we have been able to agree across party lines on the need to look not just at the issue of gas imports.
i think that it is important that europe should undertake such a green transition delivering both energy security and economic prosperity at the same time.
ensuring that our supplies of energy are stable secure and reliable is not just about convenience for consumers but also about ensuring that people are warm enough to survive in winter.
yet the strategy they came up with has not managed to translate this high level ambition into the most needed actions.
i would like to highlight the selection of projects of common interest pci's where we experience a strong bias towards fossil fuel projects which is neither defendable nor in line with the decarbonisation pillar of the energy union package.
i fear that the extreme dependency on russia will simply be turned into a dependency on other external fossil energy suppliers.
a properly functioning and free market in energy across the eu will reduce prices for consumers and businesses and provide energy security for all of us.
i would ask members to imagine how differently we would have approached the crisis in ukraine had we been able to replace russian gas with imports from elsewhere.
while improving energy efficiency and our use of renewable energy are both important they will not have much impact on the eu's energy dependency on russia.
we saw this happen in both two thousand and six and two thousand and nine when mr putin decided to cut off gas supplies to ukraine.
we should also encourage the development of new technologies especially carbon capture and storage.
madam president the european union has an energy security problem because it is too reliant on one source of energy russian gas.
commissioner the best way to ensure energy security for the whole of europe is to have a properly interconnected single market.
i reject the calls in this report for binding climate and energy targets and interference in the energy mix of member states.
i agree with mr kari that russia is ruled by an unfriendly government which uses energy as a political weapon.
if we are to relieve the focus on energy security we should be willing to use all the tools at our disposal including shale gas and nuclear energy.
the continuing crisis in ukraine has only exacerbated the danger of this happening again.
we need the ability to move gas and electricity around the continent so that if one source is ever unavailable another can be used.
the commission should concentrate on resolving the technical and legal issues which prevent the free exchange of energy and they should also use their funds for projects of common interest to improve the connectivity of our energy networks.
our actions and our policies need to be guided by three major responsibilities affordability security and also sustainability.
a recent study in the uk showed that eighty two of the public are worried that the uk is becoming too dependent on too many countries for its supply.
however to help design our energy union we should not forget that millions of people in europe and in the uk are energy poor.
energy security has become an increasingly important issue not only for policymakers and the energy industry but also for the public who are becoming more and more concerned about where their energy comes from and its affordability.
for all of these reasons the sd group has pushed to include binding targets on energy efficiency and renewable energy in the energy security strategy report which we will be voting on tomorrow.
so how do we ensure that our energy is secure and affordable?
i want member states to take sensible and proportionate steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions but that does not mean destroying our enemies because we are doing this so much more quickly than all our competitors and it also means that we maintain our standards of living.
i also strongly welcome the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between the commission and the member states to strengthen security of supply through further market integration. a functioning internal market and the free flow of energy across borders is the key to ensuring security of supply.
mr eriksson i have been looking at reality and when somebody stands up in this house and says that wind power is the cheapest generating technology to invest in i do not know how to respond.
we are ruining our economy by wasting money on these fabulously expensive initiatives.
they cost more to build per unit of capacity and they cost more to run. you may be living in fairyland;
i am not saying and i do not think anybody will claim that this is going to be easy in any way but i think we all see increasing willingness to cooperate across party lines in this house and hopefully also between member states because the challenges that we face are for real.
if we are seriously going to tackle the question of energy security we need goals and targets as soon as possible.
if you look at the means of energy production for the moment we see that we have a huge challenge we have a mountain to climb.
currently a third country russia can significantly influence electricity systems in these member states.
this creates vulnerability not only from a technical perspective but given the current geopolitical situation it also diminishes significantly the level of energy security. it is not enough to build adequate infrastructure within and between member states to develop a resilient energy union.
full eu support should be given to end the situation.
synchronisation should constitute a part of the energy union concept.
without this concept the energy union would not be full and consistent.
so we should pay special attention to these new discoveries.
we see once again that europe is very vulnerable.
european gas markets need to be developed and electricity grids in remote places in europe like the baltics need to be connected to the rest of europe. all eu member states must be interconnected.
we need to develop new energy sources and we need to phase out those energy sources that have the highest levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
this leads me to an important conclusion for this chamber the green's policies are leading us to the increased use of black fossil fuels.
that is why i know for example scrap metal merchants who are selling now to india because they can get a better price for doing so even with all the carbon footprint involved in transporting that metal from the uk to india.
thirdly it is important technically because it requires the member states to successfully implement complex infrastructure projects.
let me tell you the story of the country i know best which has been active on all these levels in order to contribute to long term energy security.
bulgaria is still dependent on russian energy supplies but did not give in to recent pressures and instead took a step forward by working together with the commission and the member states in creating the high level group on central and south eastern europe gas connectivity cesec.
the aim of this group is to support cross border diversification projects in the region starting with a regional hub in bulgaria.
this regional approach is the basis to developing key infrastructure better and faster bringing success to the improvement in our energy security and finally achieving a diversification of suppliers.
as i said before and i would like to state it one more time to me european energy security means working together and staying connected both politically economically and technically.
so let us concentrate on practical solutions and not engage in gesture politics which betray our young people.
the eu certainly has a role to play but we do not have a magic wand and we cannot just decree jobs.
there is much the eu can do such as coordinating policy initiatives but also completing the single market promoting mobility and especially reducing the red tape that prevents smes in particular from taking on young people.
i believe that young people are suffering disproportionately from the crisis that is facing europe. youth unemployment has really dramatic effects.
as a result of youth unemployment in ireland which is at unprecedented levels young talented people are leaving the country in droves and they and their heartbroken families are aware of the reality that they are not taking a year out to travel but are in fact emigrating to make new lives abroad.
commissioner i thank you for your attendance here today but i think we have a lot more work to do on this subject.
youth unemployment has serious economic consequences.
no society can be vibrant and dynamic let alone competitive if over twenty of its youth workforce is inactive.
yes you might point to this scheme or that scheme but the bureaucracy to apply for support is so disproportionate to the assistance required that it becomes self defeating.
the youth unemployment crisis can be beaten only if job creation for young people becomes a key priority in policymaking and private sector investment picks up significantly.
eu you are part of the problem not the solution.
the uk needs to offer tax breaks and other incentives to businesses hiring young people and offering more entrepreneurship programmes to help kick start careers.
it would seem that some have given up on looking for work and are becoming increasingly detached from society.
today. i think this is extremely important.
this reallocation of the funds is possible and makes a difference.
come. the most important meeting is tonight partly here but also in brussels. the time has come to change the macroeconomic policies to allow the peripheral countries and regions of the european union to regain their growth potential and provide job opportunities for people and especially for young people who are now excessively affected by unemployment. this is my
it is also important to know that a certain merit and benefit of the structural funds is that there is long term planning with this fund and that the member states and the regions can rely on these programmes.
that is why we have to do a lot more about banking regulation to ensure that the banks can revive themselves and then they will be able to support the real economy. that is why the microfinance initiative for which we also thank the parliament is so important because it can make a difference
in my view there is an emerging consensus.
these policies to be very frank with you mr becker originate from
soon. but it is also very important to notice that we are speaking about a gap between the financially stable countries of the eu and the peripheries which are under constant financial
i gave you a figure in my introduction.
stress. if you look at the list of the eight countries we are talking about the so called periphery of the european
the problem is that the banking system and the financial sector in general has been paralysed and does not properly finance smes and sometimes other companies either.
this is the employment potential of smes or companies in general.
first of all i am very grateful to those who noticed that in my introduction i spoke about action many actions which we have already taken and to which we are already committed.
now we have relaunched it and thanks to the danish presidency there has already been a very constructive debate in council about the youth guarantee.
you probably know that this is not the first time the commission has launched a discussion on the member states and the youth guarantee.
there are some very good projects that was also a question which i saw myself like the one in tuscany.
the time has
we can reallocate to more efficient and more effective projects but this is not a magic solution.
conclusion for today and i thank you for this extremely important discussion.
president barroso will present the detailed results to the heads of state or government at an informal dinner tonight in brussels.
in december the commission will be presenting a comprehensive report on the results of the youth initiative one year after it was launched.
overall programming took place at the beginning of the current period and the allocations to the member states cannot be altered. in the current tight budget situation eu funds can nevertheless help hugely by supporting national policy efforts.
this will be an opportunity to discuss it with you as well and i will be glad to report to the house.
at the end of may the commission will put forward proposals for country specific recommendations. a large number of member states will receive recommendations on youth employment and related issues such as education.
and taking action at eu level via other initiatives such as a quality framework for traineeships and a youth guarantee.