kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
clear indications before departure on the precise direction to be followed in order to reach the ngo boats' people rescued by ngo vessels were often not willing to cooperate with debriefing experts at all with some claiming that they were warned not to cooperate with italian law enforcement or frontex.
does it believe that such actions constitute collusion and if not would it define what would?
cooperation between human traffickers and ngos engaged in search and rescue in the mediterranean.
does the commission believe that such actions constitute cooperation with the smugglers and if not could it define what would?
we take them seriously. i will discuss them with responsible colleagues and indeed with the heads of relevant agencies.
can i just repeat that saving lives at sea is a priority and indeed an obligation under international law and that remains the case including during the current migration crisis.
i would like to associate myself with the comments made by mr kelly about the devotion of those involved in saving lives at sea some of whom pay a very high price for that work.
successfully addressing the migration crisis is going to depend on the active cooperation of all of us all parts of state authorities and civil society including ngos.
in the end as i said earlier national authorities are competent to assess if the conduct of an ngo constitutes a criminal offence based on the applicable national eu and international law.
just to be clear on funding as was asked the commission does not provide funding to ngos or other non governmental actors to carry out search and rescue activities.
so we would do well to listen.
the duty to render assistance to persons or vessels in distress at sea is an obligation under international law.
this is a binding obligation on states who are obliged to ask ship masters of private commercial or military vessels to render assistance.
the ship masters vessels of nongovernmental organisations are bound by the same duties as ship masters of state vessels.
second it does not help to make if i may say so general assumptions on the role of all civil society organisations.
these organisations are mostly active in support of governments and international organisations.
at the same time rules must be respected and close coordination between all involved in search and rescue operations in the mediterranean is obviously key to ensuring the safety of all concerned migrants and crews alike.
coordination of the rescue efforts is ensured primarily by the state responsible for the region where an incident is taking place.
any assisting vessel be it private owned or state controlled must therefore follow the instructions of the responsible maritime rescue coordination centre.
so to take this example in the case of search and rescue in the central mediterranean region coordination must take place with the italian authorities.
third when it comes to criminalisation of migrant smuggling we need to be clear about the existing legal framework.
according to existing eu legislation facilitation of unauthorised entry is the act of intentionally assisting a person who is not a national of a member state to enter or transit across the territory of a member state in breach of that member state's immigration laws.
national authorities are the competent body to judge this. they are also competent to assess whether the conduct of any ngo or indeed other legal or natural person rescuing people in a specific case could amount to a form of collusion or cooperation with migrant smuggling networks.
so far the commission has not received any official information from any member states about investigations or prosecutions of ngos involved in search and rescue activities in the mediterranean for having participated in migrant smuggling.
finally i would like to emphasise that the commission does not provide any financial assistance to ngos engaged in search and rescue activities in the mediterranean.
eu funding through the international security fund can support search and rescue operations at sea which arise during maritime border surveillance operations.
these are the exclusive responsibility of public authorities hence search and rescue operations carried out by third parties such as ngos are not eligible under the internal security fund for eu funding.
each commissioner is unique in political history. no other person in a so called democracy has the power to initiate legislate and execute the same legislation and not be elected individually by anybody.
mr president i voted against the commission because i do not want to be governed by a european commission of any composition but there are particular reasons for voting against this one.
baroness ashton was treasurer of the campaign for nuclear disarmament which was little better than a communist front organisation and a proportion of its funding came from the soviet bloc.
she is not fit to be responsible for foreign security and defence policy.
we are now governed by communists collaborators and quislings.
we need a commission and we have one now. however the point has been made and well made by a number of colleagues that it would be a better system if each of the commissioners were elected on their own merits rather than en bloc.
after all if you were putting out a football team to represent you you would not select them en bloc.
that would force the countries to put forward the best possible candidates and ensure that candidates would perform to the maximum. i think we would have a better team by doing that.
mr president i voted against the appointment of the new eu commission because it will simply continue with the same right wing neoliberal economic policy that has already resulted in disastrous crisis in the capitalist economies of many eu states.
this allegedly new eu commission will turn out to be the same stale old wine with the same old neoliberal barroso label.
these policies of liberalisation deregulation and privatisation implemented let us be clear at the behest of european big business are having disastrous consequences for the lives of working class people with mass unemployment and savage attacks on living standards.
in its attitude to the crisis in greece and in ireland the leadership of the eu commission is agreed that it is the working class who will pay the price while the bankers and speculators are baled out.
european workers and the poor in europe must mobilise their power against these disastrous policies and for a genuinely democratic and socialist europe and that means opposing the policies of this new eu commission.
mr president when you look at the gallery of candidates that were there before us today i think most people across the house regardless of their politics would have said that some were good some might have been very very good some were bad and some were just pretty poor. unfortunately some of them have also not answered all the questions about their past. but as members of the european parliament we are unable to vote on the individual commissioners so we had a choice whether to vote for all of them en bloc or to reject them.
if we really want to respond to a crisis let us make sure we are not piling on more and more inappropriate regulation.
let us make sure that we have proper impact assessments on any directive or regulations.
take as a case in point the directive on alternative investment fund managers which will reduce the amount of money available to entrepreneurs in europe which will drive creators of wealth out of the european union and which will reduce investment in developing countries.
we must work with international partners constructively.
one mitigates environmental impact by advances in technology implementing the single european sky and building capacity.
my message to the commission is this commission you came across as arrogant.
next time you come up with another stupid idea we think you should think about it a bit more thoughtfully and about the impact before you actually come to this house.
in conclusion we will support the position tomorrow under duress i have to say because the original regulation is even worse.
while some in this house may feel that eu legislation must not be dictated to by third countries they should remember that we are global traders and we are not actually global dictators.
some of our largest trading partners have quite rightly shown their determination not to be ruled by the european union and this has put large aircraft orders amounting to billions of dollars in jeopardy threatening much needed investment and jobs.
the council has completely let us down.
we have an emissions trading scheme which has been introduced by the commission which works which can demonstrate leadership and which we should be supporting.
we are going to have to take initiatives on a national and a regional basis and this is exactly the sort of initiative we should be taking.
i think we look to paris next year.
so when we say that we were so successful in getting icao moving then why are we giving up all the pressure through this deal because now there is four years of nothing?
brazil has already not attended the next icao working group meeting the pressure is off and we know europe has lost.
that was connie hedegaard in november two thousand and twelve when we were deciding on stop the clock for one year.
the same time the eu continued its efforts to achieve a global solution at the international civil aviation organisation nobody.
i call therefore on members to turn the page and to vote tomorrow in favour of the compromise text without further amendments.
arguably without the eu's continuous efforts the agreement to develop now a global market based measure would not have happened at the icao assembly last autumn. this decision is and must be a stepping stone to the implementation of a global mbm
in return we expect our international partners to recognise the flexibility and constructive attitude the eu is showing and now focus all attention on making progress and delivering a credible global deal on international aviation emissions by.
i think it would be wise to try and cash that in now!
regrettably the council did not support the commission proposal and as a consequence parliament and the council came during to an informal agreement during trialogue discussions which limits the coverage of the eu ets to flights within europe for the period from two.
but we are where we are.
therefore the eu decided back in two thousand and eight to take action and to include aviation in its emissions trading scheme at.
i share some of the frustrations around this file but not to find a landing zone will not make things better.
to provide for a further temporary exemption from the eu ets based on the coverage of emissions within european regional airspace.
it would have been better for europe's self respect and reputation and even more important it would have been better for the climate.
what is agreed between the council and parliament is what can be agreed at this stage.
thousand and thirteen to two thousand and sixteen and the scope of the eu ets from two thousand and seventeen onwards should be decided in response to the outcome of the icao assembly. without doubt the commission would of course have preferred and have fought for a higher level of ambition.
two thousand and sixteen in that regard it is worth emphasising that in our contacts with third country representatives they too have already reacted positively to the informal compromise.
the compromise achieved provides a basis for continued european regulatory action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation and will provide much needed legal certainty for all stakeholders before the compliance deadline.
this debate is called greenhouse gas emission trading but it has less to do with climate than with the position of the european union in the world.
by extending the stop the clock we are doing nothing less than rewarding china and other countries for their economic blackmail.
we are sending the message that if you do not agree with legislation that we are adopting in our own continent in our own airspace you just pick one or two big companies and you say you are going to boycott them and we will bow to your demands.
we will pay for this politically because we will become tinier and tinier politically and in the end we all know that if you become a political dwarf you will pay economically as well.
there are many measures already in place on global warming.
we are talking specifically about the inclusion of aviation and we are looking at practical ways forward for mitigating the impact.
i have already outlined that the advances in technology the introduction of the single european sky are all issues that we cover in this parliament;
they are the way forward building capacity.
in order to make aviation ets a truly global agreement we need to take care that an agreement is reached in icao in order to offer the best prospects of ensuring sustainability and global balance in the global aviation sector in the long term. i would dearly love to see the european union being a leader in the field of innovation as well.
i think innovation is also the key in our battle against climate change.
in order to pave the way for such development we need to promote entrepreneurship and encourage eu based industries.
we should be known for the kind of policies that attract investment rather than incite trade wars. this would be the way to set an example for the world in the field of the environment and to take care of our industries.
discussions on this dossier have been long and hard and i have been following them closely throughout my time in this parliament.
europe has at some point decided that it wants to lead and i think that is a very good ambition.
of course we must see whether we are being followed and that is currently the difficult situation we want to lead but currently have no followers.
thirdly we probably should be talking to the opposition parties.
secondly i believe that the invitation to witness' the elections should be changed to an invitation to properly monitor those elections so that we can do it a meaningful way.
i am not sure that their decision to boycott the election is the wisest of decisions.
two thousand and twelve two thousand and thirteen despite the assistance we are providing there are constant reports of political and constitutional problems.
the european union is egypt's main source for foreign investment and development cooperation.
we need to invest in egypt's success for selfish and selfless reasons.
mr president high youth unemployment in many post arab spring countries is a social time bomb according to president van rompuy speaking in january of this year.
a stable region and a stable egypt is crucial to our goals in that part of the world.
the eu is well respected in this region and has a very important role to play in building international stability and interdependence.
i commend the high representative and her staff for the work done to date.
president van rompuy also stated that fifty million jobs would have to be created in the next two years for all the young people in the region about to enter what is now a severely depressed labour market.
interdependence is both the strength and the objective of the whole european project.
parliamentary elections to the house of representatives are scheduled to take place in april and we need to ensure that these take place in a democratic and transparent fashion.
recently the eu and its associated financial institutions offered a total in excess of eur five billion to egypt in grants concessional loans and loans for the period.
do you have a clear plan for how the more for more' principle will play out in practice?
where are the pledged funds and how strong is conditionality?
i call on you to make it clear to the egyptian government that it will not receive any direct funding until significant progress is made towards respect for human rights the rule of law democracy and minority and women's rights.
i would like to hear from you why you did not respond to morsi's power grab last november?
i believe we will lose the egyptians and our credibility alike if we do not practice what we preach.
this should trouble us and should make us take decisive action.
it is my intention to keep you to that promise.
more reforms towards human rights democracy rights for minorities and women will be rewarded with more market access and more support.
we may not have been able to prevent that but we should have made it clear where we stand.
high representative ashton i call on you to step up your public support for the rights and freedoms of the egyptian people.
can you also explain why you did not call on the egyptian authorities to abolish the death penalty when no less than twenty one people were sentenced to death? you have seen the demonstrations and the chaos.
these sentences are now confirmed.
we made the promise to the people of egypt and throughout the region that we would replace our interest driven politics and policies with a values based partnership.
for two and a half years now we have heard that the eu will proceed according to the more for more' principle.
let me clarify that it is not merely an issue of stopping the harassments but also about making sure that laws will not be turned against women for a very long time.
we should support the egyptian protest against laws that would seriously limit civil society in doing its work.
at the same time we need to move quickly to try and help meet the socio economic expectations both the goals of the revolution and the aspirations of the egyptian people.
he conveyed the message of particular concerns we have on police abuse on torture and impunity freedom of expression and belief women's rights the working conditions for ngos and the promotion of economic and social rights.
this is the issue more than any other that is immediate and needs our engagement notwithstanding as i have already indicated the political challenges that are faced by the country.
i am extremely pleased that the egyptian authorities have shown willingness to engage and have requested through our special representative to whom i pay real tribute for the work he has done on this eu assistance and expertise on the ngo law.
we have to approach this problem in a very constructive and timely manner.
it requires hard work commitment as well as patience patience domestically and internationally.
there is clearly a serious political divide in the country between the government and the main opposition the national salvation front.
we share many concerns and we want to see real progress in these areas.
two thousand and eleven following the commitment of president morsi during his visit to brussels in september last year to relaunch the process and following the task force meeting in november an association committee at senior officials' level was held in cairo on twenty eight february.
i believe the european union has an incredibly important role to play in that.
this will likely postpone the elections which gives more time of course to reach agreement on the outstanding issues that still exist.
we know that going to the polls to vote is very important but it is only one component of building deep democracy. another is the importance of working with all sides to build bridges to promote reconciliation to respect and safeguard the fundamental human rights of all citizens whether they are winners' or losers' of the election. we see that egyptians are openly debating human rights issues in public in political circles in the media and at the shura council.
in parallel we will also have to discuss the means of how best we mobilise our existing financial assistance in a timely fashion and i would ask for the support of this house and commitment for this undertaking.
we are continuing to support the national council for women currently in the process of drafting a national strategy for combating violence against women as a basis for a comprehensive law.
thirty three and as many of you will be aware the country is facing huge economic challenges with a twelve to thirteen budget deficit.
special representative bernardino leon has spent a month of shuttle diplomacy to cairo to meet with the government the presidency and the whole political opposition on my behalf in order to build confidence and to look for common ground on those political and economic issues.
we have stressed the importance of ensuring a favourable environment for civil society and encouraged the adoption of a new ngo law that ensures ngo transparency while respecting the independence of civil society from government control that eliminates burdensome registration procedures and does not subject ngo activities to prior government approval on the basis of their alleged usefulness to society'
last week another important event took place in the relationship between the european union and egypt which was the resumption of the formal dialogue under the eu egypt association agreement that had been postponed since the uprising in.
as i have indicated there are real challenges that need to be faced.
together with other members of the international community we will continue to push for the finalisation of the imf arrangement which will allow the european union to mobilise our macro financial assistance of eur five hundred million.
and that does not limit or demonise ngo funding.
i have to say to honourable members that we are all aware of the consequences of an economic collapse which could be devastating in egypt.
we raised our concerns on human rights on the need to build a political consensus and the establishment of a better business environment.
the referendum and adoption of the constitution have not led to a great sense of direction with a low turnout of.
i believe that was a wise decision.
since we last discussed egypt many challenges have emerged for the government and for the people.
in this very tense political context elections need to be held in conformity with the constitution and in a peaceful inclusive and transparent manner.
the fact that we do have an opposition that is operating and working is in itself part of that democratic achievement.
we have seen demonstrations and violent clashes across the country.
the building of deep and sustainable democracy is a long process.
more globally we of course need to support egypt's efforts as a regional power be it in involvement in the league of arab states its attempts to bring together those who have been engaged in supporting and searching for a political solution in the syria crisis the brokering of the gaza ceasefire or the continued efforts on palestinian reconciliation.
more than ever europe as a neighbour and a partner has to engage and support egypt's democratic transition.
we recognise that we have to show what we call strategic patience' with the political developments in that country but not remain silent on issues of fundamental freedoms and human rights.
i have talked with president morsi and with his team about some of the things that they have been doing.
they have had their elections they have made their choices and they will continue to do that but as i have said so many times this is about building a democracy that is not about one election.
i hope that makes you feel more comfortable about that.
i was very concerned when helga schmidt came back at the weekend and contacted me to tell me the stories that she had heard. many of you have heard them too.
our delegations talk with them a great deal and we work with them in the way that they ask us to because it is also very important when working with different communities that we do it in a way that is sensitive to how they wish us to act.
we believe that is the reason the egyptian people started out on the journey.
it is about knowing that the institutions are going to make sure that democracy is real and about the protection of people's rights.
i have said that publicly many times and i will say it again.
you believe that and i believe that so i do not know why it has been suggested that i have not said things when i clearly have.
i will continue to work not only in egypt but everywhere i possibly can to try to achieve that because that is what this union more than anything else for me is all about.