kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
this is why it is important that we work together with fgm survivors fgm practicing communities and experts in an empowering manner free of misunderstandings and misconceptions. we must avoid stigmatisation racism and xenophobia at all costs.
your experience when you are pregnant;
it changes how you love others and how you love and treat yourself.
we must protect them.
change is too late too little too slow. we urgently need strategies and an action plan that achieve far reaching and lasting impact.
madam president fgm affects every stage of your life. it becomes a part of who you are your ability as a child to trust;
you do your best to survive and thrive but you must because you end up keeping an eye on yourself to never forget your value is the same as everyone else's.
how you feel when you fall in love;
this is also my daily struggle and that of two hundred million women and girls worldwide including the five hundred zero who live in europe and the many victims who remain every day.
they remind us that behind every action we take every choice we make there is a girl whose hopes and future or dreams rely upon us.
i was moved and very much inspired by the restorers our finalists for the sakharov prize who are here this week.
we must hear them.
the way you give birth.
fgm is the worst kind of violation to your body your mind and your dignity at a time when you are a defenceless child and it never goes away.
we have one hundred controls at the moment and this in my view should continue.
secondly restoring and reforesting twelve million hectares of forest for multiple purposes.
and fourthly enhancing sustainable management of natural forests with a view to curbing illegal and unsustainable practices.
but we have to ask ourselves what is the leverage we have to make sure that this sort of scenario will not happen again?
and this quota is not being filled because the eu standards have risen in such an extent over the years that the mercosur countries are not able to meet those standards and no product comes into the european union from the mercosur countries particularly related to agriculture unless there's one hundred inspections.
all our geographical indications of this deal are protected and this is a signal of quality products as you know in your member state countries particularly in france italy spain and portugal.
but we did at the end of the day find a basis where we could have a very balanced outcome in relation to sustainability.
and i was taken by what madame kumpula natri has mentioned in the course of a contribution. let's see in the clarification process and in the legal scrubbing of this deal how we can improve it and give more clarity in relation to the issues of concern to members of this house.
the association agreement will also provide a solid framework for where we can actually include provisions regarding the promotion of the role of indigenous communities in sustainable supply chains of forestry products or cooperation to promote sustainable social products involving these communities.
the eu and mercosur agreement commits to promoting a decent work agenda which includes issues such as effective work inspections ensuring health and safety at work providing decent working conditions such as regular breaks or clear contracts or reasonable working hours.
but what this agreement i want to outline to the people that say there's no progress made in relation to any issues of sustainability this agreement includes a binding commitment to the implementation of the paris agreement of which all mercosur countries are signatories.
many of the concerns that have been expressed by members of this house certainly i don't know any other mechanism except to write a letter or to speak here in parliament or to speak in an international forum.
he was adopting the same policy position as president trump. he changed his mind in the context of this agreement and has now embraced the paris agreement and we will see what will happen in terms of its implementation.
so if we don't have this agreement how are we going to make sure that we have the binding commitments being implemented?
the european green deal of course is the new lens through which so many eu policies will now be seen and trade policy is certainly and quite rightly no different.
and brazil's nationally determined contributions under this paris agreement include the following pledges to be achieved by two thousand and thirty zero illegal deforestation in the brazilian amazon and compensation for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from legal deforestation.
and today we do not have any deal whatsoever with the mercosur countries in order to find a way in which those four countries could embrace a much more progressive opportunity for environment and climate action.
president bolsonaro campaigned in his election to say that he did not want to become part of the paris climate agreement.
today we have no forum at all to address these issues and this in my view is progress.
what is the leverage we have with president bolsonaro to ensure that he and his government protect this great place of nature and protect the amazon? all of us share this objective. the deal is certainly a deal that's long standing in terms of negotiations over twenty years.
so these are just some examples perhaps that were not mentioned in the debate that are part of the agreement and i fundamentally believe that we need to study this carefully.
finally we need some leverage in order to ensure that all of the economic environmental and social dimensions of our free trade agreements and that our trade is able to be used as leverage.
so it's not true to say we have neglected the indigenous communities.
now i did note that there are certainly many speakers in this house who have not studied the deal and i respectfully say that we should look at it again because i want to make a few observations.
furthermore the eu and mercosur have negotiated a firm agreement to labour standards in the agreement in order to ensure that trade relationships are not developed at the expense of social or labour rights but instead fostering mutual support of this between economic growth social development and environmental protection.
and i would remind the house that we have two hundred and seventy six zero tonnes of a beef quota already with the mercosur countries in the european union going back over many years.
i will work with you to try and ensure that the interpretation of this deal and the clarification that you require at all times will be made available to you in order to improve the prospects of approval of this deal.
people are trying to convey this message here in various contributions which is utter nonsense.
on social rights which have been mentioned by some speakers all mercosur countries have ratified the eight ilo conventions except one convention in one country.
there will be no diminution of eu standards and we will protect them.
and the reason we have a lot of products that are returned to those countries is because our controls are working.
thirdly strengthening the implementation of the forest code.
too little going into the protection of climate and biodiversity.
we will never forget them and who knows one day we might be able to say welcome back uk;
let's not forget that seventy of the poles themselves are supporting that target so i really hope the polish government will change its my mind the later you start the transition the harder it will get and the climate crisis does not stop at any one country's border.
so i hope member states will start to walk the walk when it comes to climate and budget.
and for those concrete actions the discussion on the long term budget the mff is the perfect opportunity because the eu budget needs to support the climate targets and not undermine them.
it was disappointing to see that the polish government would isolate itself by not agreeing to the target.
there are still too many harmful subsidies that are being dished out;
brexit is and remains a tragedy but this is not the end. we will never give up on our british friends.
right now the proposals that we have on the table are not doing that job;
he's already saying we will not extend;
he doesn't want to negotiate a proper partnership or trade deal.
every opinion poll over the last year except one has shown that a majority of the british public would vote to remain if we had a new referendum and mr johnson with his forty three of the vote only one more than mrs may achieved two years ago takes that as a mandate to go forward with a very hard brexit.
his strategy in the negotiations seems to be give me what i want or i'll shoot myself in the head'.
and make no mistake he's going for a hard brexit because he has already gone back on a previous promise to say that the house of commons would vote on extending the transition period to allow time for negotiations.
we will make it illegal to extend.
you know that i am trying to improve it by launching the initiative that could allow us to approve something equivalent to the magnitsky act.
we have rules on the export control of dual base goods and technology which should allow us to monitor exports in key technologies and check them for security concerns.
i will fight for it.
we haven't done it;
we have told our companies that they have to promote the respect of human rights and the application of corporate social responsibility through the entire supply chain.
and is obtaining strong support from many countries including the members of the organization of the islamic conference.
at the united nations general assembly a group of twenty two countries among them several european member states released a joint statement on their views about the uyghur population which was immediately countered by a statement by fifty four countries
we will inform you about the work we have already started.
we have to be strong in front but also we have to continue dialogue. dialogue cannot be forgotten.
we have a different system.
intimidating large groups of its own society. since the november two thousand and nineteen leakage of the so called china cables the level of intimidation in the xinjiang autonomous region is more than clear to all of us.
of course detention camps are not places of voluntary work.
and cooperation across the table the outcome could be grave. so i would appeal to mr johnson not to be putting arbitrary and unnecessary deadlines into the negotiations and say to him that getting brexit right is more important than getting brexit done and i hope that can happen.
i hope all member states remaining will step up to the plate and give us a proper budget and if not as she said we need to develop our own resources.
other member states have different issues. portugal for example. portugal is one of the countries most affected by climate change loss of coast;
fires. portugal started its clean transition already in two thousand and five and has invested significantly since then. it will close its last coal mine already in two thousand
green deal. your resolution will give it an even greater
mechanism. we're working on it so that it can protect our businesses it can protect the environment and respect
few years. but for that they need the reassurance that they will not face unfair competition from abroad. they want steel production to be sustainable for the environment and they want to remain competitive on the global steel market and this is the essence of competitive sustainability. indeed many member states during the council were asking for the carbon border
so i'm convinced that this principle which i call competitive sustainability must be our principal for the future of the social market economy in europe. honourable members all member states have different starting points and special problems to tackle and i want to give you some examples. poland indeed as president michel said will have to transform large coal mining regions actually as does eastern germany. so at the european council poland has asked for more time to have a closer look at our proposal for the just transition fund.
energy. so the question for portugal is how to transform and transport its renewable energy through spain through france to the other countries that need this renewable energy. from the portuguese perspective the european green deal is about energy infrastructure is about inter connectivities and is about an adaptation to climate change. the third example is
to support this kind of clean innovation of course we will need a farreaching investment in education a farreaching investment in skills development.
indeed one week ago we discussed in the parliament the european green deal.
with the european green deal we aim at a growth model that gives back to our planet more than it takes away from it.
two thousand and fifty we have explained to the leaders the core of our proposal and that is to transform our continent's growth strategy.
humanity took away resources from the environment and in exchange produced waste and pollution.
the day after i brought the same proposal to the european council and the council has endorsed the goal to make our continent climate neutral by.
for too long global growth has been based on predatory ideas.
this has to change and i am convinced this can change.
in fact i am convinced that leadership on environmental protection and a sound a strong industrial base are just two sides of the same coin.
but this investment in education and skills development has always been at the core of our european social market economy.
and. twenty three it already has a surplus in renewable energies and together with the dutch government portugal is now working on green hydrogen
wto rules. honourable members we started our work on the european green deal five months ago in this very same hemicycle. in the coming weeks and months we will flesh out our plan. the council has endorsed the european
in sweden. steel companies are working on carbon free steel production. it sounds surreal but it's carbon free steel production and they are confident they can get there in a matter of a
i'm very keen on working with the member states on this and we have already started discussing how to support people and regions and companies that indeed have a longer way to come.
hurricanes; floods; horrible forest fires have taken already a very high toll. last year sixty people lost their lives in the
as always implementation is key and we need to take a more assertive trade and sustainable stance in our tsd policy in line with the fifteen point action plan for tsd implementation which was agreed in february.
we will ensure this is done at the multilateral bilateral and unilateral level coherent with our existing international agreements in the wto and in our bilateral agreements such as the eu mercosur association agreement.
it will be easier to provide environmental services.
this gives us the tools that the european union does not possess today in its relationship with the mercosur countries.
as you know the commission will soon appoint a chief trade enforcement officer.
as is the case with the recent eu trade agreements it will include a trade and sustainable development' chapter. this chapter includes a legally binding commitment to effectively implementing the paris agreement.
this is what is in the agreement.
the political and cooperation' part of the agreement foresees cooperation based on the un framework convention on climate change and the paris agreement.
all of these are important areas and important aspects of the green deal.
this will be an important new role not only for market access issues but equally for trade and sustainability issues on which we will all acknowledge there is an important and increasing focus.
this is the first time that this has been explicitly stated in an agreement with a major agricultural exporting block.
it sets out an ambitious roadmap for the eu to become climate neutral by two thousand and fifty cutting emissions restoring the health of our natural environment protecting our wildlife creating new economic opportunities and improving the quality of life of our people.
let us also not forget the benefits from enhanced civil society involvement in the implementation of the whole agreement including the tsd implementation.
the european green deal which president von der leyen presented to this house last week is as she said the eu's new growth strategy.
the agreement will encourage green public procurement and sustainable procurement practices.
this will require important changes to our economy our energy mix our industrial processes our production and consumption and it is clear that our trade policy will have to play its part.
strong ipr rules and improved enforcement frameworks will facilitate a more extended use of environmental and green technology transfer.
it's an opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of our people and our planet by transforming our economic model.
the agreement will help lower the carbon footprint of production in mercosur.
the tsd chapter recognises the right of both sides to take measures and base legislation on the precautionary principle.
the agreement will therefore help keep our consumers healthy but it also will safeguard our high environmental and food safety standards.
two thousand and eighteen i can assure this parliament that the commission will remain vigilant in this work and in this task.
this means that we will be able to engage with brazil as well as with the other mercosur countries on what they have pledged to achieve by two thousand and thirty under the paris agreement. that was not the case before the agreement was signed. this covers pledges from brazil to achieve zero illegal deforestation in the brazilian amazon to restore and reforest twelve million hectares of forests and to curb illegal and unsustainable forest practices.
the trade and sustainability chapter also addresses issues such as biodiversity circular economy waste management and responsible business conduct in supply chains.
in order to work together towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions you will also find in this part of the agreement provisions for dialogue and cooperation on issues such as oceans seas and energy.
this allows civil society in third countries to hold their governments to account just as they do in the european union.
i believe that this agreement can contribute to achieving the goals of the green deal in a number of ways and i say this as somebody who has been involved in the negotiations.
many green goods will be liberalised.
the agreement with mercosur contributes to the green deal objectives in other ways as well.
it's in all our interests now to expedite the withdrawal agreement.
two thousand and twenty this must be our joint aim.
above all this was a huge vote of confidence in boris johnson as prime minister and a mandate to get brexit done. it was also a total rejection of the command socialism being offered by the main opposition party.
the united kingdom and the european union will move ahead quickly in developing that ambitious broad flexible partnership with a comprehensive free trade agreement at its core and many other areas of cooperation so that we can together build a new partnership of friends and sovereign equals in tackling the great threats and challenges that affect us all.
i hope there will no longer be a willingness in the eu institutions to be taken in by a few people waving blue flags or of past political leaders coming to brussels to peddle false messages to what became an echo chamber of self delusion.
it will be voted on in the house of commons this week so that we can leave without further difficulty on thirty one january. provided there is efficiency good faith and goodwill we can then make rapid progress with negotiations on our future relationship so that a good free trade agreement and other arrangements can come into force by the end of.
this is the great project for two thousand and twenty fuelled by the warmth expressed by the british prime minister for the other nations of europe and i thank president von der leyen for her positive remarks and indeed the positive remarks made by a number of other colleagues.
i know michel barnier approaches his task with this positive spirit and is ready to do all that is necessary to meet the timelines and i trust that this house will be helpful in the process and i wish you will a very happy christmas.
european farmers especially meat and crop producers will be forced to compete with imports from huge agribusiness companies in mercosur countries that cut costs by using pesticides antibiotics and hormones many of which are banned in the eu.
the green deal claims that european farmers are key to managing the transition and that the farm to fork strategy will strengthen farmers' efforts to tackle climate change and preserve biodiversity and it talks of ensuring a decent living for farmers and their families.
women and children are also at risk of sexual abuse forced prostitution physical violence and human trafficking when on the move.
it's essential therefore that women young people and minorities be included in sustainable solutions for peace and stability.
venezuela is now second only to syria in terms of how many displaced people are living outside their country of origin with the united nations refugee agency predicting that approximately.
yet funding to aid this crisis affecting millions of venezuelans and at least seventeen host nations has been seriously lagging. as ever it's women and children the elderly and disabled who suffer the greatest deprivation hungry sick and often separated from family members.
fearing discrimination in exile they are reluctant to report incidents.
in concentrating on our common future we also have to address the expectations of our citizens the idea of a conference on the future of europe and the green deal.
madam president with the results in the british elections it is now clear that there is in the house of commons a sufficient majority to approve the withdrawal agreement and conclude brexit by the end of january. this is of course a sad moment in the history of europe but it is also a democratic choice that we must respect.
our duty now is to concentrate on our common future and that means to negotiate with the united kingdom sound and friendly economic and political future relations that can serve our common interests and that can safeguard the integrity of the single market and our
this is the key for successful negotiations and only by the end of two thousand and twenty will we know if the no deal' brexit scenario is really off the table.
a balanced and comprehensive approach with iran with a view to addressing all issues of concern and this of course includes our long standing concerns regarding the human rights situation.
we firmly believe that the iranian authorities must live up to their international obligations including both the universal declaration of human rights and the international covenant on civil and political rights.
i fully understand the severity of the situation with regard to the protests and we will continue to address this response and urge concrete actions as part of our diplomacy with iran which is not limited to the nuclear problems still.
indeed my first statement as high representative on behalf of the twenty eight still twenty eight member states on nine december was about the protests in iran.
we have not been silent in response to these developments;
i and my service have followed the developments around the recent protests very closely.
we have also seen as i am sure you have video of snipers shooting at protesters and seen official confirmation of at least seven zero people arrested.
and unemployment leading to protests.
since they began on fifteen november one month ago we have been trying to obtain reliable verified information on the number of deaths injuries and arrest.
in that statement we clearly stated that despite repeated calls for restraint the iranian security forces' disproportionate response to the demonstrations led to a high number of deaths and injuries
rights such as freedom of expression and assembly must always be respected and i am looking forward to working with you to promote better respect for these rights across the world.