kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
we need cooperation and coordination of our resources reflected in specific actions which do not take ages to be initiated.
security threats are global necessitating global response and cooperation but we would be very mistaken to leave local action by the wayside.
the call to re establish our internal physical borders shows how fear and terror transcends countries. we need to appreciate that our citizens are reacting out of fear and we must provide them with security.
we can protect our citizens when we realise that strong internal and border security would be insufficient if our neighbour does not have the same security capacity.
our response needs to be both global and local.
but it is not more physical borders that we need.
would you not agree with me that as a country of seventy five million people and only about nine of the land mass is actually in europe the worry is that migratory pressures emanating from any turkey membership of the eu would overwhelm the capacity of european union countries to absorb migrants and that turkish accession should now be off the table no turkey in the eu?
does anything emanating from the valletta event change or address what is happening?
do the carefully crafted words make it any less likely the individuals will avoid hazardous death enhancing journeys for an economic future in the european union?
stop the sticking plaster approach and definitively halt the people movement and paneuropean flow?
yes it requires a proper rethink but anything else is merely perpetuating the problem the outcome and ultimately the terminal fractures in the european union concept and the latter point is the only one i agree with.
surely the european union's own risk and outcome analysis should have identified that a plan effective for a small number of well educated refugees might work but for an absolute deluge of economic migrants and some genuine war impacted refugees it is never going to work.
it does not. the european union promises to address root causes and fails miserably.
this is very important as you know.
this is an important part of our strategy but it is only one part of our strategy. it cannot be decoupled from our other actions.
aid should be spent on programmes that directly help poor people in health schemes infrastructure development and encouraging economic development.
and the unaffordability of housing because of an artificially fuelled and never ending demand on a finite supply.
competition for social benefits from people who have never paid in a penny in contributions;
living standards are already declining in europe for various reasons wage depression because of never ending waves of cheap migrant labour;
it is ironic that valletta is named in honour of jean de valette the grand master of the order of st.
africa and the middle east languish in poverty because of their endemic corruption.
john of jerusalem who led malta's successful defence against the turkish invasion in.
mr president the valletta summit was supposed to address the current migration crisis from africa the middle east and beyond. now the causes of migration are poverty and conflict.
the economic idiocy of the eurozone and its austerity policies;
the idea of giving aid to impoverished countries is not wrong in itself but the last thing that we should do is give money to their irredeemably corrupt leaders and governments.
some parts have the added problem of centuries old murderous conflicts between rival factions of the religion of peace and love.
the scenes of a three year old boy washed up on a beach like a wave he should never have been found dead on a beach.
those conclusions were absolutely shameful!
they are desperate human beings attempting to escape the horrors of war. they are refugees that need safe and legal access and routes.
throw a few jobs and scholars at the people who are being persecuted to entice them to stay in conflict zones?
he should have been playing on a beach and we should never forget that image.
the people fleeing these conflicts and oppression from libya from eritrea from yemen are not irregular anything.
when i read through the conclusions i must say i despaired and how dare me with the life that i have.
therefore it is up to us and we have a responsibility and a duty to do much much more.
to try and help to stop the flow of irregular migration what we need are immediate meaningful steps to address the humanitarian crisis at europe's borders.
they are refugees who need their fundamental rights and freedom and dignity protected by the eu.
we should never stop family unification the right of children to be together with their parents the right of parents to be together with their brothers sisters and their children.
therefore i want to ask the council what initiatives it is planning to get all member states on board to help in facing this challenge in a humane fashion.
it is indeed a very noble call but what do we see happening in practice?
but now several governments are attacking the possibility for refugees to be reunited with the family they had to leave behind that they lost on their way to europe.
no one wants to be separated from their family and to be together with your family is also a vital part of integration.
i think this is outrageous and it is absolutely inhumane.
in practice there is hardly any legal way for refugees to enter the european union to find the protection that we actually want to give to those people.
europe may be too distracted by the crisis to take the lead in what is really needed a marshall plan for africa where public agencies take full charge and do not simply delegate initiatives to the private sector or wait for the latter to take them.
worse many private projects in africa spurred by globalisation have not served to increase job opportunities in the economy as a whole.
it has however stimulated what could become an effective dialogue regarding the economic and social complementarities that should exist between africa and europe.
african development should not be dominated by global free market forces but planned by agreement and effectively implemented.
i hope the valletta summit was a first step in this very long process.
i greatly appreciate that it was our own former colleague prime minister muscat giving such european leadership and i was inspired by efforts to find solidarity between europe and africa in tackling the refugee crisis.
we need high numbers to be resettled when developing countries already house over eighty six of the world's refugees.
which of us would do differently?
last month i met refugees not in africa but in lebanon but all were parents seeking to save the lives of their children.
we meet today as the fragile european unity on this issue including from my own country great britain appears to be approaching a breaking point.
we do need more not less political will and we must not be deflected by the terrorism outrages.
we are opposed to tied aid conditionality and insist there must be genuine new money not recycling of existing development assistance if new cooperation from our partners is to be expected in return.
we say it today we said it yesterday and we will say it tomorrow.
the way we resist those political pressures on this side is through respect for international law and by appealing to the basic humanitarian instincts amongst the people we represent and which we feel ourselves.
the long term solution to the refugee crisis can only come in conflict resolution sustainable development and good governance which prevents people from wanting to leave their homes in the first place.
it was a europe that fed a starving population a europe that won the cold war and a europe that successfully reunited a broken continent.
but our children will grow up in a totally different europe a europe that will have to confront a completely different set of challenges.
the consequence of climate change of global mass migration;
and the rise of fundamentalist islam these are next generation issues for which europe will have to find next generation solutions.
secondly money promised to support our african partners must not be delayed under the guise of commitments.
in particular member states need to contribute decisively and immediately.
i have no problem whatsoever in showing my passport when i cross back into my country. it is perfectly clear sadly that schengen no matter how well intentioned was facilitating the movement of criminals terrorists arms and weapons with no border checks.
but also there was no exchange of information between police forces and security services and a weak external border of the european union.
clearly you cannot have this.
you either have to have a strong external border and a schengen or basically the reintroduction of national controls.
my country also has a problem now because of what is happening in calais.
so how can you say schengen is indispensable to the european project?
explain please.
unfortunately for us in the north of ireland it is a reserved matter which means it is still in the hands of the british government.
however our government in the north of ireland has said that we will take a thousand and by now we are still putting things in place.
how can you talk about diplomacy when it comes to migration when this union chancellor merkel threw open the doors and said come one come all? this union and the political leadership of this union have decided that there is going to be a free for all.
so how can you say that we should do x y and z to curb the flows when the political leaders of the european union have basically said there is an open door?
you have not restricted the pull factors and it will turn into a free for all.
it is clear that they will not disappear overnight but there has to be an understanding that this is not only a european problem but a much broader problem.
it has been recognised as a global concern with major political and economic consequences. we therefore have to keep a continuous dialogue with african countries going as well as with countries of the middle east.
the eu and its member states should be at the forefront of these initiatives.
along with the security measures we need to invest more experience and expertise and also resources in development policies.
thank you mr sant. you seem to blame the whole of africa's problems on globalisation and yet you do not blame the european union in any way shape or form.
so do you not feel it is concerning that the european union charges sugar beet at excessive prices to african countries to the benefit of sugar producers in germany or indeed in the production of cocoa beans so that chocolate is more expensive to be produced in africa to protect those producers in belgium?
do you not think that they have massive repercussions on jobs and prosperity in africa?
whilst migration may not have dominated the news in the last week or two that does not mean that the challenges we face have faded away.
valletta highlighted the need for more international cooperation but it also illustrated that europe needs to harness all of its political will and political persuasion to find solutions for the humanitarian crisis before us.
valletta was an important step but i believe that in many ways there were also a number of missed opportunities. valletta should be seen only as a starting point for the more ambitious agreements we must arrive at in the future.
the missed opportunities i referred to include the need to find agreement on readmission policies.
readmission and returns must form a central focus of our long term cooperation with our non eu partners.
it is a fact that our asylum systems simply cannot work if these agreements are not in place.
merely having more avenues for legal migration and for more eu funds will not solve the problem.
those legal avenues will never be able to satisfy the demand and the desire to come here.
i agree that the economic development of african nations is an important longterm goal for the eu.
development in african countries will provide opportunities and a real future for young people in their own home countries avoiding skills shortages there and developing those countries as future trading partners for ourselves.
but europe needs solutions now and europe needs to stabilise the current situation.
returning those who do not qualify for asylum has to be part of the solution.
by reducing the number of economic migrants entering the eu illegally we increase the opportunities we are able to offer the most vulnerable refugees caught up in the conflict.
this was an important summit and african nations especially have an important role to play.
but we will now look to extend the hand of cooperation further afield.
so you are welcoming the entire world to the european union.
until you deal with that you will not fix the migrant crisis and every summer there will be problems at calais there will be problems at every single border the external border of the european union. until you deal with that you will not fix the problems which is why in the uk we have seen the leave the eu' campaign ahead in the polls.
i congratulate both the commissioner and the rapporteur for speaking so clearly and for stressing the need for actual improvement.
i further ask them to name publicly those member states that have deficient legislation in this respect.
madam president it is truly inconceivable and shameful that in the twenty one century with respect to sexual offences against children the level of cooperation between different services within a state but also of cooperation between member states themselves is not what it should be.
it happened not just outside schools with bags of sweets but it happened in homes in all of our member states in churches and in hospitals.
it is very urgent that member states take seriously their many fine words about protecting children just as we in this house have spoken very much about how we value and protect children whereas in fact our actions are often much weaker than the strong words we speak.
i would also add that those who believe that small towns where everyone knows one another are a safe place for children need to think again.
in small towns people very often close their eyes because they do not want to speak about soft information' that they have and are perhaps afraid to pass it on to the authorities.
this is something that we all need to look at and be prepared to speak about because silence causes abuse to grow and causes awful damage to the children who are caught in that situation.
i think we also need to look at our constitution which puts the family before the rights of the child.
they should not be in conflict both deserve protection from our constitution.
it is not enough for states to plead that this is difficult to do.
we have to cooperate and coordinate our efforts in order to ensure we can do it.
if we are looking for a common framework and a common approach these are very key reference points which also help to send a signal from member states that they too are concerned about these issues.
i think this is one of the key things they should be doing and it would be interesting to know why certain member states have not yet actually signed up to the relevant conventions and protocols. we welcome much of the report in terms of the rights based approach which i would like to see leading on
we need those clear measures to support children who have been victims whether through court proceedings where obviously the key issue is to find the truth but not in a way that leaves children more traumatised than they were at the beginning of the process or through the collective work on identifying children.
the internet is increasingly being used by potential and actual sex offenders as a medium for the sexual abuse of children in particular through grooming and child pornography. while i accept that irish criminal law protecting children against sexual abuse and exploitation is quite comprehensive i would nevertheless urge the irish government to bring forward up to date legislation as soon as possible to deal with the proliferation of new ways by which children can be subject to sexual abuse.
i would directly generate regulatory arbitrage opportunities and give incentives for financial entities to develop risky activities in less regulated areas of shadow banking.
potential contagion effects are high and could materialise very quickly with an impact on the whole economy.
designated under the term shadow banking sector'.
why should regulators focus on the shadow banking sector?
these assets were bought by many investors worldwide and then turned out to be worthless and illiquid.
finally at the same time that regulators are strongly strengthening potential rules for banks crr crd four it would be highly undesirable to keep some actors or entities outside the supervisory oversight.
for instance when money market funds suffered from financial pressures they suddenly had to stop the investments in short instruments issued by banks and non financial corporations.
i understand your request that the commission acts on the shadow banking sector.
for all these reasons the commission drafted a green paper on shadow banking to identify the appropriate measures to regulate these risks in europe.
the economic crisis and cuts to services have caused deterioration in the rights and independence of people with disabilities.
this resolution calls for the commission formally to consult all relevant bodies including parliament in its response to the convention committee.
i am entirely committed to achieving this objective.
european law underpins this and requires employers to adapt workplaces and working arrangements to ensure they facilitate inclusion and diversity.
moreover the commission hopes the council will soon adopt our proposal for a horizontal equal treatment directive a proposal put forward in two thousand and eight which extends this protection beyond the field of employment.
we must offer them appropriate ongoing support to remain economically active.
where no person is left behind irrespective of his or her abilities and where discrimination is not tolerated.
last summer the european union submitted a report to the united nations on how we are implementing the united nations convention. it highlights several positive developments such as the new requirement on member states to prove their capacity to implement the convention
we are now engaged in a dialogue with the united nations on our implementation of the convention.
include measures to support the shift to community based services.
only those actions which help to establish the conditions for independent living in line with the united nations convention should be supported.
the commission will take this evaluation into account in our mid term review of the european disability strategy assessing whether it is fit for purpose and seeing what urgent issues remain to be tackled at european level. implementing the convention is a shared task shared by all european institutions.
promoting fairness and creating a society where discrimination has no place and where no one is left behind.
the current regulatory framework for structural and investment funds has been reinforced as you know in order to promote the shift from institutional to community based care.
the commission is keeping a careful eye on national developments including in any new legislation or national case law.
the commission's work programme for two thousand and fifteen stands as testimony to our pledge to put equal opportunities for people with disabilities at the heart of the union's policies and legislation in full observance of the united nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. this commission has a clear agenda for creating jobs and growth for all
improving access to employment on the open labour market is certainly one way to enable full and equal participation but empowering people with disabilities to enjoy their rights fully also means that persons with disabilities should not live in institutions.
european law offers protection against discrimination in employment on the grounds of disability age sexual orientation and religious belief.
we must work in tandem reinforcing and complementing each other's efforts in a coordinated way.
member states are asked to demonstrate the existence of the administrative capacity for the implementation of the united nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and a thematic ex ante conditionality requires that national strategies for reducing poverty aiming at active inclusion
as a precondition for accessing european structural and investment funding.
its adoption is a priority for the commission and we will seek to convince national governments to give up their current resistance in the council.
the european social fund invests in measures to promote equal opportunities and to combat discrimination.
i am prepared to use all means at my disposal to ensure correct application of the law in all member states.
the commission will continue to promote exchange and dialogue with all those concerned by the implementation of this convention including member states european institutions and organisations of persons with disabilities. this commission believes in a european union
in this context i would agree with my colleague adm ksa and strongly ask my own country ireland to ratify this convention.
yes i know there are legal difficulties but we have to get on with it.
people with disabilities need to be able to assert their rights today not next year or the year after.
first of all we are calling on the commission to present an ambitious proposal for a european accessibility act and i am pleased to hear what the commissioner has to say about that.
but we are also strongly calling on the council to speed up its work on the directive on the accessibility of public sector bodies' websites for persons with disabilities and also on the commission to explain in full how in both current and future legislation we can ensure that persons with disabilities will be guaranteed equal access and equal opportunities.
finally i am asking for support for our amendment which urges member states to work towards the adoption of the eu anti discrimination directive because it seeks to protect persons with disabilities against discrimination in social protection healthcare rehabilitation education and access to the supply of goods and services such as housing transport and insurance.
if we could make progress here that would be a major step forward.
people with disabilities are not allowed to.
as i have already said we have to step up inclusion policies for people with disabilities.
the good news is that it is not too late and that initiatives such as the medfish four ever declaration or the report that we are debating here today are crucial towards guiding us into the right direction. in order to concretely address these concerns we should involve everyone governments commercial and recreational fishermen scientists non governmental organisations and international and regional organisations and together we can turn the situation in the mediterranean around.
today this heritage is at risk and that is why it is of the utmost importance to protect the region's ecological and economic wealth.
it addresses critical fisheriesrelated issues including data collection and scientific evaluation the ecosystembased approaches in the fight against illegal unreported and unregulated fishing and support for smallscale fisheries.
to do this we organised a ministerial conference in march in valletta and during this the ministers from thirteen countries around the mediterranean signed the malta medfish four ever declaration. this is a declaration that stresses environmental sustainability social cohesion and viable economic perspectives.
we will do this by supporting them in their structural reforms in fisheries through the eu neighbourhood funding instruments.
this will include the adoption of a regional plan of action to fight illegal unreported and unregulated fishing.
i am very pleased to see that the report by mr marco affronte is going in that same direction. we would like to congratulate the european parliament for this initiative.
this will require progress on multiannual plans.