kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
madam president in this house i have always underscored the importance of strong relations with vietnam a developing country that is slowly but steadily making progress in a number of areas and has shown itself a partner for the eu in the region.
a twenty two year old blogger and videographer who wanted to unravel the environmental disaster in ha tinh province to the public he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for having disseminated online information.
vietnam has to understand that if it wants to open up to the west and we welcome it opening up to the west it also has to open up to internal criticism.
vietnam's current approach to freedom of expression is unacceptable;
we will take into account the human rights situation in the country and we will take into account the labour and environmental standards in the country when we vote on this in this parliament.
criticism is not always opposition it is constructive if handled properly.
unlike ms snchez i actually think the substance of this agreement is a good agreement a good agreement for both the european union and for vietnam.
in order for vietnam to remain an important psa and fda partner of the european union i urge its government today to work to uphold the basic freedoms of its people and to release those imprisoned only for expressing their opinion.
this crackdown on environmental activism using national security provisions in the penal code of vietnam is deeply alarming.
last month twenty two year old nguyen van hoa was sentenced to seven years in prison for blogging about an intentional toxic spill along one hundred and twenty miles of coastline which destroyed marine wildlife and damaged the health of its inhabitants.
madam president in recent years vietnam has made great economic strides but human rights organisations continue to report that the democratic freedoms of speech religion and press are still sadly lacking.
sadly although it is commendable that vietnam has one of the highest levels of internet usage in east asia all media is now owned by the state and civil and political rights are still deteriorating.
the eu has been constructively engaged with the vietnamese authorities on a revision of the penal code and its related laws in order to ensure alignment with international standards by providing input to the national assembly by offering exchange of best practices and by promoting joint actions with like minded countries.
compared to twenty years ago reform and modernisation have allowed vietnam to make continuous progress in economic and social rights steadily reaching out to international processes. the eu and vietnam are partners in moving from limited regional integration to meeting wider international standards.
madam president in vietnam like all over the world human rights defenders are facing increasing pressure for their brave stand.
in fact our human rights are globally facing increasing pressure from nationalists fascists and political actors not interested in democracy and freedom.
but the ones making human rights come alive are civil society the human rights defenders on the ground;
by simply doing their work human rights defenders journalists bloggers writers and activists are being imprisoned and attacked.
more than one hundred vietnamese people are currently behind bars for their political or religious beliefs.
the minister who decided on cavalier distribution of eu rural development funds on this basis leading to the demeaning and bizarre spectacle of farmers queuing for two days to get some of their own modulated money back is a minister not fit to hold office.
the source of this embarrassment is the wanton refusal of the minister to allocate sufficient funds to rural development.
in that at a stroke she both humiliated hard working farmers and displayed crass ignorance of basic requirements for the distribution of eu funds.
the pitiful gbp fifty million she put into axis one and only gbp fifteen million of that into the modernisation fund is what caused the spectacle of tuesday.
mr president eu funds distributed by the lottery of first come first served' is wrong. yet that is what we have seen in northern ireland this week.
never before has a democratically elected politician representing a democratic party from a democratic european country been denied entry. it seems odd that the british government can find the legal means to ban mr wilders but is powerless to prevent the entry of assorted terrorists political and religious extremists gangsters criminals rapists and paedophiles from the european union and indeed the wider world.
this was an act of appeasement to a dark age ideology and it seems that we do not quite have the free movement of ideas across european union borders.
this communication shortfall can be breached by allowing more positive information to flow freely about the advantages of being part of the eu.
mr president on the theme of the lisbon treaty my colleague has spoken about the increase in support among the irish electorate for the treaty but i would warn that one swallow does not make a summer. i think that must be taken against a background of a recent eurobarometer poll which shows that support for irish membership of the eu has dropped by ten percentage points from seventy seven in the spring of two thousand and six to sixty seven
two thousand and eight yes there is a job to be done to persuade the irish electorate about the positive benefits of the european union.
that is why i would be concerned about those who want an earlier date for a second referendum in ireland.
the g twenty commitments were an important step in the right direction.
it is crucial too that russia does not succumb to the temptations of protectionism.
including on the negotiation of the new agreement.
the eu russia strategic partnership must as was said before be based on common commitments in the area of human rights and democracy.
this is important not least in the context of the ongoing negotiations for the new agreement which are being held by the commission and which must contain clear legally binding provisions on trade and investment and also on energy.
turning to climate change my colleague has already said that the summit should underline the leading roles that russia and the european union can play together in achieving results at the copenhagen meeting.
we will therefore be calling on russia to commit itself to more ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions comparable with the targets we have set ourselves in the eu.
we will therefore continue to explain our view that the political and economic stability encouraged by the eastern partnership is finally in the interests of all parties.
these should therefore form the basis of our work on energy security under the new eu russia agreement.
russia has entered into commitments as a member of the united nations the osce and the council of europe and these have to be upheld. i think it is also crucial that we go further and work together on all the different issues.
while we work well with russia on many aspects of international relations we need to make more progress in our cooperation in the common neighbourhood.
russia has the scope to make a very substantial contribution given its enormous scope for emissions reductions through improvements in energy efficiency.
i think it is now important that this debate does not distract us from the immediate task of resolving today's frozen conflicts.
the financial crisis has hit russia hard and this is precisely the kind of policy area in which the european union also has a clear interest in seeking a common policy approach.
we also concluded that we should base our relations on the assessment of our own self interest.
this is what we are aiming for particularly in our new agreement.
my last point is indeed a positive one youth cooperation in science and technology.
indeed we just had a permanent partnership council but of course we could again do so.
i think again that the scope of our relationship is enormous.
the european union and russia are as i said also important partners in the energy field.
framework programme on research and technological development.
let us hope that this will indeed be true.
these are always discussed in our eu russia human rights consultations.
however especially at a time of economic uncertainty i think it is all the more important to ensure that the relationship between europe and russia works as effectively as possible to deliver security stability and prosperity for our citizens and also for russia's citizens.
yes the constitutional court in russia is debating this issue at the moment but we were told that there are indications that the court will conclude that russia is bound by its signature of protocol six of the european convention on human rights and thus will most probably not apply the death penalty.
this is what we aim to achieve with for instance the early warning mechanism on which we are working and where it is important that we work with the ministry of energy of the russian federation.
the relation is one of interdependence which offers both sides a strong motivation to put our energy relations on a predictable and also on a concrete basis.
with regard to human rights i did speak about human rights.
we have spoken about human rights whenever we have been at the summit.
the eu's commitment to diversification of source and supply under a common external energy security policy must surely strengthen our hand at the negotiating table with russia.
the first such responsibility is to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbours such as ukraine and georgia and abandon the insulting near abroad' concept.
russia must also cooperate in the prevention of nuclear proliferation particularly to iran and not sell iran the s three hundred missile system to demonstrate solidarity with the west against this dangerous regime.
russia must also take concrete steps to protect human rights and the rule of law given the number of unsolved murders of journalists and human rights activists.
finally as winter approaches russia cannot be permitted once again to use its virtual monopoly of gas supplies to europe as a diplomatic weapon.
madam president the ecr group accepts that russia is a vital economic partner and a global diplomatic heavyweight but this position brings with it responsibilities.
we should always defend our values and interests but we should also show empathy and respect for the aspirations and interests of russia.
on a more concrete point we must transform our eastern neighbourhood from an area of rivalries into an area of common strategies and common projects.
a common strategy for the black sea area should perhaps slowly complement our synergy and give more substance to our present approach.
of course there are some local differences between russia and her neighbours but can we not agree that next week's summit should be used to attempt to build bridges and cooperation between the eastern and western halves of our civilisation?
yet in the european union every year the commission demands more money and every year the court of auditors replies that the money is not being well spent.
the court of auditors says that the two thousand and nine accounts on which we have just voted are materially affected by error and that is why i am very pleased that the british conservatives and our good friends in the european conservatives have voted against discharge of these accounts.
there is a racket a ponzi scheme whereby governments and banks connive to give money to european bankers and bondholders while expecting the repayment to come from ordinary european taxpayers. ireland and greece are now having to borrow more money to send to portugal while at the same time ireland and portugal are having to borrow more money to send to greece.
madam president a billion here a billion there and pretty soon we are talking real money.
you will find it better policy to say we never pay any one dane geld no matter how trifling the cost;
the amounts that have been dedicated by the european union to these bailouts dwarf the domestic spending of our national governments.
for the end of that game is oppression and shame and the nation that plays it is lost! '
when the greek bailout was originally agreed we were told that it would be enough to deter the speculators that greece would now be borrowing competitively in the market and that no more would be needed.
what is inclusive about shutting out the smes so that once again it is the big companies that pick up the trade and leave the unemployed from the smes to flounder and do what they can?
in imco we focus a lot on smes as they are crucial job and growth catalysts for the eu economy.
we sent a strong message in our committee that administrative and regulatory burdens as well as time consuming barriers for smes need to be reduced.
in this regard i am pleased to see that these priorities our calls for fitness checks and existing legislation were included in the final agreed text and that the lighter regimes providing for sme exemptions on eu legislation shall be possible.
we also stress that it is important that the enterprise europe network focus on added value measures such as the identification of programmes which could improve the competitiveness of and growth in the single market.
but finally in order to ensure that funds reach smes we called for a transparent monitoring system to be put in place to ensure that banks use the funds and guarantees to increase their sme lending.
secondly it can make it easier for people to start and develop their own businesses and it is good news that the eu programme for smes will include a loan guarantee facility. i am also pleased that the new scheme will pay attention to new potential entrepreneurs especially women.
i worked on the opinion for this report for the women's rights committee and also authored an own initiative report on female entrepreneurs. some of the recommendations i made in that report were taken on board by the commission.
as a former businesswoman i know that having more women in business is good for the economy.
i hope that the new eu programme will create a fresh wave of entrepreneurs and that many of them will be women.
two thousand and eleven it is an increasingly important partner for the eu.
politically mercosur is the largest regional integration project in latin america which makes it superfluous to insist on the geopolitical importance of strengthening our ties with the continent. we have agreements in place with chile and mexico and recently finalised negotiations with colombia peru and central america so it is only logical to engage with mercosur as well.
finally as regards the impact of a possible agreement a sustainable impact assessment of a trade agreement between the eu and mercosur has already been carried out and has been publicly available since march.
we are only just starting the negotiations and have not yet entered into discussions on substance.
the eu approach in all trade negotiations is certainly not to decrease the eu level of protection.
as an advanced emerging economy it takes a very different stand to the eu in relation to reform of the world bank and the
let us also keep in mind that we have substantial offensive agriculture interests in mercosur as well such as wine cheese fruit and vegetables and geographical indications.
on the united nations security council.
in order to conclude we will need to negotiate an ambitious agreement notably in sectors such as trade in goods and services or intellectual property including geographical indications.
the partnership dates back to two thousand and seven and the joint action plan which translates the partnership into concrete actions
the african union commission has received our joint proposal on trilateral cooperation on bioenergy and we hope to hear from them
it was a rather technical round to touch base after more than five years of suspension identifying where the negotiations had left off in two thousand and four on process issues and modalities for the negotiations going forward.
this will be the fourth eu brazil summit at which we will aim to take stock of progress in our relations and discuss the main global challenges. the moment for such an assessment is particularly appropriate as president lula's term in office approaches its
in this context let me clarify that relaunching the negotiations with mercosur does not undermine in any way our commitment to a successful conclusion of the dda.
it supports multilateralism is a member of the g twenty and is a key player in global debates on climate change economic governance the reform of the un trade issues and the eradication of poverty.
as regards your specific questions the commission is working on the basis of the negotiating directives adopted by the council back in.
given its size and potential and also the fact that mercosur is still a relatively protected market the economic gains for eu business could be among the most important of the free trade agreements recently concluded or currently being negotiated by the eu with major trade partners such as korea or india.
i believe that if we make the right choices it is possible to successfully conclude both negotiations. as regards food safety it goes without saying that imports have to fully respect eu food safety requirements. let it be very clear that there is no intention to negotiate away our health and safety requirements;
at the summit we will confirm our commitment to strengthening non proliferation and encourage closer cooperation.
let me add that immediately after the college had taken the decision i came to the inta committee and we discussed in depth the relaunching of the negotiations.
we also know that we will have to take into account previous agricultural offers made by the eu in the doha round of which mercosur is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries.
brazil has uncontested international stature in line with the size of its territory its population and its economic performance.
relaunching these negotiations is also a sign of the commitment of both regions to continuing to promote free trade and to reject protectionism. the commission has taken this decision after a thorough examination and in depth internal debate. in reaching this decision the commission positively valued
it is however way too early to discuss what these measures could cover.
to. two thousand and eight the multiplicity of joint initiatives the level of mutual understanding and the deepening of the relationship which includes eighteen ongoing dialogues bear witness to our satisfaction with the implementation of the joint action plan.
deliver. first the signature of a horizontal civil aviation agreement and an air safety agreement. second the announcement of a joint work programme on triangular cooperation with developing countries.
moreover brazil often acts as an informal bridge between western and emerging and developing countries.
we will of course keep the european parliament and the council fully informed about the evolution of the negotiations.
however it must be very clear that the forthcoming attitude of our mercosur partners surely allows negotiations to be relaunched but is of course no guarantee of a successful conclusion.
brazil is one of nine countries with which the eu has entered into a strategic partnership.
in parallel that help to give a fuller dimension to our bilateral regional and global engagements but i have more than exhausted my speaking
this has to be agreed between the agriculture commissioner and myself and if we do not agree then it goes to the college of commissioners and it is the college of commissioners which takes the decision.
two thousand and nine in addition the commission will complete this impact assessment with a more focused economic study in the months to come.
unfortunately i will not be in brasilia but given that we have only met recently to have the first technical talks after a long pause the summit is unlikely to take firm decisions in relation to this negotiation. the summit will also address regional issues cuba honduras paraguay and venezuela. brazil's role in helping to stabilise
the wto rules give us the right to establish our own level of protection provided that this is based on recognised scientific evidence this is an inviolable right.
imf. overall what is certainly clear is that we have a shared agenda as globally relevant partners and we have to find ways to sort out our differences and seek convergence.
the commission is very well aware of the sensitivity of agriculture in these negotiations and will take this element into account when negotiating with mercosur.
soon. in terms of cooperation in multilateral fora we are pursuing coordination ahead of the seoul g twenty summit to gather brazil's support to obtain adequate representation of the eu in the un system and to purposefully engage towards a conclusion of the doha round. brazil is seeking to reinforce its influence with the global governance system and needs our support for a permanent seat
in economic terms a successful agreement could bring considerable benefits to both the eu and mercosur.
in terms of eu exports it ranks on a par with india and ahead of countries such as canada or korea.
however it was the farming organisations and meps which proved the commission's position wrong on the issues of equivalence of quality and standards between imports and eu products resulting in the number of exporting units in brazil being reduced from three zero to under.
can i just say commissioner that the track record does not offer great hope or great confidence for me for the future.
one zero so commissioner my question is given the past experience and the current sporadic nature of fvo missions how can the commission guarantee consumers that all imports coming into the european union are of equable quality and comply with european union standards?
in the past the commission continually assured european consumers and members of this house of the quality of imports into the european union.
mr president there was wisdom in my decision to hold back my contribution until i heard what i hoped would be answers.
look at the impacts of this on the environment where europe regards itself as a leader in terms of climate change land tenure problems in these countries the chopping down of forests the impact on indigenous populations and forced labour and specifically on beef.
as you did not address the impact assessment other than telling us you have done an assessment let me talk to you about some of the impacts on our agricultural producers.
we have failed to defend them in the past.
the us and japan will not do a deal because they protect their producers and the high standards they value.
if we undermine that part of our market we will destroy beef production and the market in the european union.
this parliament imposes high standards of food production on our producers.
the commission has been found wanting and we cannot allow an agreement of this sort to happen to the detriment of eu production at a time when we are reforming our agricultural policy. there is no consistency between agriculture and trade policy.
the last speaker addressed some of the points that i would wish to make.
the mercosur meat forum which represents brazil argentina uruguay and paraguay urged the negotiators not to waste an extraordinary opportunity for them.
for those of you who do not realise it this is an attack on the high quality end of our beef market.
i noted the time that the commission took longer than any of us here in this chamber and i regret that i did not get specific answers to five very direct questions. on the mandate let me say that a mandate dating back to one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine is way out of date and indeed most of the current parliament would not have been around in.
what will happen is there will be job losses across rural europe and a reduction in our food production capacity.
and happily so because this is a community matter and it is an exclusive competence of the european union whereby the commission has very clear competences.
i am ready to discuss at length any of the elements.