kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
as we move towards a crucial phase in the cyprus reunification talks it is essential that we encourage all sides to roll back from their respective positions. commissioner fle what are we doing to encourage cyprus to stop the exploration whilst we await the reunification talks?
as a member state it owes a duty to this union not to push when we ask for time.
it is simply a question of strategic planning.
cyprus should provide us with time and space for the betterment of our union and in our joint interests.
i agree with the very wise comment made by mrs oomen ruijten earlier in this debate.
if we really want to find a solution then it has to be a solution that gives all cypriots a chance of sharing in the wealth that will be generated from the drilling.
we think it is a good result!
so it would not be advisable to link as suggested in paragraph twenty one solutions to these issues with the decision to operationalise the flegt licensing scheme.
turning to the resolution now under discussion i would like to highlight the issue of civil society involvement in monitoring the implementation of the timber legality verification system called svlk.
but for it to be effective there is a need for capacity building for access to information and access to forest areas as well as to protect monitors. we take good note of the recommendations made by parliament in this regard.
it started back in two thousand and six with the opening of negotiations for the flegt voluntary partnership agreement by my predecessor commissioner dimas.
this is mentioned in paragraphs thirteen fourteen seventeen and eighteen of the resolution.
the recognition afforded to civil society in the agreement is crucial to ensuring the credibility of the system.
some concerns raised in the resolution such as clarifying traditional forest tenure rights go beyond the remit of what the commission can deliver inside the vpa process and are also likely to take a number of years to resolve.
hence i was pleased and honoured to represent the commission at the signature of the european union indonesia flegt voluntary partnership agreement on thirty september last year.
it is certainly on the right track and a welcome advance but svlk needs more political commitment to ensure that those who break the code receive strong sentences and that financial penalties are imposed on the perpetrators before we will fully trust their implementation. we also need to be aware that only ten of indonesia's tropical timber actually arrives in europe.
this voluntary partnership agreement will serve as a clear indication of our commitment to helping and encouraging such actions.
some ninety of it is exported to countries with much lower environmental standards that have built in corruption and impunity for the illegal trade in tropical forest products economies that have the philosophy of profit today and who cares about the future?
for those of us who have been concerned about wholesale destruction of tropical rain forests we must today congratulate the indonesian government on its efforts to move forward with protection of forest timber and the people animals and plants that are dependent on it.
tropical deforestation and subsequent release of co two are issues for all of us and it is western demand for palm oil and timber products that is also driving destruction. let us then be clear agreeing to this vpa is a small step forward a step towards traceability a step towards protection and a step towards helping the indonesians demand the same standards from their other customers.
but we still have huge concerns over indonesia's regulation of its forest resources in what is called the svlk certification system.
it is often directly linked to corruption fraud money laundering and the general greed of a profit driven system.
the scale of deforestation in indonesia is alarming. further incentives for palm oil production the single biggest cause of deforestation in indonesia add to the problem.
if anything has changed it is solely down to public pressure.
i am in favour of every step to combat illegal logging and stop illegally logged timber entering the eu market.
independent civil society monitoring is necessary.
flegt licenced companies proven to be involved in money laundering and corruption must have their licences revoked.
tackling illegal logging around the world is a huge challenge but it is one we must address if we want to stop deforestation protect biodiversity and tackle corruption.
we have a responsibility as a community to ensure that we are trading ethically.
so i welcome this agreement.
like other colleagues i acknowledge the fact that the current indonesian government has taken serious steps to try to tackle the illegal logging.
the initiative they have started in terms of a single online tracking map is a very important one but it needs to be further developed and civil society organisations must be able to monitor the work of the mapping.
i understand from the indonesian government that there are moves to enable cooperatives to take advantage of the system. we have made good progress in signing this agreement.
this is just one of the many important contributions of the epp group to this report.
and we need creativity and courage in pursuing a substantive debate on europe in the day after tomorrow.
method; it is about economic stability the foundations of sustainable growth and improving employment;
yet this report proposes up to a nine hundred increase.
i was confident that the second report would concentrate on what measures we would propose to ensure long term growth and competitiveness in order to ensure the eu's future prosperity. i am disappointed therefore that we cannot support the final result. the very idea that more europe' the central thesis of the final report is the eu solution to a global economic crisis is one that my constituents in wales are unable to relate to.
my group fundamentally disagrees with many of the other issues raised in this report like tax raising powers for the eu and a common immigration policy.
i think more than five member states will be happy to sign a letter protesting against this suggestion of a nine hundred increase.
it is not obvious how the eu speaking with one voice at the imf or having one single european commissioner to deal with financial services legislation could somehow have prevented the worst financial crisis since the great depression or indeed how these measures will fuel the economic growth necessary for europe to recover from the ongoing crisis.
to put this in perspective at the moment certain member states including my own are quite rightly refusing to allow a five increase in the eu budget.
otherwise we are looking increasingly pathetic.
project. i assume that a clear majority of all of us here agree that deeper economic integration will have to be part of the answer despite current trends that appear to go in the opposite direction.
from the commission's side i can assure you that we will pay very close attention to this.
the council and parliament have both made important improvements to our original proposals.
we need better own resources.
well. thank you for your comments.
but it must also be very clear that we cannot force the united states to surrender; we must negotiate and this is sometimes not so obvious.
it will allow increased competition greater choice for the travelling public.
this resolution clearly demonstrates canada's position as our most proactive international partner and i wholeheartedly support it.
as mentioned before in phase one airlines have unlimited freedom to operate direct services between any point in the eu and canada without limitation on the number of providers or indeed services. we move to phase; three we will see investors able to set up new airlines in each other's countries and in phase four full cabotage rights
the agreement also sets out mutual standards for safety and security. and that is important because it means that the transfer of passengers luggage and cargo should benefit from a more streamlined approach.
it is an important agreement for the eu and our aviation sector.
i think it is very worthwhile reiterating some of the significant features of the agreement.
not only that i believe that the comprehensive nature of this agreement can serve as a benchmark for future agreements with other countries.
this has not been possible but we were able to secure a commitment from the united states to work towards reforming these rules in the future.
you will remember that the aim of the second stage discussions was to facilitate the normalisation of the transatlantic market and extend the scope and depth of the excellent aviation relationship established through the implementation of the first stage agreement in place since march. two thousand and eight
the second stage agreement creates the prospects for additional investment and market access opportunities.
it will thereby allow any eu airline to benefit from the existing bilateral agreements between vietnam and the member state.
i now want to mention the key elements of the second stage aviation agreement.
it also further strengthens the framework of cooperation on the environment social protection competition and security.
the agreement seeks to reduce the security burden on passengers airlines and airports across europe.
obviously this agreement is a significant breakthrough and it is to be welcomed.
i acknowledge that negotiators have made huge progress in the areas of security competition market access and environmental cooperation.
but like the commissioner i am disappointed that this agreement did not achieve its ultimate objective of a complete opening of the market without restrictions on either side.
the failure to resolve fully issues of foreign ownership and control cabotage must be addressed in future discussions if european carriers are to truly benefit.
the aviation industry is massively important to europe.
it facilitates economic growth trade investment and tourism.
air agreements with third countries offer our airlines great opportunities in foreign markets and i therefore urge the commission to continue to strive to conclude air agreements which are fair robust and lead to full liberalisation which will benefit both european carriers and consumers.
i am proud to be a member of a parliament where it is possible for ordinary citizens to come and to make their case and where meps listen and are persuaded.
eighty one i would also like to say thank you to my staff for all their hard work and to the written declaration services for their support but most of all i would like to thank the campaigners whose dedication made this possible.
mr president i would like to remind the house of the double standards which we are applying.
this moment tells us that progress can never be taken for granted and this is why we should continue working for positive change.
in this fight for justice we know where we stand.
in the last year we have constantly tried to show this when we talk about principles and values we talk about human beings. when we work for human rights we work to make a real difference to millions of lives around the world.
and the report i am presenting today on behalf of the high representative shows what our commitment means in practice.
in a moment like this it would be easy to fall into cynicism and despair.
has contributed to many of these good human rights stories' and for making them more visible.
the aim is to show together with a broad alliance of countries from across the globe examples of where positive human rights practices have made fundamental changes to individual lives communities and societies. in the coming year we will be celebrating these stories. they show where strong human rights protection frameworks have been put in place where communities have been made stronger through the work of civil society organisations and where countries have shown that poverty reduction and sustainable development can be achieved hand in hand with making progress in human rights.
the scrutiny of this parliament is indispensable in this regard.
so this year we have decided to focus on thematic issues and use country specific examples rather than going through each country one by one.
but as we do this we must also keep in mind all the progress we have achieved together and all the lives that have improved thanks to the european union's commitment.
it maps our work firstly to strengthen democracy.
in too many countries the situation has become worse not better.
i too am proud that the european union's member states sent firefighters to chile to help fight fires that chile welcomes refugees from the maduro venezuelan dictatorial regime and that chile does scientific research jointly with the european union's member states' scientists under the copernicus programme.
two finally thank you very much colleagues. it has been an interesting debate and i think that chile eu relations will go from strength to strength.
the wider eu latin american cooperation project is also one which is a natural fit of like minded continents with shared history culture and largely respect for democracy with sad exceptions like cuba and venezuela. but latin america by and large is a democratic continent; we need to respect that and we need to work closely with it. i would just like to briefly mention my two amendments amendment one which is to change the word dispute' to the word matters'.
in amendment two i disagree with the intervention from my green colleague.
in my view there is no conflict with the mapuche people. i wish to soften the text by doing that. i hope that colleagues will support that.
access to water is of course a human right everywhere but the economic model that is employed is a chilean national sovereign matter not for interference by the eu or by our report. water companies are often privately owned within eu member states so it would be totally ridiculous for us to prescribe an economic model to chile and interference in their domestic affairs. so please support amendment.
some ryanair pilots have told me that they go into work not feeling one hundred as otherwise they won't get paid.
many are not directly employed by the airline but are employed as contractors meaning that they do not have access to sick pay.
of course currently this is all anecdotal but thanks to this vote now we've got the power to truly discover what price safety.
i believe we have to ensure even better coordination of our capabilities and resources as well as coordination at the strategic level.
eu budget spending on the union's and its partners' security must be regarded positively and will lead to an increase in public confidence.
i'm very glad to see that many european union countries including my home country lithuania have met and even exceeded their obligation to allocate two of gdp for national defence this year.
however despite these achievements of deeper integration we still lack today tools at our disposal to guarantee the most efficient collective defence of european citizens and nato allies.
this is no mystery either for us or for them but they are not linked to the nuclear agreement implementation and they would not be easier to deal with at all without the nuclear deal in place. on the contrary let me say by experience that during all the years of negotiations of the nuclear
which also is not in the european interest.
preserving the nuclear deal is also essential to maintaining our unique and precious even if difficult channels of communication with iran.
they are outside the scope of the nuclear deal; they always have been. they need to be addressed.
some of them have already announced now that they would discontinue their engagement so as to avoid us penalties. others have informed that they would withdraw from negotiations that had already started leaving by the way the economic investment space to other players in the world
after a period of nonobjection both acts should enter into force on five august just before the first batch of us sanctions takes effect on six august.
once you keep and consolidate the nuclear deal with iran and make its survival beyond question then the space opens up to deal with other issues.
it. i'll give you a couple of examples of small windows that have opened up in our dialogue and political talks with iran on issues that are not related to the nuclear ones.
on this i would like to share with you that we have set up a regional dialogue with iran chaired by us by the european union with the participation of france germany italy and the
deal anything else that was not nuclearrelated was basically off the table.
we have had the opportunity to discuss ballistic missiles regional issues and human rights in the euiran high level political dialogue and in other meetings quite a unique formation especially for the west.
think for one moment of the scenario without the nuclear agreement in place tomorrow and you'll realise how dangerous this would be for all of us.
the second is an extension of the lending mandate of the european investment bank to support economic activities in iran.
have. the current tensions on the nuclear deal have already narrowed the space for discussing all the other issues and we believe it is in nobody's interest to close the channels that currently remain
i'll be very clear we have serious issues with iran's behaviour and stance in those fields.
it's going to be your choice anyway take it or leave it one way or the other.
mrs may is a remainer who doesn't really want to leave and of course as you found out she couldn't negotiate her way out of a wet paper bag.
but we're not really any closer to leaving the european union than we were the day after the referendum.
and we could easily reach an agreement on the reciprocal rights of citizens.
i do recognise that there have been talks at staff level with china that have resumed but the eu and nato need to engage more actively in this part of the world to avoid being behind the curve.
transatlantic unity is vital to nato but it's crumbling as we evidenced at g seven earlier this week.
that's why next month's nato summit has to sustain the momentum in the creation of the european defence union.
my questions to the high representative are whilst russia is clearly a top priority what about the world's second largest defence spender increasingly aggressive in the south and east china sea and spectacularly growing its military footprint in africa china?
it is forced to expand its operations for the first time since the cold war to extend its actions into domains of counter terrorism and cybersecurity.
secondly regardless of brexit uk and eu security will remain closely entwined.
on the eurozone reform thank you for reminding us of that it is urgent that we fix the problems
the thing about this parliament is that we are not some sort of weird extraterritorial something parliament but we are the same parties the same countries present here as are present in the council and as are going to be present at the summit. so i wonder why it is that if we same country same parties can come to an agreement why can't the heads of state and government do that?
known. there are solutions on the table and while we greens don't agree with all the details of what mr macron has put forward at least there is someone who has put proposals forward.
while this is a newer topic than two thousand and ten it is also one with a very tight deadline just around the corner and a lot of problems to solve. then of course there is the migration issue that has already been addressed by many colleagues.
we have been saying this for years here in parliament.
we are doing politics pretty much all parties are doing politics on the back of those most vulnerable. i think that this is totally unacceptable in a european union that is worth any of what mr timmermans mentioned before. it is also very interesting that the approaching austrian presidency has told the bulgarian presidency that dublin is
coming more specifically to mr gualtieri's questions on behalf of the committee on economic and monetary affairs with regard to the integration of the esm into the eu legal framework regrettably the council has not yet started legislative negotiations on the commission's proposal as several member states are not in favour of anchoring the esm in eu law. however there is general support for the goal of converting the esm into the european monetary fund. discussions on related issues such as the role of the esm as a backstop for a single resolution fund or the new esm instruments are taking place in an intergovernmental format. the commission's position is that integration of the esm into the eu legal framework is important to allow full accountability and democratic and judicial oversight of esm activities
that is what matters in
we also increase the focus on smart specialisation which helps regions to promote emerging industries and new value chains and business models leading we hope to breakthroughs for the circular economy transition. that is our objective.
we welcome this discussion.
local authorities and cities but it is worth the effort. that is the main message that i take away from tonight's debate.
a number of other points have come up in discussion and as we undertook at the beginning we will make a careful report on all of those to ms creu and her team. the circular economy requires considerable changes to the way we live our lives and run our economies and that requires the effort support and engagement of a wide range of stakeholders who are trying to make the circular economy happen in all regions
thirdly the expulsion of georgian citizens human rights abuses and discrimination on ethnic grounds must end.
of abkhazia and south ossetia thereby undermining international law and violating the eu mediated ceasefire agreement.
the second field that i would mention as an example is hybrid threats.
if we cannot move our assets rapidly we will need to buy more of them to make sure that they are in the right place at the right time.
but this is also about how efficient we are in our defence spending because if we invest in the best military capabilities and the most advanced defence systems but then they get stuck at the border for customs checks obviously we have an efficiency issue.
we are different organisations;
this is why the nato leadership starting from the secretarygeneral jens stoltenberg has been so supportive of our work towards a stronger europe of defence. all the work we've done inside the european union has always been done hand in hand with strong nato support and with the deepening of the partnership with nato.
the next eu nato parallel and coordinated exercises are to take place next november.
we are autonomous but we are partners very good ones.
almost ninety five of citizens of the european union live in nato countries so protecting these people is the first of our shared interests.
let me just highlight some key achievements that are mentioned in this progress report which by the way will also constitute a good basis for our further work looking ahead to the next nato summit in brussels. first the clearest progress is probably on military mobility.
the third area of cooperation is our work to build the capacities of our partners.
it would not be efficient it would not be safe and it would not be smart and this is why we do not do it and we will never do it.
they have one set of forces that can be used in european missions and in nato missions alike and let me also add in un missions and in this way a stronger european union in the field of defence makes nato stronger.
our european and nato staffs are working together on hybrid threats in a number of different contexts on a daily basis.
our cooperation has never been better it has never been wider and has never been deeper.
our european way to peace and security is unique and we are proud of the work we do and the way we do it.
we are also working together in ukraine on issues such as strategic communications training and security sector reform.
a more substantive partnership within the european union and nato'.
our missions both civilian and military carry out some very different tasks compared to nato operations so complementarity is in the nature of our partnership.