kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
from a consumer protection point of view regulators also need to know where they stand about dealing with online gambling.
clearly it can be regulated and it must be regulated and indeed there are many good instances where online gambling providers are clearly committed to providing the tools and the controls to deal with problems of addictive gambling and so on and of course there are issues about fraud and about problems there which we have also debated extensively in our committee.
finally i think we must also respect our citizens and the fact that many of them do want to access online gambling.
there are these inconsistencies that we have to tackle for the good of our citizens and the good of consumers.
some of our colleagues who stand up here and call for a more open europe are also the same people who are supporting the maintenance of monopoly structures for the gambling industry.
i might say that monopolies or they might say i should say that monopolies are better at controlling and treating the problem of gambling which has been discussed this morning.
more control and then more money for national governments. this is not the open europe or the transparent europe that i want.
it is the europe which says do as i say not as i do'.
there is no reason why private gambling providers operating under high levels of regulated protection in one eu member state should not be allowed to operate in others. there is no reason why a tightly regulated but open market will not provide an equivalent if not a higher level of protection to citizens as any tightly controlled state monopoly.
as we wait for that the european court of justice's verdicts continue to roll out.
they must be getting a bit sick of the issue in luxembourg or speaking as a lawyer perhaps they are not quite so sick of it but above the deafening silence that has come from the commission so far it does seem to me that it is now time for action.
the degree of legal uncertainty must be ended.
can i just say that i think it is important for parliament to signal its renewed willingness to tackle the issue and to send a strong signal to the council and commission that we should not hide away from this. with a new commission we do hope for new impetus.
is working to increase support to local authorities and reinforce partnerships between local actors from the north and the south.
this is reflected not only in the water framework directive but also in initiatives such as the eu water initiative launched at the world summit on sustainable development in johannesburg which contains the reinforcement of the role of local actors among its objectives.
for instance through training and technical assistance can be efficient ways to promote the principles of good governance in the water sector in acp countries.
it is in this framework that the different uses of water such as drinking water sanitation irrigation etc.
the statement that is being prepared includes references to the need for good governance through capacity development and institutional reform at all levels.
moreover the best practices of different experiences of green belts around cities particularly in africa are currently being analysed in the context of the great green wall for the sahara and the sahel' initiative as part of a feasibility study supported by the european commission.
the focus on the involvement of local actors has been one of the added values of this facility.
member states are invited to participate with additional funding. the commission's strategy is based on an integrated framework for collaboration with partner governments eu member states and all the stakeholders concerned.
the water facility complements the national programmes with its capacity to work with decentralised actors and develop innovative solutions. the ongoing preparation of the ten th edf water facility identifies in particular the potential offered by public water operators who provide over ninety
have to be addressed in order to reach an optimal allocation of benefits among all users.
it has also improved water governance and management in acp countries.
the commission's policy approved in two thousand and two promotes integrated water resources management in developing countries.
therefore public public partnerships potentially constitute a very cost effective approach in terms of promoting the relevant good governance' principle in the acp water sector with potentially long term and sustainable impacts on institutional and organisational change. such twinning' partnerships
finally let me confirm that aid effectiveness and the division of labour are discussed with relevant partners within the mechanisms of the eu water initiative.
in africa where the millennium development goals linked to water and sanitation are still not on track investments need to increase and the commission has demonstrated its political commitment by creating a financial mechanism. the water facility
at eu level european water policy is also based on the principle of good governance encouraging the involvement and participation of citizens local communities ngos and stakeholders.
last year the european development days here in strasbourg focused on the role of local authorities who are at the heart of access to essential services as well as on the importance of local governance and the participation of citizens. this is obviously a central issue for the water sector and the commission through its different instruments
the commission fully agrees that water and sanitation service provision is naturally addressed at the local level through local government municipalities and communities.
all that is fundamentally important for this water forum.
i just wanted to raise the other side of that coin because those of us who were recently in guyana with the acp regional conference were made very aware of those countries which have too much water because of climate change. mr musacchio was talking about the climate change impact on water;
how it can contaminate how it can dry it up lose the access but here we have too much and we have to bear in mind what that does in terms of polluting water supplies and causing damage to crops and all the rest of it.
so we have i believe to add to this list for the water forum the issue of forestation deforestation because unless we get that right we will go on having floods as well as droughts.
the european union is moving we will say it loud and clear in london so that we can work together with our partners namely our american friends.
now we must implement our recovery plans vigorously.
so providing a coordinated stimulus to the economy through supporting overall demand is necessary.
we must always bear in mind that the actions we take are only the means to an end improving people's well being.
the set of principles they adopted largely reflects european union views on the matter.
we should be clear that there is no dichotomy between stimulating the economy and improving regulation we need both. indeed we need to go beyond that we need also to reject all forms of economic nationalism and protectionism and we need to renew our commitments to the less developed world
we will defend our internal market at home keeping it open and we will work for open global markets too.
in the european union the frontier is already moving proposals on capital adequacy and credit rating agencies have been presented by the commission and are currently being discussed also by this parliament.
on financial regulation the european union wants to move the frontier further no financial product no institution no market no jurisdiction should be exempt from regulation.
the european union now has a framework provided by the commission to address this issue.
we want concrete results on a stimulus for the world economy and on the regulation of all financial actors from banks to hedge funds to new rules on credit rating agencies.
europe has therefore a particular responsibility in the current g twenty process.
as agreed last week by the twenty seven member states in the european council we will have a proactive agenda for london.
putting ethics back in the financial system is also a condition for the confidence we need in open economies.
but not regulation for the sake of regulating we need further regulation because we need markets to function properly again funding jobs and investments. only in this way will confidence be restored and confidence is key.
take the case of impaired assets clearly without cleaning the banking system credit will not flow back to the economy.
to continue to invest in productivity and european competitiveness. the commission will monitor and evaluate what member states are doing to coordinate our overall response to the crisis.
g twenty finance ministers discussed at length the treatment of impaired assets less than two weeks ago.
we must not give up on doha and must reach an agreement soon. nor can we forget the countries most in need we must stick to our commitments on the millennium development goals.
we know what we have to do to get loans flowing again; to keep people in jobs;
indeed employment is our first concern now. we will hold an employment summit on seven may to mobilise ideas and actions in favour of keeping people in jobs and retraining them for the jobs of the future.
in london the european union must also give a strong message rejecting protectionism.
i am sure that under the leadership of gordon brown and with a strong european contribution the g twenty will deliver and will build a global consensus on the international economy.
over the coming weeks the commission will table proposals on hedge funds private equity and executive pay and in time for the june european council the commission will put forward a package for a new european supervisory system.
how can we reform its decision making structures to reflect the demand for more democratic oversight and the power of emerging economies?
it. prime minister you and i carry different colours from the political pallet but as fellows scots with a burning belief in progressive politics i know that we both understand burns when he wrote oh would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us'.
by all means press others to support the same standards but caution from them cannot condone inaction from us. as you say we need to lock honesty transparency and the rule of law into the financial system. reform of global financial institutions is necessary too to stop current account surpluses and excess liquidity
opportunities to work with the obama administration should not be spoilt by a transatlantic war of words. i know we share that view but america retains its affection for skeletal regulation and the reality of this recession shows that those who wilfully ignored bad practice are now suffering most.
you designed five byzantine tests that prevented british entry these past ten years.
so let britain be a positive partner cast in the european mould.
we need the imf to fill that role.
the uk should not stand back to the wall while others take to the floor.
prime minister you spoke about the need for action so will you give the imf and the world bank an explicit mandate to tackle the drought flooding and disease that accompany global warming in the developing world? will you make sure they grant lend and plan not just for market success but to achieve social progress and green goals too?
should it become a real asset manager for parts of the global savings pool second guessing speculators preventing panic stabilising markets?
for future growth making a living must not equate to making a killing.
we need a new and sustainable economy enshrined in a global social contract. the era of easy money is past.
can it assemble more assets with increased access to crisis funds?
but to achieve these things europe must marshal consensus and the uk must be part of
this is a dance that britain should join.
will you now work to bring the united kingdom into the euro in the post recession period?
we need a european financial services authority.
my group congratulates you and your colleagues in the european council for mapping out the contours of a common approach albeit on a more limited agenda to the summit next week.
in the chill winds of recession investors have sheltered under the euro's wing.
it is crucial too despite the pain of recession to confront the challenge of climate change and the problems posed by poverty.
and those parties pushing themselves and britain to the sidelines of europe will cost their country dear.
who would have guessed listening to you just now that you were the author of the phrase british jobs for british workers' and that you have subsidised where you have not nationalised outright swathes of our economy including the car industry and many of the banks?
once again today you try to spread the blame around.
we are now running a deficit that touches ten of gdp an almost unbelievable figure.
they can see what the markets have already seen that you are the devalued prime minister of a devalued government.
the european commission has said so.
everyone knows that britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times.
prime minister you cannot carry on for ever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit.
it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls but not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging in other words to pay off debt but you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further.
it is that you are carrying on wilfully worsening our situation wantonly spending what little we have left.
as a consequence under your captaincy our hull is pressed deep into the waterline under the accumulated weight of your debt.
you know and we know and you know that we know it is nonsense.
you cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt and when you repeat in that wooden and perfunctory way that our situation is better than others that we are well placed to weather the storm i have to say you sound like a brezhnev era apparatchik giving the party line.
the markets have said so which is why our currency has devalued by thirty and soon the voters too will get their chance to say so.
like everyone else i have long accepted that you are pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things.
you spoke about an international recession international crisis.
twenty zero servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.
the country as a whole is now in negative equity.
perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words. perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the united kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any g twenty country.
it should be about building on the successes that were there recognising the failures that had been made and ensuring that we can both chart an ambitious plan forward for a global recovery predicated on common goals of common values with a common course.
but that global crisis should not be allowed to forget the successes of the past.
and we can reach the stars now!
in the irish language we have a saying called meitheal;
we are interdependent on each other in the challenges that attack us but also in the solutions which we can arrive at.
i think one of the key elements that we now have to look for and chart out for the future is instilling not just the certainty with regard to how the markets will operate the kind of shelters that would be got rid of the elimination of tax havens and shadow banking but let us also give some confidence back to people.
social protection for those most in need is a necessity for development but let us not be hung up on saying how much money a banker will get is the determining factor of what kind of a solution we come up with.
let us show them that there is a way out of this crisis that there is light at the end of the tunnel but most importantly of all let us show them that they are part of the solution.
better regulation better supervision but also better enforcement of those regulations because in a lot of cases with regard to the banking crisis it was not about a lack of regulation but rather a lack of supervision and enforcement of the rules.
that is people coming together operating together to save the harvest.
i think that when we most need to chart this new way forward of course we can speak about the carbon neutral economy the jobs created from that this is very important as well as retraining and reskilling which are vitally important.
this new crisis presents an opportunity.
to defend it strongly but most importantly of all to offer a bridge between europe and america with regard to how we can solve some of the problems and difficulties that are laid before us particularly because we now stand at a time of a global crisis.
that common course must at all times be based on the necessity of delivering better things for people not better things for markets or better things for the economy. prime minister you quoted michelangelo in your speech earlier on and there is another good quote from an irish poet oscar wilde when he said we are all lying in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars'.
over the last fifteen years we have had unprecedented economic growth unprecedented employment growth unprecedented wealth creation and unprecedented action with regard to helping and assisting the developing world. these new plans that we come forward with should not be about throwing out the baby with the bath water.
you have devalued democracy in our country;
it was not just the fact that you got it wrong because we can all get it wrong.
mr president the prime minister has received some criticism this afternoon for his comment british jobs for british workers' but you can brush that aside because from the moment he said it i do not think anybody seriously thought that he would ever as a british prime minister put the interests of british workers above that of his european dream.
we have not heard an apology. your government has apologised for the amritsar massacre;
it was an error so basic that the average a level economics student even in these educationally devalued times would not have done this.
please let the peoples of europe decide their destiny.
if you do it against the will of the people you are storing up enormous social and political problems for the future.
to add to that you have destroyed our private pension system and you took away from the bank of england its ability to regulate the banks and gave it to the tick box' bureaucrats of the fsa in canary wharf.
it was the fact that you announced in advance how much you were going to sell and on what day you were going to sell it.
well i remember very well your first big act as chancellor when you sold four hundred metric tonnes of gold on the world's exchanges at usd two hundred and seventy five an ounce.
will you please apologise for what you did as british chancellor and then perhaps we might just listen to you?
well that may be right amongst professional career politicians but a clear majority of the british people want us to have friendship and free trade with the european union but do not want to be members of this political union.
as far as the economy is concerned you have told us that somehow you are the economic guru;
consequently the commission is not considering any legislative follow up on the matter.
modalities for applying this rule still need to be fixed but we are working on them.
when the origin of a product is given and the origin of its primary ingredient is different this difference will have to be indicated on the label.
yet still the commission says that voluntary labelling is enough.
it is also supported by farmers and consumer organisations across europe and actually the cost is really quite minimal.
it would allow consumers to make informed decisions about the food they buy for a variety of reasons environmental animal welfare and yes to support their local farmers if that is what they want to do.
in two thousand and eleven when we dealt with the food information regulation parliament voted for mandatory country of origin labelling for meat and dairy products.
italy and portugal are also considering similar legislation. so it seems as if everyone wants this labelling except for the commission.
it would also be positive for the food industry and would help restore consumer confidence which has been very badly damaged in recent times.
it should be their choice.
so i hope meps will support this resolution and i hope the commission will finally listen to parliament and more importantly finally listen to consumers and at last come forward with legislation to ensure that consumers know where their food comes from.
at least member states are now waking up to this demand with france bringing in legislation for origin labelling for milk and for meat in processed food.
this is about clear honest labelling which does not mislead consumers.
last year this parliament adopted a resolution calling for the mandatory country of origin labelling for all meat in processed food.
well it clearly is not enough because we know that consumers want this labelling. eighty four of consumers support origin labelling for milk and ninety would like to see this labelling for meat in processed food.
mr president labelling processed meat and dairy products with the country of processing but not of production is both misleading to consumers and unfair to farmers.
if we make it mandatory we risk falling down in protectionism since everybody could claim indication for example small towns regions etc.
the commission already allows for voluntary labelling for anyone who wants to use it.
i do not think consumers are willing to pay for it.
two reports of the commission concluded that the cost of mandatory labelling would be extremely high.
country of origin labelling does not only benefit consumers it can be an opportunity for food producers as well.
country of origin labelling will increase the regulatory burden it will add cost which will have to be passed onto the consumer and in multi ingredient products it will prove to be impractical to reinforce.
however in the case of processed meat and dairy products for example yogurts and sausages there already is a very high level of voluntary declaration and this is a cost that consumers are prepared to pay.
so in the interests of fairness and consistency i urge the commission to bring forward proposals for mandatory country of origin labelling for all lightly processed products.
i have always been behind the concept of giving consumers the information they want including country of origin information.
there were concerns at the time about its impact in the marketplace but it has settled down.
i have to say though that those who argue that labels prevent fraud really are on thin ice because what prevents fraud is an effective inspection regime in the member states followed up by action in the courts to stop criminals in their tracks.
on the particular issues of dairy and dairy products we have to acknowledge the problems that dairy farmers are facing.
the country i come from is a major exporter of dairy produce and there could be an unintended consequence for those who export into the internal market if there is a renationalising of the marketplace.
i appreciate the comments made by colleagues who say that they want to support their own farmers.
that is a very natural instinct but i would hope that would extend to supporting farmers across europe in a way which does not discriminate.
and perhaps unsurprisingly given that we seem to be dealing with a commission which is reluctant to legislate on anything at the moment we have heard very little since then on potential proposals.
so while not giving up on this resolution in the interests of working with the commission we came up with a proposal where commissioner you could at least act on the lower hanging fruit so that you can demonstrate your willingness to stop sitting on your hands.