kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
mr president in ten years in this chamber i have listened to an awful lot of humbug but i do not think i have ever heard such unadulterated piffle as i heard in the debate on this report yesterday from paleo federalists such as mr brok and mr corbett canting about the sovereignty of national parliaments as though they cared about it.
secondly to show my support for the ratification of the lisbon treaty but more importantly to urge my government when the lisbon treaty is ratified and when we have an extra seat coming to the united kingdom to allocate that seat to the people of gibraltar.
but i honestly have to say that it is difficult for the seven members who have been elected to represent gibraltar to do full justice over the range of issues that come to us human rights whistle blowing pensions cross border pollution and of course bilateral relations with spain.
it is of course for them to take their own decision but these are after all people whose fathers saw off the might of the british empire.
if they now give in to the european parliament i think they would be diminished as a people.
i think it is very important that we recognise when it comes to the lisbon treaty that it has not been ratified yet and we should not behave as if it has been ratified. we should not ignore the will of the voters who have not yet ratified it and those countries that have not yet ratified it.
let us also remember the rules at the start of the game and let us not try to change the rules half way through.
at the start of the constitutional process the rules were that every country had to ratify or it fell.
also with the lisbon treaty the rules at the beginning were that every country has to ratify otherwise it falls.
yet when the irish people voted no' we decided to continue and to make them vote again.
if you really want the will of the people to follow this then i suggest to the british government that they meet their manifesto commitment and have a referendum on the lisbon treaty.
consequently without prejudging the position of the council as regards any possible future macro regional strategy the commission is able to support progress which could be made in the framework of further mediterranean cooperation.
therefore the commission welcomes all initiatives for regions and countries to work together either in the existing forms of cooperation or in macro regional strategies if this is considered to be the most appropriate solution. the commission reminds members of the invitation made to the member states in the european council of june two thousand and eleven to continue work in cooperation with the commission on possible future macro regional strategies.
the joint adoption of the new european consensus last june is certainly a very important step as it will guide both the eu and its member states for the next twelve to fifteen years.
however more needs to be done in terms of implementation at the eu level across all policies internal and external.
even though this is still early days the report provides useful insights in terms of trends showing that our performance is on the right track with some goals but less so on several others.
two thousand and thirty the mandate of this working party will be to ensure systematic effective participatory transparent and integrated follow up and review of the implementation of the sustainable development goals at eu level in order to track progress assess achievements and ensure accountability. the working group starts its work in early two thousand and eighteen and will be reporting to the general affairs council.
at this stage the council is certainly looking forward to receiving more specific sectoral implementation proposals from the commission. in this respect the council adapted its working methods to be better able to monitor the implementation of sustainable development goals at eu level in a holistic manner.
also in november the council welcomed the first implementation monitoring report on progress towards the sustainable development goals in the eu prepared recently by eurostat.
however there is a need for a fully fledged analysis of gaps and a comprehensive eu implementation strategy to ensure that all policies are covered both internal and external.
after agreeing on what to do we now have an obligation to do it at national as well as at the eu level.
the member states have been leading by example notably through voluntary national reporting in the context of the united nations high level political forum on sustainable development.
but we need to have a truthful and objective measure and assessment of our performance and progress in line with the united nations requirements.
to that end future reports should provide indications about the gaps to targets and not just about trends.
if we want to be serious about implementation of this transformative two thousand and thirty agenda.
two thousand and eighteen the reflection paper is part of the discussion on the future of europe.
i repeat that this reflection paper will be accompanied by a distance to sdgs' analysis to provide besides the trends also an understanding of the distance we still need to cover.
indicator development will continue and the eu framework will be adapted accordingly.
eurostat is working on it together with the united nations to define those missing indicators.
but we also know that we have to measure to know and indeed monitoring our performance is the first step to knowing where we stand which in turn is the first step to making progress and that first step is now taken.
the council has invited the commission to prepare for the first eu report on the internal and external implementation of the two thousand and thirty agenda by the eu at the united nations high level political forum by.
i can tell you that in europe we have much more data than is available at the united nations.
some honourable members mentioned that there are no data for four indicators.
we all know that. making progress on them is not easy and does not come quickly.
however in some cases data series do not exist and therefore we cannot now show progress in the last five years i hope it will be progress we can show and not regress of course.
the commission also established as you know the sdg multi stakeholder platform and there the european parliament and the council will be closely associated with the work. you will be engaged via the relevant institutional fora. moreover in relation to development policy the commission will produce a joint synthesis report with member states on our implementation of the consensus including the impact of their actions in support of the two thousand and thirty agenda in developing countries as a contribution to the eu reporting to the high level political forum.
that should not be a surprise to any of us.
it is true that those data are missing.
two thousand and nineteen we are starting to prepare for this report with the reflection paper due in the second half of.
let me tell you also that the current list of indicators is not fixed in stone;
it will include the reflection on the implementation of the sustainable development goals and of the paris agreement on climate change as well as the reflection on economic and societal changes.
these concern quality education partnership for the goals industry innovation and infrastructure gender equality decent work and economic growth no poverty zero hunger and reduced inequalities.
progress for some goals has been faster than for others and within the goals movement away from the sustainable development objectives also occurred in specific areas.
but let us be clear about this progress.
fifty six of the one hundred european union sdg indicators are also part of the un set.
for example in the case of terrestrial ecosystems the indicators mostly show good progress but this should not lead to the conclusion that ecosystems or biodiversity in the union are in good health.
eurostat will continue to evaluate and improve the list of indicators and produce annual monitoring reports.
to follow up and review the goals and targets the two thousand and thirty agenda foresees the development of a reference indicator framework for global monitoring complemented by indicators at regional and national levels which will be developed by the member states. the european union has its own monitoring process.
governments have the primary responsibility for followup and review at national regional and global levels.
in this way that progress towards a given goal does not necessarily mean that the status of that goal is satisfactory for the european union.
the european union has made significant progress over the last five years towards the overall achievement of the goals concerning affordable and clean energy responsible consumption and production life on land sustainable cities and communities and good health and wellbeing.
the european sdg indicator set includes indicators which are relevant from an eu policy perspective and which are already available. they include detailed information on gender age groups regions educational level degree of urbanisation income and disability.
the report finds that over the last five years the european union has made progress towards all sdgs.
the indicator set will be regularly reviewed to make sure that it includes the most relevant and highest quality indicators and that it aligns with the un global indicators.
eurostat's monitoring report builds on eurostat's long experience in monitoring sustainable development in the union.
sustainable development goals and one hundred and sixty nine related targets to end poverty protect the planet and ensure prosperity and peace.
on twenty november two thousand and seventeen eurostat released the first monitoring report. this monitoring report is based on the european union sdg indicator set which the commission developed in cooperation with a large number of partners and stakeholders including the european union member states
to conclude monitoring progress towards the implementation of the sdgs is essential to meet the expectations raised by the two thousand and thirty agenda.
years of austerity politics have only made things worse in particular in my country as well as in greece portugal and spain.
these results show that europe must focus on improving the lives and wellbeing of the most vulnerable.
we need to adopt the eu child guarantee now.
this proves that when the eu has a strong collective strategy progress is possible.
i want to reaffirm that the number of children living in or at risk of poverty in our societies in two thousand and seventeen is simply shameful.
growing inequalities are not only a lost economic potential as this report demonstrates but they are also at the root of rising populism and extremism which sows division in our communities and threatens european values.
however at the other end of the spectrum we find the reduction of inequalities and the elimination of poverty plus gender equality remaining at moderate progress only. so what does this say about our societies?
this is of course what we also have to practise in our external programmes and policies.
we cannot work in silos and i think this has been understood but not really implemented yet.
in fact we do have some ideas already from existing policies.
finally the high level expert group on sustainable finance is just about to publish its proposals.
we will have to see how we will improve our investment policies so that they are truly sustainable.
madam president honourable members i would like to thank you for this opportunity to address all of you before the final vote on the fp seven interim evaluation report in plenary tomorrow morning.
first this is a rich and comprehensive report that deals in a constructive way with the key issues raised in the fp seven interim evaluation.
i believe that this debate today marks one of those significant steps.
evaluation is nothing if the results are not presented discussed questioned and indeed either accepted or sometimes rejected by the very stakeholders that it aims to serve and of course parliament plays a vital role in this process not only bringing to bear a broad cross section of experience from political and public life but just as importantly from the many fields of deep knowledge held by members.
even though there might not be full agreement on every detail it is important to note that there exists a core common understanding on the big ticketed items notably the need for a comprehensive strategy to boost research and innovation in the context of the europe two thousand and twenty strategy the need to make the programme more accessible to the wide range of possible contributors throughout europe and the need to further simplify procedures to allow all participants to focus on creativity rather than bureaucracy.
as an example as mr audy reminded us we have already implemented three concrete simplification measures for fp seven more use of average personnel costs easier procedures for owner managers of smes and a clearing committee to ensure a common interpretation of the rules.
this will include the necessary quantum leap in simplification which will be made possible by a common strategic framework new rules for participation and with your help a revised user friendly financial regulation.
at the same time the recommendations and views expressed in this interim evaluation are of course of paramount importance for the preparation of future activities in the field of research and innovation.
the commission underlines its intention to take concrete measures in the remaining years of the fp seven to implement a maximum number of the concise suggestions made by the evaluators.
let me make a few brief introductory remarks on the report itself.
the commission notes that the main points raised in the present report coincide with the key issues addressed in the commission's response to the evaluation report.
the implementation of the seventh framework programme and in turn the progression towards what is proposed as a common strategic framework for research and innovation is marked by a long series of individual but nonetheless significant steps.
it is most encouraging to see that the interim evaluation report triggered very substantive responses from the institutions and that these responses although putting the emphasis sometimes on different issues basically agree with the main findings and recommendations made by the independent evaluation experts.
secondly it is important that we focus on the inadequate participation of smes in the programme and that we call for measures to improve this especially since future growth and job creation in the eu depend on them.
first of all i am delighted to see that there is a unanimous call for simplification measures for our rules on financing methods.
efforts to encourage greater participation by smes must also be encouraged at the highest level and we must ensure that bureaucracy is kept to the minimum.
we also need the public sector and indeed the private sector which i believe is the engine of growth in the economy to work together in a spirit of partnership.
bureaucracy is cited as the main difficulty and many small businesses are simply more concerned about keeping open the door than they are about the long term benefits of the research and innovation programme.
i believe that the example shown by the aerospace industry in northern ireland is a significant one larger companies mentoring and helping smaller companies to actually access the programme and i would use this opportunity to call upon the commissioner to provide us with radical and new ways for small and medium sized enterprises to benefit from this very important programme.
madam president thank you to the rapporteur for this report and my thanks also to the commissioner who recently paid a visit to my constituency of northern ireland where i know she saw some excellent examples of research and innovation. the northern ireland economy is a small and medium sized enterprise economy ninety seven of all businesses can be classified in this way yet it is an economy that lags behind other regions of the united kingdom and europe in drawing down money from the framework programme.
with regard to this framework programme if we do not aim for excellence we will lose the competitive edge that we need to have in the future.
the third point is mobility. i think one of the striking things we have experienced is that the mobility we can achieve via the framework programme is creating the special climate and the special preconditions for excellence.
and i am happy that the rapporteur has made the proposal for a research voucher trying to secure that we have a spontaneous process for excellence between researchers in europe by creating and increasing their mobility.
madam president research and innovation are key to delivering growth and to meeting our biggest challenges.
i have seen much excellent research funded by european grants both in collaborative projects with industry and across borders and in individual grants to expert scientists.
commissioner i still think you can do more for simplification.
money is tight and funds must get rapidly to the scientists in the lab and not just to those who fill in the forms and check the accounts.
not every bid can be financed and in the world of research added value is of course difficult to measure but i do not believe that a common european system for evaluating performance is the only way forward.
we need scientists who compete with the best in the world and they should be evaluated on the world stage.
we also must not compromise that principle of excellence.
the european research council for example has done much to support individual scientists.
if their mandate is changed to support team based projects this must not be to the detriment of supporting individuals of excellence.
i would like to see more money for research but there is no bottomless bank account.
i and my group cannot support doubling the eu budget in one area without a commitment to showing where that money can come from elsewhere.
we would instead like to see public money work more intelligently both alongside private investment and through better public procurement.
as they both said research and innovation is important for the future of the european economy.
finally i would also support the proposal to create better links between universities and businesses so that we can take advantage of all the research and development undertaken.
that means no existing standards of social legislation should be allowed to be lowered due to the adoption of this piece of legislation.
the recommendations on non ratification did not go as far as we wanted our proposal wanted to put ships from flag states not signing the mlc into a higher risk category but this was not accepted.
i therefore welcome the agreement between the rapporteur mr simpson who has done a splendid job on this dossier and the presidency. i was pleased to note that the committee on transport and tourism overwhelmingly supported it and i hope that this house will come to the same conclusion about the benefits of the text as it stands now.
the proposal aims to enforce the maritime labour convention through port state control.
that convention provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world's seafarers.
it will in turn help to maintain and improve the safety and the environmental performance of the shipping industry.
it is one of two enforcement instruments related to the two thousand and six convention to be adopted by the european union.
the maritime labour convention of two thousand and six and its enforcement via the port state control directive are important tools in eliminating substandard shipping.
the relevance of the port state control system to all of this is that it is seen to be the second line of defence against substandard shipping a kind of safety net to support or to catch out flag states that have failed to ensure compliance with international standards.
i believe we obtained good compromises with the council on some of the key points that were important to us in the revision of this directive putting guarantees in place that the application of the revised directive would not result in any backward step in terms of employment and social rights
it must be said that if seafarers are to see real improvements in their conditions of employment accommodation social security protection and so on we need ilo countries to get on with ratifying this convention.
the port state control directive deals with the enforcement side of international conventions giving port states a clear role to play in ensuring compliance with international standards for safety pollution prevention and on board living and working conditions hence the need to put in place a robust port state control system
the current directive needed updating to reflect the maritime labour convention of two thousand and six which was adopted by the international labour organization and which provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for all seafarers regardless of nationality and flag of ship.
this means that fifteen out of twenty eight eu member states have yet to ratify the convention.
i just want to remind members that this ratification is a step in the right direction.
yes we do but i believe this report takes us in the right direction in trying to address that particular problem.
in fact most people did not have a mobile phone.
i also welcome your statement on basic bank accounts commissioner and i hope that credit unions and their important role are included in your discussions.
twenty years ago we did not use mobile phones in the way we do today;
now the ability to access information and buy goods and services on the move is a driver for growth.
in their engagement with the single market and in dealing with their frustrations.
indeed the report that ms bastos has prepared comments on a list of such frustrations which we asked to be prepared and that is entirely consistent with our role in encouraging action on issues like mobile phone roaming car insurance and other areas.
we now have the first single market act and the second.
i am already thinking ahead with my colleagues to.
on the contrary what we learned from the celebrations is that we have to step up our efforts in order to pursue the establishment of a seamless single market.
but we must be mindful during these difficult times that the european union was created for free trade and we must keep this spirit of free trade and not succumb to protectionism.
i was particularly happy that my amendments calling for the sme test to be applied consistently across all policy areas and for a review of all regulations which negatively impact on smes were adopted.
we have a responsibility to address the twenty main concerns in relation to the single market and this is a good start.
the commonwealth represents a far broader international and diverse market place with similar systems of governance and a common language and includes some of the fastest growing economies in the world.
mr president in an ever more globalised world it is vital the uk does not put all its eggs into one basket.
we are disproportionately affected by the eurozone crisis because we are too tightly bound to europe with whom we trade at a deficit.
enforcement is a key priority if we want the single market to deliver.
i very much appreciate your zero tolerance policy for the implementation of the services directive.
the vote should take place on wednesday.
two thousand and thirteen secondly this is taxpayers' money so it is important that we instil a culture of financial discipline in the research community but it is also important that within this house we impose responsible scrutiny
mr president may i assure the commissioner that we in the united kingdom believe that it is important for europe to remain at the forefront of research into the next generation of energy provision. for that reason we strongly support the iter project.
with that in mind there are three points that i want to make.
we understand that it will provide an extra eur three hundred and fifty million and that is of course part of this amending budget.