kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
i understand why the same public is now asking why they should fund bail outs in other countries. last week's proposals for reform in portugal had some positive recommendations for improving competitiveness but the situation in greece seems dire. eurozone leaders tell us that there is no greek debt restructuring but since when is a delay of a repayment date not a restructuring?
if public lenders extend their maturities that is not just a shuffling of deckchairs on the titanic it is taking the public lenders below decks to sink in the ship while the private loan holders are helped away to the lifeboats.
my feeling is that we have learned why things went wrong and how we got ourselves into the difficult situation we are in today but my feeling is also that now we are less open to drawing lessons from the evolving reality.
among other things it is foreign debt or excessive external imbalances on which markets have focused and this clearly means that in responding to the situation we must go beyond fiscal adjustment.
the second issue is related to the fact that those economies that are the most strongly affected by the crisis have to cope with a combination of high risk premiums and severe austerity measures.
this double challenge makes achieving debt sustainability practically impossible.
an orderly default has at least five advantages.
stop the replacement of private debt by an ever growing proportion of official debt coming from other countries;
mr president the previous speaker said that if greece were to leave the eurozone its currency would collapse but in that case it would default.
however we know perfectly well that it is going to default anyway so it has a choice of defaulting within the euro which merely kicks the problem down the road and it will return to bite us or it can default outside the euro in which case it can solve its problem.
do you feel that the interest rate which you will have to pay under the future programme should be lowered?
all development has been regional.
however the commission has an important role to play with the proposal it makes and here we rely on you commissioner hahn because in my opinion some of these proposals like the suggested preconditions for the member states for receiving european union financial assistance need
here again i agree commissioner that it is important to develop these levels.
on his behalf i present this to you.
as we know along with the cap regional funds represent the biggest part of the eu budget.
for decades the british people have been forced to foot the bill for various projects around the eu most of which are of no benefit at all to the uk taxpayer.
recently the bureau of investigative journalism in the uk unveiled the fact that eu regional funds are being used to prop up arms dealing companies in eastern europe with some projects receiving funding amounting to millions of euro although these are some of the richest companies.
given the fraud and waste endemic in this budget line and the way it is not even being used for the purposes its supporters allege i call on the coalition in the uk to withdraw funding as we need this money at home yet another reason to leave the eu.
firstly we must remember the important role of grassroots civil society in the process of peace building and reconciliation.
real peace is built by real people and engaged communities.
there must be significant investment in education for democracy fundamental rights and citizenship in bosnia.
as proved by the complete freedom of truth a project that won this year's european citizens' prize cultural activists artists writers and academics all have a role in building cultural dialogue and exchange.
we must also acknowledge how disenchanted bosnian young people are with both politics and politicians and how absolutely crucial youth participation is to the country's future.
one thousand nine hundred and ninety two divisions remain pervasive and the internationally recognised bosnia and herzegovina state is still contested by some of its constituent national groups in the country. instead of bosnia and herzegovina becoming a well functioning federal state it remains heavily plagued with internal disagreements between different national components and is unable to overcome the constitutional and political problems for instance resolving the sejdi and finci case and the return of the idps.
mr president we in the ecr are also delighted to remember the twentieth anniversary of the dayton peace agreement a framework agreement which put an end to the bloody bosnian civil war two decades ago.
whilst dayton did indeed succeed in ending a genocidal conflict which pitted bosniaks croats and serbs against each other regrettably bosnia remains burdened by many of the same issues that triggered the war in.
as the eu continues to focus attention on other regional and global priorities and foreign policy the challenge for bosnia remains of striking a balance between the need to promote ongoing reform processes to prepare bosnia and herzegovina for application for eu accession and the capacity to quickly respond to challenges particularly the one from republika srpska to bosnia's territorial integrity without the military presence of the eu's eufor
it was only in the last decade that we have seen the deterioration of progress.
also i would like to see more civil society minorities and youth engaging to be part of an open dialogue.
meanwhile we must be firm against those that attempt to undermine bosnia's judicial institutions and promote secession.
dayton was envisaged as a transitional compromise among parties in conflict not a long term solution and would create a democratic inclusive and modern society that the people of bosnia deserve.
constitutional change will eventually be needed for the country to transform it into a fully functional state.
this has also been repeatedly promised by all bosnian politicians and we need to hold them to their word.
out duty is to promote education and remembrance.
this is because some bosnian politicians exploit dayton promoting old ethnic divisions and undermining efforts to move the country forward.
in paragraph three we mention different degrees of vulnerability when it comes to displaced persons and other victims of the war.
we welcome the process achieved but we all know that there are still around eighty four zero internally displaced persons in bosnia.
i think that twenty years after dayton it is high time to do this to make reconciliation work also for the victims of war rape who have for too long been silenced.
seven i am glad it made it in our common resolution in article three which ensures the safe and sustainable return of internally displaced persons.
so now twenty years after the signature of the dayton peace agreement i think it is time to evaluate the agreement and also all the twelve annexes and the level of implementation and to make a plan on how to proceed with each and every one of the twelve annexes.
twenty years after dayton it is high time to make an extra effort and to address the tens of thousands of war related victims of sexual violence in bosnia. we all know that one structural element in the war in bosnia as in all other wars worldwide was rape widespread sexual violence aimed at hitting
relevant story and lesson from the twenty year history of the peace negotiations.
this was the first case of its kind after the second world war.
madam president my colleagues have already ably and wisely listed the political lessons and constitutional complications emerging from a peace accord which at the time of its making was both necessary and reasonable but which became dysfunctional over time. i would like to direct our attention to a different and maybe even more broadly
in this respect the first ever eu bosnia stabilisation and association council took place last week with positive results as indicated in the joint communiqu published on the day.
we in the european union are fully committed to assisting bosnia and herzegovina in achieving this goal.
these are european values which the people of bosnia and herzegovina share.
we have worked closely with international partners in particular with the us and international financial institutions to help make these reforms happen.
in addition at the end of two thousand and four bosnia also became the first country where instruments of both the cfsp and the esdp were deployed on the ground.
but to make an application credible bosnia will need to continue to prove its credibility by delivering on commitments made.
the country's citizens demand socio economic and other reforms to improve their daily lives.
in this process the eu has responded with concrete deliverables to positive constructive and concrete efforts undertaken by bosnia.
however bosnia is no longer a security consumer state but a security provider.
in dayton the future of bosnia and herzegovina was shaped by the country's leaders together with the neighbours and the international community.
and unequivocal commitment to taking forward the reform required for progress on the eu path.
both during the war and in the post war reconstruction period.
looking ahead means looking at a common future inside the european union.
some of the countries of the region once enemies have become signatories to the agreement and over time have become friends and close partners investing in their joint future in the european union. the western balkans region has moved a long way forward in the two decades since dayton.
the dayton peace agreement has also become fundamental to rebuilding peace and advancing reconciliation in the broader region.
much remains to be done to consolidate reconciliation.
it has played an important part in the efforts to rebuild dialogue and cooperation in the western balkans.
many countries of the region are candidates for eu membership and bosnia is a potential candidate. bosnia has made considerable progress in its relations in the region good neighbourly relations. the eu has been one of the largest donors to bosnia
twenty years after dayton the responsibility falls on bosnia and herzegovina and following the steady steps of the past year it is important not to jeopardise all that has been achieved so far.
much has been achieved in two thousand and fifteen on the basis of this commitment.
this will not be easy but it is certainly possible and its success is fully in the hands of bosnia and herzegovina.
the eu is committed to doing all that is necessary on our side as soon as bosnia makes a credible step towards us.
it is now up to bosnia to give us good reasons to take a further step.
we will continue these joint efforts to empower the authorities in bosnia to take forward the transformation process effectively.
its presence largely focused on advancing political and economic reform and establishing a framework for the implementation of the eu's stabilisation and association process following the thessaloniki summit in june two thousand and three and the eventual integration of bosnia into the eu.
progress may be uneven at times but the strong desire of the majority of the country's citizens will continue to guide political leadership in the right direction.
over the last twelve months together with the bosnian authorities represented today by the chair and the members of bosnia's presidency we have engaged effectively.
in december two thousand and fourteen the eu council agreed to engage in a renewed approach to overcome the stalemate that then hindered bosnia and herzegovina's eu path. political institutions and leadership across the country have given their clear
they call for progress on the eu path to give themselves and their children the perspective of life in a free democratic stable and prosperous society a society which protects minorities and fully respects human rights and freedoms.
but the people of bosnia are demanding more.
peace has been established but only with nato troops on the ground.
perhaps we should do the same now show the authorities that the european plane will take off without them unless they get their act together and do so quickly.
they want decent jobs they want a european perspective.
the bureaucracy is like an octopus except that those creatures are not corrupt and the three ethnic groups still mistrust each other.
now twenty years later where do we stand?
while the dayton agreement deserves praise as an example of post conflict peace building it provided a template that led to the formation of a dysfunctional state mired by a culture of segregation and patronage.
endless internal bickering has hamstrung essential reforms while young bosnians lack the employment opportunities they desperately need. in the united kingdom legislation like we see in bosnia that discriminates against anyone on the basis of ethnicity and religion is unthinkable.
we have the jurisprudence of the ecj now defining and redefining what was originally agreed on access to documents.
equally there were concerns and those concerns still remain in this house that there was an attempt to claw back on access to documents not least in the redefining of documents the notion that whole files could be exempted and attempting to redefine the notion of the third party veto.
how can they do that and the ngos do that if the way we work and who does what within all of the different units remains a well kept secret open only to those lobbyists and those lawyers who know?
it allowed accountability.
it says that we need to further enhance democracy.
public access to all the documents held received or produced by the three institutions.
that is why parliament in this oral question is calling for a whole range of recommendations to be undertaken.
nine two thousand and one we believe that the proposals that have been brought forward since the entry into force of the lisbon treaty do not match either the spirit or the letter of that treaty or indeed the obligations that we believe are contained within the original regulation no one thousand and forty nine two thousand and one which for the benefit of our listeners governs
basically it is about ensuring that the rights that we have are built upon that they are not diminished and about recognising that under lisbon it is no longer just the three institutions but all of the agencies and the bodies set up by them including the european central bank in some instances the european court of justice the european investment bank europol and eurojust. all of these institutions are now accountable under regulation no one thousand and forty.
we needed to see that openness and transparency did not prevent democracy from flourishing but actually improved it.
it allowed citizens to see what was being done in their name and arguably it helped us to lift the curtain and to prove once and for all that there were no terrible secrets hidden in the safes of the commission or the council i am not so sure about parliament but hopefully not in parliament's safes either! i want to thank in particular the commissioner and if i may
we need to enhance access to documents.
what we achieved in our agreement in may two thousand and one was somehow historic amongst fifteen member states moving from different traditions and cultures and different approaches to openness and transparency.
it is interesting that our citizens sitting in the gallery must be thinking that we are talking about something that happens in outer space articles third party vetoes but actually what we are talking about is a law that allows them to make sure that we are accountable parliamentarians accountable for what we do in their name the commission for what it does in their name and equally the council.
that is what i believe is at the heart of the treaty of lisbon.
you should accept that one of the reasons that the commission puts forward so many ill considered ill thought out inappropriate and ill drafted proposals which we in england and other countries have to put up with is the lack of transparency.
one would suppose therefore that the commission will do its best now to be open and transparent.
beyond this there is an important objective point which i remember from my time at harvard university and it is this decisions that are made without transparency and no proper public scrutiny have a built in tendency to be bad decisions.
mrs sommer is still in the chamber and i thought it appropriate even though she is not listening to respond to what she said.
she made a series of accusations.
when they have not been able to be there their positions have been faithfully represented to those meetings.
all decisions subsequently taken have been communicated to all shadow rapporteurs and all political groups.
there has been a suggestion that somehow we should withdraw this motion for resolution that mrs sommer says is undemocratic and non transparent that her group knew nothing about this.
well i find this interesting when i have been negotiating this afternoon with her group the epp on their draft motion for a resolution on the oral question.
it is the last time commissioner wallstrm and i will face one another here in the chamber and i just wanted to put on record if i may that i and parliament have never doubted your commitment to openness and transparency.
you have been absolutely right we have always had to fight our own corner for our own institutions and you have fought yours brilliantly but never deflecting from the principle of openness and transparency.
you have been and will remain i am sure a remarkable public servant with an exemplary record.
you have never flinched from doing that which you believed to be right and just and decent and on behalf of people who will never have the privilege to meet you may i say thank you.
the european commission has provided a proposal. it is the only proposal on the table.
we did it in the shape of a recast which means that we think the basic principles in this regulation are sound;
they are ok. we can use them but we have to modernise them upgrade them and make them more effective.
this was the whole idea behind the recast.
we have some different views on a few things how to define documents etc.
but these are still the kind of negotiations that we should engage in and make sure that we move things forward.
this is the basic message from our side.
of the european union.
this is where we are today so we still hope that parliament will now provide as soon as possible a first reading.
but they are still very important initiatives.
indeed i had thought that all the political groups in this house were agreed upon the resolution.
that was what i was told was the outcome of the meeting this afternoon.
it is clear that with the entry into force of lisbon we can go forward with a step change on the whole issue of transparency.
as the vice president of this house responsible for transparency i have not always found it an easy subject but i do believe that now we have the chance to do better and to reach out even further to our citizens.
within this house we are looking at our own arrangements for access to documents and access to information.
it has already been referred to and i think this for us is the big breakthrough that rather than this interinstitutional body that meets as and when and two to three years apart we have set ourselves six months to meet again and a much more regular timetable.
we are serious and this is a serious signal that we have made together that we aim for a real transparency portal between all of us that we aim to ensure that our citizens can see the legislative process as it progresses through all its stages and that they can have a real input and real insight into what we do.
so my group and i believe all the groups have agreed to amendments that will reflect today's progress.
it only remains for me to say thank you for us as three ladies that we managed some progress on this issue.
i know many of you have already expressed your interim support and thank you so much
i would like to repeat it will not replace national capacities.
their effects are more unpredictable all the more for emergencies that can completely overwhelm the national capacities and national resources.
but the reality on the ground is different today. climate change has changed the game and unfortunately this is our new reality. maybe this is our new normal and we must adapt and be prepared to face this new reality.
plans. we are here to help them and we will also help establish a common cultural prevention and preparedness. it is quite important to see and to improve this culture of prevention. for this to be done member states need to be supported through the structural and investment funds and they also need to be supported through all related union policies and instruments.
i would like once more to thank all our member states that have actively contributed to help countries that are victims of disasters and emergencies.
we have to focus on prevention and preparedness in order of course to save lives but also to reduce our costs.
action that helps save lives livelihoods and of course our environment.
he asked all of us for immediate and concrete action.
mr president honourable members commissioner the civil protection mechanism is a concrete expression of european solidarity and it is a priority for us. happy to hear that this is the case for the council for the commission and indeed for the european parliament.
i didn't expect it to be any other way.
we in the council will look at the commission's proposal with great attention.
it is a very concrete expression of european solidarity focusing both on the response and on supporting the member states in preparing for disaster.
but the context in which we operate today is evolving rapidly as we discussed in october.
we are faced with an increased number of disasters with a high impact on lives and infrastructure.
forest fires which hit several member states in recent months have shown that we have gaps which affect our capacity to respond effectively to disasters and that we need to prevent and prepare better.
let me just say that this is a very ambitious proposal.
these can bring immediate concrete improvements allowing for faster deployments of member states' capacities especially in view of the next forest fire season.
two thousand and thirteen according to the facilitator during the preparations for this conference a unique awareness of the problems has been created in the middle east in civil society among politicians and decision makers and this momentum should not be lost. the fact that not all countries have been willing to participate should not be allowed to stop the process.
we have to invest our utmost efforts into eradicating this possibility of war and urge all sides to have a dialogue and to rethink their enemy images.
no effort should be spared to reach a consensus on the common goals in the process.
the alternative is further proliferation especially of nuclear weapons in the middle east in the very near future.
security guarantees have to be put in place at the same time as the verified disarmament process proceeds.
we know there is a continuous presence of the possibility of war between these two countries.
we urge the un secretary general the un facilitator the sponsors the eu high representative and the eu member states to make sure that the two thousand and twelve conference takes place as soon as possible in the early months of.
the process of establishing a wmd free zone would be a confidence building measure towards such a dialogue. the link between proliferation and conflict is also evident in syria. we are aware of the vast arsenal of chemical weapons in this country which is torn about by a civil war.
this is the first ingredient of any political dialogue bilateral or multilateral.
having come so far following more than a year of intensive work by the facilitator and his team both in the region and beyond we the european union and the wider international community and civil society must keep the momentum going and look at possible ways forward.
the eu has played its part in supporting the ambassador including through two very useful initiatives and we will continue to support him.