kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
eastern europeans with experience of communism know that better than most.
what we should do however is to upgrade our policies which have not kept pace with the opening of markets and technological disruption.
we have done far too little up to now to make globalisation work for everybody.
today our duty is to persuade european citizens that we must resist our own european backlash against international trade and international trade agreements and be involved in shaping globalisation. a lot of answers to the globalisation challenge are to be given at national level.
industries based on the new drivers of growth must go global to be competitive but we also need an educated discussion on our role as europe in shaping globalisation. only then can europe deliver as the best possible vehicle to make globalisation work for us.
a big question is whether a future euus global leadership on rulesbased open fair trade in a multilateral framework is still possible.
but of course globalisation is much more than trade.
mr president the commission paper on harnessing globalisation says that the eu must pursue a progressive trade and investment agenda which not only opens markets but enhances governance on issues like human rights working conditions and environmental protection. many of us have been vocal in opposing certain eu trade proposals like epas isds and ttip ceta and others.
however we need to recognise that the eu is the only large international actor which makes it a stated priority to advance on progressive social values.
this is an agenda that we must defend and strengthen by emphasising for example the decent work agenda and the alternative trade mandate.
in the meantime my own government in the uk is desperately trying to strike up shameful trade deals and arms deals at all costs with various serial human rights violators such as saudi arabia.
i am very afraid that a brexit led by tory britain would not be a progressive force in this world.
britain must continue to work with the eu regardless of brexit to advance progressive social and benign globalisation for the good of all of us on this planet.
but at the same time many europeans are also apprehensive.
they see globalisation as synonymous with job losses social injustice and low environmental health and privacy standards.
while taking it easy on start ups and small companies it is not a surprise that digital groups such as facebook or google will be mostly affected by the actions proposed by the oecd. however it is improper for the us to perceive the two pillars as an attack on the united states.
for this to happen we need the us to understand that taxes should be paid where the value is created not avoided nor evaded.
we need to act fast adopt both of them at the same time and react together on the international level.
one five hundred the united nations human rights office reports that women and children are among those killed and at least seven zero people have been arrested.
internet access for all needs to be completely restored along with the human rights of those who have been detained.
i urge the united nations security council governments and the international community to condemn these killings and the suppression and call for the release of those detained.
iran must fulfil its obligations to international human rights law by respecting the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
the regime engaged in a bloody suppression and completely blocked the internet on seventeen november to prevent news on the scale of the process and the scope of its brutal crackdown spreading. according to amnesty international over three hundred people have been killed and i've heard estimates from other groups that say it could even be as high as.
two thousand and nineteen were it not for the ipads on the conference tables i would have thought it was from the days of de gaulle or from jean monnet instead of sanna marin. as an economist by training i know that many of us are used to male dominated settings and have become desensitised. but this photo should awaken us.
this is why not only i personally but also the social democrats and the european parliament call on the council to put forward two candidates for ecb positions a man and a woman.
how can we get fair decisions when half of our population is all but excluded from decision making?
schnabel and panetta have both committed to promoting gender equality upon their appointment.
nominations are proposed by the eurogroup which holds among its nineteen members just one woman.
how can our policies create a modern economy when they are made in a setting of an age long gone?
they have a hell of a job to do.
i know this might be a long shot.
it shows that the battle for gender equality remains urgent and one that concerns us all.
also in order to have more precise data on the vat gap i call on the commission to develop a common statistical approach to quantify this phenomenon.
at the same time i want to stress two issues.
therefore the fight against vat fraud and vat losses is to strive to minimise the impact on state budgets.
according to statistics the vat gap in two thousand and seventeen amounted to over one hundred and thirty seven billion euros;
it is a fight for our governments to finance hospitals schools or invest in a safe infrastructure.
hence i welcome the commission's proposals on the files we are discussing introducing requirements for payment service providers and strengthening cooperation within the eu in order to combat vat fraud.
madam president we are talking about the tax that is a major revenue source for member states.
the commission should evaluate if virtual currency platforms should also be covered by the legislation.
we need to start investing in research and innovation and that starts in our universities.
mr president when the united kingdom leaves the european union the rest of the remaining countries will have no university in the top thirty worldwide.
so we have to stimulate investment encourage universities to take up grant aid from horizon europe and to ensure that member states which education is the competency of have the capacity to invest in third level colleges in their own areas.
we are talking about transitioning to a carbon neutral economy yet we don't have the capacities because we don't have the capacity in our universities and we don't have the graduates that are flowing from that.
it is a major inhibitor on growth in the eurozone area and the broader european union.
so from the point of view of european union investment in horizon europe we need to ensure that there's a concentrated effort across the european union from the commission and the council and the member states to invest in research innovation technology and digitisation.
this obligation was designed to limit administrative burdens in that regard.
of course the fight against tax fraud goes hand in hand with improving tax compliance.
this year's commission study on the vat gap shows that the member states were in general losing eur one hundred and thirty seven billion in two thousand and seventeen and these numbers are obviously still too high. because of this i intend to make the fight against tax fraud a top priority of my mandate.
the requested information is already available and used by payment service providers to process transactions.
this is why these two aspects will be part of a new action plan i will present next year. eu business must be able to access the eu market without constraints and unfair competition by those that are not compliant. eu citizens must be able to legally access the worldwide market and benefit from the redistribution of the revenue collected.
the commission has proposed to create an obligation for payment service providers established in the union to transmit data on the beneficiary of cross border payments they execute.
vat fraud is a major issue affecting all member states and citizens alike and it is important that measures aimed at attacking vat fraud can be subject to a democratic debate in this plenary.
i look forward to the important work ahead of us and the fight against tax fraud is high on our respective agendas.
this problem is also likely to keep growing in future considering the growth rate of e commerce in europe.
we have very few multinationals that have actually started in the european union and have blossomed and grown internationally.
because we would undermine our competitiveness as a european union.
the european union is struggling in the context of its competing with the rest of the world in the digital and global economy.
we would discourage investment into the european union.
so the idea that we can just unilaterally act without having the rest of the world the united states and other large trading partners involved in that process would undermine the european union's competitiveness and discourage multinationals from locating here and employing eu citizens.
two zero report the idea that we can somehow bring about fair taxation and globalised taxation without actually having the rest of the world involved in these discussions and acting in accordance with some of the proposals that have come forward.
we need international negotiations to reach a deal by the end of two thousand and twenty commissioner.
we need an ambitious deal not the lowest common denominator a deal which ensures that companies are taxed where they have the economic activity meaning where they make sales have employees and assets where they have their clients and where they sign online contracts.
this is today at the origin of the sophisticated schemes used by multinationals for tax avoidance.
we must ensure that the digital giants pay a fair share of the taxes and that is not the case today.
we cannot govern economic relations in globalisation with the rules that we have from the twentieth century.
today transfers between subsidiaries of the same companies are taxed as if they were transfers between two independent companies.
it is important that the eu plays a key role in the global debate on how to solve the tax challenges created by digitalisation and globalisation.
one of the solutions highly accepted among the economics and academic community is to tax companies as global entities.
they need nothing less than a new industrial strategy.
but there have also been serious criticisms of the proposals including from developing countries who are excluded from much of the process and analysis from tax justice campaigners has found that the oecd approach may actually lower the profits booked in tax havens by just.
last year in ireland forty five of all corporate tax revenue came from just ten multinational companies.
the two pillars of this proposal if agreed on in the future will represent a fundamental shift in the global tax system towards a much fairer and more sustainable system.
i've been warning my own government for years that it needs to end its dangerous addiction to corporate tax avoidance by silicon valley based companies.
five the biggest problem here the elephant in the room so to speak is the current us position which puts the project for real reform on very shaky ground.
madam president as other speakers have mentioned there are many positive elements of the oecd's proposals not least of which is the fact that that organisation is finally recognising that taxing rights need to go beyond the failed arm's length' principle.
so it's well past time for people to get real realise that a major shake up of this unfair system is inevitable and start preparing for it now before the shock hits knowing as we do that that shock will hit ordinary families and workers hardest of all.
this large inflow of syrian refugees increased pressure on jordan's fiscal position public services and infrastructures.
with this in mind and upon the request of the jordanian authorities the commission adopted on six september a proposal for a new programme of macro financial assistance to jordan in the amount of eur five hundred million in loans.
the programme is part of a wider international effort to support jordan.
the programme is a concrete expression of the eu's sustained commitment to supporting jordan which faces an adverse and complex economic situation in a region marked by a persistently challenging and volatile environment.
the european parliament's support for this proposal will send a clear and encouraging signal that the european union lives up to its commitments and continues standing by jordan and all the people living in that country.
of course this assistance will be conditional on a set of structural reform measures to be agreed in a memorandum of understanding and also on the existing and successful reviews of the imf programme.
necessary to strengthen growth and the resilience of the economy.
building on the two previous macrofinancial assistance programmes successfully implemented the new financial assistance will help jordan to enhance the sustainability of its debt thanks to attractive terms of the loans as well as to promote further structural reforms
i would also like to thank the committee on budgets and the committee on foreign affairs for their support. it is worth recalling where jordan is coming from. since two thousand and eleven the jordanian economy has been significantly affected by regional unrest notably in neighbouring iraq and syria
in these difficult circumstances jordan has so far managed to preserve macroeconomic stability thanks to a broadly appropriate policy response and international support.
therefore for our group it is important that the new rules do not add an undue administrative burden which may hamper the efforts of smaller businesses to grow particularly across borders within the single market.
you mentioned that the numbers of the value added tax gap are slowly and gradually decreasing but according to the commission estimates and indications it should still be around eur one hundred and thirty billion in two thousand and eighteen and that is indeed still quite a high number.
this is something we will need to monitor on a continuous basis to ensure that our rules are fit for purpose and achieve the goal of increasing the efficiency of vat collection and combating fraud.
the legislation we are debating here today will help drastically reduce the revenues lost to vat fraud in our financial systems. their losses are damaging not only to the governments.
i therefore fully support the efforts to address the deficiencies in vat regimes in europe.
by increasing efficiency we can target carousel frauds in particular in a more effective manner.
i would also encourage vat authorities to consider the development of artificial intelligence based solutions to tackle fraud.
we have drafted two reports that reflect parliament's priorities particularly as regards the administrative cooperation and payment service providers.
european legislation in this area needs to be future oriented with a clear focus on ensuring it can be applied as business models evolve in the coming years.
i believe that these are the right steps needed in the area of tax collection which enhance cross border cooperation on the one hand and help fight tax fraud on the other.
i therefore appreciate that the parliament has specifically pointed to the digital arena in this report as our commercial environment becomes ever more digital.
let me conclude by thanking the rapporteur and colleagues for their cooperation on these two files.
specifically artificial intelligence could be used to create a risk model that would help identify anomalies in the system. in this way the ai could minimise hours spent by officials in compiling such information.
they are also felt throughout the economic chain and therefore damage the vast majority of legitimate businesses particularly small and medium sized companies in the european union.
from the european parliament perspective we have emphasised the importance of legislation being appropriate for the modern age.
we must not forget the time and money it takes especially for smaller companies to collect and report their appropriate vat information to authorities.
only in this way will it be possible to guarantee equal opportunities for men and women in the selection procedures for top positions in our institutions and therefore to favour gender balance in management bodies.
in the last six months half of the executive board of the european central bank was renewed and two out of the three new members are women.
for this reason we call on the council to forward our message to all member states.
of course this is not due to the nomination process we are discussing;
this is due to the fact that the non executive part of the ecb governing council is composed by all the governors of the national central banks of the euro area and all of them happen to be men.
of course we appreciated that after our requests the president of the eurogroup mrio centeno by publicly announcing which nominations had been received for each position has made the selection process more transparent than in the past.
they recall and renew battles that the european parliament has been fighting for some time.
over the last month the council has recommended the names of fabio panetta and isabel schnabel and on both candidates the european central bank has expressed its positive opinion.
isabel schnabel is a distinguished scholar of one of the most prestigious european universities and for five years she has been a member of the council of economic advisers of germany.
he has served in important positions at national european and international level and he is currently the senior deputy governor of the bank of italy.
the curricula vitae sent to us by the president of the european council clearly show how both candidates are persons of recognised standing and professional experience in monetary or banking matters as required by article two hundred and thirty eight of the treaty.
madam president with these two reports that will be voted tomorrow the european parliament expresses its non binding opinion on the appointment of two new members of the executive board of the european central bank.
first and foremost the battle for a selection and appointing procedure that involved the parliament more.
one third of the executive board will be composed by women and let us not forget that one of them has been appointed as the president of the ecb.
a few months ago european newspapers published a photo of the ecb governing council that is the other management body of the ecb and there was only one woman in that picture madame lagarde herself.
this makes it clear that our aim for a gender balanced representation in european bodies can be reached only if this process takes place everywhere in national institutions first.
to conclude i just want to say that our support for these two excellent candidates and our responsibility in guaranteeing the correct and regular functioning of the ecb while safeguarding interinstitutional cooperation shall not diminish our battles which we will continue fighting with determination in the future.
however we reiterate our request that the council before each of its recommendations submits to the parliament a list of at least two names where at least one man and one woman are present.
we already have achieved some important results in this regard.
and if they choose like the brits we should roll back federalism and start co operating again like nation states.
and the people have yet again told us that they knew what they voted for in.
it might seem strange to many of you but not everyone subscribes to a centralised monolithic form of politics.
they also voted emphatically against the customs union against staying in the single market and against the european court of justice having any jurisdiction in the uk.
it is called democracy.
madam president any decision about vat will affect any free trade agreement agreed between the eu and the uk. on thursday the people of the uk voted resoundingly for brexit and they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a canada style free trade agreement with the eu.
two thousand and sixteen this general election has proven that when given the choice the british people choose free trade and cooperation and not a political super state. will the remaining eu citizens ever be given this choice or will they drift further and further into the federal states of europe? the citizens of europe should be given the choice
everybody agreed that this election was a brexit election so the will of the people has been heard for the second time may i say on the issue of brexit.
so that member states can take an informed decision.
we always work for europeans in the interest of european businesses and for the sake of european citizens. that is why we aim at achieving these objectives without additional complexities for businesses.
they suggest that the eu as a whole could benefit under pillar one and that all member states would benefit from pillar.
in addition while working on a global solution at international level our aim is to negotiate the best possible outcome for member states and for the eu.
if no or limited agreement is reached internationally by two thousand and twenty it is crystal clear that the strong rationale for eu action at eu level will remain and that the commission will act on this basis.
two to address those challenges and reach an ambitious global agreement we then need to find a global solution that effectively captures digital business models notably those operating in jurisdictions without a physical presence and to put a floor on excessive international tax competition
it is important to continue working in parallel on the twin challenges of modernising international corporate tax rules.
whatever the shape of the solutions the commission is defending an eu perspective i would like to detail.
one to tax digital activities carried out without a physical presence.
one two to address new forms of excessive tax competition under what is called pillar.
two the commission has now asked member states to provide their country by country reporting data to be able to further refine the economic analysis. to conclude if a global agreement is reached on both pillars the eu will need to decide how it should be implemented at eu level.
i also want to ensure that the specificities of the single market are respected in any solution that arises from the international discussions.
the preliminary results of our economic analysis on revenues are until now encouraging.
it is essential that any new rules be simple and easy to administer and provide additional resources to be redistributed to the benefit of our citizens. indeed it is important to understand the economic impact of the options proposed under both pillars
but we have to be honest as well because what did they get? in many ways they got much of the same elite in new clothes combined also with a new elite a new neoliberal elite and many people have unresolved issues there.
madam president i was a student leader in ireland thirty years ago and inspired by the heroism of romanian students and workers i travelled to bucharest and timioara and spent over a month there in the midst of those revolutionary days.
the revolution has not been completed there.
so i stand continually in solidarity with those people.
to feel the hopes of the population for the future for democracy for a say in their lives and for a more stable economic experience was very humbling.
we have to ask why romania has got the second biggest diaspora in the world second only to syria five million driven out of that country.
given the situation in malta given recent developments in malta we need time to have this debate so i would fully agree to hold the debate on the disappointing outcome of cop twenty five but i would propose to this floor to put it for example on the tuesday afternoon wednesday afternoon but according to us tuesday afternoon would be good.
however to add it to the agenda on tuesday morning dear friends from the socialist group is a bit obvious to take away attention and time from the debate we're having on the situation in malta.