lmms-lab-audio/europal-asr huggingface dataset:
Date: 2020-05-13
Mr President, honourable Members, ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to address you again in person. Let me also thank you for this very useful debate. We will convey your views to my colleagues and to the President of the European Council and his team. We face extraordinary circumstances, but the situation only strengthens our resolve to work harder for the benefit of our citizens and our economies. As President Michel told you, our shared objective is to build at EU level a long-term response to the dramatic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. This will complement the rapid and wide EU support already deployed with your help these last weeks. Today, the President of the Commission gave us an outline of the modified MFF and an ambitious recovery instrument. We are yet to receive details of the Commission's proposal, and you will understand, therefore, that I am not in a position to comment on the substance today. The proposals will have to be analysed in the appropriate fora, and guidance from the European Council will be needed for the Council to form its position on the text. Our next MFF should be the cornerstone of the recovery of the European economy, of the rebuilding and the re-establishment of the functioning of the single market in the post-COVID period to ensure the massive public and private investments needed. It should have greater investment potential, especially in the initial years of the new financial perspective. The post-crisis European Union economy should become resilient and more self-sufficient, and for the recovery to be swift and successful, cohesion, convergence as well as solidarity will be of utmost importance. Continuous cooperation between our institutions will be an essential part of all of this process. The Presidency is firmly committed to maintaining the existing good working relations that we have established in our response to the crisis. We will therefore continue to be attentive to Parliament's views on these very important files. In this spirit, I have taken good note of the legislative initiative report and of the resolution you are preparing. These are useful reminders of where the European Parliament stands in the context of crisis. Good interinstitutional cooperation will also be essential for our sectorial work. We will need to work together to ensure a timely adoption of sectorial programmes and we will look forward to working with you on them. I look forward to the continued cooperation between our two institutions to prepare the ground for an ambitious, forward-looking MFF and to provide a strong response to our current and future challenges.
Date: 2020-05-14
Mr President, honourable Members, the Presidency of the Council as a whole attaches great importance to upholding the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights. In the aftermath of the crisis, the Union as a whole, will need to be very vigilant in respect of the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union. The Croatian Presidency recognises the crucial role that rule of law plays in all our democracies. It is a key guarantee that our common values are protected and a joint responsibility of Member States and all EU institutions. This is no less important when facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic where unprecedented circumstances led many Member States to adopt far-reaching measures in order to rapidly and effectively curb the spread of the virus. Member States have already given broad support to the Commission's initiative to monitor the extraordinary measures and their application across the Union on an equal basis for all Member States. Similar efforts, based on equality of approach and monitoring developments across the Union, are underway by different European institutions, the Fundamental Rights Agency, but also the Council of Europe. Furthermore, the Commission is in the process of preparing the first annual report on the rule of law in the Union, to be published later this year, focusing on several rule of law areas. During the Croatian Presidency, this process remains in the preparatory phase. The Commission is leading the work and the Member States are involved in all the process. I mentioned earlier that Article 7 procedures concerning Poland and Hungary were on the agenda of the General Affairs Council on 25 March. However, due to the COVID-19 emergency, that meeting had to be cancelled. Unfortunately, the emergency is not over and for the time being, it is not possible to hold a formal Council meeting. As we already mentioned, on 6 and 22 April, emergency measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 crisis were discussed at informal video meetings by ministers of justice and European affairs. The ministers exchanged views on national and EU measures taken so far in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including their duration, scope and effectiveness, as well as the impact of emergency measures on fundamental rights and the rule of law. Ministers shared their experience and best practices in the overall context of a collective EU response. The Council remains seized of the Article 7 procedures and the Croatian Presidency is ready to continue proceeding at the General Affairs Council as soon as the situation allows us to convene formal Council meetings. We continue to follow all developments closely. At the same time, we hope that the ongoing dialogue at the political level between the Commission and the Member States concerned will bring some tangible results. The Presidency will pay particular attention to the views expressed here today during this debate.
Date: 2020-05-14
Mr President, seventy years after the Schuman Declaration is a good moment to reflect about Europe, the challenges that face us and how we can continue to make sure the Union is effective in addressing them and delivering solutions. As I said, in these challenging circumstances, the Presidency will do its utmost to steer our work in preparing and reaching the decision needed to address the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the impact on so many aspects of our lives. Active and effective cooperation between our institutions will be crucial in that regard. In all these very difficult circumstances, as you know, my capital city, Zagreb, was hit by a strong earthquake on 22 March, leaving many of our citizens homeless and further traumatised on top of the COVID-19 pandemic. I thank everyone warmly for all the help and support we received. I hope that we will all learn from the experience of this crisis and work towards making Europe more resilient to similar or any other potential future crises, especially in protecting our supply chains, diversifying and bringing back to Europe end production of essential strategic goods and food in order to ensure Europe's self-sustainability. Regarding the Conference of the Future of Europe that indeed we planned launching on 9 May. As you will understand, in the last period, our work in the Council had focussed on the immediate priority of the response to the pandemic. However, we are determined to come back to it first to reach a consensus on a Council position and then by negotiating among our institutions. A new target date for a launch of the conference should be agreed, and recent developments certainly need to be taken into consideration. To that effect, the Presidency had the first exchange with Member States already this week.
Date: 2020-05-14
Mr President, this is an important subject, and I would therefore like to underline once more the main points of the telecommunications ministers' videoconference from the beginning of May. First, the contact tracing apps will have high importance for the gradual relaxation of various national measures, including opening of borders. Second, the coordinated approach and interoperability at EU level is needed. And third, adequate protection of personal data and privacy should be provided. Whatever technological solutions the Member States choose, the use of their apps should be based on consent, and storage should be ensured at the highest level of privacy and the protection of personal data. Interoperability will be the key to the success of these applications across borders and operative systems. Additionally, it should be encouraged that all the data collected through the tracing app is stored in a clearly defined time-limited manner. I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss this important subject with all of you, and thank you for your remarks and suggestions, I took good note of them. And I am sure that our institutions' common aim is to find the most effective solutions for tackling this epidemic and to make sure that our people and our economies can return to normality as quickly as possible.
Date: 2020-05-14
Madam President, honourable Members, I wish to thank you for this important debate. We have one common goal around the world and that is to defeat the virus. As the Commissioner said, no country is able to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic alone. There is only one way to defeat it, namely with a combination of prevention through vaccination and treatment of people who have fallen ill. Unfortunately, we still have to wait for treatments and vaccines to be found. The European Union has mobilised important resources and it is fully involved in a coordinated global effort to develop, produce and employ vaccines and treatments for all. A positive dynamic has developed with the launching of the Coronavirus Global Response Pledging effort. The European Union is fully committed to support Member States' efforts within and outside the Union. We know that we can now count on the cooperation of all EU institutions in this endeavour. In particular, we hope we can coordinate with the European Parliament. Until an efficient, accessible, affordable vaccine is developed, it is important that we continue respecting the epidemiological measures to protect all our loved ones.
Date: 2020-05-27
Madam President, first, I would like to thank the House for this debate and I will convey its views to my colleagues and to the President of the European Council and his team. As I said in my opening intervention, the Council has started preparatory work on the Commission proposals so as to create the conditions for the agreement as soon as possible. As I already mentioned, yesterday, in a video conference, the EU affairs ministers, have discussed the principles and the elements that needed to be addressed in shaping the instruments that will help to kick-start the European economy and achieve its medium and long-term priorities, such as cohesion, convergence, solidarity, flexibility and inclusiveness, as well as restoring a functioning single market and strengthening the resilience and strategic autonomy of the EU in face of future challenges. They stressed the need to make the funds available immediately and in a sufficient amount. Offsetting the immediate negative impact of the crisis is important for the EU's credibility. These discussions will continue in the coming days and weeks at all Council levels. We are hopeful that the Member States' positions would be converging in order to have a timely agreement on the next EU budget, which will also be discussed by the European Council. The Council will need guidance from the European Council before it can form its position. The European Parliament shares our sense of urgency on the MFF, whose speedy adoption has far-reaching consequences for our citizens, our businesses and our local and regional authorities, as mentioned here. The Presidency will continue to listen carefully to Parliament's position and look forward to the continued cooperation between our two institutions to prepare the ground for an ambitious, forward-looking MFF and to provide a strong response to our current and future challenges.