unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Alex Agius Saliba
Political group: S-D
Country: Malta
Language: MT

Sur President, l-ewwelnett nixtieq nifraħ lill Emily O’Reilly illi ġiet ikkonfermata bħala l-Ombudsman Ewropew. Dan huwa vot ta’ fiduċja fil-ħidma pożittiva illi wettqet sabiex l-Uffiċċju tal-Ombudsman jibqa’ wieħed aċċessibbli għaċ-ċittadini Ewropej.  Sodisfatt illi f’dan ir rapport annwali l-Ombudsman Ewropew tkellmet dwar suġġett importanti ħafna għalija: dak tat-trattament tal-persuni b’diżabilità taħt l-iskema konġunta tas-Sigurtà f’każ ta’ Mard.  Naqbel ukoll perfettament mar-rakkomandazzjoni lill-Kummissjoni sabiex jiġi rivedut ukoll il-provvediment ta’ din l-iskema sabiex b’hekk ikun konformi wkoll mal-Konvenzjoni tal-Ġnus Magħquda għall-persuni b’diżabilità.  Naqbel ukoll mar-rakkomandazzjoni dwar iż-żieda fl-aċċessibilità għall-persuni neqsin mid-dawl fi proċeduri ta’ selezzjoni ta’ kandidati f’uffiċċji Ewropej. Hemm bżonn illi mill-aktar fis jiġu implimentati teknoloġiji ta’ assistenza għall-kandidati li jpoġġu għal testijiet li jsiru bil-kompjuter.  Qabel nagħlaq, nixtieq nirringrazzja lil Jude illi kienet il-koordinatriċi tagħna fi ħdan il-kumitat, fi ħdan il-Grupp tas-Soċjalisti, u d-Demokratiċi tal-impenn u d-dedikazzjoni li dejjem uriet. Ħa nimmissjawha ħafna.
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Brando Benifei
Political group: S-D
Country: Italy
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, il Parlamento europeo, con la sua relazione annuale, si congratula ancora una volta con Emily O'Reilly e tutto l'ufficio del Mediatore europeo per l'eccellente lavoro svolto. I cittadini europei hanno trovato nel Mediatore un prezioso alleato, che da anni si batte per assicurare la qualità dell'amministrazione dell'Unione, la trasparenza delle sue decisioni, l'accessibilità e la qualità dei servizi alla popolazione. Vorrei rivolgere dunque un sincero augurio di buon lavoro a Emily O'Reilly per il suo nuovo mandato, un forte messaggio di incoraggiamento a portare avanti con determinazione le sue importanti iniziative – su tutte il miglioramento dei meccanismi decisionali del Consiglio – e a opporsi sempre con fermezza a ogni episodio di cattiva amministrazione, come ha fatto nel caso della nomina di Selmayr a Segretario generale della Commissione. Posso dire con orgoglio di aver collaborato in questi anni con il Mediatore per bloccare la pratica vergognosa dei tirocini non retribuiti all'interno delle istituzioni dell'Unione europea. Adesso dobbiamo fare un ulteriore sforzo: batterci per mettere al bando gli
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Jiří Pospíšil
Political group: PPE
Country: Netherlands
Language: CS

Pane předsedající, já bych chtěl na závěr té debaty konstatovat, že podporuji tuto zprávu a jsem rád za jeden konkrétní článek, který možná bude vypadat pro kolegy, jako že není podstatný, že je formální, ale praxe z České republiky ukazuje, že je velmi důležitý. A to je článek 47, kde jsou stanoveny podmínky pro výkon funkce ombudsmana. Nestrannost, odbornost, nezávislost na politických funkcích, ale také morální zdatnost. Někdo to může považovat za pouhou formalitu, ale my jsme teď v České republice byli svědky velké veřejné debaty, kdy prezident republiky navrhl nového kandidáta na ombudsmana, významnou profesorku trestního práva, u které se však ukázalo, že v 70. letech spolupracovala s komunistickými prokurátory, kteří poslali na smrt některé politické vězně v České republice, třeba doktorku Miladu Horákovou. A ta velká společenská debata bohužel relativizovala morální provinění této kandidátky. Nakonec tedy odstoupila a já jsem rád, že v Evropě držíme jasnou linii, že ombudsman nesmí být pouze odborně zdatný, ale také morálně zdatný. Je to mimořádně důležité.
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, I use this speaking time to add my voice to the appreciation of the very meaning of the institution of ombudsman, or ombudsperson, as some say, and particularly to congratulate you for your recent re-election by the plenary of this European Parliament. You have five years to go. It’s an appreciation of your work enhancing greater transparency and access to documents, although the regulation has yet to be updated. The work has been blocked by the Council, despite the efforts by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), which I chair.  There is also much work to do in order to make sure that conflicts of interest are no longer there, that revolving doors are out of the scene, that your inquiry on certain practices of certain industries, in particular, pharmaceutical industries, are compliant with the UN Convention on persons with disabilities, and, finally, that the code of good administration is upgraded into a real European regulation.
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

To Ms Toom, I just would like to tell and to reassure her that if it comes to infringements and EU pilot procedures, I’m very much looking forward to our discussion in the Committee on Petitions (PETI), for which I just got an invitation, where we can go into more depth and discuss how we can improve our cooperation in this field as well. I also would like to inform the honourable Members of this House that on Tuesday, the Commission appointed a new Secretary-General fully following the procedure and, I believe, selecting a highly competent and exemplary professional and good European, Ms Juhansone, who I’m sure will be an excellent Secretary-General.  I would also like to add that the Commission clearly and constantly strives to ensure a very high level of good administration and we are going to work with you in that regard to make sure that the rights which are enshrined in Article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be fully respected and enjoyed by our citizens. Therefore, citizens, companies and associations with whom we have interaction can fully expect that they will get an open, accessible and properly managed administration from our side in the European Commission. I would like to also stress the fact that our daily exchanges with the Ombudsman help us to do it better every day, and that we jointly want to provide citizens with very high administrative standards, which are based on the principles of non-discrimination, courtesy, impartiality and consistency – a few of the points you also highlighted in your interventions.  Your resolution and the report of the Committee on Petitions on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman stress areas where our institutions do well and where they can improve and I would just really like to promise you that in the coming weeks, the Commission will examine your resolution and will reply, as in the past, to all the issues which you raised and which concern the Commission.  I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Ms Kirton-Darling and Mr Corbett, who I see there as well, and all the UK colleagues and friends for their dedication, for their hard work. I just want to thank you and I want to tell you that we will miss you.
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Theresa Griffin
Political group: S-D
Language: EN

Maroš thank you for everything that you did in terms of the Green New Deal and energy poverty, and I would just like to say that we would like a definition of energy poverty from you and your colleagues in this mandate.  But seriously, thank you so much for everything that you did for vulnerable citizens.
Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman in
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Peter Jahr
Country: Netherlands
Language: DE

Ich möchte noch einmal betonen: Ich bedauere auch außerordentlich, dass unsere Kollegin Kirton-Darling den Ausschuss, das Parlament verlassen muss. Ich habe als Koordinator der EVP einige Koordinatoren der S&D-Fraktion erlebt. Ich würde mir ein paar mehr von Ihrer Sorte wünschen, und es tut mir wirklich leid, dass Sie durch eine aus meiner Sicht falsche Entscheidung in Ihrem Heimatland das Parlament verlassen müssen. Aber bleiben Sie uns gewogen. Denken Sie daran: Es gibt auch im Europäischen Parlament ein paar vernünftige Abgeordnete, und der Kontakt muss ja nicht abreißen. Für morgen wünsche ich uns eine gute Abstimmung über den Bericht. Der Bericht hat es wirklich verdient, eine riesengroße Mehrheit zu bekommen, auch damit wir dann einen besseren politischen Rückhalt haben, um weiterzuarbeiten.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Rainer Wieland
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Erklärung der Kommission zur Reform der allgemeinen Grundsätze des Ausschussverfahrens ( Auch hier und erneut möchte ich Sie daran erinnern, dass Sie sowohl in üblicher Weise als auch mit Hilfe des elektronischen Systems um die Möglichkeit zur spontanen Wortmeldung sowie zur Verwendung der „blauen Karte“ ersuchen können. Gebrauchsanleitungen liegen am Eingang zum Plenarsaal aus.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: József Szájer
Political group: PPE
Language: EN

However, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the Committee on International Trade (INTA), the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) have provided opinions on the proposed regulation. These opinions underline the importance of keeping the comitology framework as it stands, since it’s working properly, but they also agree that the transparency aspect should be further enhanced. The JURI Committee is basically focusing on this request from the other committees, especially in the area of political transparency and accountability. In a number of high-profile cases, however, according to the present procedure, in the absence of a clear position from the Member State, the political responsibility for taking a final decision falls upon the Commission, which without clear political backing from the Member State, is an undesirable situation.  This is what the reform presented in 2007 was intended to remedy in full agreement with the general aim of the proposal. We have to face the fact, however, that taking into account the kind of resistance that most Member States show against it in the Council, the future of this reform is at least highly unpredictable and non-favourable. I particularly regret that the part of the proposal provoking this controversy among Member States also affects the rest of the suggestions, which are otherwise valuable and forward—looking in themselves.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Bettina Vollath
Political group: S-D
Country: Austria
Language: DE

Aus diesen Gründen stehe ich den Vorschlägen der Kommission zur Verbesserung des Verfahrens sehr positiv gegenüber: der Änderung der Berechnungsmethode, der verpflichtenden Anrufung des Berufungsausschusses und auch einer Veröffentlichung des Wahlverhaltens im Berufungsausschuss. Ich lehne den Vorschlag mancher Kollegen, den wir auch gerade in diesem Haus gehört haben, ab, dass die Kommission den Vorschlag zurückzieht und einen neuen Vorschlag machen soll, der dem Rat besser gefällt. Denn es muss uns klar sein: Jeder neue Vorschlag wird eine abgeschwächte Version des jetzigen Vorschlags sein. Was mir abschließend sehr wichtig ist klarzustellen, auch Ihnen gegenüber, Herr Kommissar: Das Europäische Parlament will an diesem Dossier weiterarbeiten. Es ist der Rat, der in diesem Fall leider blockiert und offenbar nicht in der Lage ist, in dieser wesentlichen Frage eine Entscheidung zu treffen. Daher geht mein Appell heute Abend an den Rat, endlich eine Position festzulegen und am besten dem Vorschlag der Kommission zuzustimmen.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Pascal Durand
Political group: Renew
Country: Malta
Language: FR

Permettez-moi de terminer en rendant hommage au travail de mon collègue Richard Corbett, avec lequel nous avions élaboré un avis en commission des affaires constitutionnelles dans la dernière mandature, à tout ce travail que Richard a pu faire dans ce Parlement, et de dire, à mon tour, à quel point je regrette de voir des députés comme lui nous quitter à cause des mensonges de ceux qui sont là-bas.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Jiří Pospíšil
Political group: PPE
Country: Netherlands
Language: CS

Pane předsedající, pane komisaři, já stejně jako moji kolegové podporuji reformu komitologie. Jsem přesvědčen, že v případě pravomoci Komise přijímat prováděcí akty je velmi nešťastné, pokud nemalá část těchto aktů zůstala bez stanoviska jednotlivých členských států. Už zde bylo popsáno, že se rozhoduje v těchto prováděcích aktech o celé řadě důležitých věcí – modifikované potraviny, pesticidy atd. Na druhou stranu jsme ve stavu takové plíživé debaty, která trvá několik let. Několikrát jsme k tomuto tématu debatovali v minulém volebním období a asi by stálo za to, aby nyní Komise toto téma, které působí více technicky a ne tak významně, protože není doceněn jeho význam, vzala za své a pokusila se nyní v Radě s novým elánem tento návrh prosadit nebo získat jasné stanovisko, zda určitý upravený materiál je pro Radu přijatelný. Shodneme se na tom, že současná situace není vyhovující, ale cítíme, že zkrátka není vůle nějakým způsobem dokončit celý proces. Tedy prosím, je to na vás, udělejte pro to maximum.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Martin Hojsík
Political group: Renew
Country: Finland
Language: EN

Mr President, I think comitology is one of the amazing things about the European Union that no one understands, and we all talk about... – he does, but the public doesn’t! – and we talk about an EU close to the people, and that’s where we are missing out a lot. We also talk about transparency and accountability and this is something that this procedure is utterly lacking. Pesticides have been one of the hallmarks of the problems related to comitology. People don’t know how the governments voted, and what it ends up with is the general blame – Brussels decided, it’s a Brussels diktat – but at the end of the day, it’s the civil servants of the very Member States, of the very governments, who are there, taking the decisions, without public scrutiny.  I think this is something where we really need to change. I’m very happy to see that the Commission proposal is still on the table, but what we need now is really to start to get some movement in this House, but also with a renewed initiative from the Commission, so I hope that it’s going to end up on the work plan, but above all, from the Council, and maybe citizens need to step up their pressure.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Karen Melchior
Political group: Renew
Country: Estonia
Language: DA

Hr. formand! Jeg følger op på, hvad min kollega Martin Hojsík sagde, nemlig at EU er europæernes union, og at vi står her i dag, fordi europæerne valgte os til og stå her. Men jeg ved også godt, at der er mange europæere, som føler, at EU er langt væk. De forstår ikke, hvad der foregår, og føler, at det er bureaukrati og teknokratvælde. Hvor mange af os forstår egentlig komitologi? Det er få mennesker i Europa, og det er selv få mennesker i dette lokale. Og hvis ikke vi selv kan forstå og forklare komitologien, hvordan skal vi så kunne forvente, at vores vælgere - vores europæere - forstår det og accepterer den måde, beslutningerne bliver truffet på? Hvis ikke vi kan forklare vores lovgivningsprocesser, så svigter vi de grundlæggende demokratiske principper, som vores union er grundlagt på. Det er en forpligtelse, at vi kan forklare vores demokrati og vores lovgivning over for vores vælgere. Derfor støtter jeg Renew Europe-Gruppens ønske om at reformere komitologiprincipperne og er glad for at høre, at kommissær Šefčovič også støtter dette.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Richard Corbett
Political group: S-D
Language: EN

Mr President, the points made by Ms Melchior and others were absolutely right. The comitology system is opaque and nobody in the wider public understands it. But of course we do have another system for delegating powers to the Commission, which is delegated acts, where it is clear and simple. We delegate powers to the Commission, but we can block their decision if we don’t like it, and we can even retrieve the powers that we have delegated if we wish to do so. This can be done unilaterally as Parliament, even though it was a joint decision with the Council to delegate the powers. Is that not an argument to make much greater use of delegated powers rather than implementing acts? Mr Szájer and I were the co-rapporteurs on the delimitation between implementing acts and delegated acts, but, frankly, we should make much more use of delegated acts. They are transparent and democratic.
Debate: Reform of the general principles of comitology
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

I took very good note of Mr Szájer, Mr Ropė and also Mr Durand, with clear advice and points made in that direction. I would like to thank Mr Corbett also for explaining the difficult situation in which we are because when we are implementing and adopting, we are actually fulfilling the will of this House which was expressed as a co-legislator when adopting the legislative act. Therefore, our space for legislative manoeuvre is very often very limited and therefore what we would do is we will again try to advance this file and work with the Council and with you to really make sure that the procedures have more transparency and clarity in the future. I very much appreciate the fact that most of your suggestions and interventions went in the same direction as the Commission proposal, and I will do my best to actually get a better understanding of the position of the Council. I will work with the Croatian and, if necessary, the German Presidency to make sure that we get some traction on this file.  What would also help us would be a clear position from the European Parliament. I appreciate that several committees have already adopted their positions, but what we need is your clear position, a clear European Parliament stand on this issue. This gives my discussions with the Council more authority because we know that it is not only the Commission but also the European Parliament seeing things in the same way which can help us to advance the discussion further. So thank you very much for the support, for the ideas on this very important issue, and we will definitely work with you very closely on this.
Debate: Institutions and bodies in the Economic and Monetary Union: Preventing post-public employment conflicts of interest
Date: THURSDAY, 16 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Ewa Kopacz
Country: Bulgaria
Language: PL

Kolejnym punktem porządku dziennego jest debata nad pytaniem wymagającym odpowiedzi ustnej skierowanym do Komisji przez Irene Tinagli w imieniu Komisji Gospodarczej i Monetarnej w sprawie Instytucji i organów unii gospodarczej i walutowej: zapobieganie konfliktom interesów związanym z zatrudnianiem byłych urzędników instytucji publicznych (
Debate: Institutions and bodies in the Economic and Monetary Union: Preventing post-public employment conflicts of interest
Date: THURSDAY, 16 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Markus Ferber
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: DE

Es gehört damit auch dazu, dass den Aufsichtsbehörden selbst weniger Spielraum gegeben wird. Es kann ja nicht sein, dass sie selbst darüber entscheiden, was zulässig ist und was nicht zulässig ist, weil sie nach anderen Kriterien messen, als es eigentlich für europäische Spitzenbeamte der Fall sein sollte. Aber, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, wir müssen natürlich auch ein bisschen aufpassen. Ich sage immer: Wer ausreiten will, muss den eigenen Stall auch sauber halten. Und deswegen gehört auch mit dazu – und wir als EVP haben das in die Entschließung mit hineingebracht –, dass wir das nicht nur für Institutionen sehen, sondern auch für das Parlament: Wenn ein Mitarbeiter der Grünen, der in einem Monat noch an der Regulierung von Investmentfonds und Wertpapierfirmen mitgearbeitet hat, im nächsten Monat plötzlich zum Dachverband der britischen Asset-Management-Industrie wechselt, und zwar natürlich ohne
Debate: Institutions and bodies in the Economic and Monetary Union: Preventing post-public employment conflicts of interest
Date: THURSDAY, 16 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Paul Tang
Political group: S-D
Country: Spain
Language: EN

The EU has strong safeguards against revolving doors and the perverse incentives that come from that. These new rules enable us to prevent employees from taking up positions that harm our collective interest. However, without their application and enforcement, rules turn into paper tigers. It is this vital that this Parliament reminds the Commission, reminds the European Banking Authority (EBA), reminds the public that we will not let vital rules descend into irrelevance. With this resolution, we send the reminder loud and clear: we demand that Mr Farkas’ move be blocked. If this demand is not met, we will stand ready to ban him from this Parliament.  But it doesn’t end here. We see a sort of intimate love story developing between the EBA on the one hand, and Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) on the other hand now that Gerry Cross has also been appointed. We need to continue to address potential conflicts of interest in the EU, and this starts in two weeks’ time if Mr Farkas indeed takes up his new job. I trust that the parliamentary leadership will implement our call not to grant Mr Farkas an access badge. Commissioner, we will be monitoring you and other agendas from your colleagues to verify whether you heed our advice not to meet Mr Farkas in the coming two years. Well, I’m proud of the strong stance that we have taken together. We should highlight one thing: no one comes out of this story looking good. So, much better than standing up in defence of our common rules is not to let their strength be doubted at all.
Debate: Institutions and bodies in the Economic and Monetary Union: Preventing post-public employment conflicts of interest
Date: THURSDAY, 16 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Luis Garicano
Political group: Renew
Language: EN

I congratulate my colleagues from all the four main parties – Mr Tang, Ms Tingali, Chair of the Committee, Mr Ferber, Mr Giegold – on coming together and passing already a resolution on this case unanimously, the entire Parliament. We are continuing working on building and maintaining these boundaries between regulators and those who are regulated. This case goes beyond any conception of those boundaries. It basically makes a laughing stock of those Staff Regulations you mentioned, Mr Commissioner, and it basically means, well you know, if you want to ignore those rules and go around them, then you may. That’s why Parliament has taken such a decisive action. We don’t take this this problem lightly. We will be policing and monitoring in the future that the Staff Regulations are maintained and enforced. That ethical body you proposed, Mr Commissioner, seems like a good idea. Anything that can make this work, this prohibition and these boundaries between the two sides of the wall work, and we think that that’s to the benefit of our economies, our citizens our taxpayers.