unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

And you mentioned how you can attract young people to these areas or stop the brain drain. I think the movement of people is something that we really want to respect, but we want people to move because they decide to move, not because they are forced to move because they cannot find jobs in the areas where they were born and where they got the skills.  So for this, we need really to think about how the other policies impact the different areas in a country. So when you decide where you locate, for instance a university, where you locate a technological centre, this is an element, a fundamental element of attraction, of competence, of know-how. Of course, you cannot locate it just from a purely voluntary kind of perspective in an empty area, in the middle of a mountain, you cannot artificially create this kind of infrastructure.  But probably you can spot across the territory where there is still sufficient capacity to anchor these kind of initiatives, these kind of projects, and make sure that when you define your horizontal policies that you locate in those areas the critical elements that can create this kind of environment on which a young person, a young couple can raise a family, can locate, can find a job, and can have a better life.  So I think it is this strategy that we can just incorporate in the normal partnership agreements. It depends also on the will of Member States to implement it or not. But we are trying really to work with them in order to deliver it in that sense.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Krzysztof Hetman
Political group: PPE
Country: Netherlands
Language: PL

Dzisiejsza debata jest w formie pytań, więc czy mógłbym w związku z powyższym poprosić i liczyć na to, że uprzejmie Komisja Europejska, mimo wszystko, zastanowi się w jaki sposób jednak przekierować swoje myślenie na to, aby te wszystkie polityki, które realizujemy na rzecz regionów wyludnionych, realizować w ten sposób, mimo wszystko, aby tych ludzi przyciągać do nich, a nie tylko ich zatrzymywać? Taki mój uprzejmy apel w formie pytania.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

So in fact, the mindset – but this is something, and that’s why I thank colleagues, because I think Members of Parliament, politicians, have this capacity to put in the agenda the right topics for the right discussions. And having this discussion here today is in itself something I value very much because this helps to change the mindset and to understand that it is for the good of a country or for the good of Europe not to create a lot of imbalances internally, internally to Europe, but also internally to the Member States.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Marcos Ros Sempere
Political group: S-D
Country: Italy
Language: ES

Señora comisaria, la despoblación es un tema de vital importancia. Genera pobreza y sufrimiento y pone en riesgo multitud de tradiciones y formas de vida en las zonas rurales de toda la Unión Europea.  La política de cohesión, además de equilibrio entre regiones, ofrece una oportunidad para luchar contra este fenómeno con herramientas como la Estrategia contra la Despoblación.  Se trata de un problema muy complejo que debemos abordar desde distintas áreas.  Disponer de buenas comunicaciones y telecomunicaciones entre zonas rurales y urbanas es fundamental para fijar poblaciones al territorio y para generar empleo. Las infraestructuras son necesarias para ello.  La movilidad también es un tema clave. Yo celebro el trabajo que la Comisión Europea ha hecho sobre el nuevo Marco de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible, pero me gustaría que ampliásemos el foco no solo a las zonas urbanas, sino también a las zonas rurales.  En ese sentido, quiera plantear varias preguntas; ¿estamos repensando la nueva política de cohesión?  ¿Qué acciones tiene intención de desarrollar la Comisión para aplicar la Estrategia contra la Despoblación en los nuevos programas financieros de la política de cohesión?  Y, para terminar, ¿qué medidas tiene intención de adoptar la Comisión para que el trabajo en materia de movilidad urbana sostenible pueda contribuir también a la lucha contra la despoblación en la Unión Europea?
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: ES

Es cierto que la política de cohesión actual financia medios de comunicación sostenibles, en términos de impacto climático, y que esto puede simplificar el funcionamiento de los núcleos urbanos más pequeños.  También hay un problema de sostenibilidad financiera que, en ocasiones, supone un impedimento para que puedan introducirse medios de comunicación más modernos y más sostenibles a nivel de las zonas rurales muy pequeñas. Por tanto, hay que trabajar no solamente en el ámbito de las infraestructuras, en términos de opción tecnológica, sino también en cómo articular un sistema que sea sostenible en cuanto a financiación para las pequeñas poblaciones, los pequeños núcleos.  Pero creo que por eso es importante que haya un fondo, como los fondos FEDER, que pueda garantizar que la inversión primaria sea una inversión cofinanciada —y cofinanciada de una forma bastante interesante— que disminuya la necesidad de que haya una sostenibilidad financiera, lo que sería un problema grave para muchos de los pequeños pueblos o pequeñas ciudades.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Rosanna Conte
Political group: ID
Country: Hungary
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, Commissaria Ferreira, il fenomeno dello spopolamento sta portando aree remote e montane ad attrarre e trattenere sempre meno popolazione. Questo perché fino ad oggi queste zone non hanno avuto il supporto necessario e gli strumenti giusti per prevenire questa fuga. È chiaro che se la popolazione e soprattutto i giovani non hanno accesso a servizi, occupazione e infrastrutture, perdono l'interesse a vivere nelle zone rurali e montane. Per non parlare di altri problemi che diventano al contempo causa e conseguenza dello spopolamento. Ad esempio, la ricomparsa di animali selvatici nei centri abitati, come la presenza sempre più frequente di lupi nel Nord Italia, che ha impatti negativi non solo su allevamenti e aziende agricole, ma anche sulle famiglie locali e sulla popolazione potenziale, ovvero i turisti sempre più scoraggiati e impauriti.  Alla luce di questi episodi e della risoluzione del Parlamento sull'evoluzione demografica, le chiedo: gli Stati membri stanno già adottando misure della nuova politica di coesione per contrastare il fenomeno dello spopolamento? Ci sono stati progressi rispetto alla vecchia programmazione? Allo stato attuale, ritiene che il coinvolgimento delle autorità locali sia ad un livello soddisfacente?
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

The organisation of the administrative structure of the management of funds varies from country to country, and the Commission cannot really interfere directly in how countries are organised. Some countries have a regional level, some countries do not have the regional level, and some countries have the municipality or the parish as the most adequate entity to manage the funds. So the principle of cohesion is that in fact you have got to respect the internal organisation of each Member State, but local entities, regional entities and other entities, according to the partnership principle and stakeholders, have got to be involved. So how you decide, what you decide to implement depends on the internal organisation of each Member State. But in fact it has got to define a vision that takes a bottom—up approach to be combined with the top—down approach so that the funds, the instruments, can converge for the development of the local entities. And of course the local entities must be involved. The level of this involvement varies, as I mentioned, according to the degree of decentralisation that each country adopts. So that’s all in relation to your question.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Ladislav Ilčić
Political group: ECR
Country: France
Language: HR

Poštovana povjerenice, prilikom međunarodnog priznanja Republike Hrvatske Njemačka se pokazala ne samo kao partnerska, već i prijateljska zemlja Hrvatskoj.  Međutim, u proteklih deset godina Republika Hrvatska poklonila je Njemačkoj 18 milijardi eura. Naime, toliko je Hrvatska potrošila na edukaciju mladih ljudi koji su uglavnom odmah poslije diplome otišli u Njemačku i sada tamo doprinose razvoju njemačkog gospodarstva, a ne hrvatskog gospodarstva.  Kojim instrumentima kohezijske politike možete kompenzirati taj veliki trošak Republike Hrvatske kako sloboda kretanja unutar Europske unije ne bi bila na veliku korist isključivo jednim državama, a na veliku štetu drugima?
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

I just came from Croatia last week to sign exactly the partnership agreement with Croatia for 2027, and I see within this partnership agreement the elements that can really foster the creation of new areas of research, of innovation, poles of development, not only in the capital of Croatia, but also in other areas – and I visited other areas. In fact, if the opportunities are there, people, young people, qualified people will come back, and you can even end up by attracting young people from other countries that may opt to live in Croatia because the quality of life in Croatia is probably much better than in the countries of origin.  So this movement of people going back and forth is part of Europe, and I think we should not restrict it because that would be a big, big loss. But we have to create conditions for people moving, willing to move into Croatia rather than willing to move into Germany or any other country. To create these conditions you have got to organise, together with all stakeholders in Croatia, the strategies that create the opportunities for these people to be there, to work there and to raise their families there. The way we are going in Croatia goes in that direction, with growth, with joining the euro, with Schengen. So I think in fact there is a good prospect for Croatia in that sense. As I told you, we just finished the partnership agreement signature last week.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Franc Bogovič
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: SL

Gospod predsednik! Hvala za priložnost. Spoštovana gospa komisarka! Da mladi ostanejo na podeželju, potrebujemo kvalitetno infrastrukturo, vključno s sodobno širokopasovno povezavo, in pa delovna mesta. In vse to skupaj smo tudi zaokrožili v konceptu pametnih vasi, v katerem želimo ustvariti pogoje za poseljeno podeželje. V sklopu tega je kmetijstvo, mobilnost na podeželju, turizem, energetika, skrb za starejše na podeželju, e-zdravje. Zato je tudi iz teh številnih dejavnosti jasno, da potrebujemo tudi različne fonde financiranja. Mi imamo »Leader«, v katerem je pet procentov programa razvoja podeželja, ko pa že za ta program poskušamo pridobiti sredstva iz regionalnega sklada, so na nacionalni ravni težave, se ne odločijo države, niti iz socialnega sklada. Predlagam, da imamo v naslednji finančni perspektivi poseben sklad, podobno kot imamo za urbana središča, tudi za ruralna območja, v katerem bomo zložili sredstva iz različnih skladov in tudi zagotovili to sinergijo delovanja različnih politik na podeželju.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting a separate allocation of funds just for rural areas. I think you have rural areas that are quite rich, that benefit from agricultural policy, for instance, and you have rural areas that are extremely poor; you have mountainous areas; you have peripheral areas; you have areas going under transition; you have areas that are just outermost regions. So, the different problems that we are facing across Europe, they all deserve a special approach. I don’t think the special approach depends on creating allocations of funds. It depends, basically, on fulfilling the principle of the European Union. And in fact, all the rural areas, all the underdeveloped areas, they have per capita support from European funding that is much higher than the per capita financing that is associated with the more developed areas. Apart from this, I think it is the quality of the instruments, the quality of the vision and policies that each country, each region proposes for each sub—area that can really help these areas to progress. If we segment all the funds into these different kinds of issues that we have to address, I don’t think we can really expect to have more simplicity, more linear access to the funds, and we want to simplify it. So, accepting diversity is in itself part of the policy and adjusting the instruments to the diversity of the areas, I think that is more adequate, but of course it’s something to be discussed.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Juozas Olekas
Political group: S-D
Country: Spain
Language: LT

Gerbiama Komisijos nare, tikrai palaikau Jūsų pastangas ir darbus saugant mūsų gyventojus visoje Europos Sąjungoje. Ir sutinku su Jumis, kad ES valstybės narės turi daug atsakomybės šioje srityje. Bet yra dalykų, kurių valstybės narės negali padaryti, ir tai yra mūsų, Europos Sąjungos institucijų, atsakomybė. Turiu galvoje bendrą žemės ūkio politiką ir tiesiogines išmokas žemdirbiams. Stojant į Europos Sąjungą visiems buvo pažadėta vidutinės lygios išmokos už tą patį žemės plotą. Tačiau šiandien tiek Rumunijos, tiek Portugalijos, tiek mano šalies, Lietuvos, žemdirbiai gauna žymiai mažesnes tiesiogines išmokas ir tai labai atbaido, ypač jaunus ūkininkus, nuo pasilikimo kaime. Ar Jūs sutiktumėte paremti Jūsų kolegos Komisijos nario J. Wojciechowskio pažadą, kad reikia išlyginti tas tiesiogines išmokas ir sudaryti vienodas sąlygas visiems, dirbantiems žemės ūkyje bet kurioje Europos Sąjungos valstybėje?
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

I will not discuss the content of the agricultural policy because my colleague Mr Wojciechowski will come if you wish, or you can have him with much more knowledge to discuss the details of the policy. What I would like to underline from your intervention is this call that I already mentioned in a previous answer and that I would like to reinforce here: we have got to be aware of and attentive to the impact that the different horizontal policies in Europe have on the different regions of Europe and different Member States of Europe.  This is valid for the European approach, but it is also valid for each Member State. When you have the smart specialisation strategy, when you define where you locate your universities, when you decide which roads or railways to build, when you decide the most neutral policy, the different realities on which the different policies intervene creates different dynamics in the different spaces.  Being aware of this regional impact of the sectoral policies, and even more, being aware with a strong instrument like the recovery and resilience plans, what the regional impact of each of these plans is, is in itself something to which I would like to call your attention because we cannot have contradictory instruments if we really want to converge to a more balanced and more equilibrium in the growth inside a country or inside Europe. That’s why I thank you for having stressed this issue, because, in fact, it requires attention.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Susana Solís Pérez
Political group: Renew
Country: Slovakia
Language: ES

Señora comisaria, la despoblación es un problema que afecta a toda Europa, pero especialmente a países como España, donde tres de cada cuatro municipios pierden habitantes. Y me refiero no solo a municipios rurales pequeños, sino también incluso a las ciudades medianas.  Por eso era para mí tan importante que se recogiese la definición de zona despoblada en el Reglamento de los Fondos FEDER, porque eso permite que estas zonas tengan un plan de acción integral con el que revitalizarlas y atraer empleo.  Y para crear empleo es fundamental una de las medidas que ahora admite la Comisión y que consiste en permitir una fiscalidad diferenciada, beneficios fiscales a las empresas que estén establecidas en estas zonas. Y estoy hablando, por ejemplo, de bonificaciones a los trabajadores. Sin embargo, vemos que los Estados miembros no están utilizando esta medida. En el caso de España llevamos diez meses esperando y me gustaría conocer su opinión.  Y mi segunda pregunta se refiere al Fondo de Transición Justa, que es importantísimo para evitar la despoblación. También vemos que algunos Estados miembros aún no han presentado su plan de transición justa. Ahora corremos el peligro de perder una anualidad. También me gustaría saber si esto es así, si podemos perder una anualidad de estos fondos y qué tenemos que hacer al respecto.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: ES

La fiscalidad diferenciada es algo que, en el marco de la competencia en Europa, es posible en el caso de las zonas económicamente más frágiles de Europa.  Nosotros lo sabemos, pero sabemos también que se puede utilizar (y que se utiliza) no solo la fiscalidad, así como que es necesario hacer una diferenciación en materia de apoyo a la producción, a las pequeñas y medianas empresas mediante los sistemas introducidos por los Estados miembros, en particular, el apoyo al desarrollo de pequeñas instituciones económicas.  También es muy importante utilizar de la forma más eficaz posible el Fondo Social Europeo en combinación con el FEDER.  Sobre el Fondo de Transición Justa: estamos trabajando muy intensamente con todos los Estados miembros. Hay diferencias muy grandes entre unos y otros. Algunos, cuatro en particular, han finalizado los planes, que están plenamente en marcha. Otros tienen más dificultades para definir cómo hacer la transición y estamos trabajando en ello. Algunos cuentan con una línea presupuestaria autónoma para el Fondo de Transición Justa. Otros lo han integrado en el Plan de Desarrollo Regional. Estamos trabajando muy intensamente con los Estados miembros para que los fondos asociados al Fondo no se pierdan.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Laura Ferrara
Political group: NI
Country: Poland
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, signora Commissaria, nonostante gli sforzi attuati dall'Unione europea con la politica di coesione, nell'arco degli ultimi otto anni il Mezzogiorno d'Italia ha subito un calo demografico senza pari nell'ambito dell'Unione europea. In particolare, le regioni come il Molise, la Calabria e la Basilicata hanno perso centinaia di migliaia di cittadini residenti.  Sappiamo come la politica di coesione rivesta un ruolo decisivo nell'affrontare sfide demografiche di tale portata e le chiedo pertanto se non ritenga necessario rivedere le strategie elaborate per le aree rurali e periferiche, prevedendo delle opportunità di finanziamento più specifiche, in modo da rafforzare l'occupazione giovanile, l'imprenditorialità, la digitalizzazione, l'accesso alla sanità e ai servizi pubblici.  Le chiedo poi in che modo la Commissione europea intenda tutelare l'attuazione delle strategie nazionali e regionali per le aree interne nel periodo di programmazione 2021-2027 attraverso un uso efficiente delle risorse europee, considerando che, ad esempio, nella mia regione, la Calabria, il finanziamento di alcune strategie territoriali per le aree interne è stato cancellato dal programma a causa dei ritardi nell'avvio di tali strategie.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

I think the development problem in the present circumstances doesn’t depend on ring fencing money. The problem is not lack of money. I’m sorry to say it, but in particular in the case of Italy, if you add together the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the 2021-2027 multiannual cohesion funding, the amounts are in fact quite robust, quite substantial, and you can even add to it what remains to be executed from 2014-2020. And you also have the Just Transition Fund exactly for certain areas in the South. So I think more than allocating or ring fencing funds to tackle these issues. The crucial issue is to understand what is blocking the development and to address the elements that need to be tackled for that purpose, in particular, to address the instruments that you want to use, how you want to use the money and this plan. I saw it with the Minister Giuseppe Provenzano, with Minister Mara Carfagna, you know, we’ll see, I mean, I didn’t have a meeting yet with the new minister, but the crucial thing is to have a vision, to know what you want to reach, how we are going to tackle it. We are supporting also Italy and Mezzogiorno with the Just Transition Fund. We are supporting Italy also with the public administration requalification. So let’s hope for the best, but the money is there, for sure.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: José Manuel Fernandes
Political group: PPE
Country: Ireland
Language: PT

Senhor Presidente, Senhora Comissária, é essencial que não se perca nem um cêntimo da Política de Coesão 2014-2020 e que se acelere a Política de Coesão de 2021 a 2027. Em Portugal, o Portugal 20-30 corre o risco de, em 2022, não ter um único euro utilizado. Para além disso, é muito importante ter uma atenção especial aos programas operacionais regionais. Pergunto à Senhora Comissária se tem a informação de que, no caso de Portugal, os programas operacionais regionais, da forma que estão a ser desenhados, vão dificultar ou até impedir os municípios com menos população de acederem a todos os eixos e aos montantes dos programas operacionais regionais? É que, se assim for, vai haver é mais despovoamento, vai haver é mais desertificação. E pergunto se a Senhora Comissária tem esta indicação e como é que vai atuar? Porque eu sei que não é essa a forma com que pretende que a política de coesão seja executada. E mesmo para terminar, a articulação é essencial, como é que se vai fazer a articulação entre o FEADER e também os programas da política de coesão e os programas operacionais regionais?