14/03/2014 Politics Europe


14/03/2014

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entrance test for Nigeria's immigration service. Now time for

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Politics Europe. Hello and welcome to Politics

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Europe. On today's programme, as the American and Russian foreign

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ministers meet in London the West underlines the threat of sanctions

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against Vladimir Putin. Following the Edward Snowden spying

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revelations, the EU Parliament agree sweeping new rules on data

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protection. A triumph for individual freedom or just more red tape? MEPs

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agree that mobile phone charges should be standard across the EU but

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will phone companies sign up to the plan? Do you have what it takes to

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become a top bureaucrat in the EU? We have the lowdown on what it takes

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to get into the European civil service. All that is to come. Here

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is our guide to the latest goings-on in Europe. Ahead of Sunday 's

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referendum in Crimea, Germany warned that Russia faced economic damage if

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it did not ease up tensions. Ed Milliband promised a referendum on

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EU membership but only if the EU was asked to transfer more powers to

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Brussels. George Soros, the man who helped break the pound, told the BBC

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that the EU may not survive its long-lasting stagnation. MEPs voted

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to introduce a common charge for all mobile phones and, finally, good

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news for the vice president of the European commission after a cottage

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pie that she bought in England was nicked. The Mac I have a lot of

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offers from people who said that their mother makes the best cottage

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pie in Great Britain so I will send one to you. People were unhappy that

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it was stolen. Who could have thought a cottage pie

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could cause such problems? Welcome to both of my guests. As you head

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towards the European elections, is the Parliament beginning to run

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down? You could say we are beginning to step up. We have more reports

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this week than normal, and when we meet in Strasbourg next month we

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will have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of legislation to be

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cleared. When you go down? We start in Easter and will go on until May

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22. What did you make of some people who have been saying that in the UK

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the Lib Dems could be wiped out at the EU elections? We will not be

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wiped out. Every party will suffer from the expected surge in the UKIP

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vote. Labour will suffer less than the Conservatives and the Lib Dems

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at we have to be out there fighting the case was staying in the EU and

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trying to face down the narrow nationalists in the UKIP. What is a

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good result for the Conservatives? Will focus on our agenda for reform

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and people need to know that if you want a referendum on EU then there

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is one party that will give you that choice. That will not be determined

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by voting in the EU elections. David Cameron has made it clear how

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important European elections are. Whether people like it or not the EU

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parliament has equal power over its member governments and that shows

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how important the role of MEPs is. If you want a good citizen so that

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it MEPs pushing the agenda for reform, vote for us. We will

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continue pushing the agenda for reform. John Kerry has met with his

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Russian counterpart in London in a final efforts to broker a deal on

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the deepening crisis in Ukraine. The talks, head of a referendum on

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Crimea on Sunday were residents of the region, largely ethnic Russian,

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although there are other minorities to, decide whether or not to join

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the Russian Federation. Here is a gloomy sounding Foreign Secretary,

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William Hague. The fact that Russia so far has not taken any action to

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de-escalate tension is makes this a formidable difficult tasks today and

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I think therefore we have to be realistic about that. In the absence

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of progress today, the EU and the United Kingdom will move to further

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measures as we have already agreed. If there is no diplomatic way

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forward, we will do that. We are joined from Cambridge by a Labour

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MEP. She has led a move to impose sections on Russia. In the world of

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politics it seems clear that Crimea is lost and that it is back as part

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of Russia again. Do you agree? We cannot agree because the invasion of

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Russia was clearly against international law... The invasion of

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Crimea you mean. You would call it an invasion? Yes. The EU parliament

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proposed a resolution that called it an invasion. If we ever decide to

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come to a deal which then recognises this change, that is an imitation

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not just a Vladimir Putin that is an imitation not just a Vladimir Putin

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but to others around the world to will happen with Crimea is that it

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will turn into another of the frozen conflicts that we see in Eastern

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Europe and Central Asia. I stood in Georgia after the Russian invasion,

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looking across the borderline at 3000 Russian troops so I know what

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it looks like and there is a huge fear and therefore we cannot accept

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this annexation of Crimea. Of course, 8500 troops on the borders

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with Ukraine are there and Moscow statement this morning talked about

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their right to defend their Russian compatriots. We must therefore fear

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action in eastern Ukraine as well. Is it going on in two stages?

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Assuming that the referendum goes Russia's way, whether or not it is

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democratic or not we can put aside for the moment, and the Russians say

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that they have done it and we will accept the will of the Crimean

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people, what should Europe to? It is an illegitimate referendum against

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Ukrainian constitution where there is not even an option for that move.

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It is being held at the barrel of a gun. What is Europe to? Europe has

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already said that if the referendum is ahead there must be more

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consequences. What worries me about that is that when they make the sort

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of statements, when John Kerry talks about 11 power talks, we hope it

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succeeds but there was no sign whatsoever on the ground that this

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referendum would not go ahead. As you say, the result is a foregone

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conclusion. It will be boycotted by opponents. We know the result

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already. I am deeply worried that this sort of pressure it that we

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have heard from William Hague but other European foreign ministers

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to, talking about consequences has not been followed through by

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actions. On Monday there will be a move towards greater sanctions but

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when we saw that Korea unfortunate incident whether private Downing

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Street brief was photographed and made public, I have been asked in

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meetings at Brussels this week is Cameron more interested in defending

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Russian banks in London or will he go ahead and support asset freezes?

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I do not believe that it is motivation, I hope it is not, but

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that is what is being asked? That is embarrassing and Downing Street that

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the bigger issue is whether Angela Merkel is prepared to go ahead and

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risk the gas being cut off. Her speech was absolutely right this

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week but I think she missed a trick. She should have gone stricter Moscow

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when this happened in exactly the way that the French president did so

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when the Russians went into Georgia. Had she done that and banker fist on

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the table, because Germany is so important for Russian trade, she

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might have secured something. Instead we have left it for the

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Americans and I hope that the talks will come to something, but if they

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don't we have to put sanctions in place. Let me bring in your fellow

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MEP here. Are we ready for this? Are we operate? If we do bring in tough

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sanctions, are we really ready for Russia than to say that the gas

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pipeline is being cut off as Mac are we ready for the Kremlin, which can

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be ruthless, to say OK then we will take over the BP assets in Russia

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and the oxide and car plant. -- VW plant. This is not a game of Risk,

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it is the 21st century. There should be serious consequences for this

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kind of action. If we act against Russia with economic sanctions, are

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we ready for retaliatory action on our European economic assets in

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Russia? Have to look at the consequences of what being

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announced. If you look at the Russian stock market it has fallen.

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Today's newspaper showed that there will be a doubling in after capital

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in Russia. It is already starting to hurt and further sanctions will hurt

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Russia more. That's go to our colleague in Cambridge. I would

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suggest to you that Crimea is already lost, it is a done deal, and

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that the big challenge now is with the mobilisation of the Russian army

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on the Ukrainian border, with Russian television spewing out

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regular propaganda that there has been a fascist takeover in Ukraine,

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that radicals look like they have arrived in the East as well, but

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that the issue will be what happens if and when Russia takes is Ukraine

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as well? Angela Merkel has become the bugbear in the media but she and

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the others, that group has said that they want to move towards Ukraine

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having a membership prospective for the European Union. We are talking

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about an agreement in which Ukraine could potentially joining the EU

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eventually. The idea that Germany is blocking sanctions, I do not agree.

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There is a huge Cold War frenzy on both sides. Colleagues from the

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Baltic states, Estonia for example, are worried that NATO will not stand

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by its defence commitment to them. On the Russian side, we are talking

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about this phrase, defend our compatriots, people killed in the

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demonstrations... I understand all that but what will you do? We have

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to be ready. We have to ensure that when politicians in Europe threatens

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serious consequences, they will follow them through. The rhetoric

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from reporting in Russia today, they called the EU like the wizard of

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Oz, that it pretends it has power but in reality it is weak. I call

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for the foreign ministers meeting on Monday to make good those

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commitments so that we can see real action in terms of these bands,

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asset freezes, and other sanctions that really show that it written

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that our words mean something in reality. We have to leave it there.

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What would we do if the Kremlin freezes European assets? We still

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have not had an answer to that. How do we protect our sons on the? It

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all comes out after revelations from Edward Snowden which claimed

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governments use mobile phones against like Angry Hurts to spy on

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us. -- ourselves. Tim Berners-Lee says the UK needs to go further than

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EU regulations to come with --, with a Bill of Rights. We have downloaded

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this report from Alex Forsyth who has been to Strasbourg to

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investigate. The internet is embedded in our

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daily lives. Every minute, billions of its of data is shared as we play

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and shop online. There have been reports about how our information is

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used. Particularly allegations that some agencies have been collecting

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fast quantities of data from e-mails, web cams and even the games

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we play on our phones. It has all caused concern. My private life is

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my private life and that is the main problem with Facebook. If everybody

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has access to my personal information that is not good. There

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is not a lot of information about security. When I use use the

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internet I want to know that my online data is not being followed.

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There is the need for more privacy on the one hand and secondly, growth

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on the internet, which is where the future lies. In future we will be

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buying and selling more and we want to do it safely. Firms will need

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permission to share your data and there will be large fines for anyone

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who breaks the rules, under this new law. They would need consent for

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profiling, when they use your information to build a picture of

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your life for things like targeted advertising. You have the right to

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have your data raised from the internet if wanted. If you want a

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digital market, which we need, you need to put this regulation in place

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as quickly as possible. That will be good for companies and it will

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preserve our data protection as a fundamental right. This week,

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regulation has had backing from EU parliament. It has taken two years

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to get here. Now, details will be negotiated between member states

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before implementation. That won't be easy. The UK has warned too much

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prescriptive red tape could cost businesses up to ?320 million each

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year, some in Europe are keen to make sure that does not happen. Low

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we are part of a single market so we should be part of a single set of

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rules. But we are at early stages. --. We need to look at the detail

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and ensure the report -- regulation is sustainable. There has not been a

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smooth path, this legislation being some of the most amended in history.

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It tax firms say it it is an workable. 60 universities have

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signed and said it will be harder to do research. They have access to

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data which is historic and abroad and they don't know the identities

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of individuals. Despite concerns, this advertisement from the EU makes

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clear that no one wants to feel exposed online. -- European

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Commission. These laws date from 1995, when just 1% of us were on the

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internet. There is support for a streamlined regulation for the whole

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of Europe. Getting agreement as to how that works will be hard.

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The European telecommunications network is against this, the GSM is

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against this, the French consumer groups are worried, Digital Europe

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is worried, is anyone backing this? If you talk to some of the people

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who look forward to the new services, they say that the current

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data protection laws date from before the internet H. They clearly

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need to be updated. -- internet age. We need the balance between

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making sure this internet will take off and we have innovation, but also

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ensuring people are comfortable with the data that is being shared.

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Achieving that Allens is important, and we are not there yet. -- that

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balance. We need to work towards the right balance between security on

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the one hand and data being used for if citing services. It has been

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commended 3999 times. Do you know what you are doing? I'm not sure how

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that figure is calculated. Neither am I. You have people speaking 22

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different languages in the EU parliament so that means you divided

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by 22 and you get... (CROSSTALK). There are talk about it being too

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vague, there being legitimate interest, something that is too

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broad a definition. Are not sure it is. It has been used in the last

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tata protection law. It is difficult to strike the right balance between

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allowing people to innovate and ensuring people's data is protected.

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There is no doubt that there are now people wishing to sell goods or

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services who are targeting profile -- and profiling customers on the

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basis of where they go, the spending habit and so on. That is, to my

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mind, and unacceptable abuse of individual data. Winnie to educate

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consumers that when they the deep -- data online, they should be aware

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that information will be used. -- we need to. I have the idea that the

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public is more idea about this than those in lamenting the law. A data

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protection Officer or officers will need to be implemented. I thought

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you were after less regulation. That is something we are concerned about

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and that is why we are at the early stage --officers. This has to be

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discussed between the 28 member states. It shows we need to be

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conservative and not cut off regulation. This won't stop the NSA

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or GCHQ spying ? Nick Clegg is right when he said we need a thorough

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review of what is being done with peoples individual data. In

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particular, mass surveillance. -- people's. Fancy working for the EU?

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One of the regular competitions to become a EU civil servant is open

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for applications. It is a famously tough multilingual process. How hard

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is it to become a Eurocrat? Here is Adam with the latest to Z of Europe

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were R is for recruitment. -- A to Z.

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To get here, most officials go through an infamous multistage,

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multilingual process called the Common core. I am going to get a

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taster. Here at the EU's recruitment agency. -- commcore. The

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institutions have hired between 1.5 and 2000 per year. Applicants tended

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to him ten to 70,000. Applications. It is less gruelling than it used to

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be. Until 2010, they used to be a test of EU knowledge. This was

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criticised. In our modernisation of the selection process, it was

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something we abolished. Those questions were very specialised

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sometimes. They changed rapidly and you could only prepare for the test

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if you are already here, for example. I could do with some

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preparation and there is an industry dedicated to that. This Russell 's

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bookshop has a section devoted to passing that test. -- Brussels. What

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is it you want in your life? This woman coaches hopefuls for the. If I

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was trying to get through the process what should I be focusing

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on? -- for a fee. I would rephrase that, if I want to go through the

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process. There is a different energy. Slightly or could pep talk

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over, it is test time. A mix of reasoning, maths and logic. Done by

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the computer. I will do the first part in my mother tongue. Unlike

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everyone else, I am missing part to comment because you have to do it in

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a second language and my French is a little bit rusty. It says I will

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need to work quickly and accurately. Which of the following

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statements... According to a large-scale study... Chlorophyll

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plank and energy... An hour later, and I am done. All I can say is that

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it was very intense. You are against the clock. The questions are very

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tough. And, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself. I got the

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results a feud aid later. I got it at the Amsterdam airport. If I get

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through, I will have another day of exercises and even then I will only

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go into a recruitment pool with no guarantee of a job. So? Happy to

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confirm you did well, 28/40. I think they are just being nice because

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they go on to say I would not have passed most of the competition that

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they run but they may have passed one of the easy ones. Well. I think

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we can all agree we have not had to sit that test. How would you rate

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the quality of the EU civil servants you have to deal with? Roy

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Janssens, after being president of the commission said, he had

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brilliant and useless people. The test needs to be tough. If you pass

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the test, you in one of the Chris Houston jobs in the public service.

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The conditions makes Humphries look modest. That is all we have thank

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you for being my guest. Goodbye. -- that is all we have time for.

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Sunday should be a decent day for most of us. It will be a breezy day

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across northern parts of the country. Across Scotland we have had

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windy weather. Wins across the north of

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