kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
madam president we really just can't stand by and ignore what is happening in iran. both the eu and the international community has got to absolutely denounce the intentional lethal use of force by the revolutionary guards the iranian police and the plainclothes agents of the iranian regime. the deaths of some one hundred and forty three people have been carefully documented by amnesty international but they believe that the death toll is significantly higher.
her family searched for her for three days before they were given her body by the officials of the regime.
she was fourteen years old.
our response so far has been woefully inadequate.
she was shot in the head.
there must be no joint commission with iran while the iranian regime is perpetrating crimes against humanity.
but the two hundred million europeans who voted in may this year did not vote for the old intergovernmental europe of backroom deals but for a modern and transparent parliamentary democracy.
you have my vote.
madam president i would like to say to the president elect that she has my vote but it's a vote of pragmatism and not of passion yet. there are several positives there are many excellent and even exceptional personalities the highest number of women and even a woman president a green deal and a focus on geopolitics.
now you must earn my enthusiasm.
that's all good. but i also have doubts i'll be honest.
you need to show if you belong to the old or the new europe.
an independent commission is crucial for a well functioning eu and so far you've been the candidate mainly of the national governments.
this is our only hope for a just and lasting peace in the region.
this declaration clearly goes against the fourth geneva convention un security council resolutions and the two thousand and four opinion of the international court of justice.
israeli settlements are illegal under international law and israel has the obligation to end all settlement activity as an occupying power.
madam president we are extremely concerned about the recent us statement. only days after yet another round of violence in and around the gaza strip us state secretary pompeo announced a major u turn of us policy towards israeli settlements.
this includes the recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital moving the us embassy there and recognising israel's sovereignty over the occupied golan heights.
president trump must understand that the middle east is not his foreign policy playground.
it is the home of millions of israelis and palestinians striving for peace day after day.
it is in this spirit that we also support the recent ruling by the european court of justice about the labelling of israeli settlement products in the eu market.
he declared and i quote the establishment of israel's civilian settlements in the west bank is not per se inconsistent with international law'.
it seems that the trump administration instead of coming up with the so called deal of the century has decided to play with escalating the conflict at the expense of palestinians israelis and the international community at large.
i welcome and fully support the immediate and strong reaction by you high representative.
pompeo's announcement is yet another example of the trump administration's obsessive support for prime minister netanyahu.
the steady increase in israeli settlements in the west bank including in east jerusalem clearly undermines the prospect of any viable two state solution.
to achieve our mutual goals in those areas.
i hope that the eu will remember that a strong and free trading uk has always been in the best interests of europeans as it is of british citizens.
madam president dear ms von der leyen there are many things i disagree with you about on the creeping federalisation of the european union towards a super state and i'm really disappointed that after forty years' membership of the european union we've failed to persuade you that europe's success depends on protecting the sovereignty of our member states.
i look forward to working with you and them as we look for a better future for all our citizens.
but we are shortly to leave and i wanted to let you know that despite our differences europe has no greater friend than the uk. we recognise your priorities of climate change economic competitiveness migration security and the rule of law and you'll find no greater ally than the uk
the coming months will present many challenges as we seek to redefine our relationship.
and speaking personally in the short time i've been an mep i've really enjoyed the company the passion and the arguments with my fellow mep colleagues.
consensus is not truth. rumour is not fact. defamation is not heroism.
europeans recognise the threat of misinformation and they want action.
to emphasise the threat we face in the first quarter of.
from the brexit referendum to the election of president trump to the recent european elections all have been subjected in some way to disinformation campaigns.
the snowflake never needs to feel responsible for the avalanche.
we must have wellfunded cybersecurity systems in place to counter the threat of fake news and foreign interference with all member states working together.
without proper facts our citizens cannot be confident in our institutions including this one. so for this mandate let's ensure that our political system places the highest value in truth and fact.
we need a quickaccess route to deal with online lies. for too long social media has operated as a wild west of human discourse.
while fake news proliferates high quality journalism suffers. populations are best served by a political system held to account by a well briefed expert media who are sceptical not cynical and inquisitive not inquisitorial.
a recent eurobarometer poll showed that eighty three of europeans think that fake news is a threat to our democracy. there is a serious urgency to this. doing nothing risks the fundamental foundations of our democracy.
the viral spread of misinformation has wreaked havoc in our political systems namely through interference in our democracies and elections.
career destruction is not systemic reform.
the recent protests are massive in all thirty one provinces in the majority of iranian cities.
in view of a possible crime against humanity we are obliged by international law to intervene to act instead of smiling at mullahs.
because all sides of the house here are committed to combating climate change no one group has ownership of it and i think calling it an enhanced climate change strategy' would be sensible.
despite what you hear in this chamber or in meeting rooms in brussels there is a completely different view of what the eu is or what the eu should and shouldn't be in communities across our member states so please let this be about evidence based policy
remember that the institution that sets the eu's agenda is the european council not the european parliament.
please keep in mind that there is not and there never will be an eu nation.
please do not continue the previous commission's practice of violating the letter and the spirit of the treaties to enforce the process of integration.
we will support you in the opening up of the single market in services in finding a lasting solution to migration and in implementing ambitious climate plans but let me emphasise we will give full support to the communities whose livelihoods are threatened by the absurd ramping up of climate ambitions.
our finnish presidency will continue to pay the utmost attention to the ongoing negotiations and will seek to ensure that the council contributes to the progress on this important dossier.
the eu welcomes the commitment of the african caribbean and pacific region's side to the implementation of the two thousand and thirty agenda and the paris agreement on climate change as well as adapting the partnership to the changing global context new challenges and the obvious opportunities that we also have.
we believe that the two thousand and thirty agenda and the paris agreement should facilitate reaching an agreement even on the most difficult topics.
i would like to also take the opportunity to thank commissioner mimica for his strong commitment to this work.
thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for your important and valuable remarks.
mr president what is the difference between the recent acts of interference in democratic procedures and meddling in domestic politics of other countries so well known from history?
due to the new communication techniques it is possible to reach millions of people by sending them fake news and suggestive comments without disclosing the authors thus depriving the receivers of any possibility to verify and interpret the news independently.
eu support for the negotiated two state solution has been clear and consistent and needs to remain so.
mr president at the outset i just want to say that i respect israel's right to exist and protect itself and to live in peace and security in the middle east.
but having said that and having visited the west bank and seen firsthand what occupation is doing in terms of undermining the existence of the palestinian state let us be under no illusions.
the idea that israel can continually encroach on palestinian lands is simply designed to undermine any chance of a twostate solution coming about.
and we have to accept that europe must play a more active role in being that honest broker supporting israel's right to exist and at the same time ensuring that the twostate solution is the cornerstone of any future peace process.
and i would urge that the european union would look at that not only in the context of illegal settlements in the west bank but across the globe.
i believe that maliciously influenced or misled voters could pose a similar risk to our societies.
evolving malicious interference and online manipulation shows that this risk to our democratic institutions is real and requires our constant attention.
we are therefore grateful for this new opportunity to engage with you on this important topic.
let me repeat that our presidency's priority is to make sustained efforts to raise awareness increase preparedness and strengthen the resilience of our democracies to disinformation.
hybrid threats including foreign interference in our democracies remain therefore at the top of our political agenda.
the presidency has taken a number of steps in particular a dedicated and permanent horizontal working party of the council was created during the first month of our presidency.
it discusses how to strengthen the eu's capabilities in countering hybrid threats and to build resilience in the eu and member states.
the mandate of the group includes election interference and disinformation campaigns. we have proposed council conclusions to be adopted in december on complementary efforts to enhance resilience and counter hybrid threats building on the important work done at the eu level in recent years.
the conclusions also pay attention to countering disinformation and securing free and fair elections.
without a doubt the eu institutions and the member states have an important role to play;
this is in the remit of their competencies in the protection of democratic processes. it is therefore appropriate that protecting european democracy is also a priority for president von der leyen. we have in particular noted with great interest that vice president jourov will be responsible for coordinating the work on a europe and democracy action plan that will include a set of initiatives.
this will require a focus on building up resilience and countering disinformation while pursuing and protecting fundamental freedoms.
countering hybrid threats requires a comprehensive approach and a horizontal working method.
this is why the work needs to be done in close alignment with all relevant stakeholders in the eu institutions as well as in the member states to enhance the eu's ability to prevent detect and respond to hybrid threats.
protection of our democracies and elections involves concerted efforts by the eu and the member states but also by civil society and industry.
our response has to be comprehensive with a focus on both the internal and external dimensions of the threat.
let me just briefly mention the main milestones such as regular exchanges in the european election cooperation network setting up the rapid alert system enhancement of strategic communication facilitating networks of independent fact checkers
promotion of media and digital literacy and awareness raising activities and monitoring of the implementation of the code of practice by social media platforms.
but it is also important that we further develop institutional mechanisms and tools to fulfil the objectives set by the european council.
in this regard the helsinki european centre of excellence for countering hybrid threats also contributes to fostering cooperation in this field.
likewise disinformation strategies by foreign actors are deployed beyond our borders.
so we need to work with partners in the eastern and southern neighbourhood and in the western balkans.
as stressed in the conclusions on democracy adopted by the council last month exposing disinformation effective scrutiny over the financing of political messaging strengthening media information and digital literacy skills are key elements in this regard.
we need to act together in a structured and coordinated way in order to tackle these challenges.
mr president we debate this issue only days after the israeli government has joined the venezuelan iranian and egyptian regimes in banning a researcher for human rights watch.
i really regret that and i really think israel is better than that but we're also seeing a growing alignment between the trump and netanyahu administrations which increasingly damages prospects for peace. us secretary of state mike pompeo's declaration that the west bank settlements are not per se inconsistent with international law
is first of all wrong but also an endorsement of netanyahu's strategy of changing the facts on the ground in a way that aims to undermine the feasibility of a two state solution the outlines of which have been clear for decades and which remains the only viable plan for peace.
we must steadfastly defend israel's right to exist as a state but also recognize palestine's right to statehood. many believe palestine has been fulfilling the montevideo criteria for statehood for many years and against the odds it still has moderate arab leaders on the west bank at least.
i hope a new israeli government will recognize that compromise with such leaders is in israel's best interests and the best pathway to peace and security but we must stand ready to step up the pressure in support of that pathway.
we have no control over the fact that the us allows them to be lawless in how they treat the palestinians.
truth be told israel practises apartheid at home and genocide in palestine. you said there was always hope for the twostate solution.
we need a onestate solution now where the palestinians and the israelis both have an entitlement to full democratic human rights and a return of the palestinian refugees to their homeland.
anything else is not going to work anymore.
instead the dup spent it in a country where they do not field candidates england in order to circumvent english electoral law. there was no investigation into where it came from.
after the brexit referendum legislation was put in place that protected the dup from having to disclose the source. this is the same dup which is currently inciting loyalist mobs to campaign for dup brexiteers.
however the partition of ireland with an inbuilt unionist majority was designed to facilitate gerrymandering and obstruct the democratic will of the people by whatever means.
this underpinned the foundation of a discriminatory orange state with oppressive laws that were the envy of apartheid south africa.
thankfully the orange state and the inbuilt undemocratic unionist majority are gone and we are on a pathway towards an inclusive democratic united ireland.
madam president mr lenaers just said that we have just had a resolution we've just had a debate and now of course we're back debating the same thing but there is a reason for this and the reason is that something is happening.
this is an issue on which we have been working.
we wanted a special committee for a reason and the reason is not that some donald trump says to boris johnson i like you i want your nhs i'd like to buy it.
that is not the interference we're talking about.
i don't like it but it is not what we're talking about. it is talking about a growing body of evidence that there is illegal and covert interference what john f kennedy would not have liked.
because at least one voter is voting differently because they have been targeted.
cambridge analytica the theft of private information for covert and illegal use against a constitution and against a body of jurisprudence and law.
so let's just be clear what we are talking about.
it is illegal and it is covert.
maybe tomorrow it will harm you.
so this is what we are talking about and i welcome what my uk colleagues have done in initiating this debate because what they are doing is uncovering the latest element of this in my own country which is where our conservative government is covering up the truth from the public by refusing to release the intelligence and security committee isc report on the russian threat to uk politics.
one of our big member states of the european union.
the report has been approved by the uk intelligence agencies there is no impediment to publication and yet they're not publishing.
how much more evidence do we need to understand that this evidence is real?
well the commission of course talked about continued and sustained misinformation during the last may elections similar to those carried out in the us and france.
the report of course talks about limited action and i encourage the commissioner of course in her new role with the new college to do as much as possible.
because what we're talking about is online and offline safeguards the banning of profiling for electoral purposes the content shared by bots the removal of fake accounts.
neither the private sector nor indeed our governments are doing enough yet. there can be nothing more important than free and fair elections.
this is against the law it's covert it is illegal and we must do something about it to safeguard our democracies.
it should also be pointed out that right wing political parties have been disproportionately and unfairly accused of using and benefiting from such disinformation.
in this regard.
and the s d group has not been shy with our concerns and demands and we have achieved key results.
in the field of foreign affairs let me underline that the credibility of the eu as a global actor rests on our ability to have a successful policy at our very doorstep but first it relies on our capacity to have our own house in order.
we expect this commission to take a very firm stance on protecting the rule of law both at home and abroad and that implies a strong stance against the putins erdoans bolsonaros trumps and viktor orbns of this world.
my group also urges this commission to do everything in its power so that early next year a green light is given to the start of accession talks with north macedonia and albania.
commissioners it is time to start the really important work to deliver results on an ambitious plan to tackle the climate crisis while ensuring a fair transition;
to deliver on sustainable development goals;
to give better protection to workers;
and to have a value driven foreign policy.
mr president the us secretary of state's announcement that the us no longer considers israeli settlements on occupied palestinian land to be illegal is appalling.
the trump administration has done all it can to destabilise and bury the two state solution moving its embassy to jerusalem ending funding to the un palestinian refugee agency and recognising israeli sovereignty over the golan heights.
mr trump's approval does not change international law.
our union was quick to reaffirm that all settlement activity is illegal that it erodes the viability of the two state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace and that it should be ended.
palestinian representatives have rightly condemned the decision as a threat to the global order and one that destroys us credibility in the peace process. we must continue to present a united position on settlements.
they are illegal under international law they present an obstacle to peace and they threaten the viability of a two state solution.
we urge the israeli government to halt its counter productive settlement expansion.
we need to renew europe.
the record high turnout during the european elections already six months ago shows us that our citizens have placed their confidence in us in all of us. in return they expect us to deliver concrete results.
that is why the european commission needs to start work as soon as possible so that we can start delivering on our promise for a strong european union that works for our people.
we need to tackle climate change ensure a stable economy be innovative the digital agenda but also protect the rule of law gain control on migration and provide safety and security in an unstable world where we cannot always rely on our old allies.
the european court of justice ruled that the selling of food and drink produced in illegal settlements and stolen palestinian land must be labelled and that's a start. however this does not go nearly far enough. the un special rapporteur michael lynk was right when he said any trade or investment with israeli settlements provides them with the economic oxygen to continue to grow.
we in the eu cannot call these settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace and at the same time continue to provide them with the economic means to thrive.
trade with illegal settlements makes us complicit in the oppression of the palestinian people.
both houses of the oireachtas is ireland have voted in favour of a bill which would prohibit imports from illegal settlements yet the irish government continues to block this legislation.
member states including ireland wax lyrical about supporting the two state solution but fail to recognise one of these states palestine.
mr president i would like to welcome ms mogherini's balanced presentation regarding the situation in israel and the palestinian territories. i would also like to remind this chamber and the people who are following our debate that israel is the only democracy in the middle east and maybe we should put more of our energy into persuading all countries in the area to also follow the path of a real democracy.
i believe many things would be easier to solve in the middle east including peace.
coming to the settlement issues i think this should be part of the framework of negotiations between israel and the palestinian authority.
sanctioning only one side has never contributed to the promotion of peace. israel is an ally and a friend and an important trade partner.
also when it comes to security innovation agriculture fighting terrorism or even fighting climate change israel has so much to give europe.
so we should not alienate friends by pointing them out every single time without going deeper into the region's background and complicated reality.
i call on the eu to remain an honest and balanced broker.
it's the only way we can reach a long term agreement and hopefully peace in the region.
it should become a reality that makes a positive difference in our citizens' lives wherever they live no matter how big or small their member state is.
embarking on a serious decarbonisation programme that keeps at its core the transformation of our industries will only strengthen our competitiveness and the european green deal should go beyond targets and revolutionise the way we do business and our industries.
it should revolutionise the way we act how we help our current workers acquire new skills and how to educate our kids for the industries of the future.