lmms-lab-audio/europal-asr huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-11-28
Madam President, High Representative, as we've already heard, Haiti is a country almost on the brink of collapse. Economic struggles have led to violent protests and shootings with dozens of deaths, at least 20 people killed at the hands of the security forces, and many more have been severely injured. The violence has led to children missing school and people struggling to access sufficient food, drinking water, medicine and fuel. The health sector is facing shortages in electricity, fuel, supplies and an inability to reach people in need of treatment. The EU needs to play a real effort to find a meaningful inclusive resolution to the current solution, especially addressing concerns around corruption. Haiti is an ACP partner. Ensuring its sustainable development is vital if we are serious in the effort to tackle the climate change, corruption and chaos there. High Representative, what leverage are you using, given that we have hundreds of millions of euros through EDF to push for a political solution to alleviate the suffering of the people of Haiti? And finally, I would once again like to wish you all the best for your future endeavours, and thank you very much for everything you have done.
Date: 2019-12-16
Sorry, Madam President, I can see a colleague here waving a blue card. Do you want to address this before I speak?
Date: 2019-12-17
Madam President, corruption, obfuscation, interference, lack of transparency, intimidation. All these things seem to have been in play at the highest level in Malta regarding the murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, but I want to draw attention to the unacceptable behaviour of the management of the state-appointed Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture, who not only regularly dismantled the public memorialisation of Daphne, but also censored artists invited to the festival. This included a British theatre company who were offered an open-ended residency in the programme and invited to make work responding to their experiences. When it seemed their performance would include references to Daphne, they were asked to change their script. Artistic censorship is totally unacceptable in our European Union and questions must be asked of the Commission officials regarding monitoring of the use of citizens' money in a culture of state repression. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank PEN International for their work on this issue. Also the theatre artists Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole, who are now telling the story of how they were censored by the Maltese authorities, winning an Edinburgh Fringe Festival award in the process.
Date: 2019-12-17
Mr President, the 2020 Europe strategy set out five ambitious targets, including unemployment, education, and fighting poverty and social exclusion. Yes, we have progressed overall, but not nearly enough for the disability community who, quite frankly, are fed up of waiting to be treated equally in all areas of life. We must be more ambitious and more inclusive. The 2020 strategy target was 75% employment rate in the EU. However, across the EU about 47% of persons with disabilities are now employed, compared with 72% of persons without disabilities. Meanwhile, 68.1% of the EU population with a disability would have been at risk of poverty without social benefits, allowances or pensions. The new agenda must mainstream disability in all EU policies and laws and push for social acceptance of people with disabilities as part of human diversity by fighting all forms of discrimination and stigmatisation. I finally want to pay tribute to the work of the European Network on Independent Living, whose members demand quite rightly...
Date: 2019-12-17
Madam President, it's a tragedy that 30 governments failed to reach an agreement on carbon markets at COP 25. It's a tragedy for small island developing states, for indigenous people, for young people. It's a tragedy for the natural world. Yet there is consensus that we need an energy transition, as well as nature-based solutions with a focus on oceans and forests, to balance our global climate. COP25 was a historic opportunity for collective action on the key issue of our time. The Climate Emergency will not go away: it will become more lethal. And whilst I welcome the Green Deal proposed by the Commission, I know that if we really want to address the twin crises of climate change and poverty, we must be honest about the failure of neoliberal austerity policies. The Green New Deal proposed by DiEM25 is a far more holistic and realistic plan, which recognises the links between the climate emergency, poverty and migration. Millions of young people all over the world are fighting for our planet. They're declaring we have one home, we share it and we must protect it.
Date: 2019-12-18
Madam President, China's global economic power is built on the suppression and suffering of its own people. A few months ago, we discussed forced organ harvesting in China. Today we voice our dismay towards the shameful system of so-called re-education camps. These camps are not limited to the forced cultural assimilation of Uyghurs. They are also running a massive programme of so-called job training and as a result provide a cheap workforce for Chinese factories, which are part of the global production chain. China thus puts its economic growth over the political freedoms of its citizens and chooses assimilation instead of embracing its cultural and religious diversity. I call upon you to work together to make the European global Magnitsky Act a part of reality. This is the way not only to put persons violating fundamental human rights on this list, but also it will prevent other countries and violators from committing similar crimes.
Date: 2019-12-18
Mr President, Amnesty International has just reported that over 300 people were killed and thousands arrested in a violent crackdown against peaceful protests in Iran. The recent wave of protests has seen over 7 000 activists, journalists, students and protesters arrested, all of whom could now be facing torture whilst being detained. We cannot stand idly by while the Ayatollah blames this on a foreign plot to oust him. It's quite clear that the Iranian authorities wish to crush all political dissent and opposition. When speaking about Iran, I must mention the ongoing cruel imprisonment of dual national, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, on trumped-up charges and also the situation of UK permanent resident, Aras Amiri, who has carried out extraordinary service as a promoter of Iranian arts and culture but now finds herself behind bars: a bargaining chip in a cynical game of diplomatic chess. Finally, I wish to raise awareness of the ongoing harassment of journalists and their families in Iran, including those working for the BBC Persian Service. If we value media freedom, we must defend it everywhere.
Date: 2019-12-19
Mr President, the situation in Burkina Faso has continued to deteriorate throughout this year and it is important that we look at this situation in a more holistic way rather than just focus on one group or one country. What should really concern us most is that the Sahel region has become, as we've already heard, a new home for Isis, which is benefiting from the insecurity of one of the poorest, least governed parts of the world. Therefore, I ask the High Representative for a strategy to be developed that addresses West Africa. We need to support these countries, whose armed forces are under-resourced and their counter-insurgency strategies are lacking, to say the least. Their conduct of executing suspects without trial only serves to inflame the conflict and drive more people into the hands of the militants. So my question is, what is being done by the European Union to add our voice to the UN's calls for full investigation of abuses by the G5 Joint Forces and that we continue to address the challenges in human rights compliances by all the armies in that region.
Date: 2019-12-19
Mr President, crimes against children are the worst possible form of crime. It destroys and takes away childhood from Afghan kids. Moreover, it affects their life and their future. And their future is the future of Afghanistan, which we work hard to create. Over the past days, we observed President Ghani's commitment to investigate dreadful events in the schools of Logar province. We express our appreciation to this reaction and look forward to the concrete results. All perpetrators must be brought to justice and schools return to being a safe place for kids. One of the main tasks of our common efforts in reconstructing Afghanistan is about a secure future for the country's young generation. We will continue our support for eradicating the practice of bacha bazi and promoting and protecting the rights of children in Afghanistan.
Date: 2020-01-14
Madam President, as Michel Barnier very well knows, both the EU and the UK worked very hard on the settlement scheme. It was a shared moral and legal responsibility. But we are here because this resolution fires more than one warning shot and people are concerned. That's why the Commission President, when she asked for questions, heard the concerns of people on citizens' rights. Why? I give you one example: the Prime Minister, just recently, in his decision to revise the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to delegate the powers of the Independent Monitoring Authority , which is responsible for overseeing UK policies towards EU citizens, to other bodies. Instead of strengthening the independent body, given the history of our immigration and nationality system, given the injustices, given the shared moral and legal responsibility, this is the direction we were moving in. Let's be clear: these are genuine concerns of EU citizens and I say to the Council, we have genuine concerns of UK citizens in the rest of the European Union. If we don't get this right, this will be a deep scar and continuing injustice that will define what happens in the future agreements. Of course it will be for many years to come. So when people talk about the physical document or they talk about the declaratory system, they're not talking about details they're talking about a system that may create injustice that would go on for years, that would have no independent resolution and that would be part of the jurisprudence and moral narrative that is built. That is why Michel Barnier and others made citizens' rights so important in the first place, and that is why this resolution fires the warning shot, which must be heard.
Date: 2020-01-14
Mr President, in my remote northern England region, in a proud community, generations of men and boys slaved underground, mining for coal, and worked in iron and steel foundries, forging component parts for railways, factory ships and a thousand other products that helped to build our national infrastructure and generate trade, so I know exactly what happens when, with one fell swoop, an industry disappears, with no thought as to what might replace it. In post-industrial Britain, under Thatcher's government, the skilled ironmasters and steelworkers of County Durham were offered little more than precarious low-paid work on a factory production line, putting potato crisps into packets eight hours a day, five days a week, for example. These men strong, decent, proud became broken beings, emasculated, their loss of dignity obvious in their dull eyes and their spreading girth. What a difference it would have made to these men, to my community, if we had had a Just Transition Fund. Decent work confers a sense of dignity, of self-worth.
Date: 2020-01-14
Madam President, this report reiterates and supports the European Parliament's resolution passed on 3 May 2018 with regard to the protection of migrant children. Last week in the UK, the House of Commons rejected proposals to maintain protections for child refugees in the redrafted EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill. It is a betrayal of Britain's long-standing commitment to humanitarian support, especially to the most vulnerable. I'd like to pay tribute to Labour Lord Alf Dubs, himself a Jewish refugee, who led the campaign on this issue, and I hope the House of Lords rectifies what has been a huge mistake made by the government. If this is what Global Britain looks like post-Brexit, it sends out all the wrong messages as to who we are and who we want to be as a nation. Whether in or out of the EU, we must not abandon our commitment to human rights and internationalism, and as a child rights campaigner I ask all those in positions of power to remember Alan Kurdi and all the other child refugees who died whilst we turned our backs.
Date: 2020-01-14
Madam President, let me thank both rapporteurs for the excellent work they have done. The EU's common foreign security and defence policies must be accompanied by a mutual understanding of prevailing challenges and by joint action. In addition to boosting and ensuring the interoperability of our security and defence capabilities, we must be prepared to address challenges unravelling in close proximity to our borders. For this reason, the South and East Neighbourhood Policies should effectively combine political financial security and the defence dimensions. It is time for the action-based EU partnerships with aspiring democratic neighbours. The list of such valuable partners is shrinking dangerously and they deserve a corresponding status in our European policies. Moreover, economic interests should not overtake our security concerns. It's self-deceiving to think that such projects as Nord Stream 2 are only about the economy. On the contrary, it enables Russian geopolitical interests to employ destructive policies in Libya and Syria.
Date: 2020-01-15
Madam President, this debate is not about history. It's about our future, because neglecting historical facts means ignoring the future. More than 40 million deaths in World War II remind us 'never again'. To start this war was the most terrible crime in history. Nazi Germany started the war and caused terrible crimes against humanity. Every German politician has to assume the responsibility of our country. But every politician, inside and outside of Europe, also has the responsibility not to play with history. I cannot and we, as the EPP cannot accept Putin's attempt to rewrite history. To be clear, the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany. Russia suffered tremendously during World War II, but to be clear, the Hitler-Stalin Pact was an agreement between two devils, two terrible dictators. The Hitler-Stalin Pact was the beginning of a raid on several European countries: Poland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania. The Hitler-Stalin Pact meant, for millions of European citizens in large parts of Europe, decades of oppression, fear, suffering and dictatorship. The Hitler-Stalin Pact was a crime against peace, freedom and democracy. More than 80 years after this Treaty, we, as the European Parliament, clearly say 'never again'. Today's EU and today's NATO are the children of liberty, democracy and freedom for Central and Eastern Europe. We stand as one for solidarity in Europe. We remember history to safeguard our common future.
Date: 2020-01-29
Madam President, so this is it, the final chapter, the end of the road: a 47-year political experiment that the British, frankly, have never been very happy with. My mother and father signed up to a common market, not to a political union, not to flags, anthems, presidents and now you even want your own army. For me, it's been 27 years of campaigning and over 20 years here in this Parliament. I'm not particularly happy with the agreement we're being asked to vote on tonight, but Boris has been remarkably bold in the last few months and, Ms von der Leyen, he's made it clear: he's promised us there'll be no level playing field. And, on that basis, I wish him every success in the next round of negotiations, I really do. But the most significant point is this: what happens at 11p.m. this Friday, 31 January 2020 marks the point of no return. Once we've left we are never coming back, and the rest, frankly, is detail. We're going, we will be gone and that should be the summit of my own political ambitions. I walked in here as I've said before, you all thought it was terribly funny, you stopped laughing in 2016 but my view has changed of Europe since I joined. In 2005, I saw the Constitution that had been drafted by Giscard and others. I saw it rejected by the French in a referendum. I saw it rejected by the Dutch in a referendum. And I saw you, in these institutions, ignore them, bring it back as the Lisbon Treaty and boast you could ram it through without there being referendums. Well, the Irish did have a vote and did say no and were forced to vote again. You're very good at making people vote again. But what we proved is, the British are too big to bully, thank goodness. So I became an outright opponent of the entire European project. I want Brexit to start a debate across the rest of Europe. What do we want from Europe? If we want trade, friendship, cooperation, reciprocity, we don't need a European Commission. We don't need a European Court. We don't need these institutions and all of this power. And I can promise you, both in UKIP and indeed in the Brexit party, we love Europe; we just hate the European Union. It's a simple as that. So I'm hoping this begins the end of this project. It's a bad project. It isn't just undemocratic, it's anti-democratic, and it puts in that front row, it gives people power without accountability people who cannot be held to account by the electorate. And that is an unacceptable structure. Indeed, there's an historic battle going on now across the West: in Europe, America and elsewhere. It is globalism against populism. And you may loathe populism, but I'll tell you a funny thing, it's becoming very popular, and it has great benefits: no more financial contributions, no more European Court of Justice, no more common fisheries policy, no more being talked down to, no more being bullied, no more Guy Verhofstadt. I mean, what's not to like? I know you're going to miss us, I know you want to ban our national flags, but we're going to wave you goodbye and we'll look forward, in the future, to working with you as sovereign...
Date: 2020-01-29
Madam President, systematic and institutional discrimination against indigenous people is alive and well, and it's not confined to one continent or one field, it's across the board: health, employment, social protection, on top of historic injustices that they have faced from dispossession of their lands, territories and resources. So when we look at the challenges, whether it's the Amazon rainforest lost to flames or the catastrophe of the fires in Australia, indigenous people offer the world innovative solutions, solving some of the biggest challenges. According to the United Nations, the world has an estimated 370 million indigenous people. They make up about one third of the world's 900 million people in rural areas who are classified as extremely poor. Yet indigenous voices continue to be marginalised. In the mainstream media and in politics, their struggle for equal rights remains unheard. Indigenous women, in particular, suffer from multiple discrimination, both as women and based on their indigenous status. The Commission really needs to ensure that these rights are upheld and that they have a seat at the decision-making table.
Date: 2020-01-29
Madam President, there's been much disinformation in the run-up to this debate, and even misleading statements in this House by some who have spoken before me, mixing up all sorts of issues. Let's just stick to the Citizenship Amendment Act . This is an action of positive discrimination aimed at fast-tracking the integration process of refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have already been in India for many years, recognising the high level of discrimination faced by non-Muslims in those countries. It is not seeking to exclude any of the other groups who do not fall within this category. They can still apply for citizenship and be processed. What really pains me is that I have repeatedly raised the concerns around the persecution of minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh only for them to fall on deaf ears. Had this house paid a little bit more attention to those gross violations, as we do today to the CAA, India may not have had to take these actions. So I really welcome that the vote has been postponed on the resolution. First, it's full of factual inaccuracies. Secondly, it is right that we take time to have a proper debate and this House waits until the Supreme Court has deliberated on this. One thing we have to recognise is that India has a very strong civil society and Indians are far more than capable of holding their executive to account without interference from those who know very little about it.
Date: 2020-01-30
Madam President, it's been a privilege and a pleasure to serve here since 2014 for the northwest of England and particularly because, before I was in politics, I worked with young people and I participated in many programmes that were supported by Youth in Action, which became Erasmus+ and which brought young people together across boundaries. Well, I voted against the Withdrawal Agreement because I cannot in good faith ratify a deal that will wreck the economy, weaken citizens' rights and social protections, limit opportunities for those very young people, threaten peace, security and stability, and damage the UK's international reputation. Many people will argue that it's time for acceptance, but I think it's time for truth telling and accountability. This has never been about my job as an MEP, but about the millions of jobs at stake because of Brexit and the families and the communities that will be adversely affected, and most of them are marginalised people in deprived communities to whom the EU held out a helping hand when our own government in Westminster ignored us.
Date: 2020-01-30
Madam President, next week, after 47 years of being a strong, effective, socially-progressive force in the European Parliament, there will no longer be any UK Labour voices to champion the issues so many women still encounter today, such as the gender pay gap. I want to pay tribute to all past and present Labour MEPs, especially my Labour sisters who, like me, have been at the forefront of fighting for gender equality. They've inspired me, and they will inspire a future generation to ensure I am not the last Labour woman speaker in this Parliament. I therefore pay homage and respect to Janey Buchan, Barbara Castle, Ann Clwyd, Joyce Quin, Christine Crawley, Carole Tongue, Pauline Green, Christine Oddy, Mel Reed, Anita Pollack, Angela Billingham, Mo O'Toole, Veronica Hardstaff, Glenys Kinnock, Eluned Morgan, Susan Waddington, Arlene McCarthy, Linda McAvan, Neena Gill, Catherine Stihler, Mary Honeyball, Glenis Willmott, Lucy Anderson, Anneliese Dodds, Theresa Griffin, Judith Kirton-Darling, Clare Moody, Alex Mayer, and finally, Jackie Jones.