misclassified/meps_speeches huggingface dataset:
Presentation of the programme of activities of the Finnish Presidency of the Council (debate)
Speaker: Ska KELLER (Germany, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Date: 2019-07-17

  Ska Keller,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, I welcome the Prime Minister to the European Parliament and to the European scene. Good luck with the Presidency. We’re also happy to hear your priorities, especially the one on the climate because it is very urgent. This is the one and only planet that we have, that we all live on and where we need to make sure that it is also possible to live on it in the future. 
While we absolutely share the ambition on the goals – and I think the rest of Europe could learn a lot from Finland in setting very ambitious targets – we all know, of course, that setting ambitious targets is only half – if that – of the job. The real job is in putting very concrete measures into place right now because in order to end up with good and ambitious targets you need to add ‘now’. It’s not enough to just put some numbers for later on into the paper. That’s why I would like to also ask you to push ahead on the reform of the agricultural policy. What we have right now on the table is far from enough to secure biodiversity and climate protection. We need a fresh start here, including with the multiannual financial framework (MFF), where a lot of money is still being put into climate—harmful subsidies. We need a reversion here, we need to make sure that the money that we spend in the European Union is put into places which will help the ecological and social transition, and there we need much more action.
You’ve also mentioned the rule of law and we very much agree with that priority because it’s really urgent. Therefore, I would also urge you to take up the issue of the parliamentary report on Hungary, to discuss it in the Council and to also make sure that Parliament, our rapporteurs, are being invited and are being heard by the Council, by the Member States, and that it doesn’t fall under the carpet.
Refugees are another big issue. Rescue at sea is right now not happening in the Mediterranean and we cannot allow that people are drowning in the Mediterranean and no one is there to help. I think you can lead by example, making sure that even if there is not an agreement of all Member States – which is a pity, it’s a disgrace – still some Member States can go ahead in order to stop this disgraceful and inhumane situation we have right now at our borders.
Lastly, I also want to congratulate Finland for setting a precedent on the issue of transparency as Council. I think in the past we had less interesting precedents being set there, with lobbyism, with sponsorship and I don’t know what. So it’s very good that you are taking a first step and are putting more transparency into lobby meetings. We hope that all the other Member States and the future presidencies can learn from that and that maybe you will also find some space for even more transparency. We would have some ideas if you were interested. Thank you very much and good luck and we’re ready to support you on those issues.
Election of the President of Parliament (second ballot) (announcement of results)
Speaker: Ska KELLER (Germany, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Date: 2019-07-03

  Ska Keller,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, congratulations on your election. We are looking forward to working with you. I think ‘rights of the Parliament’ are exactly the right words, this is exactly what we need to discuss, because so far as Parliament we have always been working on increasing, advancing, the rights of Parliament because that also means increasing the rights of the citizens.
Right now our position on that is being challenged, as we all know, so we have to make sure that were not giving up on that, that we’re working on further improving and increasing European democracy. That is our task and we cannot give up on that. We also need to continue to work to support the idea that someone for Commission president should have been, and should be, a lead candidate. 
We need to work on transnationalists, but we also need to do our work inside the European Parliament because it needs to have us to push for all these democratic rights, and there we also need to do some work when it comes to transparency inside the European Parliament. 
So I’ve mentioned that, but I would also like to ask you something else, Mr President. You remember the resolutions that we had in the last legislature about how to prevent and what to do about sexual harassment, which is also a problem inside the European Parliament, unfortunately. I ask you and urge you to take those resolutions seriously, because people might be patient but people who are victims certainly should not be. 
And then there’s one more issue. We are here today as the Greens/EFA Group and we are missing one of our Members who is not able to come here because his Member State has not put forward his name, even though he has been elected as a Member of the European Parliament. Through no fault of his own he cannot be here today, so I would like to ask you to look into the case and help us to restore the parliamentary rights of Mr Oriol Junqueras.
One year after Morocco and QatarGate – stocktaking of measures to strengthen transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-12-13

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  au nom du groupe Verts/ALE. – Un an après le «Qatargate», qu’est-ce qui existe pour empêcher la corruption dans les institutions européennes? Au Conseil? Rien. À la Commission? Rien. Un code de conduite, ce n’est pas un outil anticorruption. L’organe d’éthique indépendant qui avait été imaginé pour encadrer, faire des investigations, sanctionner les cas de corruption, est un projet qui, pour l’instant a disparu.
Au Parlement, nous avons fait de gros progrès sur les questions de transparence, notamment avec la déclaration de patrimoine. Mais les parlementaires continueront à se juger entre eux, et les députés risquent de se protéger les uns les autres, comme souvent.
Il a été impossible de créer une structure avec des experts indépendants pour étudier les cas de conflits d’intérêts dans cette maison, et guère plus possible de discuter des 5 000 euros que nous recevons chaque mois comme frais généraux en plus des budgets dont nous disposons déjà.
Enfin, il semble qu’il reste normal, dans la culture ambiante, d’accepter des déjeuners, des voyages à l’étranger, des places pour des matchs de football. Pourtant, à chaque fois qu’une décision de politique publique est prise, ici ou ailleurs, sous l’influence d’un égoïsme privé, c’est la démocratie qui s’abîme, c’est l’intérêt général qui est perdu, c’est notre argent public commun qui est détourné.
Une démocratie saine est une démocratie sans complaisance envers la corruption, qu’elle soit grande ou petite, qu’elle soit rocambolesque ou quotidienne.
Defence of democracy package (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-12-12

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, in a failing European democracy, with tragic backsliding of rule of law in Hungary and authoritarian threats coming from inside and outside, the defence of democracy is a hugely important topic, one that requires a carefully considered proposal in the light of all the challenges: malicious interference in our electoral processes; disinformation from Chinese, Russian, and other actors; the use of spyware against opposition candidates; the increasing criminalisation of civil society by politicians; and the numerous attacks against journalists.
Like others in this House, I have spent this mandate fighting to protect democracy and fundamental rights with the help of civil society throughout. Civil society is instrumental in safeguarding EU values, so we need to address the lack of transparency requirements for interest representatives, but without endangering the work of NGOs.
The foreign agents aspect in this package risks so much to sabotage the work of civil society. It could even play into the hands of those who are already looking to target civil society at any cost, instead of addressing the real democratic flaws.
Digitalisation of cross-border judicial cooperation - Digitalisation of cross-border judicial cooperation (amendment of certain directives and framework decisions) (joint debate – Judicial cooperation)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-11-23

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, issues related to the digitalisation of justice look merely technical at first sight, but they are highly political.
I know we all agree this is about ensuring more efficient justice systems and a better access to justice for everyone. But as the European Commission, the Council, and a majority of this European Parliament actively promote this digitalisation at all costs, we should not forget it can also have harmful impact on the fairness of criminal proceedings, as well as the rights guaranteed to suspects and accused persons.
First of all, digital tools should be an exception and not the norm. Using videoconference during a trial will never be equivalent with being physically present.
Then also, not everyone has equal access to digitalisation. When implementing these two new pieces of legislation, Member States need to ensure people with learning difficulties, physical disability, children, and those who haven’t learned to use technologies can still enjoy their right to access justice.
Cyprus Confidential - need to curb enablers of sanctions-evasion and money-laundering rules in the EU (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-11-22

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, once again, thanks to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, we are made aware of a huge money laundering scandal in the EU. The latest investigation shows how financial firms in Cyprus have aided Russian oligarchs in hiding their wealth offshore. So it seems that Cyprus has widely contributed to Russian influence through its golden passports and visa schemes. Dozens of Russian billionaires were clients of the island’s professional service providers. Some have come under sanctions since February 2022 and others since 2014. 800 companies registered in tax and secrecy havens, all controlled by Russians. This poses a wider question about the capacity of our institutions to prevent these deficiencies from rotting our union from within. It took years for the Commission to start acting on golden passport schemes. Right now, Malta is not even considering stopping its own scheme. We have to call this what it is: selling European citizenship to make dirty money, giving the opportunity to dangerous people or mafia or foreign malicious actors to interfere and exert power in the EU. It needs to stop.
Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-11-21

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  au nom du groupe Verts/ALE. – Monsieur le Président, nos droits sexuels et reproductifs doivent être un sujet d’intérêt européen. La liberté de disposer de notre corps, de le protéger et de le soigner est un droit fondamental qui doit pouvoir s’exercer et être défendu comme tous les autres droits européens. 
Pour garantir ces droits et partir à la conquête de nouvelles libertés, l’immense travail de la société civile et le combat politique font beaucoup. Mais certaines réformes constitutionnelles sont aussi nécessaires. En tant que fédéraliste, je veux une Europe fonctionnelle et plus démocratique, et nous voulons l’égalité de genre effective et portée par le législatif européen dans toutes ses dimensions. 
Les traités européens ne sont pas des textes lointains, abstraits, qui ne concerneraient que des juristes et des techniciens. Faisons-en au contraire des cadres puissants d’émancipation et de pouvoir pour l’ensemble des femmes, pour les minorités de genre et pour lutter contre les discriminations. Parce que mourir de septicémie sur un lit d’hôpital avec un fœtus mort en soi, entouré de médecins qui refusent d’intervenir, cela n’aurait jamais dû être possible, comme cela l’a été en Pologne ces trois dernières années. Et cela ne devra plus être possible sur le territoire de l’Union européenne.
Continuing threat to the rule of law, the independence of justice and the non-fulfilment of conditionality for EU funding in Hungary (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-11-21

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, European funds for Hungary were frozen because of concerns about whether this money was reaching its legitimate beneficiaries – Hungarian citizens. Years of misuse of this money had shown us that most of the time, it landed in the pockets of oligarchs and helped enrich Orbán’s friends and close relatives. This has ultimately dramatically reinforced the powers of this new autocrat. 
There is little reason to think the outcome would be different today. It seems the right boxes have been ticked on the right forms, yes, indeed, but no implementation. And we are facing a lot of opacity about the dialogue between the Commission and the Hungarian Government. 
But above all, one major problem remains the allocation of cases in the judiciary. Through all of these years, the very rare cases of political and corruption trials would land in the hands of judges close to the regime, always the very same judges with a very mysterious but very convenient allocation system. To have serious restoration of the rule of law in Hungary, the allocation of political corruption cases is what needs to be addressed first. 
But now I want to be very clear on one thing where I feel that we have been misleading stakeholders, ambassadors and citizens. Cutting EU funds to Hungary means protecting our money and it is good. But it will not resolve the systemic rule of law collapse in the country. For this to happen, we need political will and courage coming from the Council. It is a straightforward democratic political process that is clearly written in our rules and Treaties: recommendations, sanctions and the withdrawal of voting rights. When Viktor Orbán no longer has voting rights in the name of Hungary, then he will also no longer be able to use his people and his nation as a leverage for his own benefit. 
For a few days now, new billboards are depicting Ursula von der Leyen and the Commission as new scapegoats and advertising on an upcoming anti-EU referendum in Hungary. This national consultation named on the defence of our sovereignty as 11 questions, all of them concerning Brussels. Full of lies and misperception. It declares that Brussels wants to create migrant ghettos in Hungary, financial support from Brussels to Palestinian organisation has also reached Hamas, and it finishes with this: they – they being us, of course – want to influence Hungarian politics using money from Brussels and overseas. How are we letting this happen?
EU enlargement policy 2023 (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-11-08

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, the EU urgently needs to rethink the way it approaches enlargement. The accession process must increase direct work with civil society, rather than focusing only on bilateral discussions with national governments.
The 2023 enlargement package stresses a new momentum for the Western Balkans. Good! But reforms have largely stalled in the region; citizens there are deeply disappointed by their own governments and by the EU. When I meet them in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Montenegro, I am energised by a strong civil society fighting for democratic changes and a more peaceful political debate in difficult, sometimes autocratic, circumstances.
We are opening up the accession process to Ukraine and Moldova, but we are not making progress with our neighbours in the Western Balkans. What message does this send to those fighting for European values there?
The future of the Western Balkans is in Europe. We have common history and shared challenges: security in the face of Russian aggression, safeguarding democracy, upholding rule of law and protecting the environment. But this means real dialogue and sincere cooperation, not loose commercial relationships with corrupted administrations and despotic leaders.
Rule of Law in Malta: 6 years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the need to protect journalists (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-10-18

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, we are once again talking about the situation of rule of law in Malta, and this is very necessary. The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia has not been investigated efficiently. The mastermind behind it has not yet been convicted. Justice is slow to act and, in general, the culture of impunity still seems to be very present on the island.
The public inquiry found that the journalist’s assassination was predictable and preventable. There is evidence linking this to the former government. So why has this not been a wake-up alarm for Maltese politics? Still today, journalists do not feel safe in Malta.
And then we have the disease of corruption – corruption scandals coming one after the other, the latest one in March 2023. Investigative journalists revealed a EUR 200 million public contract signed in 2017 by the government, privatising free hospitals. The management was transferred to a company totally incompetent for it. Since then, the deal has been ignored by a court for suspicion of corruption and fraud.
So, yes, sometimes it feels like democracy is suffocating in Malta: huge difficulties to access public information, public officials being protected from prosecution, incredible number of lawsuits against journalists, houses collapsing because building standards have not been met, money laundering, golden visas, a polarised landscape maintaining old powers in place, attacks on women’s rights. And I could go on.
Yes, in this Parliament, we are all well aware of all of this happening in Malta. But I am also very well aware that if we’ve had in this Parliament a number of debates – numerous debates – about Malta and a number of strong resolutions about Malta, it seems that we never have the time or the opportunity to have in-depth public scrutiny of the situation of the rule of law in other countries, like Greece or Bulgaria, for example, with a high level of corruption and very big threats for journalists.
So why is that? I was wondering: is this Parliament suffering from a high sensitivity to rule of law issues only when it’s about countries that are not governed by the EPP?
Amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure with a view to strengthening integrity, independence and accountability (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-09-11

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, this is not going to make the headlines, it will have a thousand times less coverage than Qatargate and it is not even close to being the perfect, fresh new start that this Parliament needs. But it is a first step towards serious reform, real transparency requirements and preventing future conflicts of interest. 
Here, in this Parliament, in which it has been incredibly difficult to have this topic on the agenda for so many years, a parliament which has previously been in favour of shutting down any constraint on its members, this has been a lonely uphill struggle most of the time but since Qatargate, we have found a lot more allies in nearly all groups, notably the Socialists. Before me, there were other green MEPs fighting for these changes and in the next term others will come, including the new generation, fighting for these changes and coming from all political groups. 
Because total opacity on money and side jobs is no longer acceptable. This cannot be framed as free mandate. There is no unlawful right to misuse the money, the public money, or to receive unnecessary money from outside. Public money should not enrich politicians and public policies should not be made under the pressure and interference of dirty money. This is the basis of democracy – we say this to the rest of the world, we say this to our own Member States, we say it to other institutions and we say it to businesses. But in this Parliament, we still look to have the least constraints on MEPs, the least possible. 
But these rules, now that we have them, they can make a healthy democracy because there is no European healthy democracy without clean European institutions. If we fail this time, we will be heading into the next European elections, sending a signal that this Parliament has no problem sheltering those few MEPs that profit from their mandate at the expense of citizens and democracies.
Recommendations for reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-07-12

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, as our House is currently working on modifications to the Rules of Procedure to fight against corruption and strengthen transparency after Qatargate, I would like us to take inspiration from other bodies and parliaments to come up with stronger rules and to better be able to implement them.
When we went on a mission to the UK Parliament last month, I was quite amazed by the strict rules that are implemented there to increase integrity and accountability, especially in such a conservative Parliament. It is not often that we can hold the UK up as a good example these days. But let us take this opportunity to learn from our neighbours and make sure that there is a real role carved out for our independent experts working on the conflict of interest and on harassment as full members in our advisory committees.
We must put in place clear strict rules on MEPs’ interests, with sanctions for those who decide not to respect them, as well as making these sanctions public and visible on the web page of the European Parliament. 
Finally, since this world is evolving fast and our standards needs to constantly progress, let’s review our rules on a regular basis to see what is working and what is not.
Investigation of the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware - Investigation of the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (draft recommendation) (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-06-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Monsieur le Président, de cette commission d’enquête PEGA nous pouvons tirer trois leçons importantes. La première: nous avons urgemment besoin d’un moratoire et de régulation pour ces nouvelles technologies, comme nous en avons pour les armes. Ce sont des outils intrusifs, répressifs, aux mains de ceux qui ont le pouvoir, et n’importe quelle citoyenne ou n’importe quel citoyen peut un jour être considéré comme suspect et devenir l’objet d’une surveillance constante, secrète et terrifiante. 
Deuxième conclusion alarmante: dans l’Union européenne, des États aux finances fragiles et aux tendances autoritaires ont massivement surveillé leurs opposants, des journalistes, des militants pour les réduire au silence. Aucune transparence, aucun recours ni aucune réparation pour les victimes – Hongrie, Pologne, Grèce, Chypre et même Espagne.
Enfin, dernière alerte: les États les plus riches comme la France ou l’Allemagne, n’ont pas besoin d’acheter des logiciels à des sociétés israéliennes. Ils ont la capacité de créer leurs propres systèmes de surveillance, et sur ceux-là, nous ne savons rien.
Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation - Election integrity and resilience build-up towards European elections 2024 (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-06-01

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, foreign interference is not something that we can take lightly, especially when EU values and our democracies are called into question. In order to safeguard our democracies we all know that the most important is to improve transparency. This is crucial. This means not only for us as Members of this Parliament, but also for think tanks, foundations and the private companies that we work with.
However, we need to get the balance right. At times, this narrative of monitoring and legislating against foreign interference veers dangerously close to calling for the censorship and criminalisation of NGOs. But without defending a free and functioning civil society, we cannot claim to defend EU values. Civil society organisations are precisely the actors that have defended EU values, worked to prevent foreign Russian interference in the EU and in its neighbourhood countries, and put pressure on us to act to prevent further authoritarian backsliding. If we criminalise civil society, we run the risk of undermining the very values upon which this Union is built.
Breaches of the Rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and frozen EU funds (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-05-31

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, the Hungarian Government has pushed through new legislation asking citizens to report activities that go against the Hungarian way of life – in other words, anything that does not conform with the official Hungarian Government’s narrative on the rule of marriage, the traditional family or the illiberal democracy. The wording in this legislation was withdrawn this Friday after two months of pressure, coming notably from this Parliament. 
But let us reflect on what was at stake. A society based on generalised surveillance, where you are encouraged to spy on your neighbours, your colleagues, your friends, and then to denounce them for their personal thoughts or their love life. A new step on the path towards authoritarianism. A society of constant fear, the end of freedom of expression, the end of privacy. 
This is the world the Hungarian Government wants us all to live in – a parallel world inspired by Vladimir Putin, where minority rights are not protected, where rainbow families are unlawful, where the Russian war in Ukraine is not recognised, where European values and the definition of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are denied, and where disinformation about what the European Union does is on billboards and in official speeches nearly every day. 
Should we let the Hungarian Government set the agenda of the EU for six months when they themselves say they do not respect what we are and what we stand for? What the European Parliament is asking for is only to start the conversation about this crucial issue.
Update of the anti-corruption legislative framework (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-05-10

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, there is no healthy democracy with corruption. Not only does corruption destroy public services and hurt deeply the finances of a country, but it also creates imbalance in powers, and it fosters a climate of threats and fear because those wanting to uncover corruption need to be silenced by those corrupted. And this is why we have, in the EU, journalists getting killed because they are investigating corruption cases.
And the EU is sick because of so much corruption involving high-level politicians, public servants and public funds in so many heavy sectors of the economy – healthcare, transportation, construction, waste management, aerospace and defence, agriculture, food, labour, social protection, a number of European economic sectors. And we know the documented and the most grave situations: Hungary, Malta, Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Bulgaria. But in fact, all EU Member States are concerned and we have, for the moment, not been good at all at enforcing our rules. We are very good at saying rules but not at enforcing them.
Adequacy of the protection afforded by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-05-10

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, again the Commission is trying to allow unconditional flows of personal data across the Atlantic. Once again, the Commission is using our fundamental rights as collateral in the quest for a closer transatlantic relationship – and, once again, we find ourselves here in this Parliament urging the Commission to do the right thing and not to grant, to the US, an inadequate level of data protection. 
In the EU, our right to data protection is enshrined in law. Citizens know that the collection of the data is only done when necessary and in a proportional way, and in case of a breach they are able to challenge this in a court of law and to know the outcome. In the US, the executive order that was issued in October 2022 does not take the place of a federal data protection law, nor does it pave the way for the end of the ongoing mass surveillance or bulk collection of data by the US National Security Agency. 
It also does not change the fact that European victims of US surveillance are unable to seek effective judicial redress. The latest agreement may be called the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, but this new name does not reflect the reality. No sufficient changes have been made in the US to safeguard personal data without significant reforms. 
It is quite clear that the US does not have an essentially equivalent level of data protection. There is also, of course, a significant risk that all of this will anyway be struck down by the CJEU again. This means more legal uncertainty and disruption for citizens and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. 
This debate is about protecting our personal data, but it is also about protecting our EU values, fundamental rights and civil liberties.
Order of business
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-03-29

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, indeed, the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG) went on a mission to Greece recently, and we made assessments of a number of issues concerning rule of law and fundamental rights. We therefore now need an open debate in this House.
It has been, in fact, a longstanding demand from a number of Members of this Parliament, coming from different groups already for a long time, because our concerns are serious. In fact, it’s been nearly one year that we’ve been waiting, because on 9 April 2021, Giorgos Karaivaz was assassinated – a sinister remembrance of the deaths of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak, journalists all murdered in relation to corruption. 
That is why we need on this debate, like on others today, a debate in this House. We make this request with a Commission statement, please, because the Council will not be there tomorrow. We will also need a resolution to be voted in April, and we propose to be in the joint debate tomorrow with the 2022 Rule of Law report – and we ask for RCV, of course.
Implementation report on the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU - The Windsor Framework (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-03-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, 20 years ago, the Good Friday Agreement was signed. This major step will be commemorated with the importance it deserves.
Sadly, for more than a year now, the Assembly in Northern Ireland has not been sitting. In its absence, citizens in Northern Ireland have struggled to access health care and financial support for energy bills. Polling shows that those in favour of restoring the Assembly in Northern Ireland and those who support the Windsor framework are young people and women. But because of the institutions not fully functioning, young people and women are also among those seriously affected by the lack of access to basic care and by inflated energy prices.
What matters most to people in Northern Ireland, as everywhere else in Europe, is everyday issues. As often is the case, when identity politics are instrumentalized and take up all the political space, it comes at the cost of people's needs. This is not only about the relationship between the EU and the UK. We also must consider the rights of citizens in Northern Ireland. The EU has a responsibility to protect the Good Friday Agreement, to prioritize the rights of citizens and to contribute to maintaining peace and democracy on the island of Ireland.
The erosion of the rule of law in Greece: the wiretapping scandal and media freedom (topical debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-02-15

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, Greece, State of Play, 2023. Eleni Touloupaki, former head of the corruption prosecutor's office, has been attacked by her own government after an investigation about the scandal involving the Novartis Pharma company. And now she suspects that she was spied on as many others were in the Greek political context. Meanwhile, the wiretapping scandal, we know, is ongoing. 
Giorgos Karaivaz, a long-time crime reporter was assassinated in April 2021, and since then there's been no real follow-up to find out who killed him and what the motivation was. Journalists are terrified, activists too. NGOs working on migration issues are harassed. And even in this Parliament, it took us months to have this small debate on the agenda, not one on the wiretapping, but one on the systemic degradation of the rule of law, corruption, democracy, judiciary, media pluralism. And it doesn't seem that the Commission is sufficiently also challenging this. So I'm really wondering, have we not learned any lesson? Will Greece be the next sick man after Hungary of this Europe? And will we act once again when it's too late?
Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2023-02-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, transparency and accountability are easy and simple requirements to put in place and so it remains a mystery why it is taking us so much time to make it happen. We have been cowardly and weak, because at the same time we were very eager to ask for transparency and accountability from others – from businesses, corporations, lobbyists, democracies, countries, institutions and now NGOs. 
Of course, when you don’t want to take action and when you don’t want to be scrutinised, the best thing to do is to find a scapegoat. Some now are using a narrative which criminalised NGOs in the same way that liberal democracies do in order to avoid dealing with our own lack of rules and implementation. 
There is another argument preventing us from concrete measures – the famous ‘additional burden’. But it is not that complicated to give straightforward information about assets; how wealthy we were at the start of the political term, and how wealthy we are at the end – because no enrichment should be considered normal in our Parliament duty. Maybe, it is time to discuss what a public mandate is and what the general interest is. 
We have very good conditions of work. They make us efficient parliamentarians. We can commission studies, we can travel using our own expenses, we can meet different stakeholders, we can organise hearings. We should be informed members, but independent in the way we take our legislative decision.
And such an independence, in such good conditions, demands high integrity. This level of integrity is possible if we have an ethics body, which monitors the three European institutions in a serious way. When such an authority was created in France, it dramatically increased awareness and morality in political life. It is an indispensable tool to fight corruption. 
Let’s stop finding excuses, looking for the guilty party elsewhere. Let’s stop these stories and scandals around Commissioners and MEPs. Let’s be a 21st century democracy, healthy and secure, one in which policies are made for the common good and not in the interest of a few people.
Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-12-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, dear smaller Member States, by size or by population, I know you have always fought fiercely for national vetoes and I simply do not understand it. We have all witnessed recently how national vetoes have dramatically been to the advantage of the few bad guys in the room. National vetoes have been used in bad faith against European interests. 
They have been an instrument to pressure you against your own will when you were deciding on essential European policies together. They have made your efforts to find common ground more fragile and all of this has threatened our security. It has also allowed the misuse of the money of European citizens. And some important files became simple pawns in a cynical gambling game. 
And why? Smaller Member States should not fear the end of unanimity, Europe has grown and changed. You can protect your interests through qualified majority, and you have proven that you are good at finding these majorities when needed. 
Throughout this term, I have had the most respect for the Czech Presidency, the Finnish Presidency, the Portuguese Presidency. You were the ones that brought everyone around the table to talk about difficult topics and try to make progress. And you were the ones that engaged sincerely with Parliament. Do not fear the end of unanimity.
(The speaker agreed to respond to a blue-card speech)
Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-12-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE),  blue-card reply. – No they’re not because they did it with good faith. I’m serious! I’m serious! When vetoes are used when the country is not interested in the real content of the policies and it’s just using it to have deals on another topic, that is very problematic. That’s why I think that those that are using it in good faith are weakening their own work, and that’s why I’m saying that they are good enough now to find majorities and they would not need it. They could do without it because they can find majorities.
Defending democracy from foreign interference (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-12-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, we already knew about the terrible influence of China in our universities. A Senate report in France has clearly documented it. Chinese student spies or some officials are monitoring research to impose their narrative on the issues of the Uyghurs or Taiwan. Some researchers were even pressured by the heads of the universities to delete criticism towards the Chinese Government and to use alternative wording in certain publications or conferences. 
But now we know that even worse is happening. There is proof that there is a far—reaching network of overseas Chinese police stations established in many of our Member States – in France, in Spain, in Greece. Chinese citizens who found refuge in these countries are tracked by the Chinese police and forced into returning back to China.
This is also happening in the Netherlands and Ireland, which have launched investigations, and this is happening in Hungary and Serbia. But both of these countries are denying these allegations and are not preventing this from happening. 
That is how bad the level of foreign interference has become in the European Union and in neighbour countries.
The Commission’s reports on the situation of journalists and the implications of the rule of law (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-12-14

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madame la Présidente, la liberté de la presse et le pluralisme des médias, sans lesquels il n’existe tout simplement pas de démocratie, ne sont plus protégés dans beaucoup d’États membres. Il faut donc des dispositions européennes. Faisons un tour d’horizon.
Hongrie, 85ᵉ sur 180 dans le classement Reporters sans frontières de 2022. La Fondation KESMA regroupe 500 médias nationaux et locaux au service aveugle du gouvernement, dans une totale opacité sur les fonds publics. La Commission européenne dit ne rien pouvoir faire. Peut-être pourra-t-on empêcher que cela se reproduise ailleurs: des oligarques qui achètent des médias et en font donation à un gouvernement.
Grèce, 108e au classement. Un journaliste abattu devant son domicile, une enquête qui patine et des violences policières connues à l’égard des journalistes qui travaillent sur le sujet des réfugiés, de ceux qui couvrent les manifestations et de ceux qui révèlent la corruption.
Malte, 78ᵉ. Peu de progrès dans l’enquête sur l’assassinat de Daphne Caruana Galizia, alors que, en Slovaquie, la justice a été efficace dans le cas de Ján Kuciak et n’a plus connu d’entraves par le politique au bout d’un moment. Spécificité de la loi maltaise: les proches héritent des procès intentés aux journalistes.
France, 26ᵉ. Là, c’est le privé qui pose problème: concentration extrême des médias, dix actionnaires détiennent 81 % de la diffusion des quotidiens nationaux et 95 % des hebdomadaires. Le groupe Bolloré censure, interdit les publications, accumule les poursuites-bâillons et insulte certains politiques.
Assessment of Hungary's compliance with the rule of law conditions under the Conditionality Regulation and state of play of the Hungarian RRP (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-11-21

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, there cannot be – in no place in the world because it’s just not possible – a true, efficient, anti—corruption system where there is not independence of the judiciary. And it feels bizarre to have to say it out loud, but because we have to state the obvious, let’s imagine.
Let’s imagine a Member State where the son—in—law of the leader of the country has just been awarded a tender in the context of public procurement concerning European funds. All very fictional, of course. And all of this was done in mysterious ways. There are a number of important problematic failures in the procedures, and there’s this new tool that has been created and implemented in this country. We could name it the ‘Integrity Authority’. And it’s just been created and it’s a really independent monitoring body. It has serious expertise and good staff, and it will bring the case to court. Plenty of fact, plenty of evidence.
And then the president of the highest level of justice in this country, let’s call it the Supreme Court, decides to allocate himself the case to a judge because, you know, he is a friend of the leader of the country, he has been nominated at this job by friends of the leaders and he has the power to overrule on political cases. Still, very theoretical. And so he gives the case to a specific judge, another friend of all of these people, all friends, all sharing the same interests, the same money. And then, of course, the case drags on and drags on and justice is never made. End of story.
How we can be studying, on one side, the- 17 measures to fight anti—corruption in Hungary and, on the other side, not requesting a true plan of reforms for judiciary bewilders me.
Whitewashing of the anti-European extreme right in the EU (topical debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-10-19

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, far right is seeking normalisation and we are giving it to them. First, they had to disguise their fascist legacy, their most frightening symbols and their worst racist, violent rhetoric. Second, they asked right—wing and liberal centrists to open the door, to let them in a bit, accessing little places of power in Parliament, even in government, and spreading this false narrative that sometimes the left would be more extremist than far—right. It happened in Austria, now Italy, Sweden, France.
And now third, we should be all reassured because they are not claiming they want to leave the European Union anymore. But why should they? They can do scary far—right politics, take the money, use the single market and influence the decisions. Viktor Orbán paved the way. Eating up the EU from the inside is the new respectable path of power for the far right.
The Rule of Law in Malta, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia (debate)
Speaker: Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (France, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance / Europe Écologie)
Date: 2022-10-17

  Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered five years ago, and yesterday, on the anniversary of her death, everyone seemed to want to honour her life. But are we truly entitled to do so? The truth is, that story is ugly and dirty, and it has left a long—lasting stain on Malta’s democracy, Malta’s society and that government’s legacy.
But it is also a very depressing story because it has revealed the real state of democracy and media freedom across the whole of the European Union. Sadly, worse, it is a never—ending story because since Daphne Caruana Galizia’s tragic killing, other journalists were murdered in other Member States – and numerous others have received threats. The context is always the same – courageous journalists who are investigating corruption cases linked to high—level individuals in government, construction industry, shipping, energy supply, golden visas – the common thing behind these attacks is always the link between criminal organisations, politicians and bribery.
And what good has been done to help journalists? Well, let’s see. In Malta, the police inquiry was blocked from advancing and the legislation to protect journalists is still not in place. For the rest of Europe, I have never met journalists who are as afraid as they are in Greece; in France, you can be detained by the police just for covering a demonstration, and in Poland and Hungary, you can be spied on like in the time of the Stasi. Media freedom is not good in the European Union.