misclassified/meps_speeches_with_translation.csv huggingface dataset:
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-03-16
Debate: Lack of actions taken by the Commission in the context of the duty of sincere and loyal cooperation (debate)

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Herr Präsident, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Seit Jahren werden die Bürgerinnen- und Bürgerrechte, die grundlegenden Freiheitsrechte von Hunderten, Tausenden von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern in der Europäischen Union mit Spyware verletzt. Journalistinnen, Anwältinnen, Politikerinnen, sogar wir Abgeordnete in unserer Arbeit hier, genauso staatliche Mitarbeiterinnen von staatlichen Institutionen in den Mitgliedstaaten und, ja, auch Kolleginnen und Kollegen von Ihnen in der Kommission wurden abgehört.
Das alles sind gravierende Eingriffe, und man würde denken, dass wir alle gemeinsam daran arbeiten, diese Eingriffe, diese Attacken auf unsere Grundrechte und auf unsere demokratischen Institutionen zu stoppen. Stattdessen laufen wir hier seit sechs Monaten gegen eine Wand des Schweigens. Es ist wie so ein Schweigekartell aus Kommission und Mitgliedstaaten – Omertà hat Sophie in’t Veld gesagt, und ja, das trifft es.
Deswegen lassen Sie mich eins einmal ganz deutlich sagen: Wo Demokratie zersetzt wird – und das passiert mit dem Einsatz von Spyware –, kann keine demokratisch legitimierte Institution gewinnen, nicht das Parlament, nicht die Regierungen der Mitgliedstaaten und auch nicht die Kommission. Deswegen fordern wir Sie noch einmal auf: Kooperieren Sie mit uns. Wenn die Mitgliedstaaten weiter blockieren, erwarten wir, dass es ganz klare Sanktionen gibt. Denn nationale Sicherheit kann nie über den grundlegenden Rechten der europäischen Bürgerinnen und Bürger stehen.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-03-15
Debate: The EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders (debate)

  Hannah Neumann,  rapporteur. – Madam President, dear colleagues, that is more than a year of work that’s coming to an end right now and it’s the first ever implementation report the Human Rights Committee has done, so it’s also time for me just to say thank you because I wouldn’t have been able to get there alone.
Thank you to the EEAS and the Commission, which supported with a lot of insights, to the delegations in Colombia and Afghanistan that facilitated fieldwork, to the special representative Eamon Gilmore, but also to Mary Lawlor and Michel Forst, who supported in the project, to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, which protect defenders, to the many NGOs working on that, and to my shadow rapporteurs. This file is really a good example of what we can achieve if we work together across party lines. Thank you, Janina Ochojska, Raphaël Glucksmann, Katalin Cseh, Miguel Urbán Crespo and Assita Kanko. It was a very good experience and I think 25 years after the adoption of the UN resolution on the protection of human rights defenders is a good moment to review where we are, to improve our implementation, to bring a lot of political will behind it. And I count on all of you to make sure that the recommendations we make in this report will actually make it into a change of policy on the ground.
Then there is one last group of people I want to thank. I know no one more dedicated and courageous in fighting for justice and peaceful societies than human rights defenders. You all are crucial to making your communities, your countries, our world a better place. None of this is easy, so just from all of us, thank you for the work you do.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-03-15
Debate: Iran: in particular the poisoning of hundreds of school girls

  Hannah Neumann,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, dear colleagues, women and girls are the heart of the protests in Iran. They are out in the streets waving their hijab. They are singing Baraye Azadi in the classrooms, they chase away militias and they even record videos dancing in the streets.
But while those dancing in the streets on Women’s Day have been put in prison for two days, forced into confessions and forced into wearing a hijab, those poisoning schoolgirls with gas are still running free. And while the regime puts all its resources behind harassing and jailing girls, they only issue lukewarm calls for investigations after months of poisoning. But believe me, no one is falling for this regime propaganda anymore, which is why we call for an international investigation into the poisoning and for more sanctions against all those terrorising the people of Iran.
Dear colleagues, no one will be able to silence the women of Iran and I want us to stand with the girls, the women, the people of Iran until they are all free. (The speaker used a slogan in a non-EU language)
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-03-14
Debate: Question Time (VPC/HR) - Strengthening the Trans-Atlantic ties in an ever challenging multilateral world

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Thank you, High Representative, for being with us here today. The topic of the debate is indeed a transatlantic approach in a multilateral world. And one area where we can witness at least a multitude of actors at the moment is the Middle East. Over the weekend, China brokered a deal with Saudi and Iran, while we still have no special envoys, the EU. The US President declared the JCPOA as dead while you are still trying to negotiate it, some EU Member States and the US export arms to Saudi Arabia or the UAE, while others have embargoes in place, and many Gulf countries are trying to be friends with the EU, with the US and Russia at the same time. So I am wondering if there is still such a thing as a transatlantic alliance, or at least a transatlantic approach to the region, and if yes, what it looks like along these very concrete examples.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-03-14
Debate: Question Time (VPC/HR) - Strengthening the Trans-Atlantic ties in an ever challenging multilateral world

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – I’ll take the chance of a follow-up question specifically on the JCPOA and the fact that we see nuclear enrichment now in Iran. Are there any consultations between the EU and the US on how either the JCPOA or an alternative plan to deal with this is being pursued?
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-02-13
Debate: EU funding allocated to NGOs incriminated in the recent corruption revelations and the protection of EU financial interests (debate)

  Hannah Neumann,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, dear colleagues, what we are looking at at the moment, is a criminal network that misused the organisational shell of an NGO for its corruption activities. So let’s be very clear: this is a corruption scandal and it’s not an NGO scandal. 
So rather than attacking NGOs, not just in this debate today, and some of these NGOs are actually our biggest allies when it comes to fighting corruption, we should fix our own problems. As so often, if you point with one finger to the others, there are at least the pointing back to you. We need this ethics body that President von der Leyen promised three years ago. We need a culture in which whistleblowers feel safe enough to finally speak up. We need more resources for OLAF, and we need to apply the same rules for everybody, regardless of big names, regardless of good connection when it comes to access, for example, to this Parliament and this Parliament’s resources, because frankly said that was the biggest problem with Fight Impunity. 
The voters want us to clean up this corruption mess. They don’t want us to engage in cheap party politics nor in scapegoating, and this debate feels a bit like this.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-01-18
Debate: Extension of the term of office of special committees and committees of inquiry

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, dear colleagues, I would just like to make a point of order. 
The European Union is a key player when it comes to Iran, and our High Representative is the coordinator for the nuclear negotiations with Iran. So what we do here matters for the future of Iran and the Middle East, and the European Parliament has a role in that. Yet for three times now, the High Representative did not show up for the debate with this Parliament on the issue of Iran – despite the fact that he was in town. On 9 November he couldn’t be there so we rescheduled the debate for 22 November, when right when we started the debate he walked out of the plenary. 
So we had a unanimous message from the Conference of Presidents to him that he had better be here for the debate yesterday. Yet again yesterday, Mr Borrell was in Strasbourg, but he wasn’t here in the evening. Colleagues, we are talking about one afternoon a month where we ask him to adjust his schedule to our plenary debates. I have to say that I find it difficult not to interpret this behaviour as a sign of disrespect to Parliament, and also to the 12 000 people who were here on Monday. 
(Loud applause)
I understand very much that we cannot drag him here by physical force. So maybe this public statement will help. I encourage the Conference of Presidents to also define what else they can do to make him appear here next time. Otherwise, I promise you, I will make this point of order again!
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2023-01-17
Debate: EU response to the protests and executions in Iran (debate)

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, yesterday, 12 000 people came to Strasbourg to demonstrate for a free Iran and against its brutal regime. And this regime is under pressure because people in Iran are even willing to die for a brighter future. And we, the European Union, should not be the one stabilising a regime while its own people fight for its downfall.
So how can our High Representative on the one side denounce executions and at the same time meet the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs on the red carpet in Amman? How can he speak about reviving the JCPOA if the only thing that comes out of it is the international reputation and recognition that the regime urgently needs?
So the time for this ambiguous policy is over. As long as the brutal crackdown on protests continues, we should not negotiate. As long as the Revolutionary Guards terrorise their own people and the whole region, we should treat them as terrorists and put them on the sanctions list. The Iranian people have taken to the streets in Iran and all over the world, and they ask for our support. I stand with them. And so should all of us.
(The speaker concluded in a non—official language)
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-14
Debate: Chinese government crackdown on the peaceful protests across the People's Republic of China

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, I would like, first of all, to make the statement that whatever Ms Zovko just said was totally out of scope of the debate. So please allow me to also make a remark a bit out of the ordinary. I have to say that I am quite surprised by the fact that the EPP now decides not to table, not to negotiate and not to vote on urgency resolutions. The fact is that apparently, third countries, autocratic regimes, are trying to interfere with us. They are trying to influence with illegal means, with bribery and corruption, the way we work here.
I don’t think that our political answer to this should be to no longer criticise their human rights atrocities. So I really think we have to debate this in a proper way and not under the point of the Chinese Government crackdowns. We have also to honour the human rights defenders in China that we are supposed to be talking about here today.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-14
Debate: The case of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja in Bahrain

  Hannah Neumann,  author. – Madam President, dear colleagues, in Europe we take the right to freedom of expression for granted, but people in the Gulf region risk their life for it. In Bahrain, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison because he led pro-democracy protests and is still in prison today and our urgency resolution is about his case.
But his case is by far not the only one in the region: 34 years in prison for PhD scholar Salma al-Shehab in Saudi Arabia for her tweets on women’s rights. Life imprisonment for the Qatari lawyers Hazza and Rashed bin Ali Abu Shurayda al-Marri, who had organised so—called unauthorised meetings. Ten years for human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor in the UAE for his social media activism. And lawmakers in Iran have just called on the judiciary to sentence protesters to death. For what? For calling for political freedoms and the freedom of expression, and two of them have already been executed.
So in every encounter with the Gulf region and beyond, we have to speak up on behalf of those who are not allowed to speak up. And we must call for the release of those unjustly detained again and again and again, and especially and continuously in this European Parliament. Because if we are silent, they will be forgotten in their dark prison holes, but theirs are the voices that the world needs to hear.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-13
Debate: Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate) (debate)

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, we have all been elected to represent European citizens and entrusted to protect European democracy. And that is the very foundation of our mandate, and it is so across party lines. And colleagues, until last Friday, I was pretty sure that the dissent that we have, the debates that are sometimes hard, but always the core of democratic decision-making were based on political opinions, on different political opinions and not on suitcases full of money. And this trust now is deeply shaken. We are all standing in the middle of a crime scene with offices sealed, colleagues in prison confronted with the allegation that at least one of us has become a Trojan horse of corruption and foreign interference. 
And I have no illusions. Autocratic regimes have tried to bribe us before, and they will continue to do so in the future, and that is why I want this inquiry committee of the Parliament to know more, to know better what has happened more, to better prevent it in the future, and yes, to build trust again. Our response to this scandal, dear colleagues, has to be clear to the inside as well as the outside. We are not for sale and nor is European democracy.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-22
Debate: EU response to the increasing crackdown on protests in Iran (debate)

  Hannah Neumann,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, schoolchildren burying their classmates shot by the regime, reduced liberties, electricity cut-off, people screaming, gunshots, and then, silence. It’s always the same patterns: the regime shuts down the internet, it kills in darkness, and that is why it is our job to put the spotlight on what is happening in Iran.
There are even testimonies that the Revolutionary Guards picked the most beautiful protesters, boys and girls, and then raped them – so that others no longer dare to raise their voices. And colleagues, I want to know what happens, and I don’t want those responsible for these atrocities to get away with it.
This Thursday – the day after tomorrow – the UN Human Rights Council will hold its first ever special session on Iran and it will vote on the establishment of an independent fact-finding mission. Colleagues, this is a key vote. We have to document the atrocities. We have to fight impunity. And I want us to make sure that it’s the broadest possible majority coming out of this special session. 
And then there will be 12 December – it’s another Foreign Affairs Council. And the 227 Iranian members of parliament who asked for severe punishment are still not on the sanctions list. We have their names. We know their offence. And the colleagues pointed it out – how much more does this need to happen before we finally put the whole Revolutionary Guard on the sanctions list? 
And maybe someone can send this message to Mr Borrell because, once again, he’s not showing up in this debate. 
I understand well, there’s only so much we can do from the outside. But that is why it is needed that we fully dedicate ourselves to doing just so much. This is the least we owe to the brave protesters who stand up against that oppression in Iran every day. 
Colleagues, our attention and our determination are the best protection we can give to them, and that is what we should do with all the energy we have.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-22
Debate: Promoting regional stability and security in the broader Middle East region (debate)

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, and because a number of colleagues have spoken about the role of women in the region, allow me to read out a small list to you, who are the EU heads of EU delegations in the region.
Israel: Mr Dimiter Tzantchev, Syria: Mr Dan Stoenescu, Lebanon: Mr Ralph Tarraf, Libya: Mr Jose Antonio Sabadell, Egypt: Mr Christian Berger, Yemen: Mr Gabriel Munuera Viñals, United Arab Emirates: Mr Andrea Matteo Fontana, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain: Mr Patrick Simonnet, Qatar: Mr Christian Tudor, Kuwait: vacant for a change, Iraq: Mr Ville Varjola, Turkey: Mr Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, and the new special Envoy to the Gulf, well, maybe Mr Luigi Di Maio – for sure it will be another man. 
And there’s just one little surprise I have for you, Ambassador to Jordan: Maria Hadjitheodosiou. 
And it may be worth noting that the ambassadors of Jordan and Oman to the European Union are women and so will be the new ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the European Union. So maybe we should also start to walk our own talk dear colleagues.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-21
Debate: Situation of human rights in the context of the FIFA world cup in Qatar (debate)

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, earlier this year, I visited a refugee camp near Duhok in Iraq – the place that is right now being bombed by Iran and Turkey at the same time. Even five years after the defeat of ISIS, Yazidi families still live there in confined places in an environment of unhealed trauma and limited possibilities. 
But that day I played soccer with the Scoring Girls, a team of girls that practice every afternoon, and the day I visited their fathers and brothers – even them – were watching their kids, their girls playing proudly. There was laughter, there were hugs, there was hope and the clear message that girls can do everything – even Yazidi girls in Iraq. 
That is the power of soccer, dear colleagues. And then there’s this FIFA show happening right now – money, bribes, migrant workers dying on construction sites and big bosses celebrating their toxic privileges. 
Yes, the laws for migrant workers in Qatar have improved – and we will follow up if implementation will happen once the spotlight moves on, believe me – but no one needs a championship where even messages as simple as ‘One Love’ are penalised with a yellow card. 
Dear colleagues, this is just a lost opportunity for soccer and for the sad world in which we live today.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-09
Debate: Order of business

  Hannah Neumann,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, colleagues, last Sunday, 227 out of the 290 members of the Iranian Parliament called on the Iranian judiciary to severely punish protesters and political prisoners, including with executions. 
So people in the streets, people in prisons are beaten up, are raped, are killed – not by criminals but by people who claim to be the government of this wonderful country. And, colleagues, this needs a very strong signal from the European Union that we don’t accept this, including targeted sanctions against exactly these 227 Members of Parliament. 
And we cannot have this debate some other time, colleagues, because the Council is right now preparing the sanctions package to be issued by the Foreign Affairs Council next Monday. And, as of now, this package has only 31 individuals. So we have to have this debate this week and not in two weeks or in a month. 
So now it was brought to our attention that apparently we cannot have this debate this week because neither the High Representative nor the Council would be able to be present. I mean, dear colleagues, imagine this in a national context! A parliament cannot have a crucial debate because the officials responsible are not showing up. 
We should not accept this and I really call on the Council or the HR / VP to make themselves available for this debate today or tomorrow.
Speaker: Hannah NEUMANN (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-09
Debate: EU response to the increasing crack-down on protests in Iran (debate)

  Hannah Neumann,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, what would a world without the so-called Islamic regime look like? This is exactly the question I asked Iranians on Twitter after 227 members of the Iranian Parliament asked for their execution. I got thousands of replies. I could use my real name on Twitter. I could walk in the streets without fear of being beaten up. I could finally go back home to my homeland, hug my old mother. Ukrainians wouldn’t be killed by our drones. A peaceful Middle East. 
14 000 Iranians who took to the streets for these demands are at the moment at imminent threat of execution. And the President of Iran is no stranger to that. He has killed in 1988. He has slaughtered thousands of political prisoners in Iran already. 
It is not on us to change the regime. But, colleagues, it is on us to be very clear that those who fight for political freedoms in the streets of Iran have our full solidarity and support. We need to sanction all 227 members of the parliament who made this outrageous call to execute political prisoners. And we need to designate the Revolutionary Guards as what they are – a terror organisation. 
We need to convene a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to set up a reporting and accountability mechanism. And dear colleagues, each and every one of us has to do everything possible to make sure that those dying at the moment in Iran every single day, for a different future, do not die for nothing.