misclassified/meps_speeches_with_translation.csv huggingface dataset:
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-15
Debate: Resumption of the sitting

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, colleagues, the EPP published a press release yesterday that has now been read to the Parliament twice, once by Ms Zovko last night, and just now. In this statement, and I quote, they question ‘the integrity of the foreign policy positions of the EP, as expressed in the urgency resolutions’. This casts a very dark shadow of suspicion and insinuation over the complete human rights work of this Parliament. And unfortunately they do so without the slightest indication that there is any reason to do it. They just take the corruption scandal that we have to fight against as an excuse for trying to kill the urgencies that they wanted to kill anyway.
Rule 144(2) of our Rules of Procedure states, and I quote, ‘[t]he Conference of Presidents shall draw up a list of subjects to be included in the final draft agenda for the next debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law on the basis of the request referred to in paragraph 1 and in accordance with the provisions of Annex IV. The total number of subjects included in the agenda shall not exceed three, including sub—chapters.’
On this basis, I request that the President ensures that the work of this Parliament on human rights that is founded in this paragraph of Rule 144 shall not be obstructed by the EPP, who call for a stop of all the work.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-14
Debate: EU response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, Executive Vice-President, Minister, the protectionist way in which the United States is pushing the dearly-needed green transition of their own economy hurts our interests. Our friends and partners in the United States are deviating important investment from the European to the US markets, thus effectively promoting European deindustrialisation somewhat, even if unintended. That runs counter to our shared interest, also to their own. And it has effects beyond just the economic dimension because it contributes to a creeping crisis of trust. 
Of course, I wish you well, Executive Vice-President, with the talks that you have ahead of you, but I will still reserve judgment as to what can effectively be done in the negotiations. So we have to focus on what we can do ourselves. I certainly support the reform of state aid rules. I think we should invest together, as Ernest Urtasun has emphasised, in a smart, fair and WTO-compatible way. And we should also go back to looking at the fragmentation that still exists in the single market and try to overcome that. One thing we should not do: we should not retaliate against protectionism with our own protectionism.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (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

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  Verfasser. – Frau Präsidentin, Frau Kommissarin, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Gestern noch hat der Kollege David Leger von der EVP die Verhandlungen, die sehr harmonischen und konsensualen Verhandlungen über die Entschließung, über die wir morgen abstimmen werden, geleitet. Ich bedaure, dass er heute nicht als Koautor hier reden kann.
Zur Sache. Ich glaube, dass die landesweiten Proteste in China gegen die sogenannte Zero-Covid Policy der chinesischen Führung ein Ereignis von historischer Bedeutung darstellen. Da hat sich im Verhältnis zwischen dem Unterdrückerregime und dem unterdrückten Volk etwas geändert. Jahrzehntelang hatte es das nicht gegeben, dass sich landesweit Protest erhebt. Jahrzehntelang hatte es das nicht gegeben, dass Menschen aus den verschiedensten sozialen Gruppen gemeinsam protestieren. Und jahrzehntelang hatte es nicht gegeben, dass solche Forderungen direkt an die zentralen Verantwortlichen in Peking gerichtet werden. Die Pekinger Führung hat selber dafür gesorgt, dass dieser große Protest zustande gekommen ist. Und die Perspektive der chinesischen Freiheit, die im Moment so weit entfernt zu sein scheint, ist durch diese Proteste stärker geworden und näher gerückt.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (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

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, I would like to raise a point of order. My point of order is the request that Ms Zovko should be sanctioned because first, she misused a China debate to enact a hypocritical theatre, charging everybody else as culprits in a criminal gang system. And I also want to have her criticised for not even having the respect for her colleagues to wait until the question to her has been asked. I think that is completely objectionable behaviour. She should be sanctioned.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-13
Debate: Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Thank you, Executive Vice-President, for tackling this important issue here. I believe the protection of strategic infrastructure cannot just be expected from the executive branch of government. We need an all-of-society effort to deal with the integrated multi-actor activities from the Chinese side. 
In that regard, I think it’s important to raise the awareness of the public. I think the Commission should look into opportunities for supporting, for instance, mapping efforts by academia or think tanks that would help to raise awareness. Also, I believe that often on the local level there is a lack of China competency. In twinning relationships, small towns of below 100 000 inhabitants are twinned with several million inhabitants in a big Chinese metropolis. They could be overwhelmed. So there should be efforts to enhance their China competency to deal with these issues. 
And finally, the EU cannot impose a European port strategy, but the European Union can support efforts by national actors, by regional actors to coordinate. And there we have not been doing what we should be doing.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-13
Debate: Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Just one short additional remark. Some Member States, like the Dutch or the Swedish, have invested into creating national China competency centres or different institutions that help creating that competency that we need on all societal levels. And I think it would be helpful if the Commission could put some effort into propagating those shining examples.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-12-13
Debate: ASEAN relations ahead of the EU-ASEAN summit in December 2022 (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, dear colleagues, the commemorative summit that Brussels is preparing for, with the ASEAN Community, offers an opportunity for reflection of how serious we really are with our strategic partnership. That sounds nice, but how strategic is it really? 
We learned today from the media that the two sides have not been able to agree on common language about Taiwan or issues around Taiwan. 
So I think we should not fool ourselves. That strategic partnership is still much more of a promise and an aspiration than it is a reality. And I think we should clearly identify priority projects to make it a real strategic partnership. I think one of them would be, as Mr McAllister said, a region-to-region FTA. One of them would be cooperating on trusted connectivity projects and one would be systematic cooperation in international organisations.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-11-22
Debate: EU-China relations (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, Mr Borrell. To say it simply, Mr Borrell, I’m disappointed. I heard from you a lot of generalities, but very little indeed about the reality of EU-China relations.
Maybe there isn’t so much to report. What kind of a relationship do we have after all? The April summit, as you said, was a dialogue of the deaf. At the G20, Xi didn’t want to meet with the representatives of the EU. And at the COP 27, China stood squarely in the way of what we fought for.
There is no point in putting lipstick on a pig: EU China relations are at a very low ebb. China’s attitude is characterised by arrogance, divisiveness and hegemonic ambition. Unfortunately, many of our Member States are not yet prepared to learn the Russian lesson fully and to apply the Russian lesson to China: that we should not allow ourselves to become dependent on an authoritarian regime.
Scholz, Macron, Meloni or Sánchez, they all prefer to put their narrow self-interest in the first place. I would have thought that the English proverb ‘once bitten, twice shy’ might apply. But some people may want to be bitten more often, and they will if their self-centred actions, instead of developing common European China policies, will continue. We have a lot of common talk, but very little common walk.
In this context, I would expect of you, Mr Borrell, to take the lead and lead towards unitary European action. What about taking the lead with regard to getting rid of the extradition agreements that we have, of trying to use the EEAS services to counter Chinese representatives spreading the Russian lies in the Global South?
There is so much you could do, but you don’t take the lead.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-09-14
Debate: State of the Union (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Frau Präsidentin! Frau Präsidentin von der Leyen, ich möchte zwei Themen ansprechen, die Sie in Ihrer Rede gestreift haben. Zunächst: Global Gateway. Werden Sie die bislang ungelösten Governance-Fragen der Initiative Global Gateway vor Jahresende klären? Wie viele Leuchtturmprojekte von Global Gateway werden bis zum Dezember konkret identifiziert? Wie wird die Kooperation mit unseren Konnektivitätspartnern Japan und Indien forciert?
Zum Zweiten zur Chinapolitik: Ziehen wir die richtigen Konsequenzen aus der russischen Erfahrung? Xi Jinpings Regime wird immer repressiver nach innen und immer gefährlicher nach außen. China unterstützt die Aggression Russlands in der Ukraine ganz offen. Welche Schritte sehen Sie vor, um Taiwan besser zu unterstützen, um die europäische Menschenrechtspolitik wegen Xinjiang deutlicher zu machen, statt die Kritik von Frau Bachelet herunterzuspielen, und um wirkliche Unabhängigkeit im Wirtschaftsbereich gegenüber China zu erkämpfen?
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-09-13
Debate: Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, I would like to say to the High Representative that he emphasised just a few minutes ago that obviously Member States have the remit to do defence policy, but still, as European leaders, we also have the responsibility to try to coordinate as best we can common efforts to support Ukraine’s defence of their own sovereignty and their own borders. 
In the past, many European leaders have rejected the call from Ukraine to provide modern tanks to help the Ukrainian army to fight more effectively. More recently, rumours have it that the American administration might be charting a new course. 
My question to you, High Representative, is, can you inform us where that conversation stands at the moment?
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-09-13
Debate: The situation in the Strait of Taiwan (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, High Representative, for the EU Taiwan is a like—minded partner with whom we share good economic relations, but even more importantly, a common interest in defending human rights, the rule of law and democracy. This is why this Parliament has consistently stood in favour of enhancing the EU’s support for Taiwan’s democracy in the context of our own one—China policy.
Unilateral changes of the situation in the Taiwan Straits will continue to meet our strong opposition. We fully condemn the PRC’s threat of the use of force, their continuous provocations and the escalation of threats from Beijing against Taiwan, which are completely unjustified and an escalation of choice. We want to signal to Beijing that a strategy of aggression would come with a very high price for the PRC itself, and we want to deter them from undermining security and peace in the region.
Parliamentary diplomacy has to play a central role in this regard. We will continue travelling to Taiwan. We will invite the Taiwanese parliament, we will organise a parliamentary week and we will all make efforts to convince our colleagues in national parliaments to form a strong phalanx of solidarity with Taiwan.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-07-06
Debate: The arrest of Cardinal Zen and the trustees of the 612 relief fund in Hong Kong

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  author. – Madam President, Vice—President, Commissioner, colleagues, the European Parliament has stood, and still stands and will continue to stand with Hong Kong. This Parliament continues to actively show solidarity with Hong Kong democrats against the Chinese Communist oppression.
Last week, several members of this House reminded us of the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to the mainland authorities, and the second anniversary of the imposition of the national security law. This is the history of a betrayal, the betrayal of the trust of the citizens of Hong Kong and a betrayal also of the international community.
With this joint resolution, we strengthen our resolve to not forget and to not cease supporting. We want the charges dropped against Cardinal Zen, who is a towering figure but is also representing many, many other courageous Hong Kongers. We want the extradition agreements that still exist between EU Member States and the PRC and even Hong Kong terminated. We want lifeboat opportunities created for Hong Kongers that have to flee their city. And we want permanent monitoring of the human rights situation in Hong Kong through our offices there.
We will continue to stand tall. Only extremists from the left and the right do not join this call.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-06-22
Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, the Council decision this week will be a historic one. It will breathe a new lease on life into the EU’s enlargement strategy. It will present a chance to overcome the long—blocked effort to heal dangerous European divisions and open wounds. This pertains in particular to the countries in the Western Balkans, most notably Albania and North Macedonia, but also others. 
In doing this, in re-invigorating the enlargement policy, we’re not just being gracious. It is in our own interest not to have a grey zone of minor security, a kind of buffer zone between our borders and those of a revisionist Russia. Not sharing European stability with the Eastern partners that want to join the EU family would undermine our own security and our own future. 
But let me also be explicit about one obvious conditionality for Europe’s united perspective: without Ukraine’s success in defeating the Russian accession, the candidate status promises would fall flat. That’s why providing the necessary arms without hesitation must be enforced.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-06-06
Debate: The EU and the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the EU does indeed have a role to play in the Indo-Pacific, both for economic and geopolitical reasons. And that means we cannot allow ourselves to fall into ambivalence. We have to make clear where we stand.
A free and open Indo-Pacific for all: that’s one of our commanding goals. This can be and should be supported by a network of trusted connectivity initiatives like the European Global Gateway Initiative. In the centre of our alliance-building in the region, we should focus on like—minded democracies. We need a strategic solidarity with like—minded democracies and also include other, more or less like—minded countries.
And finally, we should not tiptoe around the elephant in the room, which is the PRC’s aggressive policy in the Indo-Pacific region, responsible for increasing tensions, be that on the Himalayan borders with India or in the South China Sea. We have to call a spade a spade and we have to make clear that Taiwan is also, for us, a democratic partner that we will not give up on.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-05-04
Debate: Reports of continued organ harvesting in China

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  Verfasser. – Frau Präsidentin, Frau Kommissarin, Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Zwangsweise Organentnahme ist eine böse Menschenrechtsverletzung. Solche Organentnahmen hat es in der Vergangenheit in China in großer Zahl gegeben. Und auch heute gibt es Hinweise darauf, dass China sich nicht strikt an die Vorgaben der WHO zur Transplantationsmedizin hält. Deswegen haben Experten der Vereinten Nationen Besorgnis formuliert darüber, dass weiterhin der Vorwurf erhoben wird, dass es in China solche zwangsweisen Organentnahmen, insbesondere bei hingerichteten Gefangenen, gäbe. 
Mir sind keine Fakten bekannt, die belegen würden, dass das tatsächlich seit 2015 stattgefunden hat. Ein Experte der WHO, der verschiedene chinesische Krankenhäuser, die mit Transplantationsmedizin befasst sind, bereist hat, erklärte, er habe Hinweise darauf nicht gefunden, könne aber nicht ausschließen, dass es diese nach wie vor gebe. Insbesondere weil, wie Kollegin Arena gesagt hat, diese Transplantationsmedizin natürlich ein außerordentlich lukratives Geschäft ist. Deswegen wenden wir uns an die chinesischen Behörden und verlangen Klarheit, Transparenz und das Ende einer jeden solchen Praxis, auch in entlegenen Gebieten, auch wo keiner hinguckt.
Ich glaube, wir müssen da ganz deutlich machen: Da muss China eine verlässliche Grenze ziehen.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-04-05
Debate: Outcome of the EU-China Summit (1 April 2022) (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, As the Commission and the EEAS announced before, this was not a ‘business as usual’ summit. It was certainly no ‘panda hugging’ event. It was more tense and more controversial than at any time before. 
I’m happy that the European side did raise all the hot button issues, as you said, High Representative. I want to thank you for that. I also want to thank you for the support that you have given to those sanctioned, wherever they are. 
This online summit will, in hindsight, be seen as the one moment in which both EU and China dropped any illusion about win—win cooperation. No more ‘go along to get along’, no covering up the deep divisions. We clearly are in rivalry territory now. 
It has been China’s behaviour vis—à—vis Russia’s aggression against Ukraine that finally laid bare how big the distance has grown. China has formed a revisionist axis with Putin to overturn the multilateral rules—based order. China objected, together with Russia, against the European security order. China, in the case of Lithuania, also dared attacking the Holy Grail of the European Union – namely the single market. 
There is clearly a need for us to push back, and I like Mr Winkler’s language about the push—back, and there shouldn’t be any hesitancy. We should not just implicitly talk about possible sanctions if they support Russia, but explicitly. 
Xi Jinping played hardball at the summit. He played a cynical game. He demonstrated that he does not respect the EU as a partner. They do not want to accept who we are. But when they call for more autonomy, they will get a real geopolitical player. We will have to realise that the tough summit was just the opening of an era in which tough is the new normal, and we need one common European China policy to master that.
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-03-23
Debate: Debriefing of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022 - Preparation of the European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022 (debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, 85 years ago, Nazis and fascists bombed Guernica. Today, Putin’s totalitarian regime destroys Mariupol by bombing civilians there just as cruelly. Or should we compare the siege of Mariupol to the criminal siege of Leningrad in the Second World War? In 1937, democratic Europe did not do enough to help defend the Spanish Republic against Nazi and fascist terror. Are we doing enough today to help defend Ukrainian democracy? No, not yet. 
I appeal to the Council: send Ukraine more arms and stop financing Putin’s war machine now!
Speaker: Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Germany — Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2022-03-08
Debate: The situation in Bosnia Herzegovina (continuation of debate)

  Reinhard Bütikofer (Verts/ALE).   – Herr Präsident, Herr Kommissar, meine sehr geehrten Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz hat in Bezug auf Russlands Invasion in der Ukraine von einer Zeitenwende gesprochen. Viele Heuchler tun nun so, als hätte man das nicht kommen sehen können. Aber diese Zeitenwende ist nicht über uns gekommen wie ein Dieb in der Nacht. Wir hätten es sehen können.
Wir wissen auch, dass auch der Westbalkan auf der strategischen Agenda Putins steht. Die Frage ist: Machen wir denselben Fehler zum zweiten Mal? Oder sehen wir, was passiert? Sind wir bereit, es klar auszusprechen, klar zu benennen? Und tun wir alles, um zu verhindern, dass es noch einmal so brutal schiefgeht?
Vučić und Dodik können nicht auf zwei Schultern Wasser tragen. Sie müssen sich entscheiden, sie müssen eine Wahl treffen, und wir müssen dafür sorgen, dass sie das tun.
Um das als letzten Satz zu sagen: Es ist schon legitim, Chinas Abhängigkeiten und Einmischung in Bosnien und Herzegowina zu kritisieren, aber es liegt an uns, ob wir dafür Spielraum lassen. Ohne realistische EU-Perspektive haben wir dem Land zu wenig zu bieten.