misclassified/meps_speeches_with_translation.csv huggingface dataset:
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-10-03
Debate: Impact of new technologies on taxation: crypto and blockchain (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, in May 2021, there were about 9 000 different cryptocurrencies with a market capitalisation of almost EUR 2 trillion, driven mainly by Bitcoin, the most popular one with a market capitalisation of Bitcoin that was about 850 billion. The simulated potential revenue of taxing capital gains from Bitcoin in 2020 amounts to EUR 900 million, almost 0.3 % of total tax revenue for property taxation in the EU. These numbers make enough clear how much is urgent to act on the taxation of cryptocurrencies. 
First, the Commission should assess the ways in which different Member States tax crypto-assets and the different national policies regarding the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion in the field of crypto-assets, underlining best practices and potential loopholes. Then the Member States should consider the specificities of the use of those assets in their national tax reforms to implement more effective systems that guarantee the fair, transparent, proportionate taxation of crypto-assets. 
Would that be enough? Of course not. The only real solution always remains a unique fiscal policy at the EU level. How many years will we still have to waste before figuring it out?
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-09-14
Debate: Human rights violations in the context of forced deportation of Ukrainian civilians to and forced adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, according to reliable estimates, several hundred thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been forcibly deported to Russia, especially to the unpopulated regions in the far east of the country. This is also the area from which the overwhelming majority of the reportedly dead Russian soldiers were coming. Furthermore, and even more detestable, more than 250 000 children have been listed for adoption to Russian families, again in the least populous areas of the country. 
The plan here is crystal clear. The Russian regime does not plan to stop sending these young men and women to die for a brutal and unjustifiable war. Instead, they have already started to substitute those who fall with other innocent human beings, disrespecting all basic international laws. 
Dear colleagues, it is not the first time that this happens. Some of you perfectly know what Russian deportation looks like, since your countries have experienced that during the 20th century. From this House, we have already said, ‘never again’. Yet it is happening right now again. We must stand firm in condemning these atrocities, and we call on the international community to immediately open an investigation and to bring all those responsible, including Putin, of this atrocity accountable in front of the International Criminal Court.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-09-13
Debate: Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – At the G7 summit earlier this month, the leaders of the participating countries agreed to set a price cap for Russian oil exports, triggering a strong reaction from the Russian side, with Putin declaring that in case this happens, he would stop exporting oil to Europe. Therefore, dear Josep, I would like to ask you to elaborate a bit further on our possibility to enforce this decision without generating a boomerang effect on our economies and on our citizens. One of the main options put forward by the analysts is to deny Russia the access to the London insurance market, which covers around 95 % of the global oil shipping. Do you think this would be a sufficient deterrent? And is there a consensus among the EU Member States to proceed this way? Also, I believe that one of the main objectives of our elections should be to enlarge the number of countries worldwide that would support this initiative, in order to consolidate the bloc of liberal democracies opposing this barbaric war. Is there any outreach plan to foster cooperation with our partners? And how is it looking at the current stage?
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-09-13
Debate: The situation in the Strait of Taiwan (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, Commissioner, High Representative, when we talk about Taiwan, there’s only one question that really matters: what can we do in practice to avoid the conflict that has been long predicted, that could have catastrophic human costs, and that would represent yet another attempt from autocratic powers to eradicate democracy from their neighbourhoods as it is happening in Ukraine?
I believe there is only one answer. We have to support Taiwan in making clear that the costs of an invasion would be unbearable for Beijing. As we cannot the risk of military escalation, we have to rely on what has always been the hallmark of our external action: diplomacy and commercial strength. To do so, it is paramount that we remain united among ourselves, willing to scale up our relations with Taipei, including through our bilateral investment agreements, and act as a monolith in countering China’s attempts to destabilize us through propaganda and trade retaliation. Therefore, I commend Lithuania for opening its trade office in Taiwan, and I expect more Member States as well as our Union as a whole to show the same courage, demonstrating to the world that we stand united in defending our defining values, that we stand firmly next to the brave and democratic people of Taiwan.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-07-06
Debate: Taxing windfall profits of energy companies (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Mr President, Commissioner, as inflation in the EU shot to a new record in June, cost increases are exacting a deep toll on the economy, eating into most Europeans’ wages.
But for many of our largest companies and their shareholders, it has been a very different story. The pandemic, the war and the supply chain bottlenecks have created a smokescreen that allows companies to pass on inflationary costs to consumers via price increases. Is it appropriate that during all this uncertainty that this be a moment in which large corporations continue to enjoy huge profits?
A temporary tax that would apply to excess profits of all multinational companies is for sure a good starting point. But the long—term solution must be to reform our laws to tax the companies that benefit most from the EU’s internal market, and to stop the corporate tax-dodging that is rampant today through a global minimum tax.
Let’s bring in the revenue we need to support working families, and accelerate the shift to renewable energies. And let’s make this year the last year any company with massive profits pays almost no corporate tax in the EU. Now it’s really time for change.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-07-05
Debate: 2021 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Mr President, dear colleagues, as the main outcome of the last European Council, we have applauded the decision to give Ukraine and Moldova EU candidate status. While this was an essential political message aiming at reaffirming our undiminished commitment for the future membership of the countries in the Western partnership, this fast track is causing turbulences in the Western Balkans.
For this reason, the Council’s readiness to grant candidate status to Bosnia is a very important step as we cannot risk further disenchantment and we cannot give the impression that we are leaving the Western Balkans behind. The implementation of the commitments, as set out in the political agreement reached on 12 June 2022, will be paramount and I strongly hope that after the Commission reports on the 14 key priorities, as requested by the Council, we’ll swiftly welcome Bosnia Herzegovina as an official candidate.
Dear colleagues, delaying further the inevitable EU perspective for the Balkans in the EU is like playing with fire as there is a concrete risk that they will look elsewhere. As we perfectly know where this ‘elsewhere’ is, I am sure we don’t want that to happen.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-18
Debate: 2021 Report on North Macedonia (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Mr President, dear Commissioner, despite undiminished popular support for European integration, trust in the EU as the most important partner and ally for North Macedonia has dropped by 30% in the last two years. This tells us a lot about our relationship with this country which, since it embraced the European perspective in 2004, has undergone significant reforms and international efforts – even changing its official name. Now it is time to give concreteness to Macedonia’s EU aspirations, or it will be too late.
June may represent the point of no return. Supporting the accession negotiation means strengthening the EU’s role and credibility in the whole Western Balkans region. It means strengthening reformers throughout the region and contrasting and weakening those anti—European forces that depict us as unreliable, and the European future of the Western Balkans as an illusion.
The Commission report on North Macedonia stresses once again how the country has met all the conditions to start negotiations. This Parliament strongly agrees. Our High Representative agrees and – as he referred – the Foreign Affairs Council agrees. We owe it to this country. We owe it to the leaders who reach out to neighbours and minorities at home in the true spirit of reconciliation. We owe it to the North Macedonian people.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-18
Debate: 2021 Report on Albania (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Mr President, the status in which we have relegated Albania is something we cannot afford anymore as the geopolitics of our neighbourhood is showing us once again, if there was still any doubt, how the enlargement perspective of the Western Balkans is more important than ever.
I fully agree with High Representative Borrell when he says that this situation is not only harming the candidate countries but is also harming us, presenting tremendous costs in terms of credibility and political perspective. It gives to Russia and other players who want us weak and divided.
Dear colleagues, Albania has made its homework. Albania has achieved concrete reforms and real progress, and is demonstrating its willingness to advance in its accession process. Now it’s our turn to deliver. There’s still a chance in the June Council to remedy this historical error.
My plea to our Bulgarian friends is to lift their veto so that the Council can do finally the right thing. We have huge challenges coming in the near future. We are all aware of that, and I strongly believe that we can better face them if we overcome our divisions.
Dear colleagues, the time is now. We can’t wait anymore because the rest of the world won’t wait for us. Albania is Europe. Europe must be together with Albania.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-04
Debate: Reports of continued organ harvesting in China

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, Madam Commissioner, it is beyond reasonable doubt that in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practised – this is the conclusion of the China Tribunal – from persons not clinically dead, according to a recent study by the Australian National University. 
The targets are well known – Falun Gong, Tibetans, Muslims, Christians and Uyghurs. People treated like livestock, subjected to compulsory health checks, just to be sure their organs can be harvested. 
Dear colleagues, this is the one of the worst atrocities committed in modern times and without a doubt an outstanding crime against humanity. Despite our helplessness in affecting Beijing policies, as seen yet again at the recent EU—China summit, we can’t stop trying to use all our pressure to finally achieve some concrete steps.
For this reason, I call for a full and transparent international investigation to shed light on these appalling violations, as well as for additional strong, targeted sanctions for those who are responsible for that. 
We need to use all means at our disposal, including commercial tools, so that Beijing faces up to its responsibilities. More than anything, as EU representatives and even more as human beings, we need to keep being the voice of those who do not have one – loudly denouncing a situation which is just unacceptable. Because if we don’t do that, no one will.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-03
Debate: The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, thank you very much, dear colleagues, despite the initial scepticism of some Eurosceptical governments, the Conference on the Future of Europe turned out to be a success, empowering participative democracy at its outmost and putting long-sighted proposals on the table.
Now it is time to move forward, to achieve citizens’ goals and hopes, turning them into concrete actions. And there is only one way to do so. We must open a new convention for discussing the much-needed deep revision of the Treaties towards a federal Europe. And as this would be a clear divide in the history of the European integration, there would be no better place than Ventotene Island, where everything began, to do so.
We are in front of a crossroads. We can move towards a genuine political union, a strategically autonomous union, moving to qualified majority, and thus growing into a real player at the global stage. Or we can remain divided, becoming the chessboard where other actors play their geopolitical games as is happening with the criminal aggression of Ukraine.
Only a new treaty of Ventotene can allow us to pursue the first option. And if the main road is the convention, we must also be prepared to cope with certain national reluctances or blockages, thus foreseeing back-up solutions, including the possibility to set up new forms of reinforced cooperations. Let’s finally sit around the negotiation table. There will be an understanding of who wants to be on the right side of history and who does not. We stand for a Treaty of Ventotene, for a free, democratic, sovereign and federal Europe.
(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card speech)
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-03
Debate: The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI),  blue-card reply. – Thank you, my answer is very clear in that regard. I stand for the strengthening of the European integration moving towards a federal Europe because I truly believe that, otherwise, facts will decide instead of us.
As is happening right now with the criminal invasion of Ukraine, as happened many times also with the multiple crisis we were experiencing in the last decades. And I must, of course, underline the fact that we did not always have all the tools we needed to face and tackle these crisis. Sometimes we have been a bit original and creative, we found an ambitious solution, like Next Generation EU, but I am calling for a permanent structural common European debt and a real federal budget to tackle the global challenges in front of us. So, for me, this is the main road that I am going to stand for and defend as well as you. But I also hope that it will be the outcome of the Conference and the Convention, because the citizens were very clear in that regard and their voice must be listened to. Otherwise, we will just fuel and foster frustration instead of more commitment towards European integration.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-05-03
Debate: EU preparedness against cyber-attacks following Russia invasion on Ukraine (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Mr President, according to some analysts, after the Russian criminal invasion of Ukraine, cyberattacks against the EU and its Member States have increased by 1000%. It goes without saying that these numbers must represent a wake—up call for us. 
The number one priority must be to pursue strategic autonomy and technological serenity, pledging adequate resources to this end. In particular, a shift of approach is really required. We can no longer focus only on hardware capabilities, but we need to include ambitious projects on the research and development of specific software. Otherwise, we will always remain dependent on third parties.
Second, we should insist on those success stories which already exist, such as ENISA, whose role should be further enhanced. At the same time, and even more in line with the prerogative of our House, we need to streamline cyber diplomacy with the final aim to create a safe, reliable and open cyberspace worldwide. The cyber domain represents the apotheosis of interconnection among EU Member States and, even more than in other fields, there are no individual countries that can boast a satisfactory and independent level of security. Let’s make this field the pilot for further European integration.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-04-05
Debate: Question Time with the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy - Security and the EU's strategic compass

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Dear High Representative, first of all let me congratulate you and the whole EEAS for having completed this unprecedented exercise that will give more coherence, ambition and renewed impetus to our approach to global politics. 
Moving decisively towards the Europeanisation of security and defence is something we cannot delay further, and the Russian criminal invasion of Ukraine represents yet another wake—up call. Eventually we have a guiding light, well—intentioned, in the Strategic Compass. 
My question for you is the following: the Russian criminal invasion forced us to react swiftly and in an unprecedented manner, and we could do it only thanks to the European Peace Facility. This instrument has proven to be an added value to our toolbox, allowing us to transfer military equipment to Ukrainian armed forces. However, the resources allocated for 2022 are already over, while the challenges we are facing are definitely not. 
Therefore, I would like to ask you whether there is an intention to frontload the resources in order to keep on supporting Ukraine, while also providing sufficient funding to several other partners, especially the African Union and its neighbours, to set up an effective continental security apparatus.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-04-05
Debate: Question Time with the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy - Security and the EU's strategic compass

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Thank you very much. It’s certainly true that the most urgent issue to be addressed is the criminal invasion of Ukraine. And I am convinced that we can be a decisive actor in the conflict with several means in our variegated toolbox. However, we must not forget also the threats that we are facing, that they are variegated and they come from all strategic directions. 
Therefore, how will we ensure that sufficient attention and funding will be given also to the European Southern Neighbourhood? Will we increase our capabilities for operating theatres that are different from those present in the East and will the renewed impetus for military mobility keep this need into account?
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-04-05
Debate: Outcome of the EU-China Summit (1 April 2022) (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Madam President, High Representative, dear colleagues, I appreciated the EU’s approach to the last summit. A difficult meeting where we arrived with many colleagues still under sanction by Beijing, let’s not forget it. And in an extremely complex international context, the results have been underwhelming, but not because of the EU’s lack of trying and this adds to its importance.
The elephant in the room has obviously been the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the EU’s calls for help to end the conflict being answered by deliberate ambiguity, evasive responses and no explicit assurances from China. As politicians, we have to call facts and actions as we see them. And what I see is that China, with its wait and see attitude and its unwillingness to take a clear position, is in fact buying time for Putin, de facto helping him to continue with his bloody aggression war on the ground and attempting to change borders through the use of brute force.
The U.S. must continue to call out Beijing to abandon this ambiguity, stressing that the step between a guilty silence and complicity is a short one, not compatible with China’s proclaimed aspiration to be a global player for peace and stability. If China wants to be on the right side of history, it has to take a decision now and it must be a clear one.
Speaker: Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy — Movimento 5 Stelle)
Political group: Non-attached Members
Date: 2022-04-04
Debate: Urgent need to adopt the minimum tax directive (debate)

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI).   – Signora Presidente, signor Commissario, onorevoli colleghi, l'accordo quasi unanime che abbiamo firmato in seno all'OCSE per introdurre una tassa minima sulle multinazionali ha rappresentato un passaggio importante. Ma ci è stato presentato come un momento storico: si tratta invece di un compromesso già nettamente al ribasso, che risolve solo parzialmente il problema di un sistema fiscale internazionale, che è stato programmato per non funzionare.
Troppo poche le multinazionali incluse; l'aliquota al 15 %, inferiore perfino alla normale imposizione sui redditi dei lavoratori, è simile, molto simile al regime agevolato di alcuni Paesi europei, che non esito a definire paradisi fiscali di fatto.
Certo, col tempo queste soglie potrebbero essere alzate ma non se questo accordo viene blindato con l'intento di precludere qualsiasi potenziale cambiamento. Il testo della direttiva, ancor più nella bozza del Consiglio, non lascia alcun margine di manovra per future modifiche alla tassa minima.
Intanto gli Stati Uniti hanno imposto che gli altri Paesi ritirino le tasse digitali nazionali non appena le nuove regole entreranno in vigore e questo può essere accettabile solo se non si blocca una revisione possibile del quadro in futuro.
In un mondo afflitto da una pandemia e dalla guerra, finché le multinazionali non pagheranno la loro giusta parte, il prezzo vero lo pagheremo tutti quanti noi.