misclassified/meps_speeches_with_translation.csv huggingface dataset:
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-10-06
Debate: The state of play on the submitted RRF recovery plans awaiting approval (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, I say to the Commissioner: stand firm. EU taxpayers’ money should not reward governments that violate the most fundamental principles of the European Union. This is especially true for governments that do not accept the primacy of EU law or have a history of corruption, embezzlement and fraud. I therefore urge you not to approve the current Polish or Hungarian plans until we know that this money actually benefits the citizens and safeguards their rights. Stand firm. 
In addition, Commissioner, let’s prepare well for the future. If you act smartly now, you will be able to stop the flow of recovery money every six months for the next five years. For that to work, I ask you to ensure that the plans have strict six-month targets in improving the rule of law and fighting corruption, and second, to let Parliament help you. Make backroom deals public and give us access to all operational agreements between you and the national governments. Commissioner, we are fighting a good fight. Let’s make sure the tide turns, we improve the rule of law, we fight corruption, and benefit the citizens of this Union. I ask you to stand firm.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-09-14
Debate: Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, to anyone who feels empathy, these images from Afghanistan are heartbreaking and shocking to witness. For years, European countries tried to work together towards a more resilient Afghanistan and in this endeavour relied heavily on locals to support this. 
Amongst these locals are journalists, activists, human rights defenders, women and young people. They knew they took a risk but they still did it, and they were brave enough to support with us and to work with us for a better future for their country. Now they ask for our help, they ask to be saved, but we hear European leaders fostering this narrative of defence and trying to score political gains by playing into nationalistic fears. This is disgraceful.
With our resolution today we ask all European leaders to be courageous and compassionate. We ask them ambitiously to step up resettlement pledges at the September Resettlement Forum. We are talking about tens of thousands of pledges that we would need. 
Second, we ask for safe and legal pathways to be established. We heard about humanitarian visas and we ask for deportations to Afghanistan to be halted, and lastly, to cooperate with all involved actors to ensure that no lives are lost.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-09-14
Debate: EU Blue Card Directive (debate)

  Damian Boeselager,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, just yesterday I talked to a young entrepreneur from Berlin, who told me it took him one and a half years to get a visa for the programmer to come to Berlin. One and a half years during which this IT professional could have gone anywhere in the world. In a global competition for talent, that’s just not good enough.
If you want to attract talent to Europe, you need to be attractive, and that’s why I’m super happy that today we can celebrate the agreement on the new Blue Card with you from the Commission as well, because finally, people can move from one Member State to the next within one month. Finally, people can take with them the years they agglomerated on long-term residence from one country to the next, making it much more attractive to come to Europe in the first place. And finally, IT professionals can apply for the Blue Card even without a university degree, making this Blue Card the ultimate European tech visa.
So today is a day of celebration, and tomorrow we should put our heads together again to ensure that it comes into effect as fast as possible and to tackle, one by one, all pathways for labour migration so that people don’t have to wait one and a half years if they have a job offer in Europe.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-07-07
Debate: Breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ citizens in Hungary as a result of the adopted legal changes in the Hungarian Parliament - The outcome of 22 June hearings under Article 7(1) of the TEU regarding Poland and Hungary (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, Commissioner Jourová, today, despite all odds, is a day of hope. It has been three years since we initiated Article 7 against Hungary. Three years of big words and empty threats. Three years over which the deconstruction of the Hungarian democracy has accelerated. Every day Orbán's government violates the rules that our freedom as a European community are built on. Rules to safeguard the free press and show fair elections, to ensure the independence of judges, rules to protect the diversity of our societies. 
The new law is another terrible example of how Orbán violates these rules. But today still is a day of hope, because today the European Commission has the power to change this course; because today Parliament and Council stand behind you asking for a strong response; because today the rule of law mechanism is in place; and finally, because today you have the power to make the payment of seven billion euros, equalling 5% of Hungary’s annual GDP, conditional on the change of course. So I urge you to use these powers, then today can be a day of hope.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-06-08
Debate: European Parliament’s scrutiny on the ongoing assessment by the Commission and the Council of the national recovery and resilience plans (debate)

  Damian Boeselager,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, I would like to say to President von der Leyen that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is no ordinary law. If we get it right, it can be a blueprint for future European fiscal architecture, enabling a more resilient, sustainable and fair economy for all European citizens.
My Group supported you in setting it up. However, looking at the plans submitted by the Member States, we are concerned. Some Member States treat the RRF as a simple refinancing tool, which means that the stimulus effect is neutralised and costs are simply shifted to the European level. Many Member States avoid ambitious reforms necessary to modernise the administration, even though the regulation requires them to do so. And most importantly for my Group, many Member States try the old practice of greenwashing, trying to sell hybrid cars, gas boilers and other dirty investments as green.
President von der Leyen, do not give in to these reluctant governments. Do not approve plans that don’t fully comply with the law. Tell President Macron that he should address the French CSR. Tell Chancellor Merkel that she cannot use EU funds to get rid of her hybrid cars. Tell Prime Minister Draghi that he needs to fight greenwashing. And tell all governments across the EU to enforce the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. You have the full backing of this House to ensure that money is not wasted on national pet projects but used to fuel a green and a real tradition with a lasting impact. You said it: ‘Long live Europe’. I would say: ‘Long live a better and reformed Europe’.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-05-19
Debate: New avenues for legal labour migration (debate)

  Damian Boeselager,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, what image comes to our mind when we hear the term ‘migrant’? What happens if you replace that term with ‘international talent’ or even ‘expat community’?
Our debate on migration is distorted. The fears of losing our culture are inflated by right wing populist rhetoric. However, migration lies at the basis of all European culture, as the Vice President said. Today, 95% of all migrants come to Europe regularly, many of them with some form of a work visa, contributing to our society’s diversity, to our economy – and, to be frank, offsetting the effects of an aging society on our pension schemes – and helping us through this crisis, as it has been said before.
I come from the private sector, and I’m in close exchange with many start-ups across the continent. Next to a lack of access to capital, their key success factor is access to international talent. Only sufficient talent will enable them to thrive and create jobs for Europeans as well. But we still fail to attract the best talent and skills. In fact, even under Trump, the US was more attractive to migrants than the European Union.
Why? Because first, we are still seen as a rather racist society. And second, because we don’t have a unified labour migration system, but 27 separate ones. Our national governments still think it makes sense to compete against each other when it comes to migration.
With this report, we have shown that there is a separate way: a new way. Together as one House we ask to Europeanise our system to ensure that we get to a European migration code, and that migrants can profit from the full European labour market, and that we can profit from them.
Second, we ask to foster equal conditions for everyone who works here, no matter where they’re from, when it comes to wages, rights and working conditions. We have to fight labour exploitation.
And third, we ask for new pathways, and I’m very happy that the Vice President has mentioned some of them, like the talent pool, which I’m presenting at some point as a pilot project. But there are others: youth mobility schemes, visas for job and vocational training, the Long-Term Residence Directive and the single permit. It’s clear: Europe is strongest if we work together, especially when it comes to labour migration.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-04-29
Debate: Announcement of voting results

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, by now I have spent more time as a remote Parliamentarian than as under normal circumstances. I have learned to negotiate laws via Webex, I engage with citizens over Zoom, and I plead with the Commission via Teams. My team at home is constantly working remotely and my office is as empty as the plenary in Strasbourg. Even though I’m proud to say that this institution has weathered the circumstances really well, I can’t wait to go back to normality.
But what will the new normality look like? What can be learned from these times? And what do we really want to return? We don’t have these answers yet but the discussions over the 2022 budget were very much marked by these questions. And so I want to thank the shadow rapporteurs, but also the Bureau and especially the EP administration for finding good solutions and for really engaging in this debate and scrutinising the budget in the best way we can to find answers and to create space for these answers.
Together we agreed to strengthen the legislative capacity of this House. We agreed to find ways to travel less, to be more efficient and to be greener and more transparent. We agreed to pay more attention to gender—related budgeting and – and that’s very important for me as well – we created space for the Conference on the Future of Europe to work. So, because of all of these reasons and also because it was my first rapporteurship, I would like you to vote in favour and I ask you for that.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-04-29
Debate: Digital Europe programme (debate)

  Damian Boeselager,  on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, the Digital Europe Programme is the best practice for how EU digital policy could be done. It is pan-European, which will benefit all citizens and companies in all Member States. It puts digital skills and support for digitisation of SMEs and start-ups at the core of EU policy, and it ensures parliamentary scrutiny over every euro spent under the programme. I therefore thank the rapporteur and I also thank the shadows and the Commission and the Council for the good work on this file – but it’s clearly only a first step.
Our SMEs and start-ups have now all embarked on their digital journey. There are different levels of sophistication in this process, and we can help them succeed if we do a couple of things. First, we need to ensure that they’re not forced into a technical infrastructure that they can’t escape from. Second, we need to ensure that the dominance of certain actors, for example in the data market, does not translate itself automatically onto the machine-learning and AI markets. And third, we need to ensure that the new standards that are being set for data sharing and such are not decided in a closed circle just between a couple of Member States and between a couple of big companies. In the end, our European digital policy will only be successful if we understand that innovation can come from anywhere, and especially the smallest actors.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-04-27
Debate: Space programme 2021-2027 and European Union Agency for the Space Programme (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Mr President, for many citizens, when they hear about space policy, they think Star Trek, Star Wars and the Return of the Empire, but space goes far beyond this science fiction, as we all know.
Space is not only a place for reaping the benefits of human ingenuity, but also a frontier that reflects the political issues we witness here on Earth. Space plays a huge role in our daily lives already, as we know, enabling satellite TV, internet and smartphone connections, precision in agriculture and disaster relief. Our European space programmes and SMEs play a key role in providing these services but, if we create the space where they can thrive, they can do much more. We can expect innovations and technological breakthroughs that can tackle climate change, and predict environmental diseases. We can promote research in health and fight humanitarian hardships that we currently see.
I think that, in order to be able to reap these benefits, we need to do four things. First – and my colleague Niklass Nienaß has also said this – we need to Europeanise our efforts. That means both when it comes to law, but also when it comes to our Space Programme. Other countries won’t be waiting for us and we need to ensure that we consolidate our governance and invest.
Second, we need to enable private investment. We don’t have to retract – and we shouldn’t retract – our government spending in the area, but we need to enable private investment to increase access. 
Third, we need to ensure fair access to data so that downstream commercialisation is fair and competitive and can really bring out the smartest among us. 
Fourth, and most importantly, space does not belong to any one nation. It is a place for discovery and research for all mankind. We should treat it as such and enforce international rule—based systems to counter space militarisation and debris. If nations use outer space for their individual gain, we face a tragedy of the commons, where we will hinder the progress that we could make together for all of Europe, but also for all of mankind.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-03-25
Debate: European strategy for data – Commission evaluation report on the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation two years after its application (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, those who control shares, profit from data. This is the key question that we are trying to tackle with this report. At its core this question is a question of power and I think with GDPR we have made a big step towards ensuring that some of this power is being given back to individuals. With this report we ask for further steps to rebalance this power. Currently, there seems to be an imbalance when it comes to the concentration of market power in many of the aspects related to data.
We need to make sure in our future steps in this legislation when it comes to the Data Governance Act, when it comes to the Data Act, that we give power back to individuals, that we safeguard their rights, that we clarify the role of intermediaries and that we empower governments and businesses to share data in a trusted and safe environment. This has to be the European model to get towards greater digital competitiveness.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-03-11
Debate: Respecting the partnership principle in the preparation and implementation of national recovery and resilience plans, and ensuring good governance of the spending (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, a month ago I praised the EU recovery fund as a game-changer for European solidarity and recovery, as our key tool for tackling the dual transition of greening and digitisation.
Since then, businesses have been engaging with national governments to express their ideas when it comes to digital infrastructure or hydrogen, and this can be positive for modernisation. But when it comes to other interests, say, from civil society actors, unions, local and regional governments or even national parliaments, this is completely different.
Almost all governments are refusing to engage in serious consultations. Even though this is a requirement within the text. This is a mistake. Let’s make sure that this recovery fund is best practice, a beacon for a future of common European macro-economic governance where all interests are represented and, frankly, the best ideas win.
Furthermore, I urge countries like Germany and the Netherlands to commit to additional investments and actual reforms, to not waste this chance, even though elections might be looming.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-02-09
Debate: Establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, dear Ministers, dear Executive Vice—President, dear co-rapporteurs and shadows, dear colleagues, this law is no ordinary law. This law is the centrepiece of the EU recovery fund, and it lays the foundation for something new.
When I entered this House one and a half years ago, there was no common European fiscal policy and no needs—based solidarity in times of crisis. When the financial crises hit in the past – and we all know they hit hard – the only support our countries could find lay in unloved and undemocratic tools like the ESM.
With our vote today, this will change. The RRF is no ordinary law. It is a political, federalist, European innovation, a game changer for our common European economic policy and solidarity in Europe. Our vote today may very well mark the beginning of a more permanent architecture to raise EU funds and to direct them where they are most needed, irrespective of nationality.
This law sets new, unheard-of standards when it comes to investment. It requires countries to address the adverse effects of the crisis on women, to invest in the next generation and to support the ones most hit via its social pillar. It ensures that over the next six years, EUR 250 billion  need to be invested to fight climate change based on an improved investment tracking methodology, while not spending one cent on harmful activities when it comes to the environment. It ensures that over the next six years, another EUR 135 billion will be invested towards the digital transition.
But this law is not only about investment, it’s also about reforms. It asks countries to tackle the weaknesses that they have, because we can potentially get out of this crisis with investments, but we will not be able to weather the next one without reforms.
So with today’s vote, the ball is in the court of the countries, and they need to draw up their national recovery and resilience plans. But I would like to give them four short messages on this process.
First, the struggles we can see in some countries show that these plans need to be publicly debated and scrutinised. You need to involve the public, and this cannot just be backroom deals. Second, all countries need to tackle reforms – also Germany, the Netherlands and France. Third, invest fresh money. Don’t just repackage existing stimulus packages. And fourth, we from the European Parliament, we will be watching, because we care.
We will scrutinise every euro spent. We will scrutinise every plan to ensure that this project is a success.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2021-01-20
Debate: Social and employment crisis in the COVID-19 pandemic and the EU's response in the Recovery Plan and the MFF (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, we fought hard as the European Parliament, but also as the EU as a whole, for a strong EU recovery fund to counter this unprecedented crisis. We decided to raise an unprecedented amount of EUR 750 billion to be able to invest in the green and also the digital recovery and to get out of this crisis better than we went in.
Now it’s time to fight equally hard to make sure that this money is put to good use, and for this I demand three things.
First of all, that we ensure that every cent that is spent is transparently spent, that we know where this money is going. Second, that this money is used as additional money, that we make sure that we have new projects in the green and digital spaces, so we don’t just refinance existing pet projects of national governments. And third, that citizens are involved, that stakeholders are involved, and that most importantly our national governments are involved when we draw up these plans to make sure that the money is put to good use.
Speaker: Damian BOESELAGER (Germany — Volt)
Political group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Date: 2020-12-14
Debate: New general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2021 (debate)

  Damian Boeselager (Verts/ALE).   – Madam President, colleagues, first of all I am quite thankful that we now speak from the lectern so we can actually see each other when we speak.
I would like to thank Pierre Larrouturou and Olivier Chastel for the tough and very good negotiations. I think the outcome is a greener and more digital budget. While I’m happy with the overall agreement, I’m concerned that the Polish and Hungarian governments caused such massive disruption to our negotiations. I’ve been in this Parliament for more or less 18 months and I’ve gone through negotiations of two annual budgets, the MFF programmes and currently the EU’s recovery programme. I still consider myself a newbie but I do want to share three hard lessons learned with you.
First of all, multilateralism does work. We did find an agreement and we did find a good agreement on this budget. Second, our EU decision-making is still deeply flawed. We allow individual governments to outright blackmail this Union, holding the wellbeing of all EU citizens to ransom for their own, at times, personal financial benefit. And third, too often we cave in to this blackmailing and every time we compromise in the direction of these blackmailers. We show European citizens that in this Union sometimes money trumps values. Last week’s European Council conclusions are a perfect example of this phenomenon. I think we should never trade principles over money or values over power, and I would really urge the von der Leyen Commission to set the record straight in this direction.