unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: György Hölvényi
Political group: PPE
Country: Latvia
Language: EN

Dear colleagues, around 84% of the global population identifies with a different kind of religious group, according to the Pew Research Center. The basic human right of the freedom of religion is still not fully integrated into EU diplomacy. We’ll still need to set milestones in dialogue with the churches, religious communities and their organisations active in this field in the EU and the third countries. According to Article 17 of the EU Treaty, the EU institution conducts substantial and transparent dialogue with the religious communities, either. In reality – we know it very well, however – it is not structured dialogue as such prior to any substantive EU decision-making. It is not a legal framework that is missing. Rather, the EU leadership refuses knowledge of the decisive impact of religion in individual society. Without this, decision-makers are unable to understand the importance of religious freedom. A visible result, today, is that we hold this debate in the very end of the plenary session, on Thursday afternoon. We need the presence of the colleagues, of course. Thanks for everybody who is present. I think it is really a simple shame. Let me recall the free expression of religion is not a matter of religion, but it is a human right. In fact, it is even deeper – it is one of the anthropological question.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Łukasz Kohut
Political group: S-D
Country: Poland
Language: PL

I na koniec słowa księdza profesora Józefa Tischnera: w tej chwili terroryzm lewicowy [...] odszedł w przeszłość, natomiast podnosi głowę, daje o sobie znać terroryzm prawicowy. I uważam, że to jest [...] niebezpieczeństwo, bo ten prawicowy terroryzm ma bardzo często pełną gębę religii. On się legitymizuje szlachetnymi, pięknymi wartościami chrześcijańskimi. Warte rozważenia.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Ilana Cicurel
Political group: Renew
Country: Slovakia
Language: FR

Les orientations que nous avons à commenter aujourd’hui et qui ont été écrites il y a dix ans nous invitent à cette double vigilance et à nous méfier de la remise en cause de la liberté religieuse par l’État. L’exemple dramatique de l’Iran illustre bien sûr cette manière que peut avoir l’État de remettre en cause cette liberté de conscience, celle de croire ou de ne pas croire, de ne plus croire, de changer de religion. Et cet exemple sous nos yeux, si dramatique, a éveillé, je crois, dans cette maison, le Parlement européen, la conscience que nous devons être vigilants aussi à l’intérieur de nos frontières européennes. Je suis fière, en septembre 2022, d’avoir porté avec certains de mes collègues du groupe Renew un amendement qui appelait précisément à ce que cessent les financements d’organisations intégristes, et notamment celles proches des Frères musulmans. Nous appelions la Commission à faire en sorte que les fonds de l’Union ne financent que des associations, je cite, qui respectent scrupuleusement l’ensemble des valeurs européennes, dont la liberté de penser, la liberté de parole et l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes. Il y a un début d’exécution et je salue la suspension des fonds à destination de l’association turque Yavuz Sultan Selim, qui avait félicité les terroristes du Bataclan. Elle a été condamnée au remboursement des sommes versées. Il faut que cette vigilance continue, que ce soit une nouvelle culture au sein de nos institutions européennes.  Et je voudrais terminer par une requête. Il y a des fonds européens qui viennent nourrir la recherche. Il est fondamental que la recherche sur l’islamisme soit davantage nourrie. Pourquoi? Parce que, ne pas permettre à des universitaires sérieux de faire des recherches sérieuses sur l’islamisme, c’est-à-dire d’établir ce qu’est l’islamisme mais aussi ce qu’il n’est pas, c’est nourrir deux extrémismes: l’islamisme qui ne veut pas qu’on documente ce qu’il est, et surtout l’extrême droite qui veut qu’un amalgame soit fait entre l’islamisme et l’islam. J’en appelle à la Commission, à sa responsabilité. Nous devons financer une recherche sérieuse et honnête intellectuellement sur l’islamisme.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Bert-Jan Ruissen
Political group: ECR
Country: France
Language: NL

Zo schrijft artikel 70 een driejaarlijkse evaluatie voor, maar in tien jaar tijd is er nooit een uitvoerings- of evaluatieverslag verschenen. Ook zou er een regulier overleg komen met het Parlement over geloofsvervolging, maar in tien jaar tijd is dat nooit van de grond gekomen. De post van EU-gezant bleef drie jaar vacant en nu is hij eindelijk benoemd, maar in tien jaar tijd is de menskracht waarop hij kan terugvallen altijd heel minimaal gebleven. Voorzitter, er moet echt meer gebeuren, want geloofsvervolging neemt wereldwijd alleen maar toe. Kijk naar een land als Nigeria, waar de afgelopen 20 jaar 50 000 christenen vanwege hun geloof zijn gedood. Of kijk naar de situatie in Manipur, waar we gisteren over spraken. Ik heb daarom aan de Commissie drie concrete verzoeken: 1) kom op korte termijn met een gedegen uitvoeringsverslag van de richtsnoeren; 2) geef de EU-gezant een permanent mandaat en zorg voor extra personeel zodat hij zijn werk goed kan doen; 3) kom met voorstellen om 24 juni, de datum waarop de richtsnoeren werden vastgesteld, aan te wijzen als Europese Dag voor de strijd tegen geloofsvervolging. Graag een reactie van de Commissie hierop. We mogen de verdrukte kerk met miljoenen gelovigen niet in de kou laten staan. Ik hoop en bid dat het niet nog eens tien jaar aansleept.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Marie Dauchy
Political group: ID
Language: FR

Mais qu’en reste-t-il aujourd’hui? À vrai dire, pas grand-chose, et nous le devons à la gauche et aux mondialistes qui ont complètement ruiné ces principes et trahi ce que nos aïeux ont acquis au prix de leur vie. À l’origine, la liberté religieuse, c’est la garantie pour toute personne de croire ou de ne pas croire en Dieu et de pouvoir l’exprimer sans subir de menaces. C’est donc permettre à l’homme d’être libre de ses convictions. Mais aujourd’hui, la liberté religieuse représente l’exact contraire de ces principes. Sous couvert d’une injonction à la bienveillance et au vivre ensemble, la liberté religieuse est devenue la liberté absolue de professer n’importe quel dogme jusqu’au plus dangereux. Au nom de la liberté religieuse. Il est devenu insultant de critiquer l’islamisme qui soumet les hommes et les femmes. L’exemple du voile islamique, qui n’est qu’une insulte à l’indépendance des femmes, est criant. Je suis atterrée de voir que la gauche de ce Parlement ose à peine défendre les femmes iraniennes dans leur combat, quand plusieurs d’entre elles meurent pour se débarrasser de cette prison. Honte à vous! Cette parodie de liberté religieuse est même devenue le laissez-passer par lequel les institutions européennes déroulent le tapis rouge aux associations islamistes et l’alibi qu’utilisent les islamistes pour répandre leur idéologie nauséabonde partout en Europe et nous imposer leurs dogmes rétrogrades. Les pays islamistes comme le Qatar l’ont parfaitement compris et arrosent leurs amis de la gauche de billets pour défendre leurs valeurs arriérées. Votre soi-disant liberté religieuse vous rend donc complices des extrémismes dont les Lumières nous avaient pourtant débarrassés. L’idéologie multiculturaliste de l’Union européenne nous ramène des siècles en arrière…
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Ryszard Czarnecki
Political group: ECR
Country: France
Language: PL

Panie Przewodniczący! Pani Komisarz! Myślę, że trzeba mówić szczerze i otwarcie. W tym Parlamencie – pamiętam – kilka lat wstecz, gdy słusznie podejmowaliśmy debatę, a potem rezolucję w kontekście Ujgurów, mniejszości muzułmańskiej, moja grupa polityczna konserwatystów zgłosiła wniosek, żeby także zająć się w tym samym kraju chrześcijanami, którzy byli prześladowani. Większość parlamentarzystów europejskich odrzuciła tę poprawkę. Muszę powiedzieć, że było to dla mnie czymś zupełnie niesamowitym, że owa wolność i wspieranie tolerancji jest dla jednych równe, a dla drugich równiejsze.  Także dzisiaj przecież szereg grup politycznych zagłosował przeciwko kobietom, organizacjom, w których działają kobiety i które usiłują walczyć z teokracją w Iranie. Powinniśmy uderzyć się w piersi w tej sprawie.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Joachim Kuhs
Political group: ID
Country: Greece
Language: DE

Herr Präsident, Frau Kommissarin, werte Kollegen! Heute vor zehn Jahren wurden die Leitlinien für Glaubens- und Bekenntnisfreiheit verabschiedet. Das ist ein Grund zum Feiern. Aber wenn ich das richtig sehe, gab es noch keine öffentliche Bewertung dieser Leitlinien. Wie wurden sie eigentlich umgesetzt? Das scheint, auch wenn ich die Rednerliste heute ansehe, niemanden zu interessieren. Oder ist das Ganze nur ein Papiertiger? Denn wir hatten zahlreiche Berichte und Bewertungen zu Transgenderismus oder zum angeblichen Recht auf Abtreibung und zu tausend anderen Themen. Aber wir hatten kaum Zeit für dieses zentrale Thema der Religions- und Bekenntnisfreiheit. Ist es uns egal, dass allein in Nigeria seit Beginn dieses Jahres täglich mehr als 20 Christen ermordet wurden? Oder ist es uns egal, dass weltweit Hunderte von Millionen Menschen, vor allem Christen, verfolgt werden? Werte Kollegen, es ist heute wichtiger denn je, unsere christliche Kultur, unseren Glauben und unser Erbe zu schützen. Lassen Sie uns diese Richtlinien zum Leben erwecken!
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Angel Dzhambazki
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: BG

Г-н Председател, десет години, след като са приети тези насоки за свободата на религията, едно нещо трябва да признаете и то е, че ако има подтиснато, репресирано общество, което има своите религиозни виждания, това са християните, и в частност православните християни. Навсякъде около Европа, в Африка, в Сирия, в Египет, в Турция, навсякъде, дори в Средна Азия, навсякъде насилието срещу християните продължава да нараства и няма никаква реакция от страна нито на Европейския парламент, нито на Комисията, от която Вие сте част.  Това какво показва? Че има двоен стандарт. Вие преди малко говорихте дори за ЛГБТИ. Това не е вярване, това не е религия. Религията е вярата в Господ, вярата в Бог. Ако искате да защитавате правата на всеки един човек да има своите убеждения, защитавайте и християните. Ние не сме нещо по-малко от останалите, ние не сме по-малко нещо от атеистите като г-н Кохут, който там отгоре беше много пламенен защитник на атеизма. Никой не му пречи да си вярва в това. Но това, което трябва да знаем, е, че трябва да има защита и на християните, и на православните. Дори календарът на Парламента е направен така, че да уважава празниците на православните.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Mick Wallace
Political group: The Left
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, it’s been 10 years since these guidelines on freedom of religion or belief were implemented, and the progress is nothing to boast about. There’s been a lack of public implementation reports to monitor the implementation of guidelines. And, since 2019, Parliament has been calling for greater transparency. A report by the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion highlighted a lack of education on these guidelines to the EEAS staff and the highly ambiguous implementation of guidelines by various EU delegations abroad. Now, if we look, a real sign of concern is how we have treated Muslim refugees in Europe. We have rightly welcomed refugees from Ukraine fleeing a war situation – and it is good that we have. But it’s an awful pity that we don’t have the same welcome for the refugees from Afghanistan, from Syria, from Iraq, from Yemen. There are 400 000 people dead in Yemen; there are 16 million hungry. But it’s a Western-promoted war so we don’t give a damn about them! They’re Muslim and they’re the wrong colour.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Beata Kempa
Political group: ECR
Country: Czechia
Language: PL

Panie Przewodniczący! Nikogo nie wolno dyskryminować ze względu na wyznawaną religię, to jest oczywiste. Ale chcę się ująć w sposób szczególny za chrześcijanami. W 50 krajach ponad trzysta milionów chrześcijan pada dzisiaj ofiarami prześladowań. Co 5 minut na świecie za wiarę ginie wyznawca Jezusa Chrystusa. I dlatego te wytyczne – choć potrzebne – w sprawie ochrony wolności religijnej to jednak zbyt mało. Potrzebujemy nowej, ambitnej agendy pozwalającej reagować na każdy przypadek prześladowań religijnych wobec chrześcijan. Nie możemy pozwolić na to, żeby prawo krajowe w niektórych państwach legitymizowało prześladowanie. Takie sytuacje mamy chociażby w Pakistanie czy w Nigerii.  Czas najwyższy otworzyć oczy i przestać milczeć. Unia Europejska obok wytycznych musi powiązać traktaty handlowe z klauzulami o wolności religijnej. Powinna wykorzystać wszystkie instrumenty, aby zakończyć prześladowania za wiarę.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, I’m an Irish person so I’m a Catholic by birth, but I’m an atheist by choice. That said, I am a strong believer in support for religious freedoms – whatever that religion may be – and the right for anybody to practise and worship as they see fit, while at the same time supporting and backing the need to separate church from state. And I accept that Christians are persecuted. I have seen it in the likes of Syria where – because of Western interference to try and overthrow the Assad government, supporting ISIS and so on – Christians and, indeed, Shia Muslims have been undermined and attacked. I support the position of the European Union in its strong antisemitism statements, but I share the deep concerns of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last year about the dangerous rise in Islamophobia. We see Islamophobic rhetoric in public, in political discourse, and we see a growing stigmatisation of Muslims in Europe, which has contributed to legislation targeting them. It is not good enough. We need to address this.
Debate: th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

In this respect, I want to repeat that we already appointed a Special Envoy for the matters related to religious freedoms, and I call on all EU institutions to support the role of the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief. Let me maybe now repeat what I said before, because I think I was not rightly understood, because here were comments that the Commission is not defending Christians abroad. So I will repeat what I said. We condemn attacks against places of worship and persecution and discrimination against people of all faiths as well as non-believers, including Christians. Also for you, I will repeat what I said on LGBTI – indeed, this is not a religion. So what I exactly said was that we also strongly condemn discrimination or violence perpetrated in the name of religion, in particular violence against women or against LGBTI persons. So this is just to clarify the statement of the Commission by repeating it. And a last comment on the contribution of Ms Cicurel, who is not here anymore. But in the case of funding, indeed in the previous mandate we had a case of wrong funding, a wrongly funded project. It was the project led by Leeds University and was one of the partners which was supporting Islamist ideas and Islamists. We stopped the funding and I was very tough in requesting the money to be paid back. And I also tasked the Commission services to make clear, make sure that the system will not allow such funding anymore. I am unhappy to say that there is another case now, but the system discovered this case soon. Also in this case, we were very resolute, very quick. The money had to be paid back. And I want to also guarantee to you that we will undertake as tough control as possible so as not to fund the projects or the entities which are not promoting EU values, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and so on.
Debate: Recommendations for reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Angel Dzhambazki
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: BG

Г-н Председател, гласувах в подкрепа на доклада относно препоръките за повишаване на прозрачността, почтеността и борбата с корупцията, защото нагледно в последната година видях какво се случва в Европейския парламент, единствената европейска институция, която се избира пряко от гражданите.  Станахме свидетели на скандално вмешателство в работата на нашият Парламент, когато властите в Северна Македония, държава, която иска да бъде кандидат за член на Европейския съюз, и нейните институции решиха да упражняват натиск и лобизъм, като използваха своите връзки с колеги и искаха да променят вече договорени текстове и компромиси. В национален ефир външният министър на държавата Северна Македония Буяр Османи заяви, че е информиран как върви работата по доклада и предава поправки на приятелите на Македония в Европейския парламент. Това е недопустимо и се надявам, че в тази зала наистина ще има прозрачност и истинска борба с корупцията на всяко ниво, а не само показна такава, свързана с т. нар. „Катаргейт“.  Една стара поговорка гласи „Комуто интереса, нему и цената му“. Така ще си обясним позицията на част от колегите по определени въпроси и това трябва да бъде много прозрачно.
Debate: The need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Angel Dzhambazki
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: BG

Г-н Председател, гласувах убедено против резолюцията относно необходимостта от действие на Европейския съюз по отношение на операциите по издирване и спасяване в Средиземно море.  Този текст насърчава мигрантите и каналджиите да продължават да приемат животозастрашаващи пътувания през Средиземно море. Именно тази политика на отворени граници и на покана е причина за трагични случаи. Затова тя трябва да бъде променена радикално. Трябва да въведем политика на нулева нелегална миграция, активна работа с трети страни, за да не се допускат подобни опити за пресичане на границите и репатриране след установяване на самоличността на нелегалните имигранти и съд за тези, които организират тази нелегална дейност. Тук става дума за каналджиите, трафикантите и хората, които злоупотребяват с нещастието на пътуващите и с нещастието на тези, които се опитват да стигнат до Европа. На това нещо трябва да бъде сложен край и трябва да има строги наказания. И Комисията трябва да вземе отношение по тази тема.
Debate: The need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Mick Wallace
Political group: The Left
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, I voted in favour of this. On 14 June, over 500 people trying to get to Europe were declared missing, presumed dead, when their boat sank off the coast of Greece. This is just one of the string of such disasters, and there have been further deaths since. At the beginning of this mandate, this Parliament voted not to conduct search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We decided to let people die at sea. And we’ve done dodgy deals with countries across North Africa, paying them to police our borders. A UN report in March raised concerns about the abuse of migrants arrested and detained in Libya. Instead of funding rescue, we’re channelling money to bodies like the Libyan coastguard, who only last week were found to be shooting at migrants. People are dying to get to Europe. They’re coming from countries that have been subjected to European colonialism, that have been ransacked with wars in which Europe played no good part. And we build higher walls to keep them out. Welcome to our European values.
Debate: The need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, I also voted for this resolution. We hear an awful lot these days about the rules-based international order. Now, how European Member States deal with migration is a great example of this, because what it means is international law is flagrantly violated, UNCLOS disregarded. The Geneva Convention, maritime law, the Charter of Fundamental Rights: they’re all just bits of paper that can be discarded. And European Member States are allowed to get away with it. We’ve had no proactive state-operated search and rescue in the Mediterranean since 2014. Almost 28 000 people have died at sea in that time. That’s three times as many civilians as have lost their lives in Ukraine. But, of course, the people who’ve drowned in the Mediterranean don’t count – the men, the women, the children, the babies, who’ve struggled and gasped for breath, terrified as they die and lose their fight for life. They don’t matter, do they? We kill them with impunity. We deny we are at war with them through sanctions or migration. Until we acknowledge that, we’ll never get anywhere.
Debate: State of the SME Union
Date: THURSDAY, 13 JULY 2023
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, I am glad we were discussing this SME resolution, but I abstained on it because we are not doing enough. The level playing field is not level enough. We have big business favoured every time – companies like Iceland, where presently, in Ireland, 400 Irish workers have been left with unpaid wages, holiday pay, redundancy pay, everything. Some of them are down thousands of euros against the backdrop of the biggest cost of living crisis in decades – no idea how they’re going to pay their bills or keep a roof over their head. And yet Iceland, as their employer, has conducted a tactical insolvency, yet another one. We’ve been told that this wouldn’t happen again, but it’s happening again and again. Our government says, ‘go to the industrial relations machinery of the state’. That’s an insult when they’ve have to wait two and three years. The moneylenders, the landlords, the bankers don’t wait for two and three years. They need action; they need it now. We need good employers and a level playing field.