unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Negotiations ahead of Parliament’s first reading
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Roberta Metsola
Country: Poland
Language: EN

In relation to the decisions by the ECON and EMPL Committees to enter into interinstitutional negotiations pursuant to Rule 71(1), announced at the opening of the session on Monday 15 January, I have received requests for a vote in Parliament by the Greens/EFA and The Left Groups, reaching at least the medium threshold, on the decision of the ECON Committee to enter into negotiations on the following file: Effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance. The vote will be held today.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Roberta Metsola
Country: Poland
Language: EN

The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on the European Council and Commission statements on the Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Pedro Marques
Political group: S-D
Country: Czechia
Language: EN

Europe is yet again at an existential moment. Europeans are looking at us. European leaders need to show that they can actually be respected by our citizens and the whole world. Who could tell that through this mandate, our geopolitical Europe would indeed be tested so much? Yes, we delivered in the vaccines altogether, but too many of them were sold to the developed world while the rest of the world was looking at us in agony. Yes, we delivered with resolve to the Ukrainians for these two years, including by opening the negotiations for accession just a month ago. But when the US are starting to falter, we are not yet filling the gap, even if it is our security, our values and our freedom that is being fought for on those fields. We are taking too long to create our own strategic autonomy in a world that is much more confrontational now. We are giving in to the blackmail of Orbán, and all the bullies in Europe are rejoicing with that. The Europeans are suffering and the populists, they are laughing at it because they will grow from anger and frustration, turning suffering and fear into hatred. And now, at this critical moment, we are faced with a proposal to eventually start cutting our policies that can help those that are suffering to pay for the interests of Next Generation EU. We cannot do more, like helping Ukrainians or all the correct priorities you identified, Madam President, with less, at the cost of other policies like cohesion policy. Europeans want fair transitions and better housing for all. They want to reinforce our social economic model, not to see it endangered by austerity policies imposed by the Council. We will fight as a parliament for social convergence and sustainable investment in the new fiscal rules. The populists, the neo-fascists, the anti-Europeans that now you worry about, Mr Weber, those are coming now out of every corner. They are raising their arms into the open air, fuelling from people’s frustrations. The Europeans are asking us, where is Brussels when we need it? This is a defining moment. Europe needs to find strength and the will to fight hatred yet again.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Guy Verhofstadt
Political group: Renew
Country: Bulgaria
Language: EN

And I have to tell you very openly, before you answer, that if your answer is a yes, then you will run, I think, into big troubles here in this Parliament, not only with me, not only with my group, but I think with the vast majority of this Parliament. I have to tell you, giving in to the blackmail of Orbán like it happened in December has to stop now. And also the compromises that have been put on the table to make a yearly portion of that money or to give a mid-term review on that money, or not a compromise, because it’s simply opening the door for more blackmailing, by Orbán in the coming years. So, the appeal that I want to launch to you, hopefully, I think, in the name of the vast majority of this parliament is stay inside the treaties, and pick up your role that you have as the guardian of the treaties, because there are sufficient solutions to give this money to Ukraine inside the provisions of the treaty of today. You don’t need to, every time, give in to the blackmail of Orbán. You could propose a face-saving emergency clause or break, like we call, it at 27. That could be a solution. Or you could go into an enhanced cooperation, with 26, under the control of the European Parliament, because enhanced cooperation is controlled by the European Parliament. Or ultimately, you can indeed propose to the Council to take away the voting rights based on Article 7(2) of the Treaty, so that we can decide with unanimity on 26. That’s another proposal.  Anyway, I know I have a very bad reputation in this House, and maybe also with you, I don’t know. And I have also, from time to time, a bad character. I’m sometimes even replaced in my positions. But can I ask you one thing – to be a little bit of all that concerning Orbán? And finally, the battle on Hungary is not a battle on Hungary; it’s a battle on the liberal democracy in Europe. And that battle, we need to win it and not to give in on it.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Terry Reintke
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Italy
Language: EN

We should actually right now be considered a strong and meaningful actor in the world, but unfortunately we are not. We are considered too disunited and, by many, also too weak. That is mostly due to one person, one man who we let do whatever he pleases to get what he wants, who we let blackmail and ridicule the rest of the European Union – Viktor Orbán. He attacks minorities, he dismantles press freedom, he dismantles the independence of the judiciary, he weakens Europe, and he disables Europe’s ability to act now vis-à-vis Ukraine. But I can tell you, China is closely watching, obviously, the US and the rest of the world. All for his friend Vladimir Putin and his own pockets. What do the other Member States do? They sit by and let it happen. Big names, important people, presidents, chancellors, prime ministers, they are all too hesitant to do something about it, including the Council President, who has not delivered on something that this Parliament has been asking for for many years now, and that is to move ahead with an Article 7 procedure. What else will you let happen – Hungary becoming even more of an autocracy? Europe becoming weaker and weaker for its own citizens because we are not delivering on the tasks that the citizens demand for the support of Ukraine? Seriously, colleagues, time is up. Ukrainians are losing their lives. Ukrainians are fighting for our freedom too, and we have Putin’s best servant sitting at the table in the European Council, blocking our support and our credibility at this crucial stage. This is a joke, and this is a very bad joke, especially when the Member States actually have the tools to stop this, and not with difficult legal constructions for the financial help of Ukraine – I’m not against it if it is the only way – or to have a proposal for an even dirtier compromise with Orbán. No, the way would be very simply by moving ahead with the Article 7 procedure, not only to defend the rule of law and democracy in Europe, but to make Europe strong in this crucial battle between democracy and autocracy. It is time to do something and the Council has to deliver.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Nicola Procaccini
Political group: ECR
Country: Poland
Language: IT

Giusta, tra l'altro, la proposta di utilizzare i fondi congelati alla Russia per finanziare la ricostruzione dell'Ucraina. Ma restano alcuni punti interrogativi su diverse questioni e resta ancora in sospeso la revisione del quadro finanziario 2021-2027, sul quale ancora non si è riusciti a trovare la necessaria unanimità. Ecco, è certamente importante l'allargamento dell'Unione europea a nuove nazioni, anche perché, come spesso affermato dalla presidente Meloni, sarebbe più corretto parlare di riunificazione dell'Europa. C'è un'identità culturale, infatti, che viene persino prima dell'identità politica e c'è la necessità di fare fronte comune di fronte alle difficili sfide geopolitiche di questi anni. È per questo che non dobbiamo fare l'errore tragico di allontanare nazioni che già sono parte dell'Unione europea, come è accaduto con la Gran Bretagna e come rischia di accadere ancora. Per essere ancora più chiaro, trovo miope il costante attacco all'Ungheria che anche oggi, qui dentro, le si sta riversando contro. Un bombardamento politico che non risparmia niente e nessuno, neanche agli studenti ungheresi che, se ieri non fosse stato approvato un emendamento, sarebbero stati esclusi dal programma Erasmus. E questo malgrado i passi avanti fatti dalle istituzioni magiare nel rapporto con la Commissione, per esempio riguardo alla riforma della giustizia. Io credo che si debba pretendere dalle istituzioni di Budapest maggiore solidarietà e condivisione, ma credo che in cambio si debba offrire loro maggiore disponibilità ad ascoltarne le ragioni e la giusta serenità di giudizio. L'Unione europea deve essere coesa al suo interno e deve riacquistare quella centralità nello scacchiere internazionale che ha perso o che forse non ha mai davvero avuto. Alle vecchie questioni legate alla denatalità, alla perdita di competitività, alla gestione dei flussi migratori se ne sono aggiunte molte altre: espansionismo cinese e russo, crisi mediorientale, approvvigionamento di materie prime ed energia, intelligenza artificiale. Presidente, colleghi, siamo già in campagna elettorale e sarebbe ipocrita negarlo, ma l'Europa o è qualcosa di più grande delle nostre piccole scaramucce politiche, o non è nulla.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Marco Zanni
Political group: ID
Country: Portugal
Language: IT

Nessuno oggi nega che il prossimo anno sarà ancora più difficile di quelli già difficili che abbiamo passato, ma io in questa campagna elettorale, e nei Consigli europei, vorrei sentire discutere delle priorità e delle difficoltà che oggi i cittadini europei affrontano e non trincerarci sempre dietro l'accusa ai partiti che io, qui in quest'Aula, rappresento. Ho sentito parlare del pericolo populista, ogni sessione plenaria abbiamo dei dibattiti assurdi sul pericolo dei partiti che rappresento, ma facciamo fatica e soprattutto chi ha governato queste istituzioni negli ultimi 30 anni fa fatica a capire che il successo dei partiti che rappresento è il risultato dei vostri errori. È il risultato delle politiche che avete portato avanti negli ultimi 30 anni; è il risultato anche di quello che poi si palesa nelle riunioni del Consiglio, cioè di un'Europa divisa che, invece che concentrarsi su un metodo condiviso, forza delle posizioni che poi creano divisioni. Noi non abbiamo fatto niente di straordinario, abbiamo solamente riempito uno spazio politico che voi avete lasciato vuoto, che voi avete deciso di non riempire. Risposte ai cittadini che noi stiamo dando e voi con le vostre politiche non avete dato. Quindi il problema non è accusare chi non ha governato di essere inefficiente o di essere pericoloso, oggi il problema di cui dovreste parlare è il fallimento delle vostre politiche, perché se veniamo votati, noi che non abbiamo mai governato in Europa, è evidentemente perché i cittadini non sono contenti e non si sentono tutelati da chi ha governato oggi in Europa. Il 2024 sarà molto importante. Io, da rappresentante di questo gruppo politico, sono felice oggi e guardo con ottimismo al futuro perché noi abbiamo già vinto. Quello che discutiamo in quest'Aula è stato il risultato del fatto che la nostra azione politica abbia portato la maggioranza in Europa a discutere di certi argomenti, a parlare di immigrazione, a parlare di economia, ad approvare una riforma del patto di stabilità e crescita che finalmente, anche se non è la migliore possibile, cambia la prospettiva. Quindi un augurio a tutti di una buona campagna elettorale e un suggerimento: focalizzatevi su un po' di autocritica piuttosto che criticare chi non vuole distruggere l'Europa, ma la vuole liberare da anni di malgoverno.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Balázs Hidvéghi
Political group: NI
Country: France
Language: EN

Madam President, Minister, President von der Leyen, there can be – and there are – different opinions on how to best help Ukraine. We continue to believe that our number one priority should continue to be to find a ceasefire and a peace deal as soon as possible. We also think that Member States should create a fund outside of the EU budget to help Ukraine, and that new funds should not be based on a new loan. Countries can contribute and Hungary stands ready to contribute to such a fund. Now, one more thought on the EU budget. Every euro cent should be paid to Hungary without any further delay. Ideological blackmail is not acceptable. And by the way, if you’re looking for a real rule of law crisis, you should turn your eyes to see what’s happening in Poland these days. Lastly, the proposition to suspend Hungary’s voting rights just because we happen to disagree on some political issues is an absolute new low, even for this Parliament. It is as shameful as it is absurd. You disagree with someone, and then you want to take away their right to speak and vote? That is a dictatorship. You’re digging the grave of the European Union this way. Wake up and turn back from this crazy path.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Siegfried Mureşan
Political group: PPE
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Madam President, I say to Mr Hidvéghi, your narrative on an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine we have heard from the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. The choice is not between war and peace in Ukraine. The choice is between victory and surrender, and we will not surrender and we will support Ukraine for as much as is needed. This has always been the will of the European Parliament and of the European Union. Now, with regard to the situation where we are, we have managed together, the European Parliament, Council and Commission, to achieve a lot at the end of last year, including the December European Council. The choice to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova is justified. It’s right for those countries, but it’s right for us as well, because those accession negotiations are the best tool that we have to modernise, to reform two neighbouring countries of the European Union. There is, however, one leftover from the last European Council, and that is the revision of the multiannual financial framework and granting immediate support of EUR 50 billion to Ukraine. This is urgent and it is important. And this is why, while the message to the people of Europe is ‘Europe was delivering in the last months of the last year’, now the message to the European Council and to the Council of the European Union is ‘agree on the revision and agree on the 50 billion for Ukraine on 1 February’. Later will be too late: 1 February is needed in order for us here in the Parliament to be able to fulfil our role, to examine this proposal, to add the opinion of Parliament and to give a clear, transparent vote with a good majority before the European elections. The message to the people of Hungary is that of course we want the people of Hungary to benefit from Europe, from European funds, from the Recovery and Resilience Facility as the people of any other European country do. Unfortunately, the actions of the Hungarian Government have prevented Europe’s will to support the people of Hungary. And this is why the message to the people of Hungary, and to anyone who might be attracted by the model of Viktor Orbán, by the confrontation with the European Union, is the following: unfortunately, Hungary has been losing in the last years and months. Viktor Orbán has been losing. He still has more than EUR 20 billion of EU funds blocked at European level. The President of the Commission has confirmed this. The solution in Europe is dialogue, is working together, is not a confrontation with Brussels. This is what we will deliver.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Elisabetta Gualmini
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, Council, the revision of the EU budget that the European Council is negotiating is absolutely good news. Europe is finally increasing the budget allocation to address energy costs, the war in Ukraine and the environmental disasters. But the bad news is that, as far as we know, today’s negotiations on the budget are still blocked and the culprit is the usual suspect, Viktor Orbán, and, it is worth repeating, the friend of the far right, the friend of Vladimir Putin, the despotic leader who holds Europe hostage at every historic juncture. So he is now obsessed with funds for post-war reconstruction in Ukraine. But with his veto, he is also blocking European investments in strategic sectors, blocking resources allocated to manage migration and, above all, blocking the increase of the European Solidarity Fund, for instance, which would have been crucial for the floods hitting Italy, Emilia-Romagna. Today, Giorgia Meloni will be in Forlì, I think, with Ursula von der Leyen. I hope that she is going to Italy and I hope that Giorgia Meloni strongly emphasises that her friend Orbán is withholding additional funds for the citizens of Emilia-Romagna. So, this Chamber is really wondering why, for years, we allow Orbán to put the brakes on a strong and solidary Europe. Europe is not an ATM. One cannot request European funds and then ignore the values of democracy, pluralism and the rule of law. Please stop this veto.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Malik Azmani
Political group: Renew
Country: Netherlands
Language: EN

Mr President, dear Vice-President Šefčovič – because Ms von der Leyen left the room – dear Minister Lahbib, dear colleagues, needless to remind you that democracy and the rule of law are under attack in different parts of the world. But what is even more terrifying today is that they are also under attack in Europe, in our own backyard. The fact that our guardians of the Treaties, who are supposed to protect the EU’s financial interests, are now giving in to blackmail is unbelievable. We, in Renew Europe, strongly condemn the actions of the Prime Minister of Hungary, who decided to block the decision on the funding of the Ukraine aid package. This is in full disrespect and violation of EU strategic interests. How long, dear colleagues, can our Union and its taxpayers be asked to tolerate this blackmail from within? When does this end? This issue needs to be treated as a matter of urgency for the health and wellbeing of our Union. The special European Council meeting on 1 February needs to agree on the targeted MFF revision, allowing us to respond to urgent challenges and citizens’ needs, while also fulfilling our political and financial commitments to Ukraine. Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security. Ukraine’s future is Europe’s future! Furthermore, the Article 7 procedure that this House voted on many years ago must be taken forward. The removal of Orbán’s voting rights should not be off the table. Lastly, the Rule of Law Conditionality mechanism must be upheld. Mr Šefčovič, on behalf of the Commission, we can no longer give in to Mr Orbán’s demands. The confidence of this House in the Commission depends on what happens next. You may claim that the European Commission had to unblock money in December legally. But transparency is the key here. With clarity on the consideration to free funds, we would not have to ask the Committee on Legal Affairs to prepare an action before the Court of Justice. We need answers! Can you imagine that the European elections are around the corner and we are having a debate on Viktor Orbán’s latest demands? This is deeply regrettable. Let us stand with Ukraine and mean it. Let us agree on a budget worthy of our challenges. Let us start to focus on the many achievements of this mandate and the way forward. Let us really begin to work on a stronger Europe and show our citizens what stronger together really means.
Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, European democracy may be dying. This is not an overdramatic sentence that I’m using to get your attention: it is exactly what is happening because of the resistible rise of one man – the Prime Minister of Hungary. Not only has he created a quasi-autocracy on the soil of the European Union, not only has he eroded civil liberties and now fundamental rights for his own people and set a frightening example, not only has he put a foot in the middle of the system and become the voice of the Kremlin around the table, but over the last few years he has been playing you: blackmailing every Member State more and more, and in a systematic way. The EU has made this politician stronger. The Commission gave him the money to capture power and install his oligarchy, and the Council empowered him by accepting to give him leverage and set the rules. At the end of your presidency, Belgians, you will be giving this man the keys of the House. This will pave the way for him to set the agenda, say whatever he wants about Russia and Ukraine and represent the EU in our name. It is inconceivable. But the leaders of Europe have decided to not do anything about it. It is time to take the game out of his hands. Belgian Presidency, you need to put back the recommendations on the table. You have already started working on this. You can find the needed qualified majority. How is it possible that today we are still not having enough Member States around the table who are courageous enough to vote on a simple recommendation? You need to prepare for the future, and that means Article 7.2. It is time to seriously think about withdrawing the voting rights of Viktor Orbán. But most of all, today, you urgently need to find a way to not give the presidency of the EU to a quasi-autocrat.