unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Antonius Manders
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: NL

Voorzitter, commissaris, goed dat we maatregelen nemen om diegenen – journalisten in dit geval – te beschermen tegen oneigenlijk gebruik van procedures waardoor zij eigenlijk financieel kapot worden geprocedeerd en niet meer zijn wie ze zouden moeten zijn, namelijk mensen die zich bezighouden met het blootleggen van onrechtmatigheden in onze maatschappij. Ik ben blij met de uitbreiding dat niet alleen journalisten beschermd gaan worden met deze maatregel, maar iedereen, elk individu dat het publieke doel dient. Want we zien steeds vaker dat het recht niet meer toegankelijk is voor iedereen, dat de kosten zo ontzettend hoog zijn dat individuen niet meer naar de rechter kunnen om hun gelijk te halen en dat ze dus accepteren dat hun onrecht wordt aangedaan. Vroeger konden we terecht onder de lindeboom: de Germanen hadden rechtspraak onder de lindeboom, midden in het dorp. Daar waren geen kosten aan verbonden, maar er waren wel rechters die recht spraken. Ik hoop dat we hiermee de journalisten en iedereen die het publieke doel dient weer gaan beschermen om ervoor te zorgen dat we kunnen zien wat er fout gaat.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Katarina Barley
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Herr Präsident, Frau Kommissarin! Demokratien leben von einer freien und unabhängigen Presse. Sie leben von Menschen, die untersuchen, die aufdecken, die kritisch sind gegenüber ihren Regierungen. Genau das wollen Regierungen in undemokratischen Staaten nicht. Und auch manche Unternehmen versuchen, kritische Journalistinnen und Journalisten mundtot zu machen. Wie machen sie das? Durch solche Klagen – SLAPPs. Das ist eigentlich eine Abkürzung:  Dagegen müssen wir vorgehen. Denn wir sehen es gerade in Ländern, wo die Demokratie unter Druck steht: Gerade da brauchen wir diese freie Presse. Wir müssen Journalistinnen und Journalisten schützen, aber auch Menschen, die sich in NGOs, in Verbänden engagieren, um Missstände aufzudecken. Von diesen Menschen lebt unsere Demokratie. Lassen Sie uns diese Menschen schützen, und bitte tut das auch im Rat.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Marc Tarabella
Political group: NI
Country: Austria
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, nous devons prendre des mesures pour améliorer la protection des journalistes et des défenseurs des droits humains contre les procédures judiciaires abusives. Ces techniques d’intimidation, qui émanent souvent d’organisations ou de personnes puissantes, n’ont pour but que d’empêcher ces lanceurs d’alerte de s’exprimer et de les bâillonner, afin d’éliminer tout point de vue alternatif. Il est important que ceux qui veillent sur les questions d’intérêt général, qui sont garants du bon fonctionnement de l’état de droit, puissent jouir de leur droit fondamental à la liberté d’expression sans crainte de représailles. À chaque fois que l’on s’en prend, pour ses idées ou son travail, à un journaliste, à un défenseur des droits humains, à un syndicat ou à n’importe quel lanceur d’alerte, on s’en prend aux fondements mêmes de la démocratie.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: ES

Señor presidente, ¿por qué llevamos dos años debatiendo sobre la necesidad de proteger a organizaciones no gubernamentales, periodistas, editores de prensa, activistas de derechos humanos o de medio ambiente contra procesos manifiestamente infundados o abusivos? Porque en toda Europa la libertad de expresión y de comunicación está retrocediendo. Y este Parlamento Europeo, con el informe de nuestro compañero Tiemo Wölken, está haciendo lo correcto obligando a los Estados miembros a adoptar legislación que permita rechazar inmediatamente, al no admitir a trámite, o de manera rápida en un procedimiento, con todas las garantías, aquellas demandas manifiestamente infundadas que tengan el objetivo de intimidar o de reprimir la libertad de expresión y de comunicación. Es la apuesta correcta en el momento correcto. Y además es imprescindible que evitemos la búsqueda de foros de conveniencia (
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, I think it is really appropriate that we are talking about the protection of journalists from abuse of court proceedings. But I think we have to be honest about it that it doesn’t really get much more abusive than depriving somebody of their liberty. In that sense, I think it was very appropriate for people to refer to journalists like Julian Assange, seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy, four years in a high security prison in Belmarsh in England, for having the audacity to hold US empire to account, outing the war crimes committed by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. And while criminals who caused that war, like Bush and Blair, walk free, Julian Assange is currently awaiting judgment any day now, which could see him extradited to the US, where his life will be in grave danger. What about Pablo Gonzalez? Basque journalist, 16 months in a Polish jail without a charge, extended pre—trial detention, not a single phone call with his family, limited visits. This is absolutely scandalous. If it was happening in Belarus and Iran, we’d be shouting and roaring about it. It is time to do something about these cases.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Cyrus Engerer
Political group: S-D
Country: Romania
Language: EN

Mr President. We in the EU must champion journalists’ protection and the urgent need for the strongest laws against SLAPPs. Europe and all our Member States should always stand on the principles of freedom of the press and the right to express opposing views. Colleagues, we must not allow the governments and the Council to weaken the Commission’s proposals. The rich and those with powerful interests must not be allowed to stifle journalists or silence activists. They all must be protected from the intimidation and the window—shopping of court proceedings. I agree with the Commissioner: compensation for damages suffered by victims must be strong. And I thank Tiemo, my colleague, for this very strong report here in the European Parliament, because the brave journalists and activists risked their lives to shed light on the truth and we owe it to them to have the strongest benchmark laws possible here in the European Union.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Mick Wallace
Political group: The Left
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, freedom of the press, of association and freedom of expression are the cornerstones of any healthy political system. Some MEPs in here have said that journalists are afraid to report the truth and they’re right.  Pablo Gonzalez, a Basque journalist, is in prison for the last 16 months in Poland because the authorities didn’t like what he was saying. Algirdas Paleckis is in prison in Lithuania. His crime: he was considered pro-Russian. Julian Assange: five years in Belmarsh high—security prison in London. For what? For telling the truth about US and NATO war crimes. What are we doing about saving him?  Meanwhile, most of our mainstream media in Europe have been bought by US empire, so most of our journalists are actually being paid not to speak the truth. They’ve been bought. Our media in Europe is in serious trouble. Independent media is almost non-existent today.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

The Commission will do its utmost in the upcoming trilogue negotiations to facilitate convergence between the positions of the co—legislators on a robust final text that is fit for purpose and supports victims on the ground. And I will do what I always do in the trilogue to defend the position of the proposal of the Commission and to defend the strong definition of cross—border cases and also damages, because I think that this creates a big part of our proposal. But I am looking forward to the negotiations. I think that we will have a good result not only in this directive, but also maybe in a period of time we will see that also the recommendation which we gave to the Member States to introduce the anti—SLAPP measures also into domestic cases that we will see also for domestic cases some progress, because this is what I hear from the ministers. What I always heard from the ministers was there are not so many cases, and second that we have to guarantee the equal access to justice for everyone, which was also mentioned here. I want to say that the SLAPPs are typical David versus Goliath battles. And I want to say that we, of course, recognise the right of even the rich and powerful people to go to the court and seek the fairness and justice. But at the same time, what we see at this moment is asymmetry in achieving justice and fairness. And what we are doing here is to correct this asymmetry. And, a last comment, indeed, I wanted this law to be named Daphne’s Law, but our colleagues the legislators said that it would be too creative, maybe. But I think that we can give it this nickname and remember this very courageous lady.
Debate: Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Tiemo Wölken
Country: Italy
Language: EN

We will send tomorrow a strong signal to every journalist in the European Union that his work, that her work will be protected and we will not allow in the future that they will be threatened with illegal, unfounded lawsuits. We will stand at their side. We will make sure that media freedom in the European Union prevails. And for that, we need a strong mandate. And I am very, very confident that we will get this strong mandate tomorrow from what I heard today. So, thank you very much to everyone who participated in this debate today. I will not come to an end without thanking all the colleagues who worked with me on this draft, on this report. So, thank you very much to all the shadows and also to the opinion—giving committees, because their insights have been very helpful for the final report. Dear colleagues, let me finish by underlining that we in the European Parliament will always defend media freedom, press freedom. We will stand at the sides of the ones under pressure and together we will protect them. And we will make sure that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case, who was mentioned very often today, will not repeat in the European Union. Thank you very much. Let’s have a vote tomorrow which sends a very strong signal to the Council. We will not give up. We will fight for better protection for our journalists in the European Union.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Othmar Karas
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Europäische Bürgerinitiative „Für den Schutz kosmetischer Mittel ohne Tierquälerei und ein Europa ohne Tierversuche“ (
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Maria Spyraki
Country: Romania
Language: EN

Members of the initiative expressed strong concerns that, despite the existing legislation banning animal testing for cosmetics, in vivo testing is on the rise. The initiative calls on the Commission to protect and strengthen the cosmetic animal testing ban and initiate a legislative change for all cosmetic ingredients without resorting to animal testing, also to transform the EU chemical legislation, in particular REACH, by managing chemicals without the addition of new animal testing requirements. Third, to modernise science in the EU by setting the scheme with a new legislative proposal in order to plot a roadmap to phase out all animal testing in the EU before the end of the current legislative term. While most colleagues in the ENVI Committee supported the initiative, there are concerns focused on the issue of visibility and reliability of the alternatives, particularly with regards to health and pharmaceuticals. The need for more research, of course, before completely phasing out of practice is undeniable, according to my opinion. It is important for us in ENVI to ensure full implementation of existing legislation and to propose new initiatives to promote alternatives to animal testing. We have to increase the uptake and implementation of non—animal methods and also to overcome the default reliance on animal testing, particularly in light of the revision of  The Commission has also to do her job to accelerate the transition to non—animal testing by developing the guidelines in cooperation with the OECD and to consider alternative methods in upcoming initiatives. Increased cooperation and investments in the use of innovative technologies in  Dear colleagues, the current strategy is not sufficiently and effectively implemented. We need a holistic approach for phasing out animal testing. We also are convinced that animal testing would be phased out in due time, recognising the current limitations, particularly to the pharma sector, for important and rare disease.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Mazaly Aguilar
Country: Spain
Language: ES

Desde una perspectiva científica, sobre todo en lo relacionado con las enfermedades cerebrales y, en concreto, con la enfermedad de Parkinson, una prohibición total del uso de animales en la investigación biomédica sería un error. Aunque se han logrado avances considerables utilizando alternativas a estos ensayos, la mayor parte de lo que puede aprenderse sobre el cerebro y su comportamiento sigue dependiendo directa o indirectamente de la investigación en modelos animales.  La eliminación, aunque sea progresiva, del uso de animales en la investigación médica tendría consecuencias negativas muy importantes y afectaría a los avances en la mejora de la calidad de vida de los muchos enfermos de estas afecciones cerebrales y neurológicas. Tenemos que garantizar que la prohibición de experimentación con animales para cosméticos no se extienda a la investigación médica.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Ana Miranda
Country: Italy
Language: ES

Si bien el fomento formal de los métodos de ensayos en animales es exclusivo de la UE, existen obstáculos burocráticos para su aceptación. Su uso no se aplica adecuadamente y la financiación para su desarrollo está siendo insuficiente. Algunos Estados miembros han adoptado medidas nacionales de ejecución que garantizan un elevado nivel de protección de los animales utilizados con fines científicos, mientras que otros solo aplican los requisitos mínimos. A pesar de los avances logrados gracias a los ensayos con animales en el desarrollo de tratamientos médicos y vacunas, incluyendo las vacunas contra la COVID-19, los ciudadanos europeos apoyan la prohibición total y global del uso de animales en investigación. Es necesario reemplazar los ensayos con animales por métodos alternativos avanzados para cumplir con los objetivos sanitarios medioambientales establecidos en los distintos planes europeos. Para lograr el objetivo de la Directiva 2010/63/UE, es crucial mejorar la coordinación entre los Estados miembros y las partes interesadas para desarrollar un plan de acción a nivel de la UE que promueva la reducción, el perfeccionamiento y la sustitución de los procedimientos con animales vivos. Esto debe hacerse sin comprometer la protección de la salud humana y el medio ambiente, ni poner en riesgo la soberanía tecnológica de la UE. Es necesario fortalecer también el Espacio Europeo de Investigación y basar el plan en la investigación realizada en la UE hasta ahora. También son necesarios mecanismos de financiamiento preferencial para los métodos sin animales en todas las iniciativas de investigación. Las instituciones académicas tienen un papel esencial y deben promover alternativas a los ensayos con animales, difundiendo nuevos conocimientos y prácticas. Debe priorizarse la educación y capacitación de científicos. Hay muchos elementos que analizar y estoy segura de que la presentación de hoy será muy útil y constructiva.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

First of all, I would like to thank the European Parliament for having organised a successful public hearing on 25 May, and on this occasion I also want to congratulate again the organisers for collecting 1.2 million signatures in record time. We heard from them their arguments. We listened very carefully. The organisers had a chance to present their initiative and the different Members to express their views also, and today’s plenary debate gives me and my colleagues preparing the Commission official reply another opportunity to listen carefully to the contributions and interventions from various Members.  This initiative reminds us that animal welfare is a significant concern for European citizens and a longstanding principle in European legislation. It requests to strengthen the animal testing ban under the Cosmetics Regulation. It then addresses all legislation requiring animal testing for chemical safety assessments, REACH legislation on plant protection products, biocides, pharmaceuticals and others. Lastly, it extends to basic and applied research, including biomedical research, training and education. On the first issue, related to cosmetics, it is important to note that the Cosmetics Regulation already bans animal testing for cosmetics products and ingredients for the safety assessment requirements of that regulation. However, other legislation may still require animal testing, for instance to assess hazards to workers’ health or the environment.  Regarding chemical safety assessments under different legislation, I would like to underline that already today animal testing is allowed only as a last resort. However, as experts of agencies like the European Chemicals Agency or Member State authorities confirm, we are not yet able to fully identify all hazards to health and the environment without some animal testing.  The good news is that we have seen significant progress in the development of non-animal methods in recent years. The workshop on new approach methodologies that the European Chemicals Agency organised with the Commission and stakeholders in June undoubtedly showed that the funding of research for alternatives to animal testing is highlighted in the initiative. I want to emphasise that the Commission already actively supports the development of such methods through research funding. Over the past two decades, the European Union has allocated over EUR 1 billion to more than 300 research projects.  Today’s exchange of views will feed into our reflection. We will present our general conclusions, as well as the actions that we intend to take in response to the three objectives of this initiative, in our communication later this month. I wish you a fruitful discussion.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Marlene Mortler
Political group: PPE
Country: Romania
Language: DE

Gott sei Dank sind nur 4 % der Versuche für die Tiere schwer belastend. Doch alle Erkenntnisse kommen den Menschen oder den Patienten zugute. Aber auch Chemikalien wie Lösungsmittel, Weichmacher, Konservierungsstoffe sowie Industriechemikalien müssen auf ihre Giftigkeit getestet werden, bevor Menschen damit in Kontakt kommen.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Niels Fuglsang
Political group: S-D
Country: Italy
Language: EN

There is a broad consensus, even among politicians, that animals are sentient beings. Unfortunately, the current legislation does not reflect that obvious fact. The use of animals in cosmetics and in other chemical tests is an example of just that. Even though – as the Commissioner states – we have explicit legislation saying that we cannot use animals, banning animal tests when we talk about cosmetics, we still see it happening today.  According to the Commission’s own research, we have the number of animals being used for scientific purposes stagnating at 7.4 million animals per year. That’s not good enough. We need to use the alternatives. They exist. Therefore, I would like to ask the Commissioner: can we expect that the Commission finally commits to a coordinated plan to accelerate the transition to non—animal science?
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Izaskun Bilbao Barandica
Political group: Renew
Country: Slovakia
Language: ES

Desde hace años, la Asociación Europea para la Investigación Animal promueve y cumple a rajatabla las normas de bienestar aplicables a los animales de laboratorio. Practica, además, el código de las tres erres: reemplazo, reducción y refinamiento de los procedimientos, fomentando el uso de métodos alternativos.  ¿Qué hacer cuando no hay otra opción? Escuchemos iniciativas como «Compromiso por la ciencia», impulsada por el Consejo Europeo del Cerebro, que nos pide apoyo para la investigación sobre las enfermedades neurodegenerativas y psiquiátricas. Recordemos, con la comunidad científica, que la experimentación con animales de laboratorio ha salvado y seguirá salvando vidas; entre ellas, sin ninguna duda, las de personas que, con su mejor voluntad, han podido firmar o apoyarían esta iniciativa ciudadana sobre el uso de animales para la ciencia.
Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’
Date: MONDAY, 10 JULY 2023
Speaker: Tilly Metz
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: France
Language: EN

This will be one area where European consumers could buy products in good conscience because they didn’t have to worry if animals had suffered in labs. But then they discovered that this is not the case at all, as animal tests still are performed for workers’ safety. This is a legal inconsistency that is also causing damage to the credibility of the Union and to the trust of our citizens. Alternative testing methods exist and continue to be developed, and we should support them more. So I wait for the Commission that the announced roadmap is really among the answers that we will give on this ECI, and that we have a concrete step to phase out animal testing.