unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Susanna Ceccardi
Political group: ID
Country: France
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, si parla spesso di sovranità energetica e di sovranità alimentare, ma dovremmo parlare di più di sovranità farmaceutica, un settore trainante per le economie nazionali ed europee. La maggior parte dei principi attivi, come è stato detto, è prodotta in Cina e in India. Questo dato è allarmante per la nostra sicurezza farmaceutica. Se avessimo una crisi mondiale, per esempio, molti dei farmaci salvavita che conosciamo, per esempio quelli antidiabetici, non potrebbero salvare la vita a milioni di persone in Europa.  E purtroppo negli ultimi vent'anni l'Unione europea ha perso il 25 % dei finanziamenti, perché altri paesi hanno investito di più: l'Arabia Saudita, la Cina e gli USA. La proposta della Commissione europea svantaggia gli Stati comunitari perché rischia di aumentare le delocalizzazioni. Quindi no alle delocalizzazioni. Proteggiamo la proprietà intellettuale e gli investimenti.
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Marc Botenga
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, Madame la Commissaire, des milliers de médicaments manquent dans l’Union européenne, pays par pays, des médicaments qui peuvent sauver des vies, et les médicaments disponibles sont souvent trop chers. Les États paient des prix absolument dingues. Mais il faut aussi oser dire pourquoi c’est le cas. L’explication, la raison est claire: vous avez décidé de laisser tout le pouvoir aux grandes multinationales pharmaceutiques. Ce sont elles qui décident quoi produire, quand produire, combien produire et à quel prix vendre. Certaines d’entre elles ont même le numéro personnel de Mme von der Leyen. Alors, si vous êtes sérieuse par rapport au besoin d’avoir des médicaments accessibles, abordables, il faut faire deux choses. Tout d’abord, arrêtez de donner de l’argent gratuit sans condition à ces multinationales. Mettons des conditions claires. Demandons que le médicament soit effectivement accessible, effectivement abordable. Deuxièmement, développons une infrastructure, une entreprise publique pour la recherche et le développement et pour la production de médicaments. Vous savez, cela existe au Canada, aux États-Unis et même à Cuba, petit pays sous blocus qui a réussi à développer des vaccins.
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Josianne Cutajar
Political group: S-D
Country: Italy
Language: EN

For this reason, the status quo is simply intolerable. We need to foster effective strategic healthcare autonomy. For this reason we must not only focus on mitigating drug shortages, but also on implementing a preventive strategy and increasing production and innovation with the EU. I urge the Commission to work towards a coherent and robust support policy, which aims to bolster our resilience in the face of possible health crises, boost the European pharmaceutical industrial ecosystem, make healthcare systems sustainable and increase access to treatments for patients. One does not choose to get sick, but it is indeed our common political choice and responsibility to address medicines shortages, and ultimately ensure accessible and affordable cures for all Europeans.
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Romana Jerković
Political group: S-D
Country: Greece
Language: HR

Uzroci nestašice su različiti, a ishod je isti – naši sugrađani nemaju pristup prijeko potrebnim lijekovima i antibioticima. Zajednički proeuropski odgovor je ključni faktor kojim možemo poduzeti adekvatne mjere.  Europska zdravstvena unija predstavlja temelj naše budućnosti. Proračunom od 5,3 milijarde eura EU jasno prioritizira zdravlje. Ako nas je pandemija COVID-a 19 naučila ičemu, onda je to sigurno međusobna suradnja.  Pokretanjem proizvodnih pogona istovremeno bismo djelovali na dvije razine. S jedne strane smanjili bismo ili onemogućili nestašicu lijekova, a s druge strane otvorili bismo brojna nova radna mjesta. Shodno tomu, reducirali bismo uvoz lijekova iz Kine.  Zajednička nabava cjepiva protiv koronavirusa uvelike je doprinijela njegovom suzbijanju. Jučer je to bila korona, a sutra tko zna što. Ne možemo i ne smijemo si dopustiti ponavljanje istog scenarija. Moramo prioritizirati jačanje zdravstvenih sustava na razini EU-a.  Dužni smo omogućiti našim pacijentima pristup lijekovima koji su im potrebni po pristupačnim cijenama. Trebamo utvrditi koji lijekovi nedostaju. Moramo imati europsku farmaceutsku strategiju kako bi Europa bila autonomna.  Pristup lijekovima ne može se ograničavati u slučajevima nestašice, rata ili inflacije.
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: César Luena
Political group: S-D
Country: Italy
Language: ES

La escasez de medicamentos es un problema crónico y sistémico en Europa, que se ha agravado en los últimos años. Este año, sin ir más lejos, todos los Estados miembros reportaron desabastecimientos, especialmente de analgésicos y formas farmacéuticas pediátricas, que pusieron en riesgo a los pacientes europeos. Asimismo, la UE ha perdido competitividad en investigación e innovación en las últimas décadas, pasando de ser un líder global a quedarse a la zaga frente a países como China o Estados Unidos. Necesitamos medidas legislativas, más allá de lo considerado en la revisión de la legislación farmacéutica general, en línea con lo publicado para las otras 5 áreas de dependencia definidas por la Comisión (materias primas, baterías, hidrógeno limpio, semiconductores y tecnologías Edge and Cloud).  Nuestro objetivo debe ser aumentar la cuota de mercado europeo en la producción de medicamentos esenciales, APIs y medicamentos innovadores, para fortalecer la resiliencia y la sostenibilidad de los sistemas sanitarios, impulsar la industria europea y mejorar el acceso a los tratamientos para los pacientes.
Debate: Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Sirpa Pietikäinen
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: FI

Yhteistyö ja keskinäisriippuvuudet voivat olla paitsi mahdollisuus myös uhka. Keskinäisriippuvuudet alkavat näkyä nyt negatiivisesti myös terveyden saralla ja lääkkeissä. On haitallista, että EU on lääkkeiden valmistuksessa ja toimituksessa vakavasti riippuvainen kahdesta jättiläisestä: Kiinasta ja Intiasta. Jos lääketehtaiden toiminta näissä maissa vaarantuu tai toimitusvirrat tyrehtyvät, lääkkeistä riippuvaisten eurooppalaisten terveys on vaarassa. Monen kohdalla kyseessä voi todella olla elämän ja kuoleman kysymys.  Nyt, kun EU:n lääkelainsäädäntöä uudistetaan, on oikea hetki varmistaa, että teemme lainsäädäntöä, joka rohkaisee lääkealan innovaatioita ja tutkimusta Euroopassa sekä tuo myös tuotantoa EU:n ulkopuolelta takaisin Eurooppaan. EU:n täytyy olla nykyistä isompi tekijä lääkepulan taltuttamisessa ja parantaa myös terveydenhuollon strategista autonomiaa ja turvallisuutta. On aika siirtää katseemme lääkeomavaraisuuteen sekä innovaatioissa, tutkimuksessa että tuotannossa. Meidän täytyy vahvistaa Euroopan lääkeomavaraisuutta, jotta turvaamme potilaidemme hyvän hoidon jatkossakin.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Roberts Zīle
Language: LV

Nākamais darba kārtības punkts ir jautājumu laiks (Komisija) (Reglamenta 137. pants). Šajā jautājumu laikā laipni lūdzu piedalīties priekšsēdētājas izpildvietnieku Valdi Dombrovski.  Jautājumu laika temats: “ES un Ķīnas tirdzniecības attiecības”. Šis jautājumu laiks ilgs aptuveni 90 minūtes.  Kā ierasts, jautājuma uzdošanai būs viena minūte, savukārt atbildes sniegšanai — divas minūtes.  Runātājiem pirmajā kārtā būs iespēja uzdot 30 sekunžu garu papildjautājumu ar divām minūtēm atbildes sniegšanai. Atgādinu, ka iespējamo papildjautājumu var uzdot tikai tad, ja tas ir cieši saistīts ar galveno jautājumu un nav jauns jautājums. Ja vēlaties uzdot jautājumu, aicinu jūs to reģistrēt jau tagad, izmantojot brīvā mikrofona funkciju jūsu balsošanas iekārtā pēc tam, kad būsiet tajā ievietojuši savu balsošanas karti.  Jautājumu laikā uzstāšanās notiks no vietas, un aicinu visus runātājus ievērot piešķirto uzstāšanās laiku. Kolēģiem, iespējams, vajadzēs dažus brīžus, lai reģistrētu savu pieprasījumu uzdot jautājumu, izmantojot balsošanas iekārtu. Tāpēc vēlreiz aicinu jūs savu pieprasījumu iesniegt tagad, un mēs sāksim ar pirmo jautājumu.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Francisco José Millán Mon
Political group: PPE
Country: Spain
Language: ES

Señor presidente, señor Dombrovskis, la cooperación con China para afrontar retos globales es imprescindible. Además, este país es un importantísimo socio comercial. No podemos ignorar a China, pero también tenemos que ser conscientes de que China se comporta cada vez más como un competidor y un rival.  Yo coincido con el enfoque de la presidenta Von der Leyen, que también ha hecho suyo el G7: tenemos que reducir los riesgos en nuestras relaciones con China. No se trata de desacoplarnos, lo que resultaría imposible. Nuestros objetivos tienen que ser corregir el gravísimo y creciente desequilibrio en nuestras relaciones comerciales, proteger la exportación de tecnologías avanzadas, y reducir nuestras dependencias excesivas en cuanto a cadenas de suministro y materias primas fundamentales. Y China tiene también que jugar limpio para que nuestras empresas no sigan sufriendo una falta de reciprocidad, de transparencia o de igualdad en las condiciones de juego.  Señor Dombrovskis, usted estuvo en China hace pocos días. ¿Cómo cree que han recibido en China las tesis occidentales —ya del G-7 y de la Unión Europea— de reducción de riesgos? ¿Qué reacciones ha visto en sus contactos con las autoridades chinas?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

It’s worth noting that China is our second-biggest trading partner so, as President von der Leyen has underlined, we are not seeking decoupling from China. We are working on de-risking and de-risking, exactly as you mentioned, to address our strategic dependencies, notably on critical mineral supplies, where on a number of critical minerals, we see that China is a dominant supplier. So, we need to work indeed to address those dependencies. Similarly, obviously we need to work on market access barriers, seeking more reciprocity in our trade relations. Last week I was in China for a high-level economic and trade dialogue and also for bilateral engagements, where I was raising those topics very prominently with Chinese counterparts. We also secured some openings from the Chinese side. Of course, it’s now important that those are properly followed through and that we enjoy more balance and reciprocity in our trade relations.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Francisco José Millán Mon
Political group: PPE
Country: Spain
Language: ES

Señor presidente, me gustaría saber esto: ¿qué reacción tuvieron ellos en estos contactos que usted tuvo la semana pasada sobre esa idea de la reducción del riesgo? ¿Podría ser un poco más preciso?  Y, aquí, la presidenta Von der Leyen, hace unos días, en el debate sobre el estado de la Unión, nos anunció la apertura de una investigación contra los subsidios chinos a los vehículos eléctricos chinos. Me gustaría saber si ha habido alguna reacción por parte de sus interlocutores chinos contra esa investigación sobre el posible
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

And on your second question, as regards the announcement of anti-subsidy investigation on battery electrical vehicles, indeed, this topic was featuring quite prominently from the Chinese side. Also, when I was raising market access barriers, which we have for EU towards China, one of the reactions often was exactly on battery electrical vehicles. So I was explaining that this is going to be facts-based and a fact-based process and in line with applicable EU and WTO rules.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Kathleen Van Brempt
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr Commissioner, when we look at China and our relations, I think it is extremely important that we also have a close eye on the legislative issues within China and that we can see that they have a very broad understanding of the concept of national security. It is not confined, as we do, to conventional concerns such as terrorism and extremism, and it deals with a very large topic such as culture, technology, data and cyber security.  There is now a new proposal under the counter-espionage law that gives the Chinese Government large powers to override economic activity in the interest of national security. They can freeze assets, seize data, and they can conduct arrests within that framework. And this makes it, of course, increasingly difficult and dangerous for the EU business to be active in China. But equally important, it will lead to a huge implementation problem for our autonomous measures such as due diligence, deforestation and the ban on forced labour. Did you have a talk on that when you were in China? How do you address these issues? And specifically when it comes to our autonomous trade measures, what is your assessment, Mr Commissioner?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

So indeed, those were topics we were raising intensively in various meetings and in the High-Level Economic Dialogue itself, because those are topics of systemic importance. Indeed, it makes it much more difficult for European businesses to conduct cross-border business, forces them either to diversify to other jurisdictions or to localise data and other elements in China.  Many of the concepts are very vague in the legislation. For example, there is a notion of ‘important data’ without clarification of what exactly important data is. So therefore, indeed we were making the point that we need clarifications on how exactly those laws are going to apply so that businesses can understand what is exactly expected from them.  There we were building on some openings we saw in the EU-China digital dialogue where there was an opening to set a dedicated mechanism between the EU and China to deal specifically with those data flows and related issues to provide clarity for European businesses as to what is expected according to those new legislations.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Kathleen Van Brempt
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Thank you very much for that answer. You approached very much how difficult it becomes for business to do business in China. But I think we also have to assess, and maybe you cannot answer today, but we have to assess what will be the implication of that counter-espionage law in China on our own autonomous measures, because if we ask our businesses to implement, for instance, due diligence or if it’s the forced labour regulation, they will have to choose: will we implement EU law when we do business in China or do we just neglect it and try to do business in China if they face, for instance, an arrest?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

Indeed, we have important pieces of legislation in the pipeline, like due diligence, like forced labour, and this will require European businesses to make sure that their value chains are not sourcing goods or products which are made with environmental or labour rights violations, so this interplay will be very important. So when we’re going to address those topics now with Chinese authorities, obviously this is one of the topics which we will need to discuss and have clarity for the businesses. Also, I would say the generally, the relatively uncertain formulations and strict sanctions for the businesses, for board members and so in this regard is certainly a difficulty. It is it is already acting as a deterrent as already a number of businesses are looking at their options: what and how to do, to which extent they are localising in China, to which extent they are maybe moving outside of China. We are already seeing actually that it has an impact on FDI inflows into China, and this was a point I was also making with Chinese counterparts that it is also in China’s interest to provide information to investors. What are the rules? What is expected? Because otherwise it has also a negative effect on inward investment, especially for SMEs, which are finding it is increasingly impossible to navigate this landscape.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Marie-Pierre Vedrenne
Political group: Renew
Country: Denmark
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Vice-président exécutif, vous revenez donc de Chine. J’aurai plusieurs questions. Tout d’abord, sur les matières premières critiques. Nous avons voté ici même notre ambition: sortir de la dépendance. Et en Chine, vous avez annoncé vouloir poursuivre les discussions sur un éventuel mécanisme de transparence pour des chaînes d’approvisionnement entre l’Union européenne et la Chine. Que pouvez-vous nous dire sur ce futur mécanisme? Par ailleurs, dans un discours en Chine, vous avez évoqué et qualifié notre stratégie pour notre sécurité économique de «country agnostic». Que voulez-vous dire par là? Et comment voulez-vous «dérisquer» notre économie sans regarder les pays qui nous font face, notamment la Chine? Je viens de voir à l’instant sur les réseaux sociaux la publication de la liste des technologies critiques. Y figurent notamment l’informatique quantique, l’intelligence artificielle, c’est une bonne chose. Mais là aussi, comment comptez-vous avancer dans la présentation des nouveaux instruments? Et je pense notamment au contrôle des investissements sortants.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

However, it was not decided at the current high-level economic dialogue. Some more work is needed regarding the exact scope of this mechanism. So this is something we agreed to follow up on China, but given its importance as a supplier, of course, it’s important that we are engaging and to the extent possible, also ensuring predictability of supplies and early warning should there be some disruptions of supplies for whatever reason. On economic security, well, indeed, generally speaking, like all our legislation that we are saying, quite often, it’s country agnostic. We are not writing laws against this or that country. We are writing laws based on our principles and values, and they are applying them in a case of concrete countries as and when necessary.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Marie-Pierre Vedrenne
Political group: Renew
Country: Denmark
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, très rapidement, je reviens justement sur la sécurité économique et les nouveaux instruments pour que M. le vice-président exécutif puisse un peu plus détailler. Effectivement, ce n'est pas une volonté seulement de cibler la Chine, c'est plus large, c'est pour l'Union européenne, ce n'est pas contre qui que ce soit, mais c'est pour nous. Là encore, que ce soit vraiment sur les investissements sortants, comment comptez-vous avancer et comment comptez-vous porter aussi l'unité au sein des États membres?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

Obviously on all those topics we also need to work closely with Member States because here we are working on intersection between economy and national security, and national security is a competence of Member States, and in a sense Member States are guarding this competence, so we need to find the right balance and to do so with engagement from Member States, but in any case we see value in greater cooperation and coordination of those efforts at the EU level.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Heidi Hautala
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Dear Executive Vice-President, we have seen that there are massive Chinese investments in Indonesia in steel production, precisely on the first stages of steel production based on the Indonesian massive nickel resources. At the same time, Indonesia has enforced an export ban for nickel and this is now at stake when the EU, the Commission, is introducing the Enforcement Regulation to counteract this. So what I would like to know is this: could the Global Gateway be an answer to counteract these kinds of investments by China in other countries using its belt and road framework? Could our Global Gateway be a more fair way to bring added value to countries like Indonesia?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

In this case, the question is about, on one hand, when we are confronted with dumping or subsidies, we can launch our anti-dumping or anti-subsidy investigations, but we can also do so in case of cross-border situations, where there are, for example, as you mentioned, China’s subsidies in Indonesia still creating distortions to the level playing field. We still can use our TDI toolbox.  You mentioned the restrictions which Indonesia had put on nickel exports. This is something which we had been challenging at the WTO, and we have a WTO panel on this case with Indonesia. But, more broadly, indeed we need to see how we contract this kind of measures. Indeed, as you mentioned, Global Gateway is our main policy tool for doing so, and we are using it actively. We are using also this approach of Team Europe, meaning that we try and to focus and create a coherent policy of EU and EU Member States and EU development and financial institutions so that we are having maximum impact and indeed engaging with countries based on the principles of multilateralism and fair competition.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Heidi Hautala
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Thank you for the answer. Well, let’s look at what’s going on with Chinese investments on European soil, literally on soil. How much are you observing and watching, for instance, Chinese investments in, say, battery factories in Hungary or now we have one in Finland? There is Chinese investment in battery production on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland in our country, which raises a lot of questions, not least because we are not sure that the investment is done in a socially and environmentally sound manner and it might add to the dependencies that we want to reduce. So, what is your take on this type of investments in Europe?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners – EU-China trade relations
Date: TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Valdis Dombrovskis
Language: EN

Well, as regards respect to labour and human rights and environmental standards, this is something which each investor in the EU – regardless of country of origin, and regardless of whether it’s an EU or foreign investor – has to follow. And it’s the duty of competent national authorities to enforce that EU rules and regulations are being followed on the European soil.