unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: PT

Relativamente à estrutura do programa que foi aprovado, tanto quanto a Comissão se apercebeu, esse risco que aponta não parece evidente, inclusivamente porque há uma preocupação de criar subespaços e reservar para aquilo que se chama e que eu já referi, os ITI, portanto, «intervenções territoriais integradas». Foi essa a perspetiva que o governo nos apresentou e, com base precisamente na convicção de que o resultado vai ser positivo, foi aprovado o acordo de partenariado e assinado.  É evidente que o momento em que se assina o acordo de partenariado não é o fim de nada, é o princípio da execução e estamos convencidos, com Portugal assim como com todos os outros países, de que aquilo que os países propõem vai ser executado e da melhor forma possível. Portanto, neste momento em que estamos a lançar os programas todos e já assinamos acordos de partenariado, penso que, neste momento, com 22 países ou mais, temos todos a expectativa de que os grandes problemas europeus e os grandes problemas que cada país enfrente sejam devidamente tratados, porque os meios estão disponíveis e as propostas que nos foram apresentadas são corretas e razoáveis.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Isabel García Muñoz
Political group: S-D
Country: Greece
Language: ES

Señora comisaria, ya lo hemos hablado en otras ocasiones; el reto demográfico de la despoblación es un reto democrático que merece la cooperación de todas las instituciones a todos los niveles y, por supuesto, a escala europea. Usted ha hecho referencia a las estrategias a escala nacional y regional. Pues bien, mi región, Aragón, ha sido pionera al aprobar una Ley de Dinamización del Medio Rural que recoge políticas activas similares a las que proponía la Comisión en la Comunicación para una visión a largo plazo para las zonas rurales de la Unión; medidas dinamizadoras que pretenden luchar contra el desfallecimiento del entorno rural; iniciativas para aumentar el número de empresas y servicios en territorios demográficamente disminuidos; y también otros instrumentos, como la descentralización administrativa o la elaboración de un programa de gestión territorial de dinamización económica que promueva la cultura emprendedora, así como una de las novedades principales, que también habíamos pedido aquí, desde el Parlamento; la aplicación del principio de la verificación rural para evaluar la repercusión de las principales normativas sobre las zonas rurales. Además de esas acciones a que usted hacía mención, a escala regional o nacional, por separado, mi pregunta es la siguiente: ¿se plantea una estrategia europea común para la lucha contra la despoblación con medidas vinculantes, y, en esa estrategia, incorporar la aplicación del principio de la verificación rural a los Fondos Estructurales?
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: ES

Me gustaría subrayar la importancia de compartir buenas experiencias. Las experiencias que usted acaba de señalar me parecen muy interesantes, porque nosotros podemos, y debemos, compartir instrumentos de desarrollo que materialicen los objetivos que queremos conseguir. Por ello, me parece muy interesante lo que usted ha planteado.  Asimismo, cuando habla de principio de verificación rural, Me complace escuchar que Aragón tiene efectivamente una convergencia de políticas. Vamos a hacer un seguimiento y ver lo que podemos aprender unos de otros para no reinventar la rueda continuamente.  Muchas gracias por su intervención.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Niklas Nienaß
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Bulgaria
Language: EN

Mr President, I wish to thank the Commissioner, and thank you all, for this very interesting debate. I really liked the point on change of perspective – how can we bring people back to these areas? I think a lot of young families actually want to go back because I’ve talked to a lot of them and they say ‘I would like to come back, but I don’t have what I need. I don’t have a kindergarten for my children a school or something like this.’  So we know what people need. They need jobs. They need infrastructure like social infrastructure, kindergarten, schools. They need mobility apart from cars, like trains, buses, etc. They need a culture and possibilities to do something. They sometimes just need a fucking pub, you know, to do something and relax a little bit.  I think this is the theory, and we now need to go to the practice. The practice means that every region is different and that we need to listen to the people and ask them, what do you need in your region? We have instruments for that, and that instrument is called CLLD. We have brought CLLD to the attention of the cohesion instruments like ESF and ERDF, but they are rarely used.  So my question to the Commission is, why are the Member States not using this tool that we offered them? Why do the Member States not include that in their policy? And the other question that I have is, how can we bring rural development together with the ERDF, together with the ESF? Because there is economy, there is a social infrastructure in rural areas and it is needed to be improved. So please use this tool also in the future cohesion policy.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

And so the important thing also is to make sure that the chain that we have to respect of the administration in each Member State is not such that the initiatives that come from bottom up are not sufficiently taken into account and that there is enough flexibility to adapt the answers at the appropriate level. Probably what you are talking about can be operational and it can make a huge difference in creating some soft infrastructures. But probably if you need to have something else like a school or like a hospital or a technological centre, then you have got to have some listening capacity at the regional level, at the level of the lender or the level of the central government. And this capacity to react and to understand and to listen requires a lot of sophistication in the administration. So that is also part of the political will.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Vincenzo Sofo
Political group: ECR
Country: Poland
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, signora Commissaria, solo negli ultimi dieci anni il Sud Italia ha perso quasi un milione di abitanti, quanto il Molise e la Basilicata messe insieme, e secondo le stime nei prossimi nei prossimi vent'anni ne perderà altri quattro milioni, quanto l'intera Puglia. Uno spopolamento che, lo sappiamo, è dovuto a povertà, mancanza di lavoro e servizi che hanno causato immigrazione e un crollo delle nascite del 40 % negli ultimi vent'anni.  Ora non credo e credo che non sia accettabile che la risposta a tutto questo sia quello che la sinistra chiama il cosiddetto modello Riace, che è stato per esempio applicato da Mimmo Lucano in Calabria, cioè compensare queste uscite con l'ingresso di masse di immigrati disperati che arrivano da altre zone con problemi ancora più grandi.  Quello che serve, invece, è un grande piano di sviluppo che porti strade, treni, aeroporti, ospedali, scuole, incentivi agli investimenti, all'impresa, al lavoro, alla famiglia e anche alla vita, a proposito di nascite, e tutto ciò che serve a garantire al Sud Italia quello che viene garantito in altre parti d'Europa.  Il punto è, ed è questa la mia domanda, come mai però la Commissione europea, così tanto attenta alla coesione, non abbia sorvegliato, in fase di definizione del PNRR da parte del governo Draghi, affinché ci fosse quest'attenzione nella destinazione delle risorse per il Sud Italia, cosa che sappiamo tutti non è avvenuta.
Debate: Question Time  Tackling depopulation through cohesion policy instrument
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

I think the issue that we have to address there is to ask you to ask the people that live in the Mezzogiorno, what is the essence, what is the solution, in order to trigger the development that is possible from a financial kind of availability of funds?  So funds are there, Italy has a strong recovery and resilience plan, it has very strong financing for 21 to 27, so it’s not lack of funding. What matters now is to understand what is not working and how we can reverse this spiral or this situation of being stuck in a level of development that is not sufficient to bring in young people, the young generation and to turn the wheel in the other sense.  In fact, I have a lot of hope that with all the work that has been done in previous governments, of preparation and all that, that there is a vision for southern Italy and that we end up solving forever the development problem of the Mezzogiorno. That’s my wish. And
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Othmar Karas
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Erklärungen des Rates und der Kommission zu dem Vorschlag der Kommission für Maßnahmen im Rahmen der Konditionalitätsverordnung im Falle von Ungarn (
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Mikuláš Bek
Language: EN

The Council welcomes the framework established by the regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget, as there is a clear link between respect for the rule of law and the efficient implementation of the EU budget in accordance with the principles of sound financial management. We are of course satisfied that such regulation saw the light in 2020 with the work of the co-legislators and the strong support of the European Parliament. It is in the context of the Conditionality Regulation that the Council has received a proposal from the Commission on measures for the protection of the Union budget in Hungary. I can inform you that the Council’s preparatory bodies are currently examining the proposal in detail, both on process and on substance. Apart from discussions at technical level, the EU ambassadors will discuss tomorrow the proposal for a second time. All elements are being thoroughly considered by Member States, including the remedial measures proposed by Hungary. You are well aware of the political sensitivity of the file. Moreover, the fact that this is the first time that the mechanism foreseen in the Conditionality Regulation is put in motion requires Member States to treat this dossier in an even more careful manner. Allow me to indicate a very important point: the role of the Commission in this process is crucial. We trust the Commission’s role as guardian of the Treaties. The Council counts on the Commission’s exhaustive assessment of the situation to take a sound and well—informed decision. So it is in this spirit that we work closely with the Commission, but also with the Member State involved to make a decision that is the best for the EU budget and for European citizens. As you know, the time frame provided by the Conditionality Regulation is very strict. The Council will respect all deadlines foreseen in the regulation and act very swiftly. Therefore I can assure you that the Council is and stays fully committed to playing its role in protecting the EU budget as foreseen in the Conditionality Regulation.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Petri Sarvamaa
Political group: PPE
Country: Germany
Language: EN

It’s been a long time coming. The Commission’s work was, and is, not easy. We welcome the fact that we are now in the last stages of this particular journey with this regulation. Actually, this journey is completely defined by the regulation itself. A historic responsibility really now lies on the shoulders of the Commission and the Council.  Now, I don’t think that anyone here would want to see any Member State’s budget being cut by the European Union. Personally, it wouldn’t give any satisfaction to me whatsoever. But we are dealing with the utmost important things that are actually the cornerstones of this Union. And the key here will be that the Commission and the Council just simply have to get it right. This doesn’t mean necessarily that they have to cut the budget, but they have to get it right. I am worried, I have to say, because I do not necessarily share sometimes her optimistic view that we can then correct this if we don’t succeed this time. I don’t think there is any going back. We have to get it right now.  My question to you, Commissioner, is how on earth are you going to assess that the changes Hungary makes will be enough to reduce the risk to the EU budget before we actually see any implementation on the ground? So all eyes will be on our new Council and the Commission.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Eider Gardiazabal Rubial
Political group: S-D
Country: Romania
Language: ES

Pero ahora ya es el momento de pasar a la acción. Gracias al impulso de este Parlamento, contamos con el mecanismo de condicionalidad que permite adoptar medidas presupuestarias sobre un país que vulnera el Estado de Derecho de tal manera que afecta a los intereses financieros de la Unión.  Y es verdad que la Comisión podía haber sido más severa en su propuesta. Creo que no le faltan ni motivos ni pruebas para ello. Deberían haber hecho una propuesta que englobara más programas y mayores cantidades. En cualquier caso, tenemos una propuesta y no podemos esperar más. Y no podemos aceptar los compromisos que ahora sí quiere firmar el Gobierno de Orbán como garantía de que las cosas van a cambiar, porque hasta ahora no han hecho absolutamente nada. Así que el Consejo tiene que adoptar las medidas presupuestarias que propone la Comisión y congelar los 7 500 millones de euros.  Y si comprobamos que esos 17 compromisos, a los que Orbán ahora se compromete, no solo se cumplen sobre el papel, sino que además se aplican y son efectivos, entonces y solo entonces, podremos levantar las medidas.  Así que aprovechando que tenemos aquí al Consejo, le quiero pedir que tenga mucho cuidado con lo que aprueba, porque el orden de los factores, en este caso, sí que afecta al producto. Porque no es lo mismo aprobar la congelación de los fondos y revertir esa decisión, si de verdad hay avances, que cerrar el expediente porque nos creemos los compromisos y al final encontrarnos con que el Gobierno de Hungría no hace absolutamente nada.  No podemos olvidar cuál es el objetivo final de este mecanismo, porque no es sancionar a un país; el objetivo es hacer que se respete el Estado de Derecho y, hasta que esto no ocurra, el dinero europeo no puede ser desembolsado. Así que la decisión del Gobierno de Hungría es muy fácil: o Estado de Derecho o congelación de fondos. Y él tiene que tomar esa decisión.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Sophia in 't Veld
Political group: Renew
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Now, we welcome the fact that the Commission proposes to freeze EUR 7 billion for Hungary. It’s a good step, but it’s way too small, Commissioner – I see you’re very busy. They are Austrian friends. Yes. Thank you. Lovely country, Austria! – It’s a good step, the EUR 7 billion, but it’s far too small. And the escape clauses are already built in. And it turns out that the rule of law, after all, is negotiable for the European Commission, because we have here 17 criteria which are clearly falling short of what is needed, allowing Mr Orbán to make mere cosmetic changes. You’re proposing a freeze of – not 65%, Commissioner – 15% of the money due to Hungary, let alone the 100% that should be frozen if we look at the state or the record of Viktor Orbán. So again, the rule of law is being negotiated because Mr Orbán gets extra time. Now, can we trust the Commission to be tough in its assessment of Hungary’s compliance with the already weak criteria? I’ll be very honest with you, Commissioner Hahn: I am not 100% reassured if I look at the track record of this Commission and indeed that of Mr Orbán for the last 12 years. You are showing a lot of reluctance, to be honest, to apply this strictly. The Commission has been ducking the application of the regulation for two years, almost. And now that you have to apply it, you’re trying to reduce the scope to the bare minimum. For me, this is the key question. We gave you our vote of confidence in 2019. Your core duty is to uphold the Treaties and enforce the law. And if the Commission bows to kleptocrats, you no longer deserve our confidence. Please, Commissioner, prove me wrong.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Daniel Freund
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Spain
Language: EN

Yes, a couple of weeks ago you announced that you want to suspend EUR 7.5 billion to the Orbán regime, and that sounds nice. But really what you’re doing is you’re breaking the most powerful tool we actually have to protect the EU’s budget from the kleptocrat that is Viktor Orbán and his friends and family. Dear colleagues, let me tell you why I fear that the Commission is actually not doing its duty. First, and the colleague has just said it, EUR 7.5 billion is only 15% of the EU funds that Hungary receives, so the lion’s share goes untouched and into a corrupt system. Second, if you look at the 17 measures that Orbán now has to fulfil, it’s actually impossible to monitor this over just a couple of weeks. So the Commission will end the procedure in December based on mere promises from Viktor Orbán. And to count on Orbán’s word after 12 years, after time and again having been fooled by him, I think that’s pretty ridiculous now to just trust his word and not his action. Third, the anti-corruption authority that is the central pillar of the reform has no power to prosecute. So it relies on a prosecutor that we know is politically controlled by Orbán; it relies on courts where we know that they are politically controlled by Orbán. Which brings me to the fourth point, which is in this conditionality procedure on the rule of law, it seems that the Commission has somehow forgotten the rule-of-law part, because there is not a single measure concerning the rule of law, the independence of justice. So, Mr Hahn, I fear that there is a very small window of opportunity here to use this tool and to do some good and to protect the rule of law in the Union. But if you are aware – and I know you are aware – of the corruption but you do nothing, then I think if this is out of fear to make full use of the tools that you have, well then you might not be the right person to protect the financial interests of the Union. Thank you very much.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Nicolaus Fest
Political group: ID
Country: Cyprus
Language: DE

In Deutschland hatten wir immer die höchste Zustimmung zur EU. Diese bricht gerade dramatisch ein, auch in anderen Ländern. Woran liegt das? Ich denke, es liegt auch an solchen Verfahren wie gegen Ungarn. Wir sehen, die Leute haben einfach keine Lust mehr auf die ewige Einmischung. Und wenn wir hier über Einmischung reden, dann insbesondere auf solche arroganten Einmischungen, wie Frau von der Leyen es gerade vor der Wahl in Italien gezeigt hat. Die Quittung ist dann ja umgehend gekommen. Genau das Gleiche erleben wir ja auch in Ungarn. Gerade Frau von der Leyen, eine ungewählte, demokratisch nicht legitimierte Person, hat die Stirn, den gerade mit großer Mehrheit von den Ungarn wiedergewählten Ministerpräsidenten unter dem Beifall vieler Abgeordneter hier als einen Wahlautokraten zu bezeichnen. Man fragt sich wirklich, ob Sie alle noch die Regeln der Demokratie kennen. Ich glaube, die Menschen haben genug von diesen Einmischungen, sie haben auch genug von diesen etwas sinnlosen Verfahren, die sowieso zu keinem Ende kommen. Sie leiden unter der Energiekrise, sie leiden unter der Migration, sie leiden unter der Deindustrialisierung vor allem von Deutschland. Ich weiß, Sie grinsen darüber, aber Sie wird es auch bald erfassen. Und ich denke, statt uns über Ungarn aufzuregen, sollten wir uns lieber mit den ernsten Problemen der Menschen befassen.
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Jadwiga Wiśniewska
Political group: ECR
Country: Poland
Language: PL

Otóż na Węgrzech obywatele zdecydowali, żeby powierzyć swoją ojczyznę partii Fidesz - Orbanowi i to jest ich decyzja, to jest ich wybór. Ale państwo uważacie, że tam są łamane prawa i wolności, naruszony jest również mechanizm warunkowości. Już państwo grozicie komisarzowi Hahnowi, że zostanie odwołany, bowiem nie spełnia waszych oczekiwań. Chcielibyście Węgry zagłodzić! Polskę zagłodzić! Przewodnicząca Komisji Europejskiej pozwoliła sobie również na przytyk w kierunku Włochów. Przed wyborami we Włoszech partia Bracia Włosi miała wysokie notowania. I oto Ursula von der Leyen powiedziała, że będzie można im również utrudnić funkcjonowanie w Unii Europejskiej.Państwo się dalece zapominacie. Dziś kluczową debatą powinna być debata związana z łamaniem zasad solidarności unijnej, jeśli chodzi o sytuację na rynku gazu.  Proszę państwa, Niemcy blokują w Radzie wprowadzenie ogólnoeuropejskiego limitu cen gazu. Również w Parlamencie Europejskim delegacja niemiecka PPE zablokowała wezwanie do ustalenia limitu cen gazu. To Niemcy uzależniła politykę energetyczną Unii Europejskiej od Gazpromu...
Debate: Commission proposal for measures under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Evelyn Regner
Country: Netherlands
Language: DE

Ich möchte die Besucherinnen und Besucher auf der Galerie ersuchen, nicht zu klatschen. Unserer Geschäftsordnung entsprechend sind Sie beobachtend hier, allerdings nicht um Zeichen der Zustimmung oder Nichtzustimmung zu geben. Sie sind herzlich willkommen zuzusehen, aber nicht durch Applaus einzugreifen.