unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

It matters a lot because, as your colleagues will tell you, Tomas Tobé, Fabienne Keller, who are building now a new asylum and migration pact, this will never be convincing unless we have a Returns Directive, a returns culture developing alongside. So how this would look? Well, I know what we have proposed. I may repeat it. Swift returns for people with security background. People with convictions. People we have proof of being aggressive to public order security without period of voluntary return. We know what kind of people we are talking about. This is the kind of person that killed the two Swedish nationals. These are the people that we need to be able to send back, to avoid having them absconded, to avoid having them fall through the cracks. So this is an urgency. It’s a priority. And this would solidify; this will bring equilibrium into our migration and asylum pact house that we are building. On the other part of your question: yes, I fully agree that local authorities have a role to play in security, and there is a success story that we would like very much to emulate, which is the city of Nice.  The city of Nice, immediately after the terrible terrorist attack of 14 July 2016, with our help, has built up a great security-proof design of public space. They have completely redesigned the public spaces of the city. They have set up effective control systems for crowd management, security equipment, with our help. And I would very much suggest and recommend that all local authorities that need to get a security check could visit Nice. The Commission is ready to help.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Kathleen Van Brempt
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Thank you very much, Mr President, and thank you for this timely discussion against the backdrop of the action plan against drugs and the European Port Alliance. And it’s about ports that I want to raise my question. As you know, ports are key access for high-volume illicit drug imports. And they target mostly the bigger ports like Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg. Can I give you an example? In 2022, nearly 110 tonnes of cocaine was seized in the port of Antwerp, making it the biggest entry point of cocaine in the world, taking over from Amsterdam the year before. And as you know, the consequences in our society are huge, but also in the cities that are linked to this because we see increased violence, bombings and shootings in my own town are a sad example. I have two questions: You mentioned already the importance of working together between customs authorities, can you be a little bit more specific how you see that? Because already today Rotterdam and Antwerp are working closely together. And from the Europol reports, we know that these gangs and these criminal organisations, they rely very much on insiders in the ports. And how will the support strategy help to combat corruption there?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

First of all, why ports matter. Well, because as logistic hubs, our ports contribute to around 75 % of our external trade and 31 % of internal trade volumes. Because of these numbers, they are particularly vulnerable to drug smuggling and exploitation by high-risk, high-technology-driven criminal networks. This is why, with Paolo Gentiloni, we wanted to bring in this Ports Alliance element into our roadmap that you will see tomorrow, and in particular within this mobilise the customs community. The customs community needs to strengthen risk management and target more effectively the controls in the ports to account for the fact that 70 % of all drug seizures happen in the ports. So we will continue to use the so-called CCEI, the customs control equipment instrument, a programme that we support from the EU, and we will be allocating more than EUR 200 million to fund state-of-the-art equipment that can help customs officers to scan containers and check imports for hidden consignments of illicit drugs in a more systematic and big scale. As to the more specific issue of Belgium and the Netherlands, you will certainly know that both countries have joined efforts with the leading multinational shipping companies to improve controls and exchange information on drug trafficking in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. It is important that in this fight we also involve the private sector and one of the key actions of our European Ports Alliance is precisely not only the link with the international partners, but also the effective link with the private sector operators in the shipping sector that they can do more to help.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Tomas Tobé
Political group: PPE
Country: Estonia
Language: SV

Herr talman! I går slog terrorn återigen till med full kraft. Svenskar valdes ut i ett islamistiskt terrordåd. Sverige, Belgien och Europa behöver nu höja säkerheten för att öka tryggheten.  Men något som också terroriserar Europas medborgare är den organiserade brottsligheten. I Sverige lever vi i dag med skjutningar, sprängningar, barn som skjuter barn, oskyldiga som drabbas. Men gängkriminaliteten finns överallt. De kriminella nätverken, 70 procent av de kriminella nätverken, opererar i minst tre medlemsländer samtidigt.  Kommissionär Schinas, behöver vi inte ett mer kraftfullt Europol? Behöver vi inte ett Europol som är mer operativt för att kunna stoppa droger och vapen från att komma in i Europa och som verkligen ser till att vi jagar de kriminella så att de inte har makten över våra samhällen?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

There is, of course, a correlation between drug trafficking and increased violence, as there is clearly a correlation with the broader geopolitical developments happening in the Middle East. Our role as the European Union is to work at all levels. There is no security button to push in Brussels that would automatically improve the situation at all levels. This is a very complex, multi-level and multi-computational story. Europol is already doing a lot, both in terms of following very closely the organised transborder criminals, but also on prevention with a very improved technological means that they now have in place as a result of the new mandate that we have approved some years ago, and with an estimated number of 35 million illicit firearms in civilian hands in the EU, you understand what I was telling your colleague earlier, that we need to prioritise the new rules on firearms that we have proposed last October. Now is the time to prioritise these proposals. Same applies to the argument that I made with regard to the Return Directive. We have proposals, we have tools on the table that we now need to enact into legislation and make sure that they apply in a uniform way across the European Union.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Thijs Reuten
Political group: S-D
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, thank you Commissioner for being here. As you know, the ruthlessness of international criminal networks has a huge impact on our societies. And the brutal murders of, for example, Dutch lawyer Derk Wiersum, innocent people killed by mistake and the tragic death, of course, of Peter de Vries are prime examples. Cross-border crime needs cross-border solutions. So the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp have been already mentioned. But I want to ask you, should we not try to prevent the drugs from arriving in these ports? If we wait until the drugs arrive in the ports, we might be late. So we should also address this at the roots – ‘upstream disruption’, as it’s called. What are the Commission’s plans on assisting in the fight against the production of drugs in countries such as Colombia and also inside the European Union? Because, for example, the production of synthetic drugs in the Netherlands is a root cause of streams inside the European Union. So to what extent are you also facilitating and improving the exchange of experiences and best practices between Member States with this regard?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

The Belgian Minister for Interior, Annelies Verlinden, together with Ylva Johansson, they already visited Latin America and President von der Leyen did the same a few months later. And I am going end of October to four Latin American countries, not only to discuss issues that pertain to my portfolio, but also, more particularly, to continue engaging on the upstream cooperation on drugs.  We are doing a lot in these countries, helping the law enforcement agencies, supporting projects that help us. We now hope that the engagement of the shipping companies will add value to our work among states. This is clearly an element, where without the cooperation of our shipping companies, it’s not easy to work. And I have already asked our EU Drugs Agency, which is located in Lisbon, to also get themselves involved in projects and sign cooperation agreements. They will be signing one in a few weeks’ time, before my arrival, with Peru. So in a way, this is the track. The work stream that you indicated is very much in line with what we design and what we try to achieve in practice.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Caterina Chinnici
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: IT

La criminalità organizzata in tutte le sue forme, lo abbiamo detto, così come il terrorismo, purtroppo lo abbiamo appena visto, minaccia la sicurezza, la libertà, i diritti dei cittadini, i valori dell'Unione, di tutta l'Unione, non di singoli Stati perché i gruppi criminali organizzati non conoscono confini.  E allora serve una risposta che sia autenticamente comune e che, come nell'esperienza maturata nel mio paese, l'Italia, sia fondata su scambio di informazioni, cooperazione, coordinamento e contrasto patrimoniale, il "Follow the money" da Lei stesso citato.  E allora bene la strategia del 2021, i provvedimenti sin qui adottati fino alle più recenti direttive su confisca e corruzione, ma non basta. Di tutti gli "EU crimes" la criminalità organizzata è forse l'unica ancora regolata da un atto pre-Lisbona.  E allora io ho due domande per Lei: Le vorrei chiedere qual è l'esito dello studio avviato dalla Commissione per valutare se la decisione quadro 841 del 2008 sia ancora adeguata allo scopo o non sia piuttosto un'arma spuntata contro la criminalità organizzata, come molti sostengono.  E poi, se intende la Commissione, finalmente direi, proporre una direttiva organica come è stato fatto per il terrorismo nella passata legislatura, che sia proprio indirizzata a contrastare le attuali organizzazioni criminali, vere e proprie imprese spesso a vocazione globale.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

This single EU security union house precisely allows us to help to fight organised crime by activating everything we have across the policy board. So, it’s not a question of fighting organised crime only with regulatory options that are tailored to organised crime. We fight with everything we have in our disposal. Everything: anti-money laundering legislation, proposals for sanctions, external relations, international relations. And, of course, we have proposals, as part of our strategy against our organised crime, as I was saying earlier: the ‘follow the money’ proposals for asset recovery and confiscation package. Unfortunately, these proposals have not yet been adopted. Before engaging in other, new types of initiatives under this EU security union house, we need – especially as we are approaching the last stretch of the current political cycle – to have all these pending proposals adopted and complete our toolbox.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Ivan Vilibor Sinčić
Political group: NI
Country: Czechia
Language: HR

Poštovani predsjedavajući, mi u Hrvatskoj imamo velikih problema s organiziranim kriminalom. On je na svim razinama, pa tako i na političkoj razini.  Naša vladajuća stranka pravomoćno je osuđena, ponavljam, pravomoćno je osuđena od strane Vrhovnog suda Republike Hrvatske da je kriminalna organizacija. Dakle, govorimo o organiziranom kriminalu. Zato što su organizirali sistemsku pljačku svega - javnih poduzeća, naftne kompanije, pošte, željeznice, čega god hoćete. Ti isti ljudi dolaze u Bruxelles, dolaze u Strasbourg, druže se s Komisijom, kao da su vaši najveći prijatelji. Teško je uvjeriti građane Hrvatske da nekakva borba protiv korupcije ili europske vrijednosti doista postoje ako nema apsolutno nikakvih mjera protiv ogromne sistemske političke korupcije u Republici Hrvatskoj.  Dakle, moje pitanje je ima li Komisija ikakve mjere ili namjere stati na kraj korupciji, političkoj, u Hrvatskoj, Bugarskoj i raznim drugim zemljama?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Saskia Bricmont
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: France
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Vice-Président, les causes et les conséquences de la criminalité organisée liée au trafic de drogue en Europe sont multiples et elles doivent trouver – vous l’avez dit, Monsieur Schinás – des réponses systémiques. Certaines ont déjà été évoquées dans la séance de questions-réponses, mais, outre la nécessaire approche répressive contre les criminels, il faut aussi d’urgence des mesures d’ordre économique, social, culturel, mais aussi des politiques destinées à la jeunesse pour prévenir le développement des activités criminelles, notamment dans des quartiers précarisés et au sein des populations déjà précarisées. La criminalité organisée ne peut plus être une voie profitable pour des enfants en déshérence.  D’autre part, les populations des quartiers affectés par les règlements de compte et la violence généralisée doivent aussi pouvoir bénéficier de notre soutien. Utilisons les profits de ces crimes – qui sont confisqués – pour la prévention et pour le soutien aux communautés affectées.  Et donc quelles sont ces mesures de prévention que vous apportez et qui sont mises en place? Quelles sont les mesures d’accompagnement qui sont prévues, pour les communautés affectées, mais aussi pour les jeunes, qui sont forcés de collaborer à la criminalité organisée? Enfin, que penser de la volonté d’Europol de mettre fin à ce chiffrage de bout en bout, dans le cadre de ses missions de lutte contre la criminalité organisée? La surveillance généralisée est-elle vraiment la solution? Le respect de la vie privée et la confidentialité des échanges ne sont-ils pas des prérequis dans un État de droit?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: FR

Et en effet, l’angle qui prévaut, ici, cet après-midi, est l’angle sécuritaire. Mais vous soulignez, à juste titre, que, en amont, il faut œuvrer pour construire des sociétés cohésives, résilientes, justes, où il n’y a pas de marginalisation, où tout le monde peut avoir sa chance, où il y a une économie compétitive qui offre des possibilités à tout le monde, et non seulement aux élites.  Tout cela s’inscrit dans ce que nous faisons dans l’Union européenne. J’utilise ici la première personne du pluriel car c’est un combat partagé. Vous connaissez les dépenses du budget de l’Union pour la cohésion, pour l’inclusion sociale, pour la lutte contre le chômage, pour la lutte contre la marginalisation. Vous connaissez les projets nationaux de notre plan de relance: dans chaque projet national du plan de relance, il y a une enveloppe centrée sur les personnes, qui porte sur les compétences, sur le développement du capital humain.  Et puis il y a un volet qui fait aussi partie de mon portefeuille: le domaine des vecteurs d’intégration, comme l’éducation, le sport, la jeunesse. Tout cela représente un peu ce que nous appelons le «mode de vie européen», expression que vous n’avez pas beaucoup aimée au début de ce mandat. Mais je pense que, quatre ans plus tard, tout le monde se rend compte que ce «mode de vie européen» est une réalité tangible, qui nous entoure et qu’il faut promouvoir et défendre à la fois.  Dernier point, sur la surveillance: je connais et je respecte la sensibilité que vous avez à l’égard de cette question. Je connais aussi votre travail. La surveillance n’est admise, selon la loi de l’Union, que si elle est autorisée par les instances judiciaires et uniquement quand elle cible les «méchants» –
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Balázs Hidvéghi
Political group: NI
Country: France
Language: EN

Mr President, Commissioner, the fight against organised crime is obviously an area where European cooperation is a welcome thing. We all agree about that; it is very important. However, these efforts are completely undermined by the EU-conceived Brussels policy on migration, in my view. We are at a situation right now where criminal organisations or human smugglers are the ones who really decide who can come to Europe in the end. There are NGOs who tacitly cooperate with them and they transport these people into Europe instead of returning them to where they came from. Now it is certainly not a European interest to allow people in great numbers to come to Europe who really don’t belong here, who don’t share our values, who don’t share our culture and our way of thinking, people who have really nothing to do with Europe and who pose a danger to Europeans, very often a deadly danger, as we have sadly seen over the past few days. Now, Commissioner, would you agree with me that the only way to avoid this situation and to have a new chapter would be to make sure that the decision on who can enter Europe and who cannot is made outside of the European Union? And, related to that, strong border protection is reinstated with the ...
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - European measures to prevent and to fight the rise of organised crime
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

On the questions posed, let me distinguish between one, which is the overall framework for migration and asylum. I said the other time, in the last plenary, that everything that we do not like about migration in Europe nowadays is the direct consequence of the fact that we still do not have the agreement on an EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The lack of agreement is the major pull factor that the smugglers exploit to organise the type of activities that you don’t like. If you want to correct what we don’t like, I would very much appreciate that you personally and your group and others like-minded help us to get this deal through. After decades of failure, we are now nearing a historic agreement that, for the first time, will enable the European Union to have a cohesive, holistic, global framework for migration and asylum anchored in EU law, financed by EU resources, applicable by EU institutions. Let us see if, when we have it, the situation will be the same as the one that you are denouncing. I take the opportunity and I salute the presence of the Secretary of State for the Spanish Presidency, who has been one of the key architects of this historic deal that we are now nearing. Last point on extraterritorial options, solutions: this is a debate that refuses to go away. But having it does not mean that we’re coming closer to a feasible outcome. These are ideas that have been floated, tested, proven and failed. So I’m not a fan of extra-territoriality. I believe that the European Union should live up to its name as a Union and find solutions with ourselves. We cannot subcontract to others our legal, moral and political obligations.
Debate: Composition of the Advisory Committee on the Conduct of Members
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Roberta Metsola
Country: Poland
Language: EN

This is an announcement to state that, in accordance with Article 7 of the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament regarding integrity and transparency, the amended version of which will enter into force on 1 November 2023, I have decided to appoint the following Members to the newly-established Advisory committee on the conduct of Members, with effect from 1 November 2023: Danuta Maria Hübner, Giuliano Pisapia, Gilles Boyer, Heidi Hautala, Geert Bourgeois, Gerolf Annemans, Helmut Scholz and Monika Hohlmeier.
Debate: Corrigenda
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Rainer Wieland
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Gemäß Artikel 241 Absatz 4 der Geschäftsordnung möchte ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass zu den drei Berichtigungen des IMCO-Ausschusses, die dem Plenum gestern bei der Eröffnung der Sitzung bekannt gegeben wurden, kein Antrag auf Abstimmung gestellt wurde. Die Berichtigungen gelten damit als angenommen.
Debate: Water scarcity and structural investments in access to water in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Rainer Wieland
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Erklärungen des Rates und der Kommission zu Wasserknappheit und zu strukturellen Investitionen in den Zugang zu Wasser in der EU (
Debate: Water scarcity and structural investments in access to water in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Nora Mebarek
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: FR

Je voudrais exprimer ici toute ma compassion envers la population mahoraise, qui est malheureusement trop souvent confrontée aux manquements coupables de l’État français. Car, si l’Union européenne, grâce à ses fonds structurels, apporte un concours vital au soutien de la région la plus pauvre d’Europe, elle ne saurait masquer la cruelle faillite des autorités françaises, qui n’envisagent plus Mayotte qu’à travers un prisme sécuritaire et délaissent ainsi l’accès aux biens communs que sont l’eau et la santé.  Pour répondre à l’urgence, la Commission a indiqué que les reliquats du Fonds européen d’aide aux plus démunis pouvaient être mobilisés pour permettre la distribution gratuite d’eau dans le département. Parce que tout citoyen européen, où qu’il se trouve, devrait avoir accès à l’eau potable, les Mahorais ont besoin avant tout d’un choc d’investissement humain et financier de l’État français.