unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Reversing the negative social consequences of the COVID- pandemic
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

Although we should not forget that this pandemic has taken away thousands of lives, it’s not the lockdown that took people’s lives, it’s the virus. I want to say – and this has been said by the President very clearly this morning – there is only one way out, and that’s vaccination. The European Union has made tremendous efforts to make sure that vaccines are available for everyone and that vaccination is accessible for everybody.  We must unfortunately note that very often there is also inequality at that level in our countries. We have to fight for getting as many people vaccinated as possible. We are not yet there. We are good in some countries and we are not good in others. There is a necessity for all of us to make this effort, otherwise we will have to deal with remaining economic, but also social, problems and really also problems of families, which will be plunged into grief, into suffering.  I cannot go into detail on all the questions. Yes, this has been also a crisis of psychology. That’s right. Especially the young have been affected and remain affected. Again, we have to help them now to find a new stability, a job. When we talk about a ‘Year for the Young’ it’s not just a nice formula, but we have to come up with very concrete solutions. Everybody has to take the responsibility that the recovery is the recovery for all, and especially also a recovery for the young generation. That’s the meaning of the year 2020, the Year of the Young or of Youth.  Certainly it’s about people, it’s not about money. But money nevertheless is important, and I just want to mention that one of the first decisions which was taken, on a proposal by the Commission, was finally to suspend the Stability and Growth Pact. Imagine for one second if this had not been done. By the way, we also introduced very high flexibility in the funds and the use of the funds, the CRII 1 and 2, and Parliament was very helpful to pass these measures very, very rapidly. So this was also a very important measure to give countries the money to act rapidly and to target the immediate consequences of this pandemic, which was an event nobody could really foresee and expect. FEAD was increased, for the most vulnerable and the most deprived – and suddenly many people became deprived, even those who never, never expected to be deprived, were deprived.  One word on companies. Yes, I agree there are also small companies, certain sectors, suffering a lot. But here also measures were taken. All Member States were encouraged to support self—employed people, and SURE was not excluding the self—employed. Some countries did it by the way, and also for small companies to allow them to survive.  Yes, we will come up with a recommendation on the Directive on minimum income next year, 2022, and the idea of a permanent SURE is still under study and has not been abandoned.
Debate: Reversing the negative social consequences of the COVID- pandemic
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Ádám Kósa
Political group: NI
Country: Poland
Language: HU

A magyar kormány járvány utáni újraindításának megalapozottsága érdekében olyan költségvetést fogadott el az idei és a jövő évre egyaránt, amely biztosítja az újraindítást lehetővé tevő forrásokat. A költségvetésben mind a beruházások és a családok támogatása, a nyugdíjak emelése, mind pedig a szociális, vagy bérkiadások fedezete biztosított. Magyarországon nincs olyan társadalmi csoport, amely becsődölt volna: a családokat és a vállalkozásokat is segítettük. Sőt, ha sikerül elérni az 5,5 százalékos GDP-növekedést, akkor a gyermeket nevelő szülőknek 2022-ben visszaadjuk azt az adót, amit befizettek a 2021-es év során a költségvetésbe.
Debate: Announcement of voting results
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Daniel Freund
Country: Spain
Language: EN

This should clearly send the message: EU politics is not for sale. Good rules need independent control to be clearly enforced. Some might argue that the rules that we have on lobbying, on conflicts of interest, on revolving doors are already really good, and I would agree. Brussels is leading by example on this. But in the past we have also witnessed that these good rules are not properly enforced. Our rules did not stop Adam Farkas, for example, from switching right from Banking Supervisor to chief lobbyist for the banking industry. Our rules have also not stopped former Commissioner Oettinger from accepting 17 new jobs during his cooling-off period, seven of which are for organisations on the EU lobby register, including his own lobby consultancy. Our rules failed because the current system of self-policing does not work. If former top officials start their own lobby business, it automatically creates the impression that politics are for sale. And that has really bad consequences – we all know that, we hear it in our constituencies – and the few black sheep should not ruin all the good and hard work that all of us do here every day. So I hope that a large majority of this House will today accept this report and that we can then start the negotiations with the other institutions on this.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Nicola Beer
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punktder Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Anfrage zur mündlichen Beantwortung an die Kommission zum Thema „Sanktionen der Vereinigten Staaten und Rechtsstaatlichkeit“ von Juan Fernando López Aguilar im Namen des Ausschusses für bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres [ Ich erinnere noch einmal kurz zu Beginn der heutigen Sitzung, dass bei allen Aussprachen dieser Tagung keine spontanen Wortmeldungen und auch keine blauen Karten akzeptiert werden. Außerdem sind wie bei den letzten Tagungen Zuschaltungen aus den Verbindungsbüros des Parlaments in den Mitgliedstaaten vorgesehen.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Stanislav Polčák
Political group: PPE
Country: Czechia
Language: CS

Problémem České republiky, ale nejen České republiky i řady jiných států, je střet zájmů nejen českého premiéra, ale i dalších osob, které v důsledku zneužívání svého postavení získávají velké množství nejen národních, ale také evropských prostředků. Střet zájmů je, ve své podstatě, institucionalizovanou korupcí. Mám obavu, zda Evropská komise v takovém případě, kdy korupce vzniká na nejvyšší úrovni, zda s ní dokáže účinně bojovat. Vysílá tak trochu nešťastný signál, kdy se dlouho nic neřeší, že zákon, nebo chcete-li také regulace, platí jen pro některé. Jedno pořekadlo říká, že malá síť zachytí jen malé ryby, ty velké ji protrhnou.  Já jsem velmi rád za to, co řekla paní komisařka. Doufám, že Evropská komise udělá maximum pro to, aby pravidla platila pro všechny a aby korupční kauzy nemusely být řešeny zvnějšku jako v tomto případě Spojenými státy.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Elena Yoncheva
Political group: S-D
Country: Czechia
Language: BG

България тази година се превърна в страната с най-мащабни санкции, налагани в един ден по закона „Магнитски“. Българските граждани знаят много добре проблемите с корупцията в страната. Българските граждани протестираха срещу превземането на съдебната система в страната, срещу нагласените обществени поръчки и корупция, и когато го правиха, те бяха бити и унижавани, заплашени и влачени по съдебни зали. Днес, г-жо Комисар, от името на всички български граждани, които чакат отговори от Европа, искам да Ви попитам следното: България е обект на мониторинг в областта на правосъдието и вътрешните работи и въпреки наличието на всички инструменти, в нито един доклад до момента не са констатирани нещата, за които говорят американските власти. Защо? Откъде идва разликата, че във Вашия доклад, г-жо Комисар, се говори за напредък, наличие на резултати. Критиките обаче са прекалено предпазливи, докато САЩ открито говорят за системно даване на подкупи на високопоставени лица, в това число и на действащ политически лидер. Кой е този политически лидер, г-жо Комисар? Нека да съм ясна, не призовавам към европейски санкции, а към ефективност във Вашите действия, така че да откриваме проблемите и да помогнем на държавите членки като България да ги преодолеят.  В тази връзка е вторият ми въпрос: Имала ли е Европейската комисия сходна информация с тази, която разпространи американската администрация? Ако не, какви действия са предприети от страна на Европейската комисия за установяване на фактите? Защото, ако изнесената от американските власти информация е вярна, то имаме сериозен проблем с върховенството на закона в Европейския съюз. Не само заради ситуацията в България, но и заради това, че явно нашите инструменти не са ефективни. Ако изнесеното обаче от американската страна не е вярно, то как трябва да реагираме, за да защитим имиджа на Европейския съюз и водещата роля на държавите членки в тази област в международен план?
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Sophia in 't Veld
Political group: Renew
Country: Poland
Language: EN

This should wake us up. Dear Commissioner, I hear you say ‘it is for the Member States to fight corruption and the European Commission, the European Union, will support this’. But it’s a ridiculous situation. We know that there is corruption in many Member States and there are Member States which are vulnerable, including my own. Yet, the European Commission says, ‘Oh, you know, this is a national matter’. We have a third country, a non—EU country, imposing sanctions. This should wake us up. This shows that there is a problem with the way that the European Union functions. I think there’s also a problem with the way the European Commission operates. I think the Commission is lax and slow and hands—off and too intergovernmental, basically. The Commission should decide: is it serving the citizens or is it serving the governments? If it’s serving the citizens, then it should be much more actively fighting corruption, because corruption is, poison.  Europe has to keep its own house in order. Now, this House has always been very active. The European Parliament Democracy Rule of Law Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group is monitoring a range of countries: Malta, Slovakia and also Bulgaria – we will be travelling there next week – and Slovenia. But we have also raised questions to the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Greek authorities, etc., etc. I am glad to hear that the Commission, as of next year, will include country—specific recommendations in the Rule of Law Report, but that is clearly not enough. The Commission, under the pressure of the same Member States, has abolished the annual corruption report. I think that was a very bad sign.  But there are sufficient instruments at your disposal. It’s also a question of enforcement. Here again, we see that the Commission is bowing to pressure of the Member States. It has been raised by the previous colleague. There is the CVM. Since 15 years, the Commission has been monitoring. So what has been achieved? It cannot be that the Commission says ‘everything’s fine, progress is being made’ and then the US is imposing sanctions. There is a gap here that cannot be explained. The Commission is not doing enough. The Commission should face up to the Member States, serve the citizens and fight corruption, because corruption is poison.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Daniel Freund
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Spain
Language: EN

I was in Sofia two weeks ago. I spoke with a number of officials from the interim government, and the stories that you hear are shocking. There are stories of bags full of cash in government offices. There are state assets being looted. There are – or there were – criminals with direct access to the former Prime Minister. And it’s in this environment that the US sanctions came, and to quote a Bulgarian politician, it dropped a political bomb. So these Magnitsky sanctions against three corrupt oligarchs – one of them, Vassil Bojkov, known for bribing the government, known for his connections to Russia. I think these sanctions had the desired effect. The individuals were named, shamed and sanctioned. And if you see that Bulgarian officials are actually hoping for a second round, at least the Americans are doing something when the Europeans so far remain inactive. So it is a shame that this decisive action doesn’t come from Brussels, it doesn’t come from Europe: we rely on the Americans to help out with the fight against corruption and the stealing – including of EU taxpayer money – in the country. So dear colleagues, I think we can all agree that this doesn’t look good for the European Commission. It shows that the measures are not working. You have said today that you will monitor the situation, but monitoring isn’t preventing or fixing anything. And you have also said that you will make full use of all the tools – but clearly, you are not making use of all the tools. The rule-of-law conditionality mechanism has already been mentioned, but let me also say that the Bulgarian officials actually told me that they had asked for help – not only the Commission, also the Member State’s government – they want technical assistance on money laundering, on public procurement officials, on how to reform the administration, and they are saying that they’re not getting that help. So how is this possible? Why don’t we protect effectively EU taxpayer money, including in Bulgaria? Why does it take US sanctions to tackle corruption, and why aren’t we helping with that? And why don’t we at least help a Member State government, when it’s asking for help and for technical assistance?
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Nicola Beer
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Wir setzen nun unsere Aussprache über die Anfrage zur mündlichen Beantwortung an die Kommission zum Thema „Sanktionen der Vereinigten Staaten und Rechtsstaatlichkeit“ von Juan Fernando López Aguilar im Namen des Ausschusses für bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres (
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Jaak Madison
Political group: ID
Country: France
Language: EN

Some speakers before me have mentioned that the sanctions from the US against Bulgaria is coming to the internal questions in Europe. Of course, we have to remember that there is a United States of America but there is no United States of Europe. So Bulgaria is an independent country and the US is an independent country. So it depends on the relations between those two countries. So it’s not illegal to put all the sanctions against some Member States of the EU. The second thing with corruption: very often the biggest problem with corruption is that the small fish are in a trap, but the big fish are just swimming in the ocean freely. Of course, there is a problem in Bulgaria, there’s no doubt – also in Romania. But if we are really thinking that we really can change something inside of some other country, I think we are wrong. At the beginning of the 90s there was a huge corruption problem, also in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland. And today I just checked the results from last year’s polls – the polls where they’re asking in all the Member States about how do you feel about the corruption rate? Are there any problems inside society? Do the police ask you for money? I think if I’m right, Estonia and Finland had the lowest rate of corruption. So it means that if you really want to change something, it has to come from inside the country. But very often I see in some countries – like Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania – that the people are of course saying that, yeah, we have a huge problem with corruption; the politicians are just stealing the money. But at the same time, when they are going to the doctor, they’re used to taking EUR 10 for the doctor and thinking: hey, maybe I can just get better service than the others. So I think the only thing the EU can really do is just to control the money, what comes from European taxpayers’ money, and at the same time, every country has to fight itself against corruption. And the last thing that I would like to mention, as I mentioned about the big fish, is that the European Court of Auditors makes reports every year about how we are spending the taxpayers’ money from Europe. I would like to focus more also on the taxpayers’ money that goes to third countries. Every year we send money to Africa, to the Middle East, and we don’t really control where the money really goes. The Court of Auditors has said several times that we don’t have any overview how they’re really spending hundreds of millions of euros of taxpayers’ money.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Angel Dzhambazki
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: BG

Малко по-необяснимо е за мен обаче, че напоследък откривате непрекъснато тази корупция само в държави или предимно в държави, чиито правителства не ви харесват или политиката на тези правителства не ни харесва. Това са вечните набедени България, Унгария, Полша, Словакия. Те са лошите, те са корумпираните, всички други не са, чисти са като сълзички и никога нищо не са помирисвали от корупция. Дали това е така? Естествено, че не е. Уважаеми, има ли някой в тази зала, който да си мисли, че може да има корупция с европейски средства на местно ниво? Че тук тези, които са назначени и избрани от вас, комисари разни, проверяващи, нямат никаква представа какво става в държавите членки и там просто едни лоши хора крадат парите, без тук да се знае? Дали е така? Не е така, защото или вие сте назначили най-некадърните, най-некомпетентните, най-неможещите хора на света, или тези хора си затварят очите, когато става дума за корупция на приятелски към вас правителства, които прилагат федералистки политики, политики за защита на разните там общности, които се измислят всеки ден, и така нататък, и така нататък, и така нататък. Изведнъж се оказва, че корупция има само в лошите държави, в добрите няма. Г-жо ин'т Велд, казахте, че ще дойдете в България. Винаги сте добре дошла. Ще се радваме да Ви видим там, но за да научите за корупцията в България, няма нужда да идвате до България. Това, което трябва да направите, е да попитате в собствената си група няколко неща. Попитайте, например, какво означава изразът „Разпределям порциите, аз разпределям порциите.“ и научете кой го е казал, г-жо ин'т Велд. Това ще Ви помогне много да разберете тези процеси. Що се отнася до американската държава, да, американците имат основание да пускат или да не пускат когото искат на своя територия, но ще ви напомня все пак на всички вас, че дори Европейската конвенция за човешките права в своя член 6, алинея 2, ако не бъркам, казва следното нещо – „Всеки обвинен в криминално престъпление е невинен докато вината му не бъде доказана с влязла в сила присъда“. Така че внимавайте със списъците, защото днеска ги прави един, утре може да ги прави друг и тогава нещата могат да станат лоши. Корупцията се доказва в съда с влязла в сила присъда.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Konstantinos Arvanitis
Political group: The Left
Country: Greece
Language: EL

Παρόλα αυτά, η κυρία von der Leyen, σε σχετική απάντηση της την τελευταία εβδομάδα του Αυγούστου, ισχυρίστηκε ότι το Κοινοβούλιο δεν έχει παρουσιάσει συγκεκριμένες προτάσεις. Μα αυτή είναι δουλειά της κυρίας von der Leyen και της Επιτροπής. Εδώ και πάνω από δύο χρόνια, το Κοινοβούλιο έχει εντοπίσει το πρόβλημα, και τον μηχανισμό ανάπτυξης και τη θεραπεία του αλλά η Επιτροπή υπεκφεύγει συστηματικά. Σας θυμίζω ένα τελευταίο: πριν από λίγα χρόνια, το 2015, επειδή η τότε κυβέρνηση είχε μια διαφορετική αντίληψη για την οικονομική πολιτική, ήσασταν τόσο αυστηροί με την χώρα μου που θέλατε να την πετάξετε εκτός Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Σε θέματα όμως που αφορούν κράτος δικαίου, δημοκρατία, ελευθερία του Τύπου, βλέπω ότι είστε πολύ χαλαροί και πολύ επιεικείς. Εγώ νομίζω, και για το θέμα της Βουλγαρίας, όπως και για εκείνο της Πολωνίας, ότι πρέπει να λάβετε μέτρα. Άμεσα.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Balázs Hidvéghi
Political group: NI
Country: France
Language: EN

Madam President, dear colleagues, the credibility of the fight against corruption can only be preserved if it’s not misused for political purposes. Yes, corruption is an existing problem in our Member States, and yes, all Member States should step up action against it with all available means. But this should never become the tool of political power games. It is hard not to see how the US all of a sudden felt the need, just before the Bulgarian elections, to intensify its fight against corruption there. How interesting. Let me underline that this House should never use the fight against corruption as a weapon in politically motivated rule of law debates. To the Members who like to pose in this House as rule-of-law warriors let me say: if in a democratic election, your opponent wins that’s not corruption – it’s democracy.  This House in particular should refrain from using actions against corruption to interfere in democratic elections, because the moment this happens, it will no longer be about the upholding of the law. On the contrary, it will diminish public trust in the democratic process, and it will diminish the credibility of the fight as a whole against corruption.
Debate: United States sanctions and the Rule of law
Date: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: François-Xavier Bellamy
Political group: PPE
Country: France
Language: FR

Madame la Présidente, chers collègues, la décision prise par les États-Unis est évidemment un signal d’alarme, mais elle ne doit pas nous faire oublier trois choses qui paraissent essentielles. La première concerne les personnes qui sont mises en cause dans cette décision: il existe déjà des procédures judiciaires et il me semble fondamental de le rappeler, pour redire que le moyen nécessaire pour lutter contre la corruption, c’est la justice, et que rien ne saurait remplacer le travail procédural d’une justice qui, par les moyens d’information dont elle dispose, pourra rendre les décisions qui s’imposent. Le deuxième élément qu’il faut signaler est précisément celui-ci: l’Union européenne doit se renforcer dans sa lutte contre la corruption. C’est une certitude. Elle ne peut le faire en dehors de ces constructions procédurales. Et bien sûr, nous nous félicitons des renforcements que l’Union européenne a décidés en la matière à travers le parquet européen ou le renforcement d’Europol. Mais il est fondamental, et ce sera mon dernier point, de rappeler que jamais la nécessaire lutte contre la corruption, l’indispensable lutte pour l’état de droit, ne sauraient devenir l’instrument d’un procès purement politique. Nous voyons bien à quel point ces questions peuvent se trouver aujourd’hui instrumentalisées, à quel point elles peuvent être exploitées. Et je parle ici de l’Union européenne dans son ensemble. Rien ne saurait remplacer cette conquête fondamentale qu’a été pour l’histoire de la démocratie la construction de procédures qui aboutissent à des résultats au terme d’un débat équitable, au terme d’une instruction complète, avec les moyens d’une information efficace. Et il me semble qu’aujourd’hui, le danger devant lequel nous sommes, c’est de voir cette nécessaire exigence de transparence instrumentalisée pour servir des biais politiques qui sont nécessairement susceptibles de jeter le soupçon, non pas seulement sur ceux qui sont directement concernés, mais aussi, et c’est le plus important, sur les procédures démocratiques elles-mêmes. Nous sommes là devant une responsabilité majeure et il faut que l’Union européenne, sur ce débat fondamental de l’état de droit, soit au rendez-vous de la raison et de la responsabilité.