unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: The outcome of the Western Balkans summit
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Mairead McGuinness
Language: EN

Here the European Union is rapidly transforming to address global challenges, including climate change, digitalisation and security. As potential future EU Member States already closely linked to relevant EU policy areas by trade, transport or energy, our partners in the region are an important part of our vision for a stronger, greener and more resilient Europe. Only as partners can we successfully address these global challenges. Several of you rightly mentioned the enlargement process and the need to preserve its credibility. It is also our strong conviction that a credible enlargement process based on merits and with clear conditionality is the best instrument to advance our partnership with the region. The European perspective remains a unique tool to foster stability and prosperity, which only the European Union can offer. We welcome that ministerial representatives of the Western Balkans have been invited to participate in the upcoming plenary meeting of the Conference on the Future of Europe this Saturday. On good neighbourly relations, existing bilateral agreements, including the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation, need to be implemented in good faith by all parties. Pending bilateral issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia need to be resolved as a matter of priority. The Commission has just published the enlargement package and progress reports, which take a comprehensive stock of our relations with the region and its progress on the EU path, and we look forward to the European Parliament’s resolutions on these reports.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Dita Charanzová
Country: France
Language: EN

The next item is the debate on the report by Ryszard Czarnecki, on behalf of the Committee on Budgetary Control, on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2019 (
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Country: Germany
Language: EN

But then, in September 2021, the  LIBE Committee called on the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT) not to grant discharge for 2019 to Frontex due to allegations of mismanagement, non—compliance with its commitments, non—adherence to the Frontex Regulation. Above all, all of the investigation on Frontex is still pending – not yet available. But it is a fact and an assumption that the increased competent staff and budget for the agency needs to be accompanied by a corresponding increase in accountability and transparency. That is why, the LIBE Frontex Scrutiny Group, in its report endorsed on 15 July 2021, found issues related to reporting on fundamental rights, most concerning incidents, lack of recruitment of fundamental rights officers, and I quote: ‘lack of cooperation of the executive director to ensure full compliance with some of the provisions of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation, notably on fundamental rights.’ Therefore, I conclude, I am sorry to announce that we cannot grant discharge to the agency for 2019. Also, if we want, we can  insist on our own approach to the 2022 budget with a reserve agreed for the agency due to the issues thereby.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Ramona Strugariu
Political group: Renew
Country: Italy
Language: EN

Since April, when we decided to postpone the discharge decision for the agency, Frontex has started to implement the recommendations issued by the discharge authority and the dedicated LIBE (Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) Frontex Scrutiny Working Group. I believe we should grant the discharge now, and this should be seen as an encouragement for the executive management to continue the steps set out in the different action plans and roadmaps. Nevertheless, the agency’s leadership needs to fully implement this roadmap and fully comply with the Frontex regulation. By the next discharge cycle, we want to see, among others, all 40 Fundamental Rights Monitors, an updated Serious Incident Report (SIR) mechanism, and a fully-functional Fundamental Rights monitoring mechanism. Part of the agency’s budget will be placed in a reserve and released only once these conditions are fully met. We are committed to keeping a very close eye on the progress achieved by the agency, and we shall do that through dedicated missions and visits on the ground. We would also like to see the results of the OLAF investigation. Finally, I would like to draw attention to the fact that cooperation with national authorities is extremely important for the functioning of the agency and its operations. Frontex cannot do this by itself only. The role of the Member States is crucial there. Member States’ authorities must also abide by the highest standards of respect for fundamental rights and sound financial management, especially when conducting joint operations. Mr Leggeri, responsibility, respect for fundamental rights and transparency are at the core of a strong and trusted agency. This is what we expect of your management.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Bas Eickhout
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: France
Language: EN

We can go into all the reports, but sometimes it’s also good just to go to Frontex’s website. And sometimes it’s very telling. Because if you read the mandate, the official mandate in the regulation of Frontex, it states that Frontex should be managing borders efficiently, in full compliance with fundamental rights. If you then go to the website of Frontex itself, where it states our mission, it states that we will take care to ensure safe and well-functioning external borders. Full stop.  They forget to mention full compliance with fundamental rights, even on their own website. And that is telling, and that is something that should be a concern for everyone. Maybe not on the fringes, but for everyone that should be a concern and certainly also for Renew, which is unfortunately changing its position on granting discharge now. I, like my colleague Sippel, also want to make a very clear point on what is another telling example of the problems with Frontex, namely access to documents in cases where Frontex continues to claim recovery of legal costs from associations that are striving for access to public documents. In addition, it’s the only European agency that is frustrating the fight for transparency in this way. And again, there is a telling example which has also been condemned by several committees, like the Meijers committee.  So therefore, we cannot grant discharge. We do support the resolution, but we are putting a couple of issues in reserve with conditions. However, looking at all these reports, all these conclusions, for the Greens it’s still a very clear conclusion. We cannot grant discharge this time because of these serious concerns of non-compliance with fundamental rights, especially since this is an essential part of Frontex’s mandate. And therefore we will stick to what the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) has also advised us. We will not grant discharge to Frontex, and I want to thank our colleagues from the LIBE Committee for pushing that line. And I just want to express my regret that the Renew colleagues did that in LIBE, but unfortunately not in the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT) anymore.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Joachim Kuhs
Political group: ID
Country: Greece
Language: DE

Wenn wir uns hier mit der Agentur Frontex beschäftigen, da geht es erstens mal um das Jahr 2019, und wir bringen hier aktuelle Dinge auf den Tisch. Und das Zweite ist: Es geht letztendlich darum, dass wir Frontex ertüchtigen müssen, seine Arbeit zu machen. Die müssen ertüchtigt werden, dort wirklich ihr Mandat durchzusetzen. Wenn wir das nicht wollen, dass sie eben die Grenzen, die Außengrenzen schützen – ja klar, dann haben wir ein Problem. Dann wollen wir eben Frontex nicht ertüchtigen. Wir wollen es nicht stärken. Dann werden wir sie im Regen stehen lassen und wir schmeißen ihnen noch Prügel zwischen die Beine. Und das kann doch wohl nicht sein. Wir im Haushaltskontrollausschuss sind der Auffassung – und ich danke der Vorsitzenden, Frau Hohlmeier, ausdrücklich dafür –, dass wir uns in den Entlastungsverfahren immer auf die retrospektive Betrachtung der haushalterischen Fragen, auf die Haushaltskontrolle im eigentlichen Sinne, beschränken und die politischen Fragen außen vor lassen. Das nützt nichts, wenn wir hier politisch aufgeladene Diskussionen mit hineinbringen. Das muss an anderer Stelle erfolgen, da gebe ich Ihnen ja recht. Aber letztendlich müssen wir hier einfach aufhören, ständig auf Frontex einzuschlagen. Und wir müssen Frontex wieder zu ihrer ureigenen Aufgabe zurückführen. Dann möchte ich noch auf etwas hinweisen, was aus meiner Sicht wirklich ein Riesenproblem ist, das mit Frontex nichts direkt zu tun hat: Wir müssen auch die Dublin-Regeln wieder in Kraft setzen. Es kann doch wohl nicht sein, dass jetzt im Augenblick in Deutschland von 4 000 Rückführungsanträgen lediglich 128 Personen zurückgeführt werden. In Griechenland ist es noch schlimmer: Da wird nur einer von 7 000 Anträgen zurückgeführt. Wie kann das sein? Da sind Dinge im Argen, und wir schlagen lieber auf Polen oder Ungarn oder andere ein, als dass wir uns um die eigentlichen Erledigungen der Einhaltung der Regeln kümmern.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Elżbieta Rafalska
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: PL

Pragnę podkreślić, że pewne niedociągnięcia, które wskazano w pierwszym sprawozdaniu, dotyczące absolutorium dla Frontexu zostały w sposób wyraźny poprawione. Z zadowoleniem przyjmujemy na przykład rekrutację urzędnika do spraw podstawowych, który objął urząd 1 czerwca 2021 r. oraz mianowanie dwudziestu obserwatorów praw podstawowych. Wiemy, że do dalszego zatrudnienia pozostało jeszcze dwudziestu.  Należy również dodać, że postanowiono nie kontynuować dochodzenia Europejskiego Rzecznika Praw Obywatelskich w sprawie funkcjonowania mechanizmu rozpatrywania skarg przez agencję w odniesieniu do domniemanych naruszeń praw podstawowych oraz roli urzędnika do spraw podstawowych. Dochodzenie zostało zamknięte. W związku z powyższym EKR będzie głosował za udzieleniem absolutorium.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

So this isn’t a discussion about Lukashenko’s appalling actions in Belarus. It isn’t a discussion about a fake division between migrants and asylum seekers. For us, this is about the fact that there are consistent and constant reports of Frontex’s collusion in violent pushbacks on the EU’s external borders – collusion with the Libyan Coast Guard returning thousands to be held arbitrarily in deadly camps, to be raped and tortured, collusion and pushbacks in the Aegean Sea with people being left to drown, and complicity with the denial of access to asylum in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary and Malta. We are here discussing signing off on its budget. Let us be clear about this. Frontex is now the Commission’s militarisation of the EU’s borders made flesh and given an obscene budget of a half a billion. Rather than carrying out its mandate to guarantee a safe, secure and well—functioning border, it has become a weapon in Fortress Europe. The EU Ombudsman and our own scrutiny group have both acknowledged that there are insufficient safeguards in fundamental rights, and this will not change unless they’re held to account. It would be ludicrous for us to approve the budget in these circumstances. This is actually our moment to support the hundreds of journalists and activists who have painstakingly investigated and documented the extreme abuses of this EU agency. It will be a slap in the face to them if we were to turn a blind eye to what’s going on, a slap in the face to the men and women and children who’ve been abused by Frontex and a slap in the face for international law. Look, we have very little power, but when we do have it, let’s use it for good. That obviously means refusing this discharge – but I think you got that bit!
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Geoffroy Didier
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, j’entends les cris d’orfraie de ceux qui parlent au nom de l’Europe, comme si elle leur appartenait, pour mieux fustiger les comportements des uns et des autres. Alors, soyons clairs: oui, tous les États membres de l’Union européenne, y compris la Pologne, doivent respecter les engagements et ne pas s’écarter des principes fondamentaux de l’état de droit. Quand on signe un contrat, on le respecte. Quand on a la chance d’appartenir à l’Europe, on a le devoir d’en préserver les valeurs. Mais je le dis avec la même force: être membre de l’Union européenne, cela ne signifie pas abandonner son libre arbitre. Il existe dans nos pays une identité constitutionnelle qui nous autorise juridiquement, certes, mais aussi politiquement, à agir selon l’intérêt de nos peuples. Surtout lorsqu’il s’agit, par exemple, de pallier les carences de l’Union européenne, qui s’avère manifestement incapable de protéger efficacement nos frontières. Tenter de faire croire que la défense des intérêts nationaux serait contradictoire avec le projet européen, franchement, c’est se moquer du monde, c’est se moquer des peuples et c’est instrumentaliser l’Europe à des fins politiciennes. N’oublions jamais cette vérité: la souveraineté, avant d’appartenir aux nations, avant d’appartenir peut-être uniquement à l’Europe pour les fédéralistes, elle appartient au peuple. Que ceux qui aiment tant donner des leçons de morale ne l’oublient jamais. Sinon, demain, leur réveil, et peut-être même le nôtre, risque d’être brutal.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Evin Incir
Political group: S-D
Country: Hungary
Language: SV

Herr talman! Kollegor! Fru kommissionär! I april i år beslutade detta parlament att Frontex inte gjorde vad som kan förväntas av vad som är EU:s största och bäst finansierade myndighet, men också en av de viktigaste myndigheterna vi har.  Ett stort antal och mycket oroande brister som påtalades och därför sköts beslutet om ansvarsfrihet upp. Myndigheten med direktören Fabrice Leggeri i spetsen, fick ytterligare sex månader på sig att rätta till dessa brister, men tyvärr med för dåliga resultat. Sedan dess har Revisionsrätten bekräftat den bild vi har haft här i parlamentet. Sedan dess har alltför lite hänt i positiv riktning. Därför kom utskottet för medborgerliga fri- och rättigheter samt rättsliga och inrikes frågor fram till att det inte heller nu borde ges ansvarsfrihet till varken Frontex eller Leggeri.  Frontex är en viktig myndighet. Utan fungerande yttre gränskontroll kan vi inte ha fri inre rörlighet så som det fungerar idag. Just därför är det så viktigt att Frontex lever upp till de stora förväntningar vi faktiskt har. Det handlar om att man ska behandla skattebetalares pengar med respekt. Det handlar om att respektera människor och deras rättigheter och om att man ska orka och våga ta tag i de problem som  Direktör Leggeri har fått lång tid, stora resurser och otaliga chanser på sig att göra om och att göra rätt. Under ett par år har Frontex tyngts av anklagelser om att man deltagit i operationer där mänskliga rättigheter kränkts, med  Var är ansvarstagandet från direktör Leggeri? För att få ansvarsfrihet krävs att man faktiskt tagit ansvar. Jag har högre krav än så här på EU, våra myndigheter och deras högsta tjänstemän.  Kollegor! Jag önskar, precis som många av er här inne, att Frontex borde kunna få ansvarsfrihet, men inte heller denna gång och vid detta tillfälle är det ett rimligt svar.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Abir Al-Sahlani
Political group: Renew
Country: Sweden
Language: SV

Herr talman! Fru kommissionär! Ärade kollegor! I dag handlar inte debatten om EU:s yttre gränsmyndighet Frontex vara eller icke vara. Vi alla inser vikten av att denna myndighet, denna EU-myndighet som finansieras av EU-skattebetalarnas pengar, ska finnas. Detta är inte en attack mot myndigheten. Detta är ett förnuftigt sätt att utkräva ansvar från dess ledning.  I dag handlar debatten om hur EU:s ansikte utåt mot vårt närmaste grannskap fungerar, eller snarare inte fungerar. När jag blev invald i detta hus 2019 så frågade jag om det här med ansvarsfrihet. Vad är det, hur funkar det? Jag fick då svaret att det här är någonting som vi bara gör vid sidan av det vi gör annars. Jag accepterade det svaret då, men inte idag. Jag tänker inte acceptera det svaret i dag.  Idag känns detta som ett tungt ansvar: att vi som är direkt folkvalda ska visa att vi använder ett av våra demokratiska verktyg för att kräva ansvar, såsom medborgarna utkräver ansvar från oss varje dag. Frontex är en myndighet som har haft många interna problem. Jag vet inte var jag ska börja. Först hade vi de mycket allvarliga anklagelserna riktade mot myndigheten om att man varit involverad i  Sedan har vi hela situationen med att de skulle anställa tjänstemän för att bevaka att man respekterar EU:s grundläggande rättigheter i sitt myndighetsutövande. Man skulle anställa 40 stycken till i våras, men misslyckades även där. För ett par månader sedan hade man knappt anställt hälften och man skyllde på diverse orsaker såsom man alltid gör.  Nu nämner jag bara en handfull bekymmer och en handfull av de saker som myndigheten har haft problem med under Leggeris tid. Av den anledningen kan jag inte stå bakom att ge Frontex ansvarsfrihet denna gång, och avsaknaden av ambition och vilja att faktiskt visa att man är genuint bekymrad över det man är anklagad för, gör det väldigt svårt ...
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Saskia Bricmont
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: France
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, chers collègues, Frontex est l’agence européenne la plus financée – de 6 millions d’euros en 2005, son budget est passé à 543 millions d’euros en 2021, soit nonante fois plus de moyens. Et le budget de Frontex a gonflé en même temps que les critiques à son égard. Ces critiques se sont transformées en enquête du Parlement européen, en rapport de la Cour des comptes, en rapports que l’on ne compte même plus des organisations de la société civile, qui font tous état de dysfonctionnements internes, de manquements manifestes dans les missions de l’Agence, mais aussi de duplicité de la direction dans des faits graves de violations des droits fondamentaux aux frontières européennes. Une enquête de l’Office européen de lutte antifraude est toujours ouverte. Notre rôle à nous est d’assurer le contrôle budgétaire et, manifestement, la direction de Frontex n’en a cure, puisque cela fait des années que nos recommandations restent lettre morte. Malgré cette situation qu’on peut a minima qualifier de mauvaise gouvernance, la proposition, celle de la droite particulièrement, est de voter pour la décharge budgétaire de l’Agence Frontex et donc de lui envoyer le message qu’elle peut continuer en toute impunité. En janvier 2022, nous reprendrons nos travaux sur la décharge 2020. Et que ferons-nous alors? Nous lui adresserons les mêmes recommandations, peut-être amendées de celles de l’OLAF. Mais quelle blague pour tout observateur et quel irrespect profond pour notre propre institution et notre rôle de contrôle budgétaire! Quel irrespect aussi pour les citoyens européens qui ont le droit à la transparence et quel irrespect pour les personnes migrantes dont les droits fondamentaux sont systématiquement violés à nos frontières. Aujourd’hui, nous devons voter contre la décharge budgétaire à l’Agence Frontex et nous verrons bien dans trois mois, à la reprise de nos travaux, si l’Agence Frontex considère encore nos recommandations comme optionnelles.
Debate: Discharge: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
Date: THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Susanna Ceccardi
Political group: ID
Country: France
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, l'offensiva politica e mediatica contro la difesa delle frontiere europee è sempre più forte. Nella crisi migratoria in corso, potenti lobby sono al lavoro per influenzare i governi e far accettare alle popolazioni europee la massiccia immigrazione illegale che sta arrivando in Europa. Le numerose iniziative sovvenzionate dalla Open Society di George Soros dimostrano che queste lobby hanno un preciso piano d'azione per raggiungere i loro scopi. Dagli anni duemila diversi milioni di non europei, a stragrande maggioranza musulmani, sono emigrati in Europa, in aereo o prendendo il Mar Mediterraneo o la cosiddetta rotta balcanica. Dopo una pausa durante la crisi sanitaria, l'immigrazione clandestina è aumentata bruscamente dall'inizio del 2021, come recentemente evidenziato dai dati dell'agenzia Frontex, mentre in Italia, da quando Matteo Salvini non è più ministro dell'Interno, gli ingressi illegali sono aumentati del 673 per cento. È evidente, quindi, che un controllo delle frontiere sempre più incisivo è quanto mai necessario. La discussione sull'agenzia Frontex è senz'altro condizionata dalla campagna aggressiva della politica e dei media nell'ultimo anno. L'altro fronte della polemica viene naturalmente dalle ONG, che accusano l'agenzia Frontex di non rispettare i diritti umani. Con zelo quantomeno sospetto, realtà come la Sea-Watch, Mediterranea e altre hanno lanciato una campagna per lo smantellamento di Frontex, ovviamente senza proporre nessuna alternativa. In altri termini, queste organizzazioni immaginano un'Europa priva di qualunque realtà transnazionale che si ponga l'obiettivo di combattere l'immigrazione clandestina di massa.  Fermo restando che ribadiamo la necessità che ci sia piena trasparenza nei bilanci delle agenzie finanziate dall'Unione e che, se alcune risorse destinate al controllo delle nostre frontiere sono state distratte per operazioni che non rientravano nelle finalità dell'agenzia, i responsabili devono pagare, ma questo non significa che i compiti e le finalità dell'agenzia stessa debbano essere messi in discussione. Il monitoraggio del territorio e del mare e il respingimento delle persone che illegalmente tentano di raggiungere l'Unione europea rimane una priorità assoluta che non potremmo perseguire senza un'agenzia come Frontex. Anzi, dobbiamo puntare sul rafforzamento che passa all'entrata in vigore del corpo permanente europeo, da schierare lungo i confini e dotato di armi. L'Europa non può lasciare da soli gli Stati membri nelle attività di controllo e respingimento, ma è giusto che impieghi tutte le risorse necessarie per assistere i cittadini europei e garantire loro sicurezza e difesa.