unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Vlad Gheorghe
Political group: Renew
Country: Spain
Language: RO

Doamnă președintă, Putin investește miliarde și miliarde de euro, de ruble, în politicieni de aici, din Uniunea Europeană; de foarte multe ori, în politicieni de aici, din această sală din Parlamentul European. Am cerut, și foarte mulți din colegii mei au fost de acord, să modificăm regulamentul acestui parlament astfel încât trompetele lui Putin să nu mai poată să se mai desfășoare aici, astfel încât să le putem tăia microfoanele și, foarte, foarte important, să le tăiem accesul la putere, la decizie. Știți ce s-a întâmplat? Una dintre trompetele lui Putin de la mine din țară, din România, a început instant să mă jignească, m-a făcut vierme, m-a făcut trădător și a început să mă amenințe. Nu că aș avea o problemă cu asta, dar mi se pare cel mai bun exemplu că ceea ce facem aici când facem ceva cu adevărat îi deranjează. Știți de ce se întâmplă toate astea? Pentru că noi nu reușim să le luăm banii oligarhilor și oamenilor care fac bani cu Putin și care îi trimit înapoi pentru ca acei bani să vină, uite așa, frumos, înapoi la aceste trompete. Pentru că mesajul meu este, către Uniunea Europeană acum, „UE, ia-le banii!”, pentru că numai așa putem să le tăiem microfoanele de tot. Întrebarea mea este: ce face Comisia, doamnă comisar, în legătură cu acest lucru?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

So first of all I want to say that we have to be very precise in addressing this problem by legal means, which is sanctioning the people, the oligarchs – if you want to use this word – and to be precise in blocking their properties and their proceeds. As for the representatives of this House, if I understood well, I think that it is absolutely key that we achieve, as much as possible, transparency in how we work. And here comes the transparency register, which registers those who want to lobby us. You know there is huge lobbying around many, many pieces of legislation and many, many political actions which we are taking. So as for transparency, I believe that in the next mandate the Commission, Parliament and the Council should look at what other transparency register is still fit for purpose, and maybe also take a lesson from some cases from the past, when we saw Russian entities actively lobbying us who are involved in the legislative process. And also I have to mention the ethics body which we are now trying to establish, because also here there will be a very strong call on transparency, and on the registration of gifts and travels and so on. I think that this is very important. Last comment: I know I am beyond time, but I really think that achieving the adoption of the defence of democracy package and register of contracts with third countries will help, because we need to know who does what for whose money.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Barry Andrews
Political group: Renew
Country: Ireland
Language: EN

Commissioner, I have a very specific question about media blackouts in the immediate 24 hours before elections. I think you will say that this is a matter for Member States, that it’s a national competence – and that’s probably correct. Nevertheless, I would like to hear what the Commission has to say about the vacuum that is created by the 24-hour media blackouts, the vulnerability that it creates for our democracies, where there is a ban on public discussion in the media about the election that is going to take place within 24 hours. And of course, as we heard in the last debate, artificial intelligence has the capacity to really supercharge this kind of disinformation in the 24 hours before an election. It’s much harder to detect. It’s in the hands of many, many people. And we have seen examples of it: both in 2017, with the famous ‘Macron leaks’ period, and also in 2020 in the US election. So my question is: do you have any plan to communicate with Member States ahead of the European Parliament elections about what I consider to be a ridiculous 24-hour media blackout period?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

And all the discussions we had with the electoral network, but also with the experts on political marketing, tried to convince me that, in fact, political advertising and political marketing with access to digital platforms and social media is ongoing all the time, till the last minute before the elections. So we are discussing whether it makes sense to create some special rules for the last days before the elections, but it’s a decision for the Member States. I am more involved now in discussing with the digital platforms the need to protect, let’s say, the last 10 days before the elections against deepfakes and AI production. Because there might be some last-minute – I will say a military word – shrapnel or some well-targeted weapon thrown into the information space, onto social media, which might be amplified by artificial intelligence and which will really flood our information space with some, as I said, well-targeted kind of disinformation. For me, it’s important that the big platforms, except X, committed to either label such production or remove especially deep fakes, which might have the power to radically mislead the citizens and change their voting preferences. So we are discussing best practices, the methods they use in some Member States. But believe me, the Member States are very much reluctant to receive some very concrete advice from Brussels because, again, it’s their national competence.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Political group: S-D
Country: Germany
Language: ES

Señora presidenta, señora vicepresidenta Jourová, estamos en el turno de preguntas del Parlamento Europeo sobre las injerencias rusas en procesos democráticos.  Este Parlamento Europeo ha dedicado muchos debates a seguir paso a paso a la Comisión y al Consejo los últimos nueve años, desde la Brújula Estratégica hasta los grupos especializados de trabajo StratCom, el Centro de puesta en común y análisis de la información, el Observatorio Europeo de los Medios de Comunicación Digitales —que los obliga a la rendición de cuentas, transparencia y responsabilidad por sus actos— y el Código de Buenas Prácticas en materia de Desinformación.  Bien, tenemos todos los elementos para un análisis y un diagnóstico, pero se trata de dar una respuesta. Señora vicepresidenta Jourová, en el caso de que se produzca una injerencia rusa en el próximo proceso electoral conducente a las elecciones europeas de junio de 2024, ¿cuál será la garantía de una respuesta eficaz en defensa de la integridad y credibilidad de las elecciones europeas? ¿Cuál será la sanción a quienes se injieran en el proceso democrático? ¿Cuál será, en definitiva, el marco de respuesta europea —disuasorio y represivo— a las injerencias extranjeras en los procesos democráticos?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

As for the sanctions, we have to build it on our current legal framework. So the sanctions vis-à-vis or covering the foreign actors, yes, we can add them on the sanctions list in case we have sufficient evidence that they were the originators, the producers of the concrete campaigns. As for the sanctioning of the domestic proxies, the citizens or the entities who belong to European society, who am I to tell you? You are a lawyer, so you know very well how we can or cannot sanction the distributors of disinformation. Disinformation is mainly covered by the freedom of speech. Here I have to differentiate between hate speech, terrorism, extremism, which is a manifestly clear kind of illegal content. But disinformation requires more analysis. So disinformation, which has the potential to do harm in the society, to do harm to security, or integrity of elections, maybe, in some Member States, can be sanctioned. But again, it’s for the Member States’ authorities to apply the laws which they have in their legal framework. But the sanctionability of the amplification of the disinformation in the EU exists, and in my view should be applied.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Viola von Cramon-Taubadel
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Ireland
Language: DE

Frau Präsidentin! Sie haben es eben schon erwähnt, Frau Kommissarin: Russische Desinformationen sind überall – im Fernsehen, in Zeitungen, aber vor allem in den sozialen Medien. Russland hat eben auch eine Armee aus Bots, die viel größer ist eigentlich als das Militär. Sie posten sehr gezielt in Afrika, Südamerika, im Nahen Osten, aber eben auch aus Russland heraus. Und es gibt überall Kollaborateure – von Elon Musk angefangen bis zu anderen – wie Sie es gerade genannt haben – nützlichen Idioten, die diese Desinformation des Kremls sehr gezielt weiterverbreiten. Russland verfügt aber auch über eine Armee von Spionen und von Agenten – und, das merken wir immer wieder, das wird, glaube ich, hier unterschätzt –, die nicht nur in den Botschaften, sondern auch in unseren staatlichen Institutionen, auch hier in der EU, und auf allen Ebenen sehr aktiv sind. Russland hat auch Killer und Handlanger, die umherziehen und politische Ziele töten – in Berlin, in Wien, in Alicante; und vieles von dem geschieht noch unerkannt. Meine Frage ist: Was tun Sie? Was tut die EU ganz gezielt auf diesem Gebiet? Warum können diese Agenten und diese Schläfer hier ungestraft weiter ihre Aktivitäten verrichten?
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

On the army of bots, I think that we make very clear also in the AI Act – and in many different things we are doing – that the artificial intelligence bots, the robots, they do not have the freedom of speech. It’s here for the human beings. And that’s why I always speak to the digital platforms and to those who are running the information space that they should approach it like that. Because if the human beings will be attacked by the army of bots and robots, we will not have any chance. And especially when these AI products will be tasked to spread disinformation. This is what I call disinformation on steroids. That’s why we have to protect the information space, especially before the elections, against this phenomenon. And that’s why I am really glad that digital operators are taking it seriously. On the spies, we are, of course, following the situation in our Member States. However, here I have to say that this is for the Member States to react on it because it falls under the national security rank. In some Member States, they are equipped in the criminal laws to address the spying as the criminal offence. In some of the other Member States, they are more tolerant, but I regret to say that this is for the Member States to take it seriously and to address it in their national legislation and in the proper action. Coming back to what you said at the beginning, I also have to say that Russia is winning the information war in Africa, in South America and in the Middle East, and that we have to accelerate our counteraction to also distribute our way of thinking, our narrative, and our vision of the world, because this is serious.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Fabio Massimo Castaldo
Political group: Renew
Country: France
Language: IT

Signora Presidente, signora Commissaria, onorevoli colleghi, quello del contrasto alle ingerenze esterne è un dibattito sempre più urgente e cruciale se vogliamo salvaguardare l'integrità delle elezioni europee del prossimo giugno. Tuttavia mi sorge un dubbio: quanto possono essere efficaci le misure di prevenzione che metteremo in campo se in un paese come il mio, l'Italia, c'è un vice primo ministro, Matteo Salvini, che si rifiuta categoricamente di fare luce sullo stato dell'accordo sottoscritto dal suo partito, la Lega, con Russia Unita di Vladimir Putin, ormai sette anni fa? Possiamo veramente pensare di poterci proteggere dalle ingerenze della Russia quando sono le più alte cariche di uno Stato membro a intrattenere, coscientemente e colpevolmente, strette relazioni con un criminale di guerra, scegliendo addirittura di rinnovare l'accordo due settimane dopo l'inizio della criminale invasione dell'Ucraina? Non è forse la peggiore forma di propaganda? Il mio partito Azione ha già presentato nel parlamento italiano una mozione di sfiducia verso Salvini; vedremo se il resto della maggioranza continuerà a trincerarsi dietro un silenzio complice. Le chiedo però, cara Commissaria, non sarebbe opportuno istituire un registro di trasparenza per tutte le forze politiche che si presenteranno alle prossime elezioni europee, rendendo obbligatorio chiarire gli accordi sottoscritti con i partiti di Stati terzi autoritari? E qualora verificati, interrompere qualsiasi forma di finanziamento ai loro partiti europei? I nostri concittadini hanno il diritto di sapere per chi e per cosa votano!
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

I would like to say that we will not help it, or change or improve the situation by lamenting that they are abusing the information space for Russian propaganda. We should ourselves be able to explain to citizens what’s going on, and to also explain why we need to support Ukraine. That’s why what you mentioned, the unity of the Member States, is absolutely key, because for the prime ministers and for the ministers, for the national leaders, it might be more and more difficult to support Ukraine because the society is under permanent pressure from the Russian propaganda, which wants them to stop the support. On the transparency register, well, this is a very important piece of work. We have it for the European institutions. I have to say that for me it was never a problem to register those who I speak to, the visitors, those who try to convince me to do this or that, and I even found it as a kind of my protection, because when you look at sometimes very demanding pieces of work and our decisions which influence big money and big things in reality, I think that we also need to say yes, we have been lobbied by these entities, but at the end we decided like that. So I always was a big promoter to see the transparency registers also at the level of the Member States, because it’s not only fair that we disclose who we speak to and what we do and on which basis, but it’s also a good source of our own protection.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Guy Lavocat
Political group: Renew
Language: FR

Madame la Présidente, Madame la Commissaire, je souhaite revenir sur les propos de Nathalie Loiseau, qui s'est exprimée tout à l'heure, ma collègue, et sur la directive que vous proposez concernant les risques d'ingérence étrangère et sur l'idée de ne pas se tromper de cible concernant ces mêmes influences indirectes.  Pour ma part, il ne s'agit pas d'une question d'ingérence commerciale, d'ingérence financière ou de lobby, mais d'une question, qui me paraît centrale, de défense globale de l'Union européenne, de nos intérêts démocratiques, de nos intérêts vitaux. Je vous prie d'oser sortir d'une seule logique de marché et de trouver les moyens de nous protéger d'adversaires portés par des idéologies et non pas par des relations commerciales visant à détruire ce que nous sommes.  Quelles peuvent être les pistes, madame la Commissaire, pour ouvrir le spectre de cette directive et permettre de nous protéger des différentes formes d'influence? L'Europe est en train de se réveiller dans le domaine de sa défense. Elle doit aussi se réveiller concernant cette question des représentations d'intérêts et d'influences et des menaces qu'elles représentent pour nos démocraties.
Debate: Question Time with Commissioners - Preparedness of EU governments to combat foreign interference, including from Russia
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

We are strong defenders of our system. We have had to defend strongly our system and democracy as the well-functioning method of governance. In COVID time you remember the big attack from China spreading the information in the EU that democracy cannot solve a problem like COVID. And you saw that we managed together, in unity. So we have the external action, we have a lot of funding, which supports our civil society, also humanitarian aid abroad. I could speak about all the things which we do to be more resilient in the economic sphere – definition of the critical infrastructure, critical raw materials, being more assertive in our trade; there are many different things which altogether should make us stronger. But at the same time, the legislation we speak about, which you say we should not base it only on the single market, it seeks to make us stronger inside of Europe. And I insist on the conviction that this legislation, when it comes into force, will make us stronger. And, as to the last question, I would like to ask the audience, because we didn’t speak about our citizens and how difficult for them it is to sort out what to believe and what not. I think that we should all be aware that not everything we read online or in the social media is worth believing, and that in the future we will have to do more to increase the critical thinking and media literacy and understanding of what’s going on. So this is the invitation, rather than mentoring: we will all have to do something to be more resilient, especially against the foreign interference and disinformation.
Debate: EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Heidi Hautala
Country: Poland
Language: FI

Esityslistalla on seuraavana komission julkilausuma EU:n ilmastoriskien arvioinnista ja kiireellisten toimien toteuttamisesta turvallisuuden ja selviytymiskyvyn parantamiseksi Euroopassa ( Olen iloinen nähdessäni, että komissaari Hoekstra astuu juuri estradille, ja voimme siis aloittaa tämän keskustelun.
Debate: EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Cristian-Silviu Buşoi
Political group: PPE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

We have all witnessed in this mandate the shift towards addressing climate change. We have elaborated the Green Deal Fit for 55 package. You saw a strong commitment of the European Parliament to do our part. We have the 2030 target and our common objective to reach climate neutrality. We even today voted the last part of Fit for 55. But sometimes we are too euphoric and sometimes too dogmatic. We need to understand that to reach these targets and maintain support from citizens, we need to work, and we need adaptation policies – ones that take into account the reality of the Union, that take into account the underdeveloped regions that are still reliant on some energy sources, to take into account that we need to be resilient in the face of health crises or financial crises. We need to talk about adaptation policies that protect people and increase our competitiveness. This is the moment that we need to start to discuss how to turn Green Deal closer to people, in the benefit of people, for a prosperous and resilient Union. And here competitiveness is key. That’s why I believe that we need an industrial deal that will complement the Green Deal. I am happy to see Commissioner Hoekstra being not only determined to fight climate change, reach our strategic targets, but also understand the challenges that we face and the need to build a real Green Deal as a deal for our citizens, but also for industrial sectors, for our autonomy and for our security.
Debate: EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Mohammed Chahim
Political group: S-D
Country: Denmark
Language: NL

Als die partijen en politici eerlijk zijn, dan moeten ze het ook hebben over de risico’s waar we Europeanen aan blootstellen. Het gaat dan niet alleen over het mislukken van een oogst door droogte of door een teveel aan regenval. Het gaat over iets basaals en cruciaals als toegang tot drinkwater. In het verslag wordt zelfs gewaarschuwd voor conflicten binnen Europa door watertekorten. Het gaat over kwetsbare mensen die bezwijken door de hitte in onze binnensteden. Ik begrijp dat het niet makkelijk is om mensen ervan te overtuigen dat de kosten van niet ingrijpen uiteindelijk veel hoger zijn dan die van wel ingrijpen, van klimaatbeleid. Maar wij politici zijn ervoor gekozen om dit soort verslagen te lezen en wij moeten deze risico’s op basis van feiten serieus nemen. Het is onze plicht om mensen te beschermen, of je nu links of rechts bent. Dit verslag is helder. Ik begrijp dan ook niet dat je, wanneer je deze risico’s kent, met een gerust geweten alsnog tegen de verordening betreffende natuurherstel kunt stemmen. En bij de volgende klimaatramp zie ik sommigen hier al staan, als er bijvoorbeeld een dodelijke overstroming is geweest: “Hadden we meer gedaan moeten hebben om mensen te beschermen. Waar is de EU als je haar nodig hebt?” Want ze wijzen altijd met de vinger naar de EU. Beste mensen, dit is het moment. Dit verslag is weer een wake-upcall. Hoeveel hebben we er nog nodig?
Debate: EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos
Political group: Renew
Country: France
Language: ES

Muchos de estos riesgos ya están en un nivel crítico, pero de no actuar de forma urgente y contundente pueden tener efectos catastróficos para millones de ciudadanos europeos, especialmente en el sur de Europa, de donde yo provengo.  Por ello, señor comisario, le pido, le ruego en nombre de todos los ciudadanos europeos que asuma que no es el momento de disminuir nuestra ambición climática. No es el momento de dar marcha atrás en medidas y políticas de protección del medio ambiente.  No permitamos que intereses políticos de algunos partidos para las próximas elecciones pongan en juego el interés y el futuro de próximas generaciones.