unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Eugen Tomac
Political group: PPE
Country: France
Language: RO

Doamnă președintă, doamnelor comisar, consider că este un moment extrem de important, în condițiile în care observăm că Federația Rusă investește enorm pentru a dezinforma și ține în manipulare cetățenii Uniunii Europene. Cer Comisiei Europene să aibă curaj să vină cu un pachet de măsuri îndrăznețe prin care să combatem instrumentele de dezinformare și manipulare a cetățenilor europeni, într-un context în care avem nevoie mai mult decât oricând de solidaritate și de acțiune concretă pentru a apăra democrația. Instrumentele pe care le folosește Rusia astăzi în Europa arată cât se poate de clar că își ating efectul, pentru că marea majoritate a decidenților europeni se tem de opinia publică, care este, din păcate, manipulată. Cel mai bun exemplu este războiul din Ucraina. Trebuie să avem curaj să privim realitatea și să acționăm acum.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Anna Júlia Donáth
Political group: Renew
Country: Spain
Language: HU

Elnök Asszony! Az egyik szemem sír, a másik nevet, hiszen egyrészt jó hír, hogy a Bizottság végre felismerte, hogy további lépésekre van szükség az európai demokrácia, az Unión kívülről érkező támadások kezelésével szemben. Sajnálatos azonban, hogy ez a javaslat nem nyújt védelmet a demokráciára az Unión belülről érkező támadásoktól. Pedig az európai demokrácia már régóta támadás alatt áll az Unió határain belülről. Antidemokratikus hatalmak próbálnak befolyást szerezni, civilnek álcázott szereplők és átláthatatlan céghálókon keresztül. Elrejtve ezzel a valódi finanszírozókat. Tudom, hiszen magyar politikusként ez a valóság nap mint nap szembe jön velem, ebben a valóságban élünk. Képviselőtársak, legyünk bátrak, és a demokrácia védelmében követeljük meg a teljes átláthatóságot minden társadalmi és politikai szereplőnek egységesen, minden tagállamban. Ne csak az Unión kívülről, hanem az Unión belülről jövő támadásokkal és pénzekkel kapcsolatban is. Így tudjuk majd valóban nyomon követni és végül leleplezni, hogy ki mögött állnak az EU demokráciáját veszélyeztető valódi szereplők.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Nuno Melo
Political group: PPE
Country: Italy
Language: PT

Senhora Presidente, Senhora Comissária, enquanto debatemos o pacote para a defesa da democracia, Espanha tem a Presidência do Conselho da União Europeia e, amanhã, Pedro Sánchez discursará pela primeira vez em Estrasburgo. Há seis meses que Pedro Sánchez foge do Parlamento Europeu. Isto só acontece porque o Estado de direito está a ser violado em Espanha. Numa democracia, nenhum líder de um partido – ainda mais tendo perdido eleições – pode alterar crimes, penas, conceder indultos e amnistias em troca da obtenção do poder, como faz Pedro Sánchez. A justiça não é um negócio, nem pode ser manipulada com base nos interesses pessoais ou partidários de ninguém. Numa democracia, os parlamentos não interferem nas decisões judiciais, querendo criar comissões investigativas que avaliem decisões dos tribunais. Numa democracia, os políticos não ameaçam juízes que discordem de uma amnistia que viola a Constituição e os Tratados Europeus, como fazem os radicais do Sumar, apresentando queixa contra juízes que queremos livres. Numa democracia não se alteram regras para que os tribunais constitucionais possam ser um instrumento político dos governos. Em Espanha, neste momento, viola-se o Estado de direito, o princípio da separação de poderes e exerce—se uma pressão intolerável sobre os juízes, típica dos Estados totalitários. Imaginemos que isto acontecia na Polónia ou na Hungria, o que não estaria a esquerda a dizer e a exigir aqui? Pensemos nisto quando falamos de democracia. Principalmente, façamos qualquer coisa.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Vlad-Marius Botoş
Political group: Renew
Country: Germany
Language: RO

Doamnă președintă, doamnelor comisar, doamnă Jourová, doamnă Šuica, protejarea democrației înseamnă mai mult decât respectarea legilor, mai ales acum, când dezinformarea și știrile false sunt utilizate masiv ca armă împotriva noastră, a Uniunii Europene, împotriva valorilor democratice. Asistăm la o răsturnare nu doar a valorilor, ci și a realității și a adevărurilor științifice. Opiniile, pe care le încurajăm ca exercițiu democratic, nu pot să anuleze ani de studii și de muncă intensă pe care se bazează progresul societății noastre. Modul în care se încearcă transformarea imaginii războiului din Ucraina într-un atac nejustificat asupra unui stat independent (și mă bucur că și colegul Tomac a amintit acest lucru) într-o simplă dispută teritorială în care atacatorul este portretizat ca erou; modul în care se încearcă anularea și ascunderea suferințelor atâtor generații care au suferit din cauza regimurilor dictatoriale; toate acestea sunt un pericol cu atât mai mare cu cât ținta sunt tinerii noștri, viitorul Uniunii Europene. Trebuie să recunoaștem că aceste dezinformări sunt adevărate atacuri la adresa democrației, a țărilor noastre și a Uniunii Europene și trebuie să acționăm în consecință.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Sunčana Glavak
Political group: PPE
Country: Netherlands
Language: HR

Poštovana predsjedavajuća, industrija dezinformacija odavno je skinula rukavice. Vjerojatno smo svi svjesni toga da se na  Definirali smo izazove našeg vremena. Međutim, moramo biti svjesni da su ti izazovi sve veći. Svjedoci smo hakerskih napada na stranice Europskog parlamenta, različitim hibridnim prijetnjama. Dakle, pitanja poput zaštite kritične infrastrukture, medija,  Paket koji je predložen nije savršen, ali dobar je, na putu da se obranimo upravo od ovakvih utjecaja. Naglašavam važnost ovog paketa i potrebu da se važno uključimo u njegovu implementaciju iz još jednog razloga jer moramo riješiti i pitanja brojnih bivših europskih dužnosnika koji rade za neprijateljske strane entitete i stranog financiranja političkih ili civilno-društvenih kampanja u Europskoj uniji.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Domènec Ruiz Devesa
Political group: S-D
Country: Malta
Language: ES

Señora presidenta, gracias, por supuesto, a las vicepresidentas por su presencia y por las propuestas que nos han traído, que yo apoyo.  En la dimensión de refuerzo de la democracia, sí que creo, vicepresidenta Šuica, que tal vez —o quizás no tal vez, sino con claridad— fue un error haber cerrado la plataforma digital de la Conferencia sobre el Futuro de Europa. Pero igual pueden corregir esa decisión creando una plataforma permanente que pueda estar activa durante los cinco años de la legislatura para el debate, el intercambio y la participación ciudadana, porque la experiencia de la Conferencia, como ha dicho, fue muy positiva.  Respecto de los paneles ciudadanos, está muy bien que la Comisión siga utilizándolos. Ahí también podría ser bueno hacerlo en colaboración con el Parlamento, para que no fuera solamente una iniciativa de la Comisión.  Y, por último, recuerde que le habíamos sugerido la idea de mandar a todos los jóvenes europeos que cumplen dieciocho años una carta adjuntando la Carta de los Derechos Fundamentales.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Maria Grapini
Political group: S-D
Country: Portugal
Language: RO

Doamnă președintă, stimată doamnă comisar, stimați colegi, discutăm un pachet foarte important referitor la protejarea democrației. Nimic nu este mai important. În 10 decembrie am sărbătorit drepturile omului și fără democrație nu putem să protejăm drepturile omului. Dar oare avem ce proteja? Oare nu trebuie mai întâi să corectăm lucrurile care acum nu funcționează, pentru că avem, așa cum s-a mai spus aici, atacuri cibernetice, nesiguranța cetățeanului, atacuri pe stradă asupra cetățeanului. Practic, cred, doamnelor comisar, că întâi trebuie să corectăm sistemul democratic și după aceea să îl protejăm, pentru că eu văd acum cetățeni în Uniunea Europeană, nu numai în țara mea, și primesc scrisori din toate statele membre cum justiția încă nu funcționează, cum sunt luați copiii și instituționalizați și peste ani de zile se consideră că nu au fost argumente. Deci sugestia este da, să avem un pachet de protejare a democrației, dar întâi să o definim foarte bine și să putem ca toată lumea să respecte aceleași reguli.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Barry Andrews
Political group: Renew
Country: Ireland
Language: EN

Madam President, Commissioners and colleagues, I think, as we all know, we are living through a democratic recession. According to Freedom House, less than 7% of people live in full democracies across the world, which is an astonishing figure in 2023. And 2024 is a crossroads, with 4 billion people entitled to vote in elections, and that will be a record. As both Commissioners pointed out, there is no single solution to the erosion of our democratic standards. My own country, Ireland, is considered one of the strongest democracies in the world. However, we have seen recent outbreaks of violence on our streets, fuelled by disinformation. The violence I’m referring to triggered the first ever Member State alert to the Commission under the Digital Services Act, and therefore, the Digital Services Act will play a critical role in bolstering our democracy in 2024. The second area is journalism. All of the great investigations that have taken place recently – whether it’s the Pandora Papers, the Panama Papers, the Cyprus files – they’ve all come from long form journalism, from investigations that are very expensive. We need to support our journalism to support our democracy.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Silvia Sardone
Political group: ID
Country: Austria
Language: IT

Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, volete proteggere la democrazia dell'Unione europea da influenze straniere, ma siete i primi a essere succubi delle varie dittature del mondo. State per esempio favorendo la Cina, dittatura per eccellenza e regime comunista. Su che cosa? Sull'auto elettrica e sulle batterie, garantendo loro un monopolio indecente che asfalterà l' E che dire dell'Iran? Parlate tanto di diritti delle donne e poi siete i primi a promuovere il velo islamico nelle comunicazioni della Commissione come qualcosa di positivo. Volete essere baluardi della libertà e della democrazia e poi si scopre che, da anni, fondi comunitari vengono usati per finanziare realtà islamiste e vicine al terrorismo. Insomma, oltre ai proclami, servirebbe anche un po' di coerenza.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Mick Wallace
Political group: The Left
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Madam President, when Georgia announced the foreign agents law that would compel NGOs to disclose foreign funding, High Representative Borrell was quick to condemn, stating that this law is incompatible with EU values and standards. Conversely, when Commissioner von der Leyen announced a similar law with her defence of democracy package, it was because the law was essential to defend the same EU values. The lesson being: EU exceptionalism is central to that value system. Also exceptional is the concept of democracy von der Leyen and others hold dear. We’re in a parliament that cannot initiate legislation, is crawling with lobbyists and corruption scandals, and is wholly dominated by a right-wing majority in thrall to US and NATO, militarism, war and the interests of Western financial capital above those of the people of Europe who elected them. The fact that the EU considers the genocidal settler colonial apartheid state of Israel a like-minded partner and a bastion of democracy, tells you precisely how meaningless the concept of democracy is in the EU today. Yez haven’t a leg to stand on.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Dubravka Šuica
Language: EN

On adding too much burden on the civil society, someone asked about this. You know what, creating transparency is worth the small cost of registration. It’s only those who receive money for specific projects from foreign entities that have to register. There will be one single digital gateway, which sets up a one-stop shop to provide information about the rules and procedures in the single market. On Rangel, who is not here, he said that representative democracy must remain. Of course, nobody wants to replace representative democracy. But when we introduced deliberative or participative democracy, it was only to complement through inclusion of citizens. We talked about this a lot during the Conference on the Future of Europe.  On Ruiz Devesa, yes, I won’t say that it was a fault, but there were reasons for abolishing this multilingual digital platform. But we are in procedure, just about to start the new ‘Have your say’ platform, which is coming soon and will have the Citizens’ Engagement Platform, just to let you know.  And on Mr Bilčík, thank you very much for cooperation with INGE because with this package, the European Commission is also responding to the proposals of the European Parliament. I refer particular to the reports of the special INGE Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes. And with this package in particular, the recommendation on civic participation, this is an explicit response to the final report of the Conference of the Future of Europe, specifically to proposals number 36 and 37, which aim to enhance and strengthen the participation of citizens in European policymaking. We also respond to proposal 38 on democracy and elections, which propose to, I quote, ‘strengthen the links between citizens and their elected representatives, taking into account national specificities and citizens’ desire to be closer to them and have a feeling that their concerns lead to specific action by elected representatives in the European Parliament and national parliaments’. This was a quote from the final proposal of the conference.  Honourable Members, this shows that representative democracy is alive and kicking in the European Union, but we cannot be complacent. We need to defend democracy, as all of you have said here, citizens are not objects of democracy, they are participants. And when even one citizen is strengthened in their ability to engage in a democratic process, then democracy as a whole is strengthened. So we have to bear this in mind.  I want to thank you for this excellent debate. But my colleague Věra Jourová will have more and she will conclude.
Debate: Defence of democracy package
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

Indeed, as you said, our democratic system is under big pressure from inside, but also from outside. We have a super electoral year ahead of us, not only the European elections. And many of you said that we have to protect our democracy by all means, and that also we have to pay attention to the foreign powers that want to abuse our openness and our democratic system, who want to strengthen the subversive actions, by the way, explaining to the European people that democracy does not work for them, which is not true, but this is the main narrative. I want to be concrete, maybe to summarise what we have done to protect democracy and democratic systems in the EU. You for sure remember the European Democracy Action Plan, which we also have as a review in today’s communication. What were the things and the risks and the concrete threats which we wanted to address? Count with me: cyber threats, abuse of private and sensitive data of the voters, the lack of rules for online political advertising, the avalanche of disinformation and the weakening of media. All these threats have been identified. And for all these threats, we came with very concrete initiatives, mainly legislative initiatives. We added one more last Friday in the trilogue in the AI Act trilogue; we also placed the AI technologies for elections among the high-risk technologies. We are accelerating also everything regarding the protection of the rule of law and fundamental rights. But I want to keep this democratic system. The missing bit was this foreign influence or in some cases, foreign interference with the intention to do harm to our democracy. So here comes the directive, which we adopted today at the Commission level, which was discussed here. I want to add a few things to react to some of your comments. What the directive is not: it is not a piece of legislation which resembles, for instance, the Georgian law. This is not labelling anyone. This is not naming anyone foreign agents. This is not stigmatising anyone. This directive does not include criminal sanctions. We are keeping with the administrative sanctions. I believe that this directive is very good at addressing the problem, at requiring transparency in a proportionate way, and something which might bring good results in a few years. I hope we will have a swift legislative process. On spyware, please bear with me. On Friday, we have another trilogue on the Media Freedom Act. And there is an explicit ban – indeed with some exceptions – of usage of spyware against journalists, and also the Commission services, as was said last time here by Didier Reynders, the services are working on the rules against the usage of spyware. But I cannot tell you now how far we are. Last comment – and here I have to be a little bit personal – on Sophie in t’ Veld. Did I hear well? Did you really say that the Commission is corrupting Hungary? That there is a bribe? To bribe somebody is a criminal activity. I would like to ask you not to use this, even in a metaphoric case. I am extremely sensitive about that.
Debate: Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Katarina Barley
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Erklärung des Vizepräsidenten der Kommission und Hohen Vertreters der Union für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik zu der Notwendigkeit, alle Geiseln freizulassen und einen humanitären Waffenstillstand umzusetzen, und zu den Aussichten auf eine Zweistaatenlösung
Debate: Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Antonio López-Istúriz White
Political group: PPE
Country: Estonia
Language: ES

Pero, primero, vayamos por partes. Quiero agradecer a los políticos moderados que todavía quedan y los hay —y me enorgullezco mucho— en este Parlamento, del Grupo Socialista, de los Liberales, de los Verdes, que hayan votado en contra de que se presenten resoluciones. Tenemos una Resolución que nos une a todos del 19 de octubre. Yo entiendo que, a los comunistas, al Grupo The Left, no les gusta y este es el cuarto intento de deshacer esa unidad. Se han vuelto a equivocar.  La gente moderada —estamos aquí sentados muchos— no vamos a utilizar este uso de la palabra para meter el dedo en el ojo al señor Borrell o a la Presidencia de turno de la Unión Europea. Estamos aquí para ser parte de la solución, para intentar, al menos, ser parte de la solución, que eso es la Unión Europea.  Podemos pedir a ambas partes muchas cosas. Podemos pedir que Hamás deje de estar reclamado por los palestinos el secuestro que están haciendo de los camiones de ayuda humanitaria. Debemos de una vez por todas acabar con esta intervención en nombre del pueblo palestino —que no es verdad—, que está siendo el escudo humano de estas organizaciones terroristas. Vamos a ver si, en las declaraciones de hoy, mi compañero, el presidente de la Delegación para las Relaciones con Palestina, y otros van a hablar en los mismos términos, en términos europeos, de solución, de colaboración, para que esto no acabe en un conflicto que nos puede arrastrar al final a todos. Vamos a ver si lo escucho esta tarde por parte, incluso, de la extrema izquierda.  Yo creo que con el espíritu europeo podemos lograr muchas cosas entre todos y ser parte de la solución y no parte del problema.
Debate: Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Hilde Vautmans
Political group: Renew
Country: Romania
Language: NL

We hebben hier twee maanden geleden, denk ik, voor een hele sterke resolutie gestemd met een overweldigende meerderheid. En eigenlijk staat die resolutie nog altijd heel erg sterk. We riepen toen op tot een humanitaire pauze. De Raad maakte er humanitaire pauzes van en ondertussen zijn we zo ver dat we pleiten voor een humanitair staakt—het—vuren. Wel, ik wil vandaag een oproep doen. Hier, met Kerstmis in het vooruitzicht. Ik denk dat we sterk moeten zijn en nu vragen, mijnheer Borrell, om inderdaad een humanitair staakt—het—vuren van minstens een maand af te kondigen. Mensen moeten de tijd hebben om te ademen, om gewonden te verzorgen, om humanitaire hulp toe te voeren. En ja, we moeten Israël helpen in het bestrijden van de terroristische organisatie Hamas, maar ook aan oorlogsvoering zijn grenzen. Wat voor mij nu als een paal boven water staat is: zorg dat die humanitaire hulp de bevolking kan bereiken en zorg dat het geweld vandaag stopt in de regio.
Debate: Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution
Date: TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Jordi Solé
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Bulgaria
Language: EN

One of the most sophisticated armies in the world, even in a place as densely populated as Gaza, could have chosen a more surgical response instead of one of the most massive bombing campaigns in living memory. Moreover, the response chosen might be ultimately counterproductive in strategic terms. This war is leaving a trail of hatred and desire for revenge in the population of Gaza and in the whole Palestinian people, which will again last for generations, further fuelling the vicious cycle of violence.  What will happen in a devastated Gaza, possibly without Hamas, but certainly full of pain and hatred? Will this scenario really be a guarantee for Israel’s security in the long term? As difficult and unrealistic as it may seem today, everyone knows that the only possible way for achieving a lasting peace with security guarantees for Israel is with a viable, sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and with a leadership unequivocally committed to peace. That is why I say again today, free all hostages, reach a permanent ceasefire and build peace and security once and for all.