Javier ZARZALEJOS

Policy topics Javier ZARZALEJOS is active on

What Javier ZARZALEJOS has said (80)

• 2026-06-17 “In recent plenaries, we have had important debates, necessary debates, but let me be sincere. Protection of minors has not yet become the political and legislative priority that it should be. Let's say something. Are we calling for action, or are we just showing how powerless we are to provide solutions to the risks in the digital sphere for adolescents? I think we're doing worse than we were 1 year ago because of poor decisions we've made and because of decisions that have not yet been made when it comes to protecting minors. Yes. I'm in favor of freedom of opinion. I'm in favor of safeguards and freedom, but we must never overlook the need to protect our minors. A mobile phone cannot be an open door to unknown things for our children.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you, Commissioner, I don't see any member from ESM in the room. And if that's the case, we start the second round. The second round started with Mrs. Dolores Montserrat from EPP. Um, please try to make your best in order to keep it. Within one minute time limit.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “(16:45:12 – 16:45:15): Thank you, mister Nakamura. Mister Neumann. **Peter Neumann (King’s College London): (16:45:16 – 16:48:05): Well, thank you, for a very important question. I I'm not sure I can, speak about Europe's response because there have been different responses by different European countries. So your country, Ireland, has responded very different than, for example, Germany, my country. That said, of course, it's not just the events of October 7, but the entire conflict that followed that went on for 2 years and essentially provided provided, radicalizing material online on a daily basis for sure. And it is a conflict that is so powerful in radicalizing young people because it is so essentialistic. I remember at the beginning of the February, we were following the conflict in Syria, which mobilized 5,000 Europeans to go to Syria and join ISIS. But this was a far more complicated conflict. Muslims were fighting Muslims. This conflict that has been taking place over Gaza and between Israel and Palestine is a conflict which, in a sense, confirms every extremist religious narrative you may be thinking about. It's essentialist in a sense that Muslims are fighting against Jews. The Jews are supported by the West. It's over the 3rd holiest site in Islam, which is Jerusalem. It activates everything that you could wish for as someone who wants to radicalize people. And so we shouldn't be surprised that it has been very powerful in radicalizing people. If you ask me, I'm actually as someone who studies this, who has been studying this for 20 years, I'm actually surprised that we haven't seen more terrorist acts in Europe so far given how powerful this narrative it is and how easy jihadist organization should find it to actually activate, this kind of grievance. And in fact, if you look at the videos that are being put on online by ISIS or by Al Qaeda, they are no longer needing to convince people. They are just basically taking them by the hand, and they are basically saying, you're already very angry. We don't have to make you angry anymore. You're already outraged by what is happening, what you see online every day, whether it's correctly represented or not. It's just about choosing the right action to express your anger. And we recommend that if our brothers and sisters, your brothers and sisters are being killed and slaughtered in Gaza, you should do the same to the people who are doing the killing and slaughtering. That's the argument. That's the narrative that is presented online, and it's hard to not see how that resonates with a lot of people. So, yes, absolutely. It's been the entire conflict, not just the 1 event.”
  EU policy on Islam
• “Thank you, Mrs. Gregorova. The group of the left. The rapporteur is Mr. Fernando Varela. He is not in the room. I wonder if someone in his group is replacing him. If that is not the case, we conclude the, um, the round of of shadow rapporteurs. Yeah.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Gracias, Senora. Presidenta. Thank you, Madam Commissioner. The directive we are debating here today is a huge success that deserves our support and huge recognition for the work conducted by the rapporteur, Mr. Linares. And the shadows. We cannot stress enough the extraordinarily serious nature of this issue. All the indicators, and we heard some of them from the rapporteur, show that minors, generally speaking, are an ever more vulnerable risk group. We can't forget the fact that, um, the treatment and the protection we extend to minors is an indication of the decency of our societies. If we take as a reference the 2011 directive, we can see that the response was lacking, it was unequal and it was clearly not enough. And therefore, in order to produce effective results under this new strategy, there are two things we need. On the one hand, we need a clear decided update from the Commission to ensure that we have appropriate transposition in due time and in the right way of this directive into national legislation. That hasn't happened thus far, and that's a crucial commitment that must be shouldered by the Commission. Secondly, we have to complete this directive. As it says in the explanatory memorandum, we need a framework to follow up on the sexual abuse of minors online as it set out. This directive, and the regulation is one on which the member states have achieved a joint negotiating position yet. But we need both of them. And there are two important points if we want to ensure that we triumph in our protection of children. Thank you.”
  Privacy & detection of online child abuse
• “(16:50:53 – 16:51:16): Thank you, missus Insir. Well, I give back the floor to, speakers for 3 minutes each so they can answer the questions. Mister Seifer, I think there's quite a few questions addressed to you on the financing and the implementation and fulfillment of of of TCO. And then back on the term yeah. That will be and then you could add your concluding remarks.”
  EU competences on defence
• “Thank you, Mr. George. I don't see any other member of the mission here in the room. So we move to the next item on our agenda. Uh, feedback, uh, from trilogue meetings, starting with the, uh, one, uh, concerning the proposed regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, uh, which I'm the rapporteur. Um, I'm really especially happy to debrief you today about the outcomes of the first trilogue on the regulation, which was held on the 9th of December under the Danish presidency. As you know, after more than three years from the submission of the legislative proposal by the Commission, the Council managed to adopt its negotiating mandate. And there and the interinstitutional negotiations could finally start. At the first trilogue, the co-legislators presented the main elements of the respective mandates. And as for the EPP, I first of all stress the need to set up quickly a permanent legal framework to protect children from the dissemination of csam online. The content wise, I indicated that without prejudice to the end to end encryption principle, our mandate covers all three types of known and known and grooming. Grooming is only excluded from the scope of the detection order, uh, as it stands in the Parliament's report, but it remains part of the risk assessment are obligations on the platforms and internet service providers, the risk mitigation measures and the Reporting Obligations Detection order also also has. Last resort. Measures are included in our mandate, along with age verification measures, parental controls, safety by design requirements and additional mitigation measures for platforms used to disseminate pornographic content on and for online games. Finally, the Parliament maintains a strong mandate for the EU centre, which is essential not only for the fight against child sexual abuse, but also for ensuring the EU's autonomy on this field.”
  Privacy & detection of online child abuse
• “Thank you. Thank you, my dear colleague. And now I'm pleased. I am pleased to welcome our guest speakers for the panel. Which will focus panel one, which will focus on the current legal framework, challenges and possible future improvements in the field of media freedom and safety of journalists. Our speakers today are Nicolai, who is the deputy director general of DG connect, which will be intervening remotely. Mrs. Renate Schroeder, director of Federation of European Journalists. Um. And Mr. Justin Borg, Barthet, professor of EU Law and Private International Law and convenor of anti-SLAPP Research Hub at the University of Aberdeen, who will be also speaking, uh, remotely. Uh, so, um, now I will give the floor to Mrs. Nicolai for five minutes. Um, I hope that, uh, you can hear us and see us. Good morning, good morning, good morning.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “(16:10:35 – 16:16:03): Thank you. Thank you very much to our speakers, Commissioner Brunner, Minister, Ioannidis. Some of us will continue his discussion on the return regulation later this evening. And then we look forward to the twelfth of June to check and to verify that the pact has been properly entered into application. We conclude this point, and, we move to the next one. So please, those who want to take part of that remain in the room. So now we start, item number 6 on our agenda, and it's, another exchange of views. In this case, an exchange of views on strengthening EU civil protection and European critical infrastructure resilience. For this exchange of views, we've also invited members of the committee on the environment, climate, and food safety as the subject is of relevant for the respective area of work. So the growing number of tax on critical infrastructure in recent years has demonstrated that European Union must further strengthen its preparedness, readiness, and response capacities. Disruptions affecting different areas has been have been exposed, has, have exposed important vulnerabilities and show us the significant cross border impact such incidents can have on the union's security and functioning. Today's exchange of views provides an opportunity to assess the current state of preparedness and reflect on possible improvements in the areas of civil protection and internal security. In this context, stronger coordination, faster information sharing, and enhanced resilience of critical infrastructures remain key priorities. I am pleased to welcome our guest speakers who will share with us the views and possible lessons learned on this important topic. We will first hear from the representatives of the European Commission, mister Martin Schafer, head of the unit for counterterrorism, anti radicalization, and critical infrastructure, at Digi Home, and mister Hans Ulrich Gesel, head of unit for civil protection policy at Digi Eco. We will then hear from mister Alexi Alexi Aho, analyst of, at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, who, and then from mister Manuel Atoug from AG Critics who are joining us remotely. So, we will start by the presentation of our guest speakers. I will give them maximum of 4 minute, each, and then we will start the QA session with representatives of each political groups.”
  EU policy on criminal justice
• “Please take your seats so we can continue with our session today. Now we move to item number 13. Which consists of an exchange of views on the need of a coordinated EU approach to combat organised crime, with a focus on hazardous waste trafficking. Organised crime and waste trafficking in particular, is a serious threat to our economies. The trafficking of hazardous waste is intensifying. Many member states are growing in scale and sophistication to discuss the need for a coordinated EU approach to combat this threat. We have with US. Representative of Europol Jennifer Gurule, head of the EU Organized Crime Unit, which will take part remotely. We have a representative of Eurojust, Mrs. Federica Curto, head of the Operations Department of Eurojust. We have the representative of the Polish Government, Mr. Krzysztof Melnik, from the Economic Crime Department of the National Police Headquarters, who will join us remotely as well. And we have the representative of UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Mrs. Emil van der Henst, which is the advisor on crimes that affect the environment. So a very warm welcome to you all. And we are going to structure this exchange in two panels. The floor will face the representatives of Europol and Eurojust. They will have five minutes each for their presentations. And the second panel will be composed by the representative of the Polish government and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. They also will have five minutes each for the initial presentation, and then we will open up the Q&A procedure after each panel. So we start with the panel composed of the representatives of Europol and Eurojust. I want to welcome Mr. Jannif guru and give him the floor for five minutes for their initial presentation. Mr. guru, hopefully you're there where you can see us. You can hear us.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “Thank you, Mrs. Wisniewski. And now we conclude this point and move to the. Sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. I have to announce that the deadline for amendments would be on Friday 18th at noon. Huh? So that concludes this point. And we before we, uh, we take the vote on the files that we'll have to vote on. Um, let me move to point uh, number five. Um, amending regulation uh, 2018 1727 as regards the extension of the timeframe for the establishment of the Eurojust case management system, which I happen to be the rapporteur. Um, this proposal aims at providing the agency with more time to transition to the new case management system, which is the core of its support to the judicial cooperation between member states. The reason for this amendment is that currently, Eurojust has a legal obligation to switch to a new case management by the 1st of December this year. There are very valid reasons for due to just to modernize its It's case management infrastructure. Nevertheless, there were several delays to this transition and that were mainly due to external factors, such as failings of the original contract to provide an adequate, inadequate IT solution, as well as necessity for systematic manual intervention to ensure adequacy and integrity of the data being transferred to the new system. The Commission therefore proposed to extend the transition phase to the new system by two years, until the 1st of December, 2027. And this proposal comes with the guarantee that you just will shift to the new system as soon as it is ready before that date. Together with the shadow rapporteurs, we listened to the Commission and to Eurojust. We are convinced that this amendment is necessary, and we are also aware of the very tight timeline for this amendment to enter into force.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “According to the Parliament's view, the annual rule of law report of the commission could be more ambitious with mentioning with mentioning a few examples. The scope, in our opinion, should be broader, as the rule of law aspects cannot be dissociated from fundamental rights protection and the upholding of democracy. It should also cover all values listed in article two. It could include more elements from the Venice Commission's 2016 Rule of Law checklist, such as prevention of the abuse of the abuse of powers, equality before the law, and non-discrimination. And third, a separate chapter on the civil society could be introduced as civil society. Organisations are important stakeholders in our democratic life, and we need to create an enabling environment for the civil society. As in previous years, the Libe Committee is working on a report on the Commission's 2024 Rule of Law report. The discussion of this Interparliamentary Committee meeting will serve as an important addition to the work on that report, which we hope to give a valuable feedback to the Commission for its next edition of the Rule of Law report. The committee worked on several reports and opinions which were led to European Parliament resolutions adopted in this year. Among them, I would mention the European Parliament resolution on the situation on fundamental rights in the European Union, responding to Commission Annual Reports 2022 and 2023. In this area, the European Parliament Resolution on the implementation of the LGBTQ Equality Strategy 2020 2025 and the European Parliament Resolution of the 18th of January, 2024 on extending the list of Ukraine's crimes to hate speech and hate.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Well, good afternoon, dear colleagues. We resume our session and we now are going to deal with item number six on our agenda, the hearing of the shortlisted candidates for the post of European Union Drugs Agency Executive Director pursuant to article 29 of regulation 2023 1322. Um, as you well know, the union is facing a complex situation when it comes to illicit drug use and trafficking. Potent and deadly substances are being produced, trafficked and consumed on an unprecedented scale. The Libe committee considers that the UDA and, of course, its executive director, play a critical role in responding to this phenomenon. Ahead of the expiration of the term of office of the current Executive Director, Mr. Alexis Gerdil, a selection procedure was launched on the 20 on the 30th of September 2024, with the publication in the official Journal of the vacancy notice on May the 6th. The Commission adopted a short list of three candidates, composed in alphabetical order of Mrs. Laura D'arrigo, Mr. Benjamin and Mrs. Lauren Lauren Nolan, in accordance with article 29 two of the UDA. We have invited the candidates before this committee to hear the statements and the replies to the questions posed by members and following this hearing, the European Parliament will adopt an opinion setting out its views on the best candidate for the Executive Director and submitted to the UDA Management Board. We will hear from each candidate separately in alphabetical order. Each of one of them will be with us for approximately 40 minutes. Against this backdrop, I will start by welcoming Mrs. Laura D'arrigo, whom I will shortly pass the floor for a maximum of seven minutes for an opening statement intervention. Your intervention will be followed by a session of questions and answers. The representatives of the political groups will have a maximum of two minutes to ask questions, and after each of these interventions, you will be able to reply also within two minutes. The same procedure will be followed for all three candidates. So, Mrs. D'arrigo, welcome to the committee and the floor is yours for the next seven minutes at least. Thank you.”
  Regulation of drug precursors in the EU
• “(17:22:17 – 17:23:03): Thank you. We will continue to develop that. Well, I, in my case, I would like to start with a question of my own. It's about the level of cooperation of platforms with law enforcement. I've been told quite often that unless police gets hold of the device and decrypt it, the level of cooperation and information that is offered by companies, even obviously under a judicial warrant, is very, very limited. So I would like your reaction on that.”
  Privacy & law enforcement
• “So we now move to, next, item on today's meeting, and it's an exchange of views on the impact of Islamic extremism on the European way of life. For this exchange, it is my pleasure to welcome mister Martin Schieffer, head of unit of counterterrorism, anti radicalization, and critical infrastructure at the home, Mister Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at the King's College in London, and mister Magnus, Randstorp, research director and associate professor of Swedish Defense University, who is joining us remotely. Today's debate should help us better understand current challenges, assess whether existing policy tools are adequate, and explore how the EU can continue to protect both the security of its citizens and the European way of life. So I look forward to a constructive discussion. Now give the floor to our speakers for 5 minutes each. After that, I will open the round of, q and a for representatives of each political group. And if time allows, I will open last round of question questions based on, catch the eye. So 1st, I will give the floor to mister Siffer from Digi Home. So, mister Siffer, the floor is yours for 5 minutes. Welcome.”
  EU policy on Islam
• “Well. Good morning, dear colleagues. Um, I think it's time for us to resume our session. Um, and then move to item 1811 on our agenda, which is the EU strategy for civil society. Um, this is a really important item. Um, let me remind you that the 12th of November, the European Commission adopted its communication on an EU strategy for Civil society, which aims to strengthen the contribution of civil society to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights across the Union. And as I said, this is a particularly relevant initiative for the work of this committee. We have repeatedly underlined the essential role played by civil society organisations in safeguarding EU values and ensuring accountability and participation in democratic life. Um, and as you will recall, the Commission already engaged with our committee during the preparation of this strategy, notably through an exchange of views held in Libe on the 23rd of September last year. The strategy focuses in particular on improving the structured dialogue between EU institutions and civil society, on safeguarding and open and enabling civic space, and ensuring sustainable funding for civil society organisations, including through the future EU budget. So we are therefore very pleased to welcome again today Mrs. Irina Usova with the Deputy Director General for justice Policies, Rule of Law and Equality in DG just who will present the EU strategy for Civil society and discuss its main priorities and next steps. So, Mrs. Masaba, welcome again to the committee. Thank you for your engagement with our committee. And, uh, you have the floor for your presentation for around ten minutes. Floor is yours.”
  EU engagement with civil society
• “Thank you, Mr. Farrugia. Now, Mr. Member of the Dutch Senate, let me remind you that there is a long list of speakers. So we will have to be quite strict in the, in the, in the time that you use in your intervention. So please try to keep it within the allocated time. Mr..”
  EU political integration
• “Early warnings it is feasible. It is legally possible within a sound and proportionate legal architecture with a strong set of safeguards. Targeted actions. Clear limits. Unaccountable technologies. We should uphold the fundamental rights of children, their dignity, their moral integrity, their right to be protected, the right to be assisted and supported. Protection of children is not an option. It is a primary obligation, and we as legislators have the opportunity under duty to deliver the legislation that is under negotiations now, and the new proposals that we expect to be put forward by the Commission should make a real difference as a comprehensive approach to children protection, both online and offline as a truly European framework of integral protection, in which national responsibilities are effectively articulated and reinforced with stronger cooperation mechanisms at union level. So let me state in the strongest possible way that protecting children is not chat control. I find it absolutely regrettable and seriously misleading to speak about measures to protect children in such a dismissive and untrue way. But there might be some who advocate for the digital space with no rules, no limits and no responsibility, where hate speech spreads freely, where racism and threats go unchecked all in the name of freedom. Certainly that is not my option and not that of the EPP. Children deserve protection. The protection that law can and should provide. They do not deserve to turn our commitment into a political battlefield in confrontation driven by ideological prejudice or partisan political interests. Let us move beyond slogans and fear. Let us work together and deliver on our responsibility. Compelled by the suffering of victims and survivors and driven by our duty as legislators. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Excuse me, Mrs. Rodina. I hate to interrupt the speakers, but, uh, again, you should speak more slowly to facilitate the work of both interpreters. Yeah.”
  Multilingualism in EU institutions
• “So the mission for their comments, um, in principle, only groups that have been represented in the mission are to be to be kept. So, um, I will start by the, uh. Principle and then for the second round.”
  EU political integration
• “Well. Welcome again, dear friends. We resume the session of the of the committee. Moving on to item number five. Which is an exchange of views on child friendly justice and criminal matters. Children as victims, witnesses and offenders. Let me highlight the fact that this exchange of views takes place while we are in full negotiation with the Council of a. Request of the Victims Rights Directive, and certainly the rights of children vis a vis their involvement in in judicial proceedings and as victims are of a paramount importance. Every year, around 2.5 million children participate in judicial proceedings in the European Union. And we all understand that for each child, this can be a very stressful and even harmful experience, whether they are participating in criminal proceedings, be it as a victim, witness or offender. Due to children's especially vulnerable position, the EU and international organisations such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe are working to develop child friendly justice systems. Child friendly justice systems guarantee the highest possible degree of respect for and implementation of children's rights, while taking into account the child maturity and the circumstances of the case. However, the practices regarding children's participation in criminal proceedings vary considerably across and within Member States. The purpose of this exchange of views is to identify barriers, gaps, and weaknesses in judicial procedures and to discuss this topic.”
  EU policy on criminal justice
• “Good afternoon, my dear colleagues and dear guests. We resume the session. And the first point is the adoption of the agenda. If there are no objections to the draft agenda that has been circulated, the agenda is adopted. Interpretation is provided in all languages except Latvian and Irish. Item number 2.2 of the Committee on Nomination of Rapporteurs. I'd like to inform that Mrs. Anna Vasconcellos from renew Group has been appointed as rapporteur for the file opinion on the proposal for a regulation on digital networks. On item number four, the adoption of minutes, the minutes of the 13th of May and 14th of 15 of July 2025 are there. If there are no objections, those minutes are approved. And now we move to item number five on our agenda. And it is with pleasure that today we host a public hearing on the European Citizen Initiative on ban on conversion Practices in the European Union. The public hearing is organized with the involvement of the Committee of Petitions and with the participation of the Committee on Gender Equality and Women's Rights. The vice chair of the committee will be co-chairing this event with me. And the chair of the committee will be with us during the public hearing and also will intervene. The public hearing takes place in the context of a European Citizens initiative.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Now, as the chairman of this mission, I'd like to echo and fully subscribe to what the president of the monitoring Group of the Rule of Law, said There is Mrs. Sylvia Wilmot. I would like to say that, uh, those who developed this visit, I'd like to confirm how that we really could only have, uh, we had many contacts we took advantage of every minute, and especially the meeting we had with the Prime Minister. And I'd also like to say is what this mission really showed and highlighted is that, uh, we've really seen the challenges that the rule of law, uh, is faced with throughout the EU. Slovakia is one case and really shows the challenges that we must rise to, not only in Slovakia, but in the constant No monitoring of rule of law, pluralism in the media and civil society. The legal framework and means to fight corruption, as well as judicial independence, and the role of the judicial authority in judicial systems in the EU. And how challenged these are. There's a true weakening of the rule of Parliament. Which has come about through various measures. Systematic application of emergency procedures. And, uh. Uh, trying to bypass the role that stakeholders should be playing in the legislative processes. This being said, I think that. This mission really. Was successful in showing how this committee is meeting its responsibilities and monitoring the rule of law and how it is carried out and applied. And it is very important for dialogue that we have detected between the Commission, as guardian of the treaty and the Slovak authorities, to continue in a productive way.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “And now I give the floor back to the organizers and the and the and the European Commission. I will start by giving the floor to the European Commission to address the questions that have been addressed to you directly. Yes, please. Two minutes.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “Thank you, Mr. Charles. Now, um, for the group of the left. Mrs. Charles, you're not taking the floor. Okay, then we, uh, close. We conclude this round of speakers, and, uh, thank you, Mrs. Charles, for your inputs. And go to the intervention of Mr. Perkowski from DG connect, who will address this topic, especially from the European Media Freedom Act implemented angle. And I would also ask you to present the Commission plans to protect citizens, particularly journalists and civil society, from surveillance and to preserve press freedom and the right to privacy. So, Mr. Zukauskas, the floor is yours for seven minutes.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “But you—you—you took the decision yesterday in Parliament. The majority took the decision yesterday.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you, Mrs. Kirtle. And now we start the round of political groups with questions from each of them for a maximum of two minutes. And each intervention will be immediately followed by a maximum of two minutes. Reply by our guest speakers. Please indicate to whom of them you addressed your question. Um, we start with EPP. Ana Miguel. Pedro. Floor is yours. Two minutes.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “44. That should be 44. Yeah. Yes. 44. So we vote on amendment 44. Vote is open. Vote is closed and is being rejected. Amendment 18, vote is open. Vote is closed. And it is rejected. Amendment 45 vote is open. But is now Closed and it is rejected. Amendment. And now we move to a compromise amendment for vote is open. It's now closed. And it is adopted. Then we move to the final vote is a roll call. Vote. Vote is open. And it is now closed. And it is rejected. And it is rejected. So I mean, there can be no vote on the. Well, we will inform the members of the next steps to follow. We will inform members of the next steps to follow on this on this file. And then if there is no other business, I just have to announce the date of our next meeting, which will be on the 18th and 19th of March. The session is concluded.”
  EU political integration
• “Don't forget your cards and we proceed to the vote. I see that we have for the quorum required quorum of 19 members. And before we proceed to the votes, I would like to inform you that the following non-Labor members will participate in today's vote for EPP. Christoph Gomaa will replace Nadine Morano, Sergio Humberto will replace Ana Miguel Pedro and Jüri Ratas will replace Alice Teodorescu and Nora Mebarek will replace Muriel Lorant, and we have no other indication of any other replacement in any other group. Is that the case? There are any other.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “Thank you, Miss Basilio. We have just had a hearing precisely on the issue of the recruitment of minors by organised crime. And we are all aware of the scale of the seriousness of this problem. Um, now, um, I'm giving the floor for further remarks on this matter to Mrs. Juliet.”
  EU policy on criminal justice
• “Madam president, yesterday in this chamber, we listened to the heartbreaking testimony of a mother whose daughter, Coco, fell victim of online bullying. Heartbreaking testimony indeed, but also challenging to us as legislators. What are we going to do about it? What do we intend to do about it? Because right now, there are thousands of children going through the same torture that Coco suffered children in isolation, in distress, in fear, who are being harassed, extorted, humiliated, bullied and abused children whose images as victims are being disseminated online. This is happening now in homes that are no longer the safe environment we think they are. When sexual predators, bullies or even criminal organizations break into them through digital doors. Child sexual abuse. Online radicalization of minors. Online recruitment by organized crime online. Europol reports show that terrorist actors, organized crime groups and online communities involved in child exploitation increasingly operate in the same digital spaces. As a result, minors can be targeted simultaneously for grooming, manipulation, criminal purposes and radicalization. So the situation of children in the digital space in terms of risks and threats is deteriorating seriously. And we need a whole of society approach with a strong commitment and involvement of governments, industry and platforms, law enforcement, civil society and legislators. This is a simple principle that we have to translate into truly enforceable legislation. But illegal offline should be illegal online. Unfortunately, the gap is here and the gap is widening and the whole thing starts with prevention. I find it really extraordinary, to say the least, that while we discuss about children's protection online. There is no effective procedure of aid verification in place yet. Yes. Prevention requires detection of illegal content. Content removal according to the law.”
  Privacy & detection of online child abuse
• “Moreover, the Libe Committee adopted its report on the Directive on Combating Corruption and decided to enter into institutional negotiations as confirmed by the plenary. We are also following closely the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act, the anti-SLAPP Directive and Artificial Intelligence Act adopted last year, and which have a significant significant impact on the area of rule of law. I would also like to recall two public hearings held in our committee this year, one on the implementation of the Citizens Equality, Rights and Values programme, and another one on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the European Union. Furthermore, the democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Working Group of the Libe Committee has been continuously monitoring the situation of rule of law, both in specific member states and horizontally at EU level. Within the past year, meetings focused on Malta, Slovakia, Poland, Greece, Bulgaria and Spain. Other meetings were dedicated to topics such as the fight against corruption, anti-Semitism, the implementation of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, and the rule of law. Conditionality mechanism. A mission to Bulgaria took place in the autumn of 2023 to monitor the rule of law situation in that country. To conclude, the European Parliament, and particularly the Libe Committee, remains committed to upholding and strengthening strengthening the rule of law across the European Union and beyond.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you, Madam Guala, for your speech. You will later have the opportunity to exchange opinions with the representatives of the group. Neva, who is the expert on rights of people with disabilities in the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and who will present the FRA recent report on fundamental rights protection of persons with disabilities in institutions. Mrs. Penneva, again you have the floor for five minutes. Thank you.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Well, first, you should have requested the authorisation of the chair to distribute this Is material, it shouldn't be distributed. I'm not saying the parliament, but certainly not in this room. So I would request the ushers to collect this material and remove it from the committee room. Thank you. And now we proceed. And now we proceed with point number 12 on our agenda, which is the exchange of views on the use of intrusive spyware and the need for a European response. At the beginning of the of this year, there have been revelations by messaging company WhatsApp that a number of journalists and civil society members were reportedly targeted by spyware developed by Paragon Solutions, a company that builds hacking software. Paragon spyware is used by government clients to access encrypted messages from apps like WhatsApp and signal. Whatsapp confirmed that it detected a potential breach and expressed confidence that the devices of several individuals were compromised. While it remains unclear who ordered the attacks, WhatsApp has taken legal action against Paragon and notified the victims. The spyware is believed to operate through a zero click attack, and was allegedly delivered by a malicious PDF sent to users added to group chats. Today we have three speakers with us coming from Mehta, from the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Citizen Lab and from the European Commission.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “(16:54:32 – 16:54:34): Thank you. Professor Neumann. **Peter Neumann (King’s College London): (16:54:35 – 16:58:01): Thank you. I wanna, respond to that question and also to your question about who's best, which country is best. But 1st, about, online content. Just, a personal comment from my own experience. I've been studying this subject for, 20 years. And until ISIS came along, and I've been to Silicon Valley, I've spoken to all the big social media platform. Until ISIS came along, they all were saying it's impossible to regulate the Internet. Not only that it's undesirable or that it's politically difficult, they said it's impossible. It doesn't work. We don't know how to do it. It's technically impossible. Then ISIS came along and a lot of political pressure happened and suddenly it became possible. Suddenly in 02/1314, if you were a jihadist, your Facebook profile would be down very, very quickly. And then Christchurch happened, the attack on the 2 mosques in New Zealand in 2019. And after that, the big social media platforms went after right wing extremist content as well, again, because of political pressure. And so I do think that these companies are extremely responsive to political pressure, and I think you should keep it up. I think you should make it clear that it is important and that it is necessary. I think the European Union at this point in time is very reluctant for geopolitical reasons, which don't have anything necessarily to do with terrorist content per se. But I do think that something will happen if the political pressure is so great that these companies feel that they have to act. Unfortunately, unless that happens, I think, I'm I'm quite pessimistic about the scope of action you will see from these platforms. Now to your question of what country does it best, I've been thinking about this question for a very long time. And I should say it's not my country, and it's not a it's not a country that I'm actually receiving money from. So I'm completely independent here, and I think it is The Netherlands. If you look at The Netherlands, this is a country which for 25 years has had a lot of radicalization to deal with. It's not that there were no networks. It's not that no Dutch people went to Syria. It's no it's not that no Dutch people supported ISIS. There was a lot of support. Yet, of all the countries in Western Europe, France, Germany, Belgium, etcetera, of all the countries that were affected by this, actually nothing happened in The Netherlands. All the people were arrested and prevention works very well. And I think that's because for over 20 years, they've collected a lot of experience. The agencies are working extremely well together, and they have an extremely sophisticated prevention landscape, which is not just about money, which is also about expertise and competency. And I think that this is not often not often enough given enough recognition to because Netherlands, on the face of it, if you just look at the numbers and people radicalize, you would expect quite a few terrorist attacks to happen. But the last actual jihadist terrorist attack in, The Netherlands happened in 2004. Nothing since. And so I think based on that, I would say they must be doing something right. Whether they are the best, I do not know, but they certainly do a lot of things, very well.”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• “The European Citizens Initiative Regulation states that organisers shall be given the opportunity to present the initiative at a public hearing held by the European Parliament, and that the Commission shall be represented. This is why Commissioner for equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management was invited. She had confirmed her participation, however, due to an urgent meeting. Fully understandable given the current situation, she had to cancel at short notice. She will be replaced by the Deputy Director General from DG Justice and Consumers, Mrs. Irena Maxova. The present ECI initiative was submitted to the Commission on the 17th of November 2025. It obtained 1,100,000 and 128,063 statements of support and reached the minimum threshold in 11 Member states. I hope I got. I hope I got the, the the the figures properly read. The Commission has now, until the 18th of March, 2026, to adopt its answer to the initiative under the form of a communication setting out its legal and political conclusions. The action or actions it intends to take, if any, and the reasons for taking or not taking action. The AISI calls on the European Commission to propose a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union, which are interventions aimed at changing, repressing or suppressing the sensual sexual orientation, gender identity, and or gender expression of LGBTQ plus persons.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Thank you Missus Gregory, Executive Director of the European Agency for Asylum. We do thank you for your presentation and also look forward to the presentation by the Commission on the fifteenth of October of the Asylum and Migration Report that will initiate the first annual migration management cycle. Thank you. ***7. The Roma situation in Slovakia and in other EU Member States: eligibility criteria and efficient implementation of the European funds (Exchange of views)”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Thank you, Mr. Casa. Let me remind you that Every member of the panel will have two minutes each to answer to that. So, um, we will start by the representative of the commission who has been addressed a direct question, and then we go back to members, the other members of the panel. Mr.. Mrs.. Nicolai.”
• “On behalf of the committee. I am pleased to open today's hearing on the European Citizens Initiative. This hearing represents a concrete exercise in participatory democracy, a direct expression of European citizens shaping EU policy through a bottom up initiative in line with the treaties and the provisions governing the European Citizens Initiative. The European Parliament provides organisers with the opportunity to present their proposals as a committee. We pay particular attention to the fundamental rights aspects of this initiative. The proposal brought forward today raises important questions about how EU cohesion policy can more effectively support the needs of diverse regions. Cohesion and diversity are two words that sound good when put together in the European Union. Union in diversity. And this initiative shows that both can go hand in hand. This is an extremely valuable debate, and thus we look forward to hearing the views of the organisers, as well as engaging in a constructive dialogue with our colleagues and with the European Commission. And now I will invite my colleague, Mrs. Miller, chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, to address her opening remarks. Mrs.. Well.”
  EU engagement with citizens
• “(16:20:00 – 16:20:21): Thank you, mister Randstalk. So following the presentation, 3 speakers. I'm sure there are plenty of issues that political groups representatives would like to raise. So we'll start around by, EPP. Mister Tobe, you have 1 and a half minutes.”
  EU political integration
• “For the S and D group, Mister Lopez Aguilar, floor is yours. **Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR (Spain, S&D): Thanks again Chair and of course I appreciate you panelists being involved in this sensitive issue which is much too unconcerned. You don't need to be a Roma to stand for Roma inclusion, to stand for Roma accession to full joy of the fundamental rights protected by the Charter just like every other EU citizen. I'm only sorry that this mandate is the first time in twenty-five years in which we do not have the distinguished Roma community MEPs that we've had in many political groups in a variety of political groups including mine. But in any case, I would like to address a question to the Commission. The thing is that this appalling situation of the Roma community in Slovakia is not the only fundamental rights factor, rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights factor in Slovakia regrettably so. Just the past plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, there was a very intended point precisely on the matter of what's going on in Slovakia. And the thing is that it only shows that money invested is not producing a better degree of Roma community accession, Roma community inclusion, Roma community integration. It only shows on the contrary, as we heard from Mrs. Rabanova, that there's an increasing level of concern as to the actual implementation of EU funds for that purpose.”
  Engagement of Romani communities in Europe
• “We, move on to, another union support, in this case for the Sengen area. So, this is, again, a draft report. And the report concerns union support for the Schengen Area For European Integrated Border Management, for the common policy on visas for the period 2028, '20, '32, which also forms part of the multi annual financial framework. The rapporteur is mister Carlo Resler, but I understand that, he will be replaced by mister Radif in addressing the, the committee. So, mister Radev, the floor is yours for 5 minutes. Thank”
  Enlargement of Schengen area
• “The organizers of the ECI are here to illustrate further the reasons and requests made through this initiative. I would like to remind you that Libya had commissioned a study on conversion practices on LGBT+ people in 2023. In June 2025, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the Commission's 2024 Rule of Law report, which urged, and I quote, the Commission to present a proposal for a binding EU ban on conversion practices in all member States. End of quote. And last week, the committee has adopted its report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2024 and 2025. That again urges the Commission to present a proposal for a legal act on an EU ban on conversion practices in all member states. So, as you can see from the programme, we have a very tight agenda in front of us today and I kindly ask all participants to respect the foreseen timing. So I now give the floor to Mrs. Cristina Aguada, Vice Chair of the Committee on Petitions. Dear Mrs. Guarda, you have the floor for your welcoming remarks on behalf of Peti for two minutes. Thank you.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “The European Citizens Initiative Regulation states that organisers shall be given the opportunity to present the initiative at a public hearing held by the European Parliament, and that the Commission shall be represented. This is why Commissioner for equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management was invited. She had confirmed her participation, however, due to an urgent meeting. Fully understandable given the current situation, she had to cancel at short notice. She will be replaced by the Deputy Director General from DG Justice and Consumers, Mrs. Irena Maxova. The present ECI initiative was submitted to the Commission on the 17th of November 2025. It obtained 1,100,000 and 128,063 statements of support and reached the minimum threshold in 11 Member states. I hope I got. I hope I got the, the the the figures properly read. The Commission has now, until the 18th of March, 2026, to adopt its answer to the initiative under the form of a communication setting out its legal and political conclusions. The action or actions it intends to take, if any, and the reasons for taking or not taking action. The AISI calls on the European Commission to propose a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union, which are interventions aimed at changing, repressing or suppressing the sensual sexual orientation, gender identity, and or gender expression of LGBTQ plus persons.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Thank you so much, Mr. Garguilo. And now. Now, give the floor to the chair of the Committee of Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Mrs. Lina Galvez Munoz, to intervene on behalf of the Femm Committee. Mr. Galvez, you have the floor for two minutes.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you, Mr. Situation. I'm a member of the panel, but I've been, uh, addressed a a question. Well, as chair of the Libe committee and very proudly so, I am of course, responsible and I try to do my best in order for this committee to comply and carry out its constitutional obligations. Um, we are lucky that Libya is not the last ditch, uh, in the defense and preserving the rule of law in the European Union, but everything that can be done, um, as far as I'm concerned, I'll try to, to get it done along with the groups and the members of this, of this committee. Thank you. And now, uh, the floor goes to Mr. Ulrich from Mr.. Eric, I know you're not taking the floor. Okay, then. Um. I have no other speakers list, so we conclude the panel. This second panel here we do. Thank you, our guest speakers, for their contributions in this this crucial matter. And be sure that we continue to follow up on this particularly important issue. Thank you. And now, um, we will have a break until noon, uh, to resume our session on item number five in our agenda, uh, on child friendly justice and criminal matters. Thank you. ***5. Exchange of views on Child-Friendly Justice in Criminal Matters - Children as Victims, Witnesses and Offenders - Despina VASSILIADOU, Head of Unit in the European Commission (JUST A5) - Anne-Laure BAULIEU, Senior Project Officer in the Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe (via remote connection) - Cédric FOUSSARD, Child Justice Expert and Visiting Professor in Children’s Justice from Manchester Metropolitan University (via remote connection)”
  EU policy on victims' compensation rights
• “(16:08:23 – 16:08:30): Thank you. Thank you, mister Schafer. Now, mister Neumann, floor is yours for 5 minutes. Excellent. **Peter Neumann (King’s College London): (16:08:31 – 16:14:19): Well, thank you, chair. I will focus my 5 minutes, on Islamist extremist, terrorism and radicalization. I know my colleague, Magnus Randstorp, who speaks after me, will also talk about other aspects. Broadly speaking, in Europe, we have had 2 waves of jihadist or Islamist terrorism. We had 1 in the 2 thousands, which was kicked off by the 9 11 attacks in The United States. Then towards the middle of the decade, we had big terrorist ist attacks in London, in Madrid. And then towards the end of the decade, it sort of tailed off. And I remember very well in 02/1011, a lot of experts, including myself, thought this was it. It's over. It's never gonna come come back. But then shortly afterwards, the Syrian conflict started, and yet again, we had a jihadist wave of about 10 years. In the middle of the decade, again, we had the peak of that wave with terrorist attacks in Brussels, in Paris, in Stockholm, in Nice, in Manchester, in London, in Berlin, in Barcelona, etcetera. And then towards the end of the February, a lot of people convinced themselves, that's it. It's over. And I remember during the pandemic, a lot of people saying, it's essentially the end of it. So we had 2 kind of sick cyclical motions in February, February, and I believe that we may be seeing another 1. And the decisive event is not as in the 1st wave of 09/11, not as in the 2nd wave of the Syrian conflict. It may actually be the terrorist massacre on 10/07/2023 in Israel, which basically essentially galvanized a wave of radicalization in Europe. And indeed, we've seen a lot of attempted attacks attacks across Europe in the years that followed. In the in the year after 10/07/2023, we've seen 25 attempted jihadist attacks across Europe alone with the biggest 1 in Zorlingen in August 2023. Now maybe this is going to become a wave, maybe it isn't. What is clear, however, that is that if it is going to become a wave, it is going to be quite different from the previous waves. The previous waves were described essentially by terrorist groups, Al Qaeda in the 1st wave, ISIS in the 2nd wave. Now we don't have anything comparable to that. We don't have a big transnational terrorist Islamist organization which is organizing everything. What we're seeing a lot is, self radicalization on the Internet. The Internet more than even in the last wave is the driver of mobilization. And what we're seeing is that big social media platforms are basically pushing people into filter filter bubbles, and then the operational planning happens in closed chat groups, especially on Telegram. I agree with the previous speaker that more than before, we're seeing minors, teenagers, very young teenagers sometimes becoming radicalized. I would say it's even more than a 3rd. It's probably more than half of the terrorism suspects which have been arrested since 2023, which have been essentially teenagers. So we have different demographics. We have an even more even more prominent role of the Internet. And as a consequence of that, we also have faster radicalization trajectories. People radicalization processes that used to take months, in some cases years, now sometimes happen within weeks. And what we also see is that rather than people radicalizing into an ideology before they radicalize into violence, they radicalize straight into what they considered to be jihad. So in a sense, this is actually much more risky and much more dangerous than previous waves of terrorism. And in that sense, I think it deserves our our attention. And if that wasn't bad enough, we also have a different an entirely different aspect of Islamist radicalization to deal with, Islamist terrorism, which is quite separate from the Salafi jihadist radicalization that we have gotten used to over the past 20 years, which is a state sponsored or state enabled terrorism, especially by Iran. We have seen in the months of March and April this year, 18 attacks by a group called Haiyi, which stands for Islamic Movement of the Righteous, which is widely thought to be enabled by the Iranian revolutionary guards via Shiite groups in Iraq. This is very different from the teenagers that radicalized online. Here are people who are being used as proxies, who are being used, to carry out terrorist attack, essentially often being found in criminal milieu and often being paid for it. This is quite different, and this is a threat that we also have to pay attention to. It is essentially terrorism as a service. So I would conclude by saying that, the threat from Islamist extremist terrorism is, there as ever. It hasn't stopped, but it comes in 2 forms with both challenges. In 1st, in the form of the Internet enabled, very young people's jihadism, the lone wolf type jihadism that we see, but also and importantly as a form of state sponsored or state enabled terrorism. Thank you.”
  EU policy on Islam
• “Okay. Yes. You're a substitute member, so you don't need to. It's only for non-labor members. But thank you for the. Thank you for the information. Um, okay, so we can now proceed to the vote for the first file. Uh, enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection, and investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. And on enhancing Europol support to preventing and combating such crimes. Amendment regulation EU 2,016.94. So, uh. We are all ready for that. What's my vote in this? We start with amendment uh, 50 and 51. No, but I will read it right now. Yeah. Yeah. At the end”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “44. That should be 44. Yeah. Yes. 44. So we vote on amendment 44. Vote is open. Vote is closed and is being rejected. Amendment 18, vote is open. Vote is closed. And it is rejected. Amendment 45 vote is open. But is now Closed and it is rejected. Amendment. And now we move to a compromise amendment for vote is open. It's now closed. And it is adopted. Then we move to the final vote is a roll call. Vote. Vote is open. And it is now closed. And it is rejected. And it is rejected. So I mean, there can be no vote on the. Well, we will inform the members of the next steps to follow. We will inform members of the next steps to follow on this on this file. And then if there is no other business, I just have to announce the date of our next meeting, which will be on the 18th and 19th of March. The session is concluded.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. Um, I don't see any speaker from the group of the left or ESM either. And then, um, we thank you. We thank our speakers for their contributions. As, um, Mrs. Vassiliou has just said, negotiations on the new, um, victims rights directive, um, are ongoing. Um, and, uh, as the parliament, we will try to do our best to enlarge and strengthen the rights of victims and of course, with the particularly, um, attention attached to, uh, to children. Um. Thank you. Here concludes this exchange of views. Um, as I understand, there is no other business. The date of the next meeting will be on the 23rd of June, from 15 to 1830 here in Brussels, and the 24th of June from 930 to um 13. And from 1430 to 1630 here in Brussels. Thank you. The session is closed. Thank you.”
  EU policy on victims' compensation rights
• “Thank you. We have to conclude this item on our agenda here. We really welcome your contributions and your presentations and information you have provided. As I said at the beginning of this discussion, the committee has been very actively involved in the discussion of the own initiative report by the Parliament and as far as the LIBE committee is concerned and in the areas of our competence, we will be following up very closely the announced enhanced strategy for the rights of persons with disability up to 2030 that has been announced by the Commission in its work program. Thank you very much. We conclude this point and also we conclude the meeting of our committee. I believe a committee there, I understand no other business. So the date of the next meeting of our committee would be on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh of January and now we will hold the joint ECON MB LIBE committee on consideration of the draft report omnibus four. So thank you, thank you very much. We conclude here our discussion.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “The organizers of the ECI are here to illustrate further the reasons and requests made through this initiative. I would like to remind you that Libya had commissioned a study on conversion practices on LGBT+ people in 2023. In June 2025, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the Commission's 2024 Rule of Law report, which urged, and I quote, the Commission to present a proposal for a binding EU ban on conversion practices in all member States. End of quote. And last week, the committee has adopted its report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2024 and 2025. That again urges the Commission to present a proposal for a legal act on an EU ban on conversion practices in all member states. So, as you can see from the programme, we have a very tight agenda in front of us today and I kindly ask all participants to respect the foreseen timing. So I now give the floor to Mrs. Cristina Aguada, Vice Chair of the Committee on Petitions. Dear Mrs. Guarda, you have the floor for your welcoming remarks on behalf of Peti for two minutes. Thank you.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Well, your colleagues, we're going to proceed to the vote. First, I would like to announce that the following Non-liver members will participate in today's vote. For the EPP, Mr. Francois-Xavier Bellamy is replaced by Antonio Lopez Isturiz. Mr. Matos Cunha is replaced by Mr. Sergio Alberto. Mrs. Morano is replaced by Mr. Delors. Quintano. Mr. Radev is replaced by Andrey Novakov. Not yet and Mr. Tomas is replaced by Mrs. Isabel Benjumea. The S&D Group Mrs. Anna Catharina mendes is replaced by Selena Gomez. Mr. Matthias Nemec is replaced by Jens Geier on the FB group. Mr. Jaroslav Björk is replaced by Tomas Couvin. Andras Laszlo is replaced by Jean-Paul Garat, and Susana Siccardi is replaced by Marie Brazier and the group Mr. Sirianni is replaced by Mr. Pichereau. There is no replacement in the new group. On the Greens Erik Marquart replaced. Is replaced by by Mrs. Catering and Mr. is replaced by David Cormand. In the group of the left Fernando Fernando Barina is replaced by Sebastian Everding. And in the same group Mrs. Seba Sajkowski is replaced by Alexander Jungbluth. Any other replacement that hasn't been notified yet? If that is not the case. Yeah.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “Thank you chair. Thank you Lena. I would also like to warmly welcome you all again in this joint committee meeting, which I have the pleasure to co-chair with my colleague. We have a single item in today's agenda, the consideration of amendments to the Libyan Feminine Report tabled by the Co-rapporteurs. Let me first thank the Co-rapporteurs, the shadows and all colleagues that have tabled amendments for their contribution. There are 386 amendments amendments tabled. The topic of this joint report is with any doubt of special relevance to our Committee and to the Parliament itself. There is a strong consensus in the Committee and the European Parliament that violence against women cannot be tolerated and that perpetrators must be brought to justice. As rape is a very serious crime. As the legislative committee with the competence on criminal legislation. This report is a and will be a major contribution to welcome discussion on how best to protect freedom against sexual aggressions. It should be self-evident that consent, or rather the absence of it, is a key element on the configuration of rape as a serious criminal offence. But we know that the definition of a consent based rape legislation raises some issues that need to be sorted out. That's precisely what is dealt with in this report. The fact that there is a variety of legal approaches and definitions of rape proves that. And moreover, we know that a faulty legislative approach in connection with other sex sexual offences might have unintended effects in terms of legal certainty and the punishment for perpetrators. So this is a complex political and legislative operation. And that's why this report may be such a will be such a useful contribution. So we are looking forward to hearing the main elements of the amendments and also the remarks by the Co-rapporteurs. Therefore, without further ado, I will pass the floor to the chair to start today's debate by giving the floor to the Co-rapporteurs. Thank you. Thank you Lina.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Failing to adopt this amendment on time could put in jeopardy the admissibility of evidence stored in those systems included. Including in the core International Crimes Evidence Database established by Eurojust. After I would propose to you to handle this file under the simplified. Procedure set out in rule 52, paragraph one. This rule allows us to take over the Commission's proposal without amendment. The Council on the other side has confirmed that it is taking the same approach, and will confirm this formally in the usual quarter per letter. If the Secretariat does not receive a qualified objection to this proposal by the end of our meeting today, we will consider the decision to adopt the text and the simplified procedure as approved. This decision will therefore give me the mandate to table a report to the September plenary taking over the Commission's proposals. Proposal as EPP position in the first reading. Council will be able to adopt its shortly afterwards for the next. For the text to be signed, published and entered into force between the 1st of December. So let me just note that with shadow rapporteurs, we were also concerned by those unfortunate developments leading to delays in setting up the new case management system. Therefore, we also decided to follow up with the commission on this concern. We will inquire on how in general such large IT projects, in particular those concerning ad agencies, are assessed in terms of requirements and impact assessment and how they are effectively carried out. We have very limited time, so we would like to close this item unless there are specific comments from any of the shadows of the shadow rapporteurs. As indeed EFA. Ecr I see no comments. Renew. Yeah. Yeah.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thornmann. Now we have some time for catch the eye. Any other member wishing to take the floor? Mister Lopez Aguilar. **Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR (Spain, S&D): Speak in Spanish today. I just wanted to remind you very briefly about what we had heard in the European Parliament after the announcement of the so-called omnibus package. If you remember, the fourth component would affect the European standard for data protection. We're very proud that it's the highest level of protection in the world but we were wondering whether these values which were spoken so highly of will be affected with the new changes. Now, the European data protection standard was established in 2017, came into force in 2018 and it was announced as a revolutionary event and would have no impact on SMEs. But given the additional requirements and the initiative burden, a lot more people fell under the blanket of the regulation than thought. Now, when looking at the fundamental rights, the protection of personal data, what's become clear is that none of the negative repercussions have actually been seen and broadly speaking the consequences have been positive and the investment made to increase competitiveness has not lowered EU standards, unlike AI issues which have caused a number of problems. So this initiative is being implemented at a time when the main technological businesses, the technological platforms and the Trump administration had infamously called upon the EU to lower their standards and their requirements. There were requirements which were applied to the technology multinationals and the impression I get is that this simplification is omnibus in an attempt to pacify Trump and others. Perhaps you could reassure me that we won't be undermining the values which we hold dear in the European Parliament.”
  GDPR
• “(17:49:00 – 17:49:23): Thank you, missus Strolenberg. And now I again, I will, now give the floor to mister Frante, head of the, funding coordination unit in the home for, his remarks. Just a couple of minutes, mister Franzse.”
  Asylum & border control
• “Thank you so much, Mr. Garguilo. And now. Now, give the floor to the chair of the Committee of Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Mrs. Lina Galvez Munoz, to intervene on behalf of the Femm Committee. Mr. Galvez, you have the floor for two minutes.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “(17:04:45 – 17:05:03): Thank you, mister Siffer. Well, we conclude this, item on agenda. We thank our speakers for their presentation, the information they provided, their exchange with the, with the members. I think it's been extremely interesting, discussion. So thanks again. Thank you. Thank you. ***Establishing the Union support for asylum, migration and integration for the period from 2028 to 2034 // Joint Working Group on the implementation and enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence Act”
  Asylum & border control
• “Thank you, Mr. Jamin. And I, there are no further political groups representatives in the room. We then conclude here our hearing of, uh, Mr. Jamin as shortlisted candidate, and we will move to our third candidate, Mrs. Lorraine Nolan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jamin.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “(15:00:38 – 15:01:04): work has had to be displayed. There is still negotiations undergoing in order to complete the legal framework of this new legal situation. And then we move after mister Ioannidis and mister Brunner's presentation, we move to the round of political groups starting with EPP, mister Tchaikovsky.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you very much. President. Vice president. Nobody can deny that in these 100 days. What's very clear are the huge challenges that the Commission is facing. Simplification, perhaps the least difficult one when you compare it with migration and defence and competitiveness. Now, obviously, we also need to negotiate a new MFF. That won't be easy and we'll need to take serious decisions about the funding of the EU. We also have significant concerns about the rule of law. Over the past few years, we have had to deal with the Trojan horse from the populist left through through Putin. And now we have the Trojan horse of the far right, the populist far right and the Trumpist far right in Europe. So it's not going to be easy. But Madam Vice President, for too long, too many member states have been spending and legislating without limits. We therefore need a strong commission, but not to the detriment of Parliament, but one that works together with Parliament to deal with these challenges that we all face. Thank you.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Okay let's move on we have the guests already coming first of all welcome to our speakers warm welcome to them when we start this new and final item in our agenda on the rights freedoms and remaining gaps in the protection of persons with disabilities in the EU. I'm happy to hold this exchange of views in the framework of the European Parliament Disability Week during the last Strasbourg session. You will recall that the European Parliament adopted ample own initiative report on the EU strategy for the rights of persons with disability post twenty twenty four to which we in Liebe contributed with an opinion led by Madame Keller. As you know the commission launched a strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities twenty twenty one two thousand and thirty on the third on March twenty twenty one lasting until two thousand and thirty. The majority of the flagship initiatives and actions have already been completed by the commission notably six out of seven of them accessible EU the European Disability Card and parking card guidance on independent living and inclusion in the community the disability employment package and the disability platform renewed commission human resources strategies. Notwithstanding this progress the European Court of Auditors and the EU UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have underlined that the practical impact of EU actions remains limited and fragmented. For this reason the European Parliament called on the commission to update the strategy for the remaining five years and to come forward with new flagship initiative proposals to address remaining challenges and gaps particularly regarding the access of persons with disabilities to employment social protection health care education housing and digital services but also those pertaining to the free movement of persons with disabilities and the mutual recognition of disability rights across the European Union. We took note of the commission commitment in twenty twenty six to work program for an initiative on enhancing the strategy for the rights of persons with disability up to two thousand and thirty. Against this background we are glad to be able to hold this exchange today in the context of the EP Disability Week twenty twenty five. We will be able to exchange views with representatives of the European Commission the European Disability Forum the UN CRPD and the Fundamental Rights Agency but before we proceed with the exchange and the previous presentations of our speakers we will watch the video by President Metzola on the European Parliament celebration of this disability rights week twenty twenty five and the European Parliament's initiatives on this matter. This is a short video a couple of minutes and then we will start with presentations and the exchange of views with our guests so let's watch the video.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Well, take your seats so we can start with our joint econ lib session on the consideration of the draft report. Um, let me welcome everyone to this joint committee meeting. Um, unfortunately, our colleague, Mr. Antonio de Caro, chair of the committee, is not able to attend today. And, uh, also, uh, the chair of the econ committee will be replaced by vice chair Mr. Arthur. We will hear today from the co-rapporteurs of the so-called omnibus for a simplification measures for small and mid-cap enterprises. So a warm welcome to the Co-rapporteurs, Mrs. Maria Teresa Baldini, Mr. Niels Hansen and Mr. Tomas Tobe. We will present the draft report on behalf of the co-rapporteur Mr. Lucas Mandel. Also welcome to the shadow rapporteurs of this joint file, as well as to our colleagues in the room from the opinion giving committees into and to the Commission representative. Now, our Co-rapporteurs will present a joint report on the so-called omnibus for um. One of the key measures in the proposal is to cut red tape for SMEs and smcs under GDPR. The regulation and the regulation, um, in the draft report, which was prepared jointly by the econ Lib and MB Co-rapporteurs, each co-rapporteurs focused on the parts of the proposal in their committee's remit. The rapporteur proposes amendments to the GDPR. Related parts of the proposal, and after the presentation of the draft report, the shadows and the Commission will be given the floor, followed by closing remarks by the rapporteur. So I now give the floor to my colleague. Mr.. Order.”
  Simplification measures (political compass)
• “(17:33:56 – 17:35:05): Missus Mendez, I wish you very good luck to you all in the upcoming discussion of this file. And let me inform you that the deadline for amendments has been set for Monday, June 2 at 5PM. We have concluded this point. ***Establishing the Union support for the Schengen area, for European integrated border management and for the common policy on visas for the period from 2028 to 2034”
  Asylum & border control
• “Now we move to point number five, um, on the combating corruption, replacing Council Framework decision and the convention on the Fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities and officials of member states of the European Union. Well, on March, on the 26th of March, I presided over the Parliament's negotiating team at the second trilogue on the proposal for a directive on combating corruption. Uh, the meeting which took place at council premises. And I would like to report back to you on the content of that meeting. First of all, I stressed to the Council that Parliament has entered these negotiations with very strong and broadly supported mandate. The fight against corruption is a shared goal on which we agree across political lines and on which we certainly have the support of the public. I therefore made it clear that we have to insist on key elements of Parliament's mandate, while of course also understanding that a balanced compromise must be struck. The second trilogue, several key issues were discussed, such as definitions of corruption offences, limits on amnesties and immunities in relation to those offences, penalties and limitation periods, and provisions on prevention of corruption. On those topics, The rapporteur and I defended Parliament's mandate. While no conclusions have yet been reached and further negotiations at the political level will certainly be needed on this file, the Council presidency listened to our arguments and showed willingness to work towards reaching a text acceptable to both co-legislators. I'm therefore optimistic that an agreement can be reached in due course. And now I'd like to give the floor to the EPP rapporteur, Mrs. Raquel Garcia van der Walt, for five minutes to elaborate further on the negotiations. Mr.. The floor is yours.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “The high number of participants also shows that the interest in the topic of rule of law remains steadily high. In the European Parliament, we find it important to sustain a continuous exchange of views with national parliamentarians to ensure that we remain focused on strengthening the rule of law as a core principle of the European Union and its Member States. Dear colleagues, now, please allow me to update you briefly on the work of the European Parliament and in particular the Libe Committee, in respect of the rule of law and the related monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. As you know, the Parliament has been asking since 2016 for a comprehensive and preventive mechanism mechanism in this field via an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, the so-called EU DRF pact. Following this call, we do acknowledge the Commission's continuous commitment by firstly introducing the report in 2020 and secondly, enhancing the relevance of the report throughout the years by including country specific recommendations and assessment of their fulfilment and most recently recently by expanding its scope to enlargement countries. Of course, we also welcome the commitment of Commissioner Maccraith to include the economic dimension of the rule of law in the upcoming annual report following the call from the Parliament. Nevertheless, the Parliament's call for an EU DRF pact still remains a key issue on the lib agenda.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “I'd merely like to add two things. Firstly, now this committee fully supports and defends its members, uh, in taking out their carrying out their functions and. Against any type of coercion or intolerable threats. And then I will conclude, I think, that in this mission we identified the serious points of worrying points about the rule of law in Slovakia. And to the extent that, as the co-chair, Mrs. Wilmoth said, we are not a court, but we want to try to symbolize, stimulate very strict dialogue between the EU authorities and the Slovak authorities to discuss these risks and dangers we've identified. Uh, to try to re-establish this rule of law. Thank you. ***LIBE mission to the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Vienna (Austria), 26-27 May 2025”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you Commissioner. What I can say about that is that we will go to the trialogues with a very strong mandate from the Parliament. All the political groups in the discussion of the original proposal by the Commission which was by the way problematic in areas all political groups finally supported the report of the Parliament and we will go to the trial logs with such strong mandate of the Parliament. Now I give the floor to, I mean ECR is the, I don't see any ECR speaker asking for the floor then Renew is anyone taking the floor from Renew? Missus Takhanova.”
  EU political integration
• “The debate will take place according to the following formula. The floor will be given alternately to two members of national Parliament and one parliament and one member of the European Parliament until the list of speakers is exhausted. Members of national parliaments wishing to intervene are kindly requested to fill in the speaking cards for requesting the floor in the current session, and hand them to the ushers, who will bring them to the podium. The speakers list will be created on the basis on the basis of this speaking cards, taking into account the order of the receiving. Meps are requested to raise their hands, that is usual in the committee meetings to be added to the speakers list. Speaking time should be maximum two minutes per intervention for members of the national parliaments, and 1.5 minutes for members of the European Parliament. And please note that depending on the number of participants wishing to intervene, it might be necessary to restrict the speaking time in order to ensure that all participants on the list can have the possibility to take the floor. And now I am very pleased to give the floor to Commissioner Michael McGrath, the Commissioner for democracy, justice and the Rule of Law at the European Commission, for a intervention in ten minutes. Commissioner McGrath, thank you for coming. And the floor is yours.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Today we have with us Mrs. Despina Vasileiadou, who is the head of the unit in the European Commission. We have Mrs. Ann Beaulieu, which is a senior project officer in the Children's Rights Division of the Council of Europe. She will be participating remotely. And, uh, Monsieur Cedric Viewsa, child justice expert and visiting professor in Children's Justice from Manchester Metropolitan University, who will also take part in the exchange of views remotely. So very welcome. A very warm welcome to you all. And, um, unfortunately, we should have had today with us, Mrs. Eva Coppock, the vice president of the European Parliament coordinator on children's rights. But, um, I mean, um, she is, um, sick and she hasn't been able to make it to the committee, so we wish her a very quick, healthy recovery. Um, the floor will first go to the representatives of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the Civil Society for the three presentations of seven minutes each. And after that I will give the. After that I will give the floor to the representatives of the political groups for the Q a session, as usual. So let's start with Mr. Despina Vasileiadou. Thanks for coming, Mrs. Vasileiadou. Welcome again. And the floor is yours for seven minutes. Thank you.”
  EU engagement with civil society
• “Thank you, Mrs. Masuda. And now I'll give the floor to the presidency of the Council and to the representatives of the European Economic and Social Council. Who is the rapporteur of the opinion on this initiative? Ban on conversion practices. But first I invite Mrs. Elena Ioannou from the Permanent Representation of Cyprus and the Council Presidency of the European Union, to take the floor for three minutes. Mrs. Ioannou floor is yours.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Thank you, Madam President, Commissioner. In the last 3 plenary sessions, we have spoken of threats and risks to children online. We've talked about child sexual abuse content, cyberbullying in our last session. And today, we're talking about the recruitment of children by organized crime. This shows that we have a serious structural problem with its accompanying risks and threats online. This is a structural problem. I must stress that. We know that the use of minors for criminal ends is the result of a trend of radicalization online, increased organized crime, and child exploitation. It's not just a question of security. We will have to look at protection and prevention as well. That means we have to talk about an integrated measure that involves all relevant authorities. Encrypted platforms, chat services, online platforms are used more and more often to entice vulnerable children, vulnerable children who are isolated perhaps. But there's also a question of gamification, whether criminal activity committed by young people is presented as a game as though they were the main player in a video game. We cannot allow a crime to become a permanent trap. We have to allow our children to be children, and we have to take measures now.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you very much. Maybe a misunderstanding: the Parliament yesterday, the LIBE committee agreed on the—we made the proposal but the—you agreed yesterday, not the Commission. You agreed yesterday.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Well, your colleagues, we're going to proceed to the vote. First, I would like to announce that the following Non-liver members will participate in today's vote. For the EPP, Mr. Francois-Xavier Bellamy is replaced by Antonio Lopez Isturiz. Mr. Matos Cunha is replaced by Mr. Sergio Alberto. Mrs. Morano is replaced by Mr. Delors. Quintano. Mr. Radev is replaced by Andrey Novakov. Not yet and Mr. Tomas is replaced by Mrs. Isabel Benjumea. The S&D Group Mrs. Anna Catharina mendes is replaced by Selena Gomez. Mr. Matthias Nemec is replaced by Jens Geier on the FB group. Mr. Jaroslav Björk is replaced by Tomas Couvin. Andras Laszlo is replaced by Jean-Paul Garat, and Susana Siccardi is replaced by Marie Brazier and the group Mr. Sirianni is replaced by Mr. Pichereau. There is no replacement in the new group. On the Greens Erik Marquart replaced. Is replaced by by Mrs. Catering and Mr. is replaced by David Cormand. In the group of the left Fernando Fernando Barina is replaced by Sebastian Everding. And in the same group Mrs. Seba Sajkowski is replaced by Alexander Jungbluth. Any other replacement that hasn't been notified yet? If that is not the case. Yeah.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “(15:58:47 – 16:01:52): Well, we conclude this item on our agenda. We thank, missus Stallus for her presentation and, her exchanges with, members. Thank you, missus Stallus. ***Impact of Islamic extremism on the European way of life (Exchange of views with: - Martin Schieffer, Head of Unit of Counter-terrorism, Anti-radicalisation, Critical Infrastructure, DG HOME, European Commission - Dr Peter Neumann, Professor of Security Studies, King’s College London - Dr Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director and Associate Professor, Swedish Defence University”
  EU policy on Islam
• “(15:00:25 – 15:00:38): Thank you, commissioner. Yes. The June 12 will mark a very important achievement for the European Union as a whole, but also a very important achievement for the Cyprus presidency. A”
  EU political integration
• “Now we move to item number seven on our agenda, which will include an exchange of views with Commissioner McGrath. Thank you.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “And now I give the floor back to the organizers and the and the and the European Commission. I will start by giving the floor to the European Commission to address the questions that have been addressed to you directly. Yes, please. Two minutes.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “Thank you. Um, now the floor should go to the group of the Greens, but I don't see, uh, Mr. or Mrs. Driver. Is that the case? Then we move on to the group of the left. Um. Apparently, my speakers list. I have Mr. Serrano and Mr. Barina. None of them are present, and ESM has no shadow rapporteur appointed. So now I will give the floor to the representative of the Commission, Mrs. Pradines. You have the floor for one minute. Mr. president, for resource.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions