ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
2.

Observes that, pursuant to Article 6 of the Directive, the majority of Member States have a procedure for giving the mediation settlement agreement the same authority as a judicial decision; notes that this is achieved either by submitting it to the court or by having the agreement notarised, and that it appears that some national legislatures have opted for the former solution, while, by contrast, in many Member States notarisation is also an available option under national law: for instance, whereas in Greece and Slovenia the law provides that a mediation agreement record may be enforced by the courts, in the Netherlands and in Germany agreements can be rendered enforceable as notarial acts, and in other Member States, including Austria, they can, as the law currently stands, be rendered enforceable as notarial acts despite the lack of any explicit provision to that effect in the relevant national legislation; calls on the Commission to ensure that all Member States that do not yet comply with Article 6 of the Directive do so without delay;
44.

Regrets that, since the elimination of the EU ’ s dedicated budget line in 2007, the EU has lacked an instrument that is flexible and multi-country in nature, responding coherently to mine action priorities, and that there is, in quantitative terms, a drop in overall EU funding for mine action; calls therefore for the restoration of a more dedicated approach, with one budget line under one lead directorate that will signal the strength of the EU’s continued commitment to mine action, which needs to take into account the specific needs of individual countries as laid down in Country Strategy Papers and, at the same time, the fact that in some countries the existence of landmines has become a structural issue and thus an issue for EU development policy;
3.

Expresses its full support for the National Transitional Council (NTC) in its challenging task of building up a new state representing all Libyans; welcomes the recent recognitions of the NTC and calls on all EU Member States and on the international community to follow suit; welcomes the fact that all UN Security Council permanent members, including most recently China, have recognised the NTC as the legitimate authority in Libya; urges all African Union countries to recognise the NTC; calls on the NTC to assume fully its responsibility for the security and well-being of the Libyan people, to act in a transparent manner and in full accordance with democratic principles as well as international humanitarian law; calls on the VP/HR, the Council and the Commission to further promote relations with the NTC and assist the new Libyan authorities in building a unified, democratic and pluralist Libya in which human rights, fundamental freedoms and justice will be guaranteed for all Libyan citizens as well as migrant workers and refugees;
7.

Notes that during the last meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, the Commission, as negotiator for the EU, supported the principle of the North American and Federated States of Micronesia’s proposals to phase down HFCs and to destroy HFC-23 produced as a by-product, and that at the last conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Cancun the EU put forward a proposal for a decision that commits Parties to pursuing agreement on this issue under the Montreal Protocol without prejudice to the scope of the UNFCCC;
9.

Points out that development aid is not in itself enough to eradicate poverty and that it should address its causes, rather than its symptoms; emphasizes the need for more effective aid as part of a development process which seeks to create, in recipient countries, strong, environmentally friendly economies in which access to basic social services is guaranteed for everyone and, ultimately, to reduce dependence on aid; stresses, in that connection, the importance of creating a climate conducive to decent work creation, entrepreneurship and innovation in recipient countries; encourages donors to exploit local economic capacities as a matter of priority and to take active steps to strengthen them;
64.

Urges the Commission and Member States to call on their national, regional and local authorities to design their roads in such a way that they do not present any hazards to motorised two-wheeled vehicles; points out that the standard guard rails used on European roads are a death trap for motorcyclists, and calls on the Member States to take prompt action (including replacing the existing guard rails) to refit dangerous stretches of road with rails with upper and lower elements as well as with other alternative road barrier systems, in accordance with Standard EN 1317, in order to lessen the repercussions of accidents for all road users; draws attention to the danger posed to motorcyclists by tarmac patches, which offer much less grip than the normal asphalt road surfaces;
14.

Is of the opinion that the principle of mutual recognition of licences in the gambling sector does not apply, but nevertheless, in keeping with internal market principles, insists, that Member States which open up the online gambling sector to competition for all or certain types of online gambling must ensure transparency and make non-discriminatory competition possible; suggests, in this instance, that Member States introduce a licensing model which makes it possible for European gambling providers meeting the conditions imposed by the host Member State to apply for a licence; licence application procedures, which reduce administrative burdens by avoiding the unnecessary duplication of requirements and controls carried out in other Member States, could be set up in those Member States that have implemented a licensing system, while ensuring the pre-eminent role of the regulator in the Member State in which the application has been submitted; takes the view, therefore, that mutual confidence among national regulators needs to be enhanced through closer administrative cooperation; respects, furthermore, the decision of some Member States to determine the number of operators, types and quantities of games on offer, in order to protect consumers and prevent crime, on condition that those restrictions are proportionate and reflect a concern to limit activities in that sector in a consistent and systematic manner;
6.

Welcomes the decision to retry doctors and nurses in civil courts but considers that all charges against them should be dropped, and calls on the civil courts to release the doctors and medical staff unconditionally and immediately, as they were acting in accordance with their professional duty and have been accused of tending to the medical needs of those who oppose the regime, as well as of serious criminal offences which seem to be of a political nature and for which credible evidence has not been put forward, as well as to release all other political activists, journalists, teachers, bloggers and human rights defenders due to the arbitrary nature of the charges and of the entire proceedings; expresses its strong concern about the life sentences handed down to at least eight opposition activists and at least 13 people who were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison;
D.

whereas the number of attacks on Christian communities has risen worldwide in 2010 as well as the number of trials and sentences to death for blasphemy, which often affect women; whereas statistics on religious freedom in recent years show that the majority of acts of religious violence are perpetrated against Christians, as indicated in the 2009 Report on Religious Freedom in the World prepared by the organisation ‘Aid to the Church in Need’; whereas in some cases the situation facing Christian communities is such as to endanger their future existence, and if they were to disappear, this would entail the loss of a significant part of the religious heritage of the countries concerned,
6.

Calls on the Commission, together with BEREC in cooperation with Member States, closely to monitor the development of traffic-management practices and interconnection agreements, in particular in relation to blocking and throttling of, or excessive pricing for, VoIP and file sharing, as well as anticompetitive behaviour and excessive degradation of quality, as required by the EU ‘Telecoms’ regulatory framework; calls further on the Commission to ensure that internet service providers do not block, discriminate against, impair or degrade the ability of any person to use a service to access, use, send, post, receive or offer any content, application or service of their choice, irrespective of source or target;
(am)

to continue to call for political and economic reforms in Ukraine that would lead to the modernisation of its infrastructures, notably in the energy and transport sectors; to help the business sector, most urgently through easier access to credit and land and simpler and faster processes for tax collection and customs, in particular by making noticeable improvements in the areas of refunding value-added tax to exporters, customs clearance and approval procedures for imports (particularly in respect of taxation, documentation requirements and product testing for certification); to remove red tape and corruption; to enforce the rule of law and democratic practices; to give consideration to lower transaction costs and secure procedures, in particular for SMEs, bearing in mind that this is a vital prerequisite for building commercial relationships; and to improve the law in the area of protection of material assets and intellectual property and more effective mechanisms for the vindication of rights and claims by businesses through the courts;
—

having regard to its resolutions of 25 September 2003 on the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Cancun (1), of 12 May 2005 on the assessment of the Doha Round following the WTO General Council Decision of 1 August 2004 (2), of 1 December 2005 on preparations for the sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong (3), of 23 March 2006 on the development impact of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) (4), of 4 April 2006 on the assessment of the Doha Round following the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong (5), of 1 June 2006‘on trade and poverty: designing trade policies to maximise trade’s contribution to poverty relief’ (6), of 7 September 2006 on the suspension of negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda (7), of 23 May 2007 on Economic Partnership Agreements (8), of 12 December 2007 on Economic Partnership Agreements (9), its position of 5 June 2008 on the proposal for a Council regulation applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011 and amending Regulations (EC) No 552/97, (EC) No 1933/2006 and Commission Regulations (EC) No 964/2007 and (EC) No 1100/2006 (10) and its resolution of 25 March 2009 on the Interim Partnership Agreement between the Pacific States, on the one part, and the European Community, on the other part (11),
20.

Reiterates its concern over the human rights situation in Russia and the lack of rule of law and an independent judiciary; expresses serious concern especially with regard to the case of Sergei Magnitsky, including the failure to punish those proven guilty of his death; takes note of the report released in July 2011 by President Medvedev’s Human Rights Council which provided evidence that Sergei Magnitsky’s arrest was unlawful and that his detention was marked by beatings and torture aimed at extracting a confession of guilt; notes that the US State Department, the UK Foreign Office and the Dutch Parliament decided in 2011 to impose visa bans on some 60 Russian officials believed to be connected to the death of Sergei Magnitsky as a result of the Russian authorities’ inaction;
27.

Regards the Rule of Law Initiative as a key component of cooperation with the states of Central Asia, and approves of the exemplary interaction between the EU and its Member States in implementing assistance projects; notes that there has been little interaction between the projects and local civil society and that greater interaction with civil society and improved access to information about the initiative for local civil society actors would enhance the visibility, transparency and accountability of its activities in line with the EU’s broader objectives for improving the Central Asia Strategy outlined in the joint progress report; underlines the need for the Rule of Law Platform project to include clear objectives and a transparent assessment of its implementation and results, while avoiding any reinforcement of the repressive components of security forces; stresses that proper implementation of the Initiative must be one of the key criteria in allocating aid and budgetary support;
25.

Considers that investing in methods leading to a reduction in food waste could result in a reduction in the losses incurred by agri-food businesses and, consequently, in a lowering of food prices, thus potentially also improving the access to food by poorer segments of the population; calls on the Commission to determine ways and means of better involving agri-food businesses, wholesale markets, shops, distribution chains, public and private caterers, restaurants, public administrations and NGOs in anti-waste practices; encourages for this purpose the use of the internet and new technologies; notes, in this context, the importance of setting up a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) for food focussed inter alia on preventing food wastage; calls on the Commission to ask the agri-food sector and stakeholders to assume their share of the responsibility for the food waste problem, in particular by providing a variety of portion sizes and thus to assess the benefits of offering more bulk food products and to take better account of single-person households in order to reduce food waste and thereby consumers’ carbon footprint;
45.

Emphasises once more the primordial importance of the formulation of strong EU common positions, in order to harness the collective weight of the EU and its Member States; takes note, in this light, of the development of the capacity of the Council Working Group on Human Rights (COHOM) and the efforts to identify key priorities as well as efforts to clarify the division of labour which will help developing cross regional outreach and collaboration and on lobbying all moderate States including between Geneva and New York; welcomes the de facto COHOM based in Brussels and the proposal to have a yearly meeting of the COHOM in Geneva; supports the efforts to put across ‘one message, with many voices’, but deplores the fact that the search for common ground too often leads to an acceptance of the lowest common denominator, particularly in final Council Conclusions and calls for bolder, more ambitious action; in this connection, encourages the EEAS, particularly the EU’s delegations in Geneva and New York, to increase its coherence, based on timely and substantive consultation, and the visibility of the EU’s action in order to enhance its credibility in the world;
3.

Believes that the final text improves in several points on the original text and that a number of the modifications proposed by Parliament have been incorporated, in particular: — an undertaking that the Community method will fully apply; — that stability, coordination and governance will be implemented via secondary legislation, fully involving Parliament; — greater, although incomplete, coherence between the ‘six pack’ and the new Treaty; — recognition of the rights of contracting parties whose currency is not the euro to take part in those parts of the euro summit meetings dealing with competitiveness, the global architecture of the euro area and the fundamental rules that will apply to it in future; — cooperation between the European Parliament and the national parliaments is foreseen on a mutually agreed basis and in accordance with the Treaty; — the addition of a reference to the objectives of sustainable growth, employment, competitiveness and social cohesion; — a commitment to incorporate the content of the Agreement into the EU legal framework within five years;
26.

Invites the Member States and the Commission, especially through the involvement of the EIGE where appropriate, to collect, analyse and disseminate data broken down by sex for the purpose of monitoring gender equality in decision-making in all sectors (public and private) and at all hierarchical levels and as a basis for further measures if the set targets are not met; calls on the Commission to continue to collect and disseminate comparable data at EU level through the use of its database on women and men in decision-making positions and to develop this observatory towards a European map of gender balance that includes the annual variations experienced at EU, state and regional levels with regard to gender balance, on the basis of common indicators; considers that this map should include, at least: — the objectives for promotion of gender balance, expressed as a percentage of representation, that are incorporated in the legislation of Member States and of European regions with legislative powers to regulate their electoral processes; — the percentages of representation of each sex in the European, state and regional parliaments and in local institutions; — the percentage of representation of each sex in the executive bodies elected or controlled by the above-mentioned legislative institutions;
11.

Demands the unconditional immediate release of all political prisoners; welcomes the EU Foreign Affairs Council decision of 23 January 2012 to broaden sanction criteria that pave the way for future designations of those responsible for serious human rights violations or for the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition in Belarus, and reiterates that there cannot be any progress on EU-Belarus dialogue without progress by Belarus towards democracy, human rights and rule of law, and until all political prisoners, including the two former presidential candidates Mikalai Statkevich and Andrei Sannikau, heads of the presidential campaigns of democratic opposition candidates Pavel Seviarynets and Dzmitry Bandarenka, and Syarhey Kavalenka, a political prisoner detained for alleged breach of house arrest, who has been on a prolonged hunger strike which has led to a critical deterioration in his health and is directly threatening his life, are unconditionally released and their civil rights fully reinstated;
6.

Is seriously concerned about the developments in north Kosovo in the second part of 2011, and in particular the violence resulting from the July incidents and the subsequent attacks against the international forces of KFOR; condemns such actions, reminds the Serbian Government of its obligation to do everything in its power to prevent them, reiterates that only continuous political efforts in good faith and negotiated, pragmatic and sustainable solutions within the framework of the EU-mediated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue can permanently eliminate the tensions in the region and recalls the vital significance of a stable majority-minority relationship, based on mutual respect; welcomes, in this regard, the agreements reached on freedom of movement and Kosovo’s participation in regional organisations, and calls on the Serbian Government to move forward with their full implementation, and without delay; welcomes the regular flow of goods that has been enabled by the acceptance of the customs stamps, the technical protocol on implementation of the agreement on integrated border management, the beginning of delivery to EULEX of civil registry books taken from Kosovo by Serbian authorities and the start of the implementation of the agreement on freedom of movement on 26 December 2011, as the first positive steps in the implementation of agreements; welcomes the statements by President Tadić on the necessity of dismantling the barricades, followed by their partial removal; calls on political leaders to adopt a constructive discourse in order not to endanger the implementation of the agreements reached and the ongoing negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo; recalls that free movement of people, goods, ideas, services and capital is a fundamental value in the EU and calls on the Serbian authorities to encourage the permanent removal of the remaining barricades, allowing free access to and passage through the crossing points and facilitating the cooperation of EULEX with the Kosovo Serbs to enable EULEX and KFOR to fully execute their mandates; welcomes in this regard the removal of the two remaining roadblocks on the Serbian side of the border line as well as criminal investigations taking place into perpetrators of the incidents of July 2011;
7.

Calls on the Vice President/High Representative, the Council, and the Commission to place this issue, which concerns the basic rights of public access to information, press freedom and freedom of expression, on the agenda of the EU-Israel Association Council, and reiterates in this context the EU’s obligation to ensure consistency between the different areas of its external action and between those and its other policies, pursuant to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union;
43.

Notes the success of the first Single Market Forum as an opportunity to audit the progress of the Single Market and help citizens and businesses to familiarise themselves with their rights, entitlements and obligations within the single market; welcomes this event as an opportunity to further highlight the existing obstacles to the proper functioning of the single market; reiterates the importance of the Commission and the Member States taking action to eliminate these obstacles and to bring citizens’ and businesses’ concerns to the fore; calls on the Commission and the Member States to maintain this momentum and to continue to engage and empower stakeholders by conducting regular Single Market Forums, supplementing these with frequent visits to assess and promote the single market in the individual Member States;
8.

Urges the Ukrainian authorities to ensure full respect for the right of all prisoners sentenced on politically motivated grounds, including Ms Tymoshenko, Mr Lutsenko and Mr Ivashchenko, to adequate medical assistance in an appropriate institution, for their right of unrestricted access to their lawyers and for the right to be visited by relatives and other people such as the EU ambassador; stresses the need for Ukraine to respect fully the legal and human rights of defendants and detainees, including the right to medical care, in line with international standards; condemns the use of force by prison guards against Yulia Timoshenko, and recalls the obligation of Ukraine to examine promptly and impartially any complaints of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
16.

Underlines the importance of the establishment of a ‘Crisis Contact Group’ for Guinea-Bissau under the coordination of the UN, with representatives of the African Union (AU), ECOWAS and the CPLP, as referred to in the special report of the UN Secretary-General of 30 April 2012 on the situation in Guinea-Bissau, and calls for the EU to be involved in the Group;
1.

Acknowledges the fragmentation of the online market, which is characterised by, for example, technological barriers, the complexity of licensing procedures, differences in methods of payment, the lack of interoperability for crucial elements such as eSignature, and variations in the rates of certain taxes applicable to goods and services, including VAT; believes, therefore, that there is currently a need for a transparent, flexible and harmonised approach at European level in order to advance towards the digital single market; emphasises that any proposed measure should seek to reduce the administrative burdens and transaction costs associated with the licensing of content;