ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
1.

notes that the attacks that have been carried out in recent years, both in public spaces and in private locations that are accessible to the public, have resulted in hundreds of deaths in many European cities. Their severity and widespread occurrence throughout the EU are unprecedented. They are characterised by varying degrees of organisational sophistication (number, profiles, background, nationality of perpetrators and accomplices, isolated, simultaneous or consecutive and planned or spontaneous actions), the diverse range of methods (explosive devices, firearms, knives, and other objects, such as vehicles, that are used as weapons) and by the locations targeted, which may be entirely unexpected or symbolic. They have targeted all those spaces in which daily life unfolds, which are entirely or for the most part open and shared, and which are busy and therefore particularly vulnerable to criminal activity: so-called ‘soft targets’.
17.

considers it necessary, in the interests of competition in both the fixed and 5G markets, to separate services from networks, along the same lines as the energy sector (unbundling). For example, in a number of Member States (Sweden, the United Kingdom, etc.) telecommunications services have been completely separated from network operation. In the CoR’s view, fibre networks should belong to telecommunications companies whose business model is based on equal access for all service providers. This would mean that large numbers of service providers could operate on the market and that consumers could choose services based on their desired value for money, and would also safeguard the long-term development of the sector;
18.

given the potential and the shortcomings identified so far, proposes addressing the following challenges: a. improving dialogue between existing projects and the most recent measures put in place in the regions, by encouraging high levels of participation and the sharing of good practices and partnerships (extended to the countries of the enlargement programme); b. being more closely in touch with people and the social dimension of sports projects, by making proximity and the ‘local’ approach their main feature, also reflecting the responsibility that local and regional authorities have with regard to facilities and events; c. maximising overall awareness of the benefits of exercise, physical activity and sport; d. broadly communicating the positive impact of sport on the EU economy, and therefore ensuring greater integration of sports policy in sectors that it intersects and influences; e. driving greater technological innovation and more companies on the basis of tools for local and regional authorities, by encouraging stakeholders in research, technology and education, together with managing authorities, to make a joint effort to develop and implement a common strategy, acting on links with all value chains, both upstream and downstream of the production process, with the utmost attention given to the job opportunities offered by the sector; f. considering sport as a genuine right of citizenship, as a tool for socialisation and inclusion, particularly with regard to people with disabilities, and for opening up opportunities for improving quality of life and physical and mental well-being, and as an educational opportunity; g. providing support aimed at making sports facilities fully accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, nationality and status, allowing them to be freely used and extending the hours during which they are available to the public; h. increasing support for and raising the profile of women’s sports competitions; i. considering sport as an instrument to facilitate social integration and equality; j. providing budgetary support for the mobility of amateur sportsmen and -women participating in competitions, especially those from remote, island or outermost regions.
43.

points out, due to its diversity, the local media guarantees protection for the plurality of political views and information in any territory or region and that the protection of this plurality should be a priority objective. The local media are, currently, in a difficult situation in many EU Member States; the entry of social media into the market, together with their technical possibilities (ability to reach individuals and to precisely target content to specific people), has undercut the financial basis for local media’s operations, i.e. classified advertisements, together, in some cases, by conscious attempts at the political level to weaken media pluralism. Materially weakened local media are, of course, less able to actively counteract lies that are circulated online;
14.

takes the view that cohesion policy needs to be communicated differently, which includes a need to target wider audiences and not only stakeholders. The general public should be the focus of targeted communication, and this communication needs to resonate with people: it has to tell stories about impacts on local citizens, and not just spread numbers or charts about faraway job markets or remote infrastructure issues and peoples, it should focus on the role played by the EU as level of government in people’s lives, not on informing the public on its variety of different funds and projects. Crucially, the importance of trust in the messenger is at least as important as the message. And public trust in local and regional authorities is higher than in national governments or the EU. Regional and local politicians therefore have a potentially decisive role to play, and CoR members in particular, as ‘ambassadors of Europe in the regions, cities and municipalities’ should set an example;
6.

realises that since the presentation of the SME Strategy, the world has changed significantly. The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to strongly impact all regions and SMEs in Europe. But the crisis should also be seen as an historic opportunity to align the economic recovery with the standards of the Green Deal, sustainability and digitalisation, which must be integral to any SME strategy. A recovery plan for SMEs must be delivered with local and regional authorities in the lead, to be responsive to the diverse needs of SMEs and the varying economic and institutional conditions across Europe. EU recovery measures will be most efficient if synchronised with regional and national initiatives and compatible with local ecosystems. Coordination and an exchange of best practice is therefore crucial;
50.

points out that EU transport rules (particularly those relating to emissions and climate) often present much greater challenges to public transport operators in rural areas than to their counterparts in urban areas. Switching to low-emission technologies is also not currently possible everywhere, due to technical requirements and market availability, particularly in areas that are less densely populated and have mountainous terrain. This is particularly the case for buses, due to higher costs, limited ranges and sometimes also longer charging times. However, EU funding is made available primarily for urban mobility, as higher pollution levels tend to be recorded in cities. To create and maintain efficient public transport everywhere, the rules should either provide for different measures for different types of locality or should provide additional funding for places where financial resources are particularly hard to find (such as rural, remote and outermost regions, and island and mountain areas);
8.

draws attention to the five dimensions of realising the Energy Union: increasing energy security, strengthening the internal energy market, increasing energy efficiency, reducing CO 2 emissions (‘decarbonisation of the economy’) and promoting research and innovation in the energy sector. Ensuring the continuity of electricity must play a more significant role in this– particularly in the event of a crisis, including an energy crisis — with a view to ensuring that critical infrastructure can operate continuously in all regions. In this context, solutions for local energy production, storage capacity and tools for flexibility are needed, alongside sufficient and versatile generation capacity, so as to create solutions for emergencies and interruptions for all inhabited areas, especially in less developed regions, those with low population density and those with isolated energy systems. At the same time, the need to modernise electricity transmissions should be emphasised. It is necessary to insist on removing physical barriers to the development of good quality interconnections between all EU regions to guarantee a genuine integration of the electricity system. Having several national energy systems work in synchronous mode significantly reduces the operating costs of the energy system and improves security by reducing the potential negative impact of local accidents on the stability of the energy system and simplifying its essential operating parameters, such as frequencies and maintenance;
24.

maintains that the pandemic, the Green Deal and digitalisation are the main drivers of change in the European economy. Changes are welcome when it comes to targeted outcomes for the environment and for the future of European economic development. Employees need to have access to new skills for the new era of green and digital growth, to build resilience, in line with the emerging and growing sectors, so that any skills mismatch can be tackled. Employees must be supported with targeted, tailored guidance in the workplace and people looking for new job opportunities are most open to learning new skills; at the same time, businesses should be supported in providing training guidance to their staff;
29.

notes, however, that additional EU funding is needed in order to make investments, especially to implement measures provided for in SUMPs for liveable cities and regions. Such measures include better collective public transport services and pedestrian and cycle networks, and the construction of sound infrastructure such as publicly accessible charging points for electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, shared mobility systems and smart applications. For less developed regions with less financial capacity, funding should be made available for initial investments and for the long-term operational costs of transport services. Because of the strict requirements in the use of EU funding and the intricate budget structure in the Member States, access to these funds is sometimes made more difficult for local and regional authorities compared with other funding options. Regions with a strong economic focus on the automotive manufacturing and supply industries are facing major challenges due to the restructuring of the sector. The manufacture of electric and hybrid vehicles is much less labour-intensive throughout the value chain, from production to servicing. New technologies require completely different skills. Regions where the automotive industry accounts for a significant share of the economy and jobs must receive the extra support needed through European funds, in order to minimise the risks and compensate for the negative effects on their economy and employment levels that may result from the transition that the EU is calling on this industry to make;
Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on "Participation of the CoR in the convention responsible for preparing the next revision of the treaties"

(2002/C 19/10)

The Committee of the Regions

in the light of the decisions taken at the informal Council in Genval on 8 and 9 September 2001 regarding the procedure for preparing the next revision of the Treaties,

1. takes note of the initial proposals submitted to the Genval informal council by the Belgian presidency regarding the establishment of a Convention and Civil Society Forum;

2. expresses concern about their respective composition and stresses the importance of ensuring wider public representation and greater proximity by involving the full spectrum of political players, including the CoR, in the next revision of the Treaties;

3. believes that it is vital not to confuse the democratic legitimacy of elected representatives with the need for a more participative democracy which allows greater input to NGOs and civil society;

4. therefore considers that the Civil Society Forum, which is to work in parallel with the Convention, is not the appropriate forum for the CoR;

5. points out that the political legitimacy of the CoR was established in the Treaty of Nice, which stipulates that its members are required to be elected members of a regional or local authority or be politically accountable to an assembly elected by direct universal suffrage;

6. observes, on the basis of its experience of the work of the Convention responsible for drafting the Charter of Fundamental Rights, that it would be unsatisfactory and inappropriate for the Committee simply to be accorded observer status;

7. reiterates its request to participate, in accordance with its status as an EU body, as a full member of the Convention; and

8. invites its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Brussels, 20 September 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert
19.

reiterates its full political support for the Covenant of Mayors — launched by the European Commission together with the Committee of the Regions — as a response by cities to global warming, in which they formally pledge to reduce their CO2 emissions beyond the EU 2020 objectives, and calls for the Covenant to be open to all relevant subnational authorities. Urges that the Covenant of Mayors be further developed and that appropriate resources be made available to develop expertise and strategies that are tailored to the specific needs of local authorities;
20.

calls for more information sharing worldwide and confirms its commitment to the Memorandum of Understanding it has signed with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote synergies between the different levels of governance and improve the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements; reiterates in this context also its commitment to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the US Conference of Mayors and to the future agreement with the mayors of China;
3.

stresses the need to remove obstacles to private and public investments by completing the internal market, in particular in the services sector, implementing structural reforms that aim to create good-quality jobs and to fight inequality, improving the regulatory and business environment, combating fraud and the shadow economy, encouraging entrepreneurship. In this regard, underlines the importance of the effective and efficient use of EU Funds in partnership with the private sector so that public and private funds are able to collectively deliver positive impact on the ground. Considering the European Commission’s intention to engage in a dialogue with the Member States on the identification of such obstacles, stresses the need to specifically analyse them at all government levels and to involve the CoR in this process;
7.

welcomes the proposed extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in terms of both duration and financial capacity, but notes that this announcement has been made without a comprehensive impact assessment or an independent evaluation prior to the Commission’s proposal; underlines the need to continue building on synergies between EFSI and other EU funds, in particular ESIF, and simplifying procedures so as to cut red-tape and help increase the absorption of EU funds; stresses that the third pillar of the Investment Plan should also be strengthened; calls on the Commission and the European Investment Bank to step up their efforts to raise awareness on the ground, to address the geographical imbalances of EFSI in order to optimise investment integration and synergy with a view to single programming of cohesion policy interventions, and to make more detailed information publicly available regarding EFSI-financed projects, specifically highlighting their additionality;
3.

underlines, together with the partners of the #CohesionAlliance, the importance of a strong and effective cohesion policy for the future of the European Union as a whole, considering that the three dimensions of cohesion (economic, social and territorial) form an integral part of the EU’s policy objectives. An improved cohesion policy should therefore be maintained as the key EU investment policy for all regions with sufficient resources after 2020, and in the same proportion as today. Reiterates in this regard the need for cohesion policy to become more flexible and simpler in the next funding period without jeopardising the strategic focus and planning certainty for regional and local authorities, in order to guarantee the functioning of multi-level governance, the partnership principle and the bottom-up approach through shared management and to comprehensively review the requirements for the management and control systems of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF);
10.

Urges the EU Member States as well as the EU institutions to ensure that local and regional authorities are not left to deal with these challenges on their own and that these challenges are mitigated as far as possible through a positive future relationship. In this context notes with deep concern the recent proposals for the MFF by the European Commission and reiterates its conviction that a strong cohesion policy, including reinforced European Territorial Cooperation programmes such as Interreg, essential for the local and regional authorities in the EU to address adverse consequences of the UK’s withdrawal; furthermore underlines that also other EU policies such as Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy should be used to mitigate these negative impacts which should be taken into consideration when deciding upon their future financing. Calls on the European Commission to assess before 29 March 2019 the possible need for a stabilisation fund for regions most adversely affected by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
51.

points out that the EU’s external borders extend to the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the west coast of Africa, as there are European outermost regions in these areas. These areas are very exposed to risks and emergencies related to migratory movements, illicit trafficking, natural disasters, health crises, and so on. Unlike other external borders in its neighbourhood, the EU has not developed joint strategies for these areas; calls on the EU to take this further and draw up action plans for each of these areas, strengthening cooperation with neighbouring countries and taking advantage of the strategic potential of the presence of European outermost regions in these areas.
The European Ombudsman addressed two special reports to the European Parliament (made in accordance with Article 3(7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman(1)) in the year 2000

(2000/C 357/14)

Special report from the European Ombudsman to the European Parliament following the own-initiative inquiry into the existence and the public accessibility, in the different Community institutions and bodies, of a Code of good administrative behaviour (OI/1/98/OV).

Special report from the European Ombudsman to the European Parliament following the draft recommendation to the European Commission in complaint 713/98/IJH.

The texts of these special reports are available on the European Ombudsman's website in all 11 official languages at: http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int

Paper copies can be requested free of charge from the European Ombudsman's office - 1, avenue du Président-Robert-Schuman - BP 403 - F-67001 Strasbourg Cedex. Tel. (33) 388 17 23 13; fax (33) 388 17 90 62; e-mail: euro-ombudsman@europarl.eu.int

(1) Decision 94/262/ECSC, EC, Euratom, of 9 March 1994 of the European Parliament on the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman's duties (OJ L 113, 4.5.1994, p. 15).
Annex to the Rules on the confidentiality of Europol information

(2001/C 86/01)

Article 2(4) of the Rules on confidentiality of Europol information(1) obliges Europol to elaborate a revised version of the overview mentioned above when a Member State informs the other Member States and Europol of any changes in the national provisions on security levels or in the equivalent markings. At least once a year, however, the Europol Security Committee shall ascertain whether or not the overview is up to date. Europol was informed by several Member States on changes in their national provisions. Attached is therefore a new version of the table of equivalence.

Following approval of the Europol Security Committee on 5 July 2000 and on 13 February 2001, Europol kindly asks the General Secretariat of the Council to arrange the publication of the updated table of equivalence in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

(1) OJ C 26, 30.1.1999, p. 2.

ANNEX

Table of equivalence between national classifications and corresponding Europol classifications

The following table is illustrative: the obligation on Member States is to provide an equivalent level of protection to that afforded by Europol rather than to attach a particular label.

>TABLE>
Communication from the French Government concerning Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons(1)

(2001/C 283/03)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Notice regarding an application for extending an exclusive licence to prospect for liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, designated the "Val des Marais licence"

By request of 5 February 2001, supplemented on 18 April 2001, the Coparex International Company, with registered offices at 135 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, F-92138 Issy-les-Moulineaux, the JOG Corporation, with registered offices at 150 North Street, PO Box 1919, Healdsburg, California, United States, and the Carr Production France Company, with registered offices at 95 rue de la Boétie, Paris, France, applied for an extension of the exclusive licence, designated the "Val des Marais licence", to prospect for liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in an area of about 177 square kilometres covering a part of the Département de la Marne.

The perimeter of this extension is made up of the meridian and parallel ares successively joining the vertices defined below by their geographical coordinates, the original meridian being that of Paris:

>TABLE>

Interested companies may, within 90 days of the publication of this notice, submit a competing application in accordance with the procedure summarised in the "Notice regarding the granting of mining rights for hydrocarbons in France" published in the Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 of 30 December 1994, p. 11, and established by Decree 95-427 of 19 April 1995 regarding mining rights (Journal officiel de la République française of 22 April 1995).

Additional information can be obtained from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Industry (Secrétariat d'État à l'industrie, direction-générale de l'énergie et des matières premières, direction des matières premières et des hydrocarbures, service de la législation minière), 61 boulevard Vincent-Auriol, F-75703 Paris Cedex 13, (tel. (33-1) 44 97 09 06, fax (33-1) 44 97 05 70.)

(1) OJ L 164, 30.6.1994, p. 3.