ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
26.

Strongly recommends, therefore, that all necessary measures are taken on a European and international scale in order to ensure moderate prices as an immediate way out of the food crisis; in the longer run, the creation of adequate regulation to better deal with speculative activities is needed; recommends in addition the examination of the powers and competences of national and international supervisory bodies in the field of food commodities in order to ensure that stable and secure markets are guaranteed in the future, and that speculation does not violate the right to food;
7.

Points out that age limits for the award of grants adversely affect young people looking after dependants, who are, for the most part, women; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to consider, in such circumstances, legislative measures to correct that anomaly, such as adding one year to the deadline for applications for each year that a dependant is looked after;
11.

Encourages the Turkish government, following the positive step taken with the adoption of the Law on Foundations, to fulfil its commitments regarding freedom of religion by establishing, in line with the ECHR and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, a legal framework enabling all religious communities to function without undue constraints, in particular as regards their legal status, the training of clergy, the election of the hierarchy, religious education and the construction of places of worship; calls for protection of the religious and cultural heritage; reiterates its call for the immediate re-opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary and the public use of the ecclesiastical title of the Ecumenical Patriarch; shares the concern expressed by the Council on 24 July 2007 over the ruling of the Turkish Court of Cassation on the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and expects that this decision will not further impede the exercise by the Patriarchate and other non-Muslim religious communities of their rights guaranteed under the ECHR;
1.

Welcomes the fact that, although Article 139(2) of the Treaty does not provide for Parliament to be consulted in relation to requests made to the Commission by the social partners, the Commission has forwarded its proposal to Parliament and has asked it to communicate its opinion to the Commission and the Council;
D.

whereas the Lisbon Strategy aims to ensure that 60% of women able to work are in employment; whereas the quantitative and qualitative objectives of the Lisbon Strategy and the new Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (10) - especially where female and adult employment is concerned - are dictated by the realisation that, from the point of view of sustainability, it is intolerable to allow the resources in question and their potential go to waste, and that the stability of pension and welfare systems is in jeopardy,
B.

whereas, during several days of carnage after the fall of Srebrenica, more than 8 000 Muslim men and boys, who had sought safety in this area under the protection of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), were summarily executed by Bosnian Serb forces commanded by General Mladić and by paramilitary units, including Serbian irregular police units which had entered Bosnian territory from Serbia; whereas nearly 25 000 women, children and elderly people were forcibly deported, making this event the biggest war crime to take place in Europe since the end of the Second World War,
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 76/90

Thursday 19 February 2009

The fight against Alzheimer’s disease

P6_TA(2009)0081

Declaration of the European Parliament on priorities in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease

2010/C 76 E/17

The European Parliament,

having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Alzheimer’s disease currently affects 6.1 million Europeans and that figure will double or triple between now and 2050 with the ageing of the population,

B. whereas this disease is the most common cause of dependency,

C. whereas it is vital that political commitment be made in the areas of research, prevention and social protection,

1. Calls on the Council, the Commission, and the governments of the Member States to recognise Alzheimer’s disease as a European public health priority and to develop a European action plan with a view to: — promoting pan-European research on the causes, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, — improving early diagnosis, — simplifying procedures for patients and carers and improving their quality of life, — promoting the role of Alzheimer’s associations and giving them regular support;

2. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, the Commission, and the governments of the Member States, as well as to the national, regional and local authorities concerned.
4.

Points out that the partnership between the European Union and the Federative Republic of Brazil is based on the mutual understanding that both parties will uphold the rule of law and fundamental rights, including the right of defence and the right to a fair and equitable trial;
25.

Calls on the Commission to explore the various means (whether legislative or not) and ascertain the technical options at European Union level to effectively implement the following measures: — carry out an in-depth study of new advertising practices involving online communication or portable devices; report the results of the study to Parliament; — prohibit as soon as possible the systematic, indiscriminate sending of text message advertisements to all mobile phone users within the coverage area of an advertising poster equipped with Bluetooth technology without their prior consent; — ensure that advertising practices respect the confidentiality of private correspondence and legislation applicable in this area; prohibit as soon as possible the reading by a third party, particularly for advertising or commercial purposes, of the content of private e-mails; — require as soon as possible advertisements sent by e-mail to contain an automatic link enabling the recipient to refuse all further advertising; — ensure as soon as possible the application of techniques making it possible to distinguish advertising tracking cookies, for which free and explicit prior consent is required, from other cookies; — ensure that the use of default settings for computer systems sold to the public and for social networking services is systematically established in accordance with the strictest data protection standards (‘privacy by design’); — develop an EU website labelling system, modelled on the European Privacy Seal, certifying a site’s compliance with data protection laws; considers that this should include a thorough impact assessment and must avoid duplication of existing labelling systems; — pay particular attention, in cooperation with national advertising authorities and/or self-regulatory bodies, to misleading advertising, including online, in specific sectors such as the selling of food products, pharmaceuticals and medical care, where the health of consumers, on top of their economic interests, is likely to be affected, with potential serious consequences; — modify the limited liability regime for information society services in order to make the sale by search engines of registered brand names as advertising keywords subject to prior authorisation from the owner of the brand name in question;
165.

Welcomes the establishment of human rights dialogues with each of the Central Asian states – Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and the holding of a second dialogue in each case up to November 2009; welcomes in addition the first EU-Uzbek civil society seminar on human rights dialogue in October 2008; regrets that the EU-China human rights dialogues have consistently failed to deliver any improvements as regards specific human rights abuses in China; points out that, despite some steps taken by the Chinese authorities in the right direction (labour reform, Supreme People’s Court review of death sentences), the human rights situation continues to deteriorate and is marked by widening social unrest and tightening of the control and repression of human rights defenders, lawyers, bloggers, and social activists, as well as by targeted policies aimed at marginalizing Tibetans and their cultural identity; is deeply concerned about the lack of progress of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue; is deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation of the Uighur population in China, condemns its longstanding oppression in East Turkestan and deplores the non-adherence of the Chinese authorities to the safeguards of freedoms including those of expression, demonstration, assembly, religion and person contained within the constitution of the People’s Republic of China; also deplores the population transfer policy of the People’s Republic of China, which is intended to dilute the culture of the Uyghur population and fragment their unity; expresses its disappointment that EU-Russia human rights consultations have not yielded any substantial results; welcomes the launch in 2009 of human rights dialogues with Indonesia, and the holding of the first dialogue meetings with Georgia and Armenia; considers that while such human rights dialogues bring a welcome focus on human rights issues in the EU’s external relations, they cannot be allowed to become an end in themselves and must be focused on ensuring follow-up action is taken on the issues which are raised and discussed in these dialogues; regrets the lack of results from the human rights dialogue with India and is disappointed that the issue of caste-based discrimination was not discussed during the last human rights dialogue;
5.

Welcomes the new approach taken by the US Administration towards Israel and calls for a re-invigorated Euro-American partnership to address the Israel-Palestinian conflict; welcomes, in this context, the launch of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as announced in Washington on 2 September 2010; points out that further negotiations are needed that will lead, within an agreed time frame, to a two-state solution with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic and viable State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security; emphasises that a comprehensive peace, which is in the fundamental interests of all the parties in the region and of the EU, must be achieved on the basis of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Madrid principles, including land for peace, the Roadmap and the agreements previously reached by the parties, and emphasises that the active engagement of the Middle East Quartet in the peace process is needed, recognising the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative and the continuing cooperation with the Arab partners; urges the Israeli Government to renew the moratorium on settlement building; calls for a more active European engagement vis-à-vis Syria and Lebanon;
C.

whereas the situation of human rights defenders in the North Caucasus region, particularly in the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia and Dagestan, is alarming; whereas independent journalists, civil society activists, lawyers and human rights defenders in the region have often been the victims of threats and acts of violence, harassment and intimidation and their activities have been restricted by members of law-enforcement bodies; whereas the perpetrators of human rights violations continue to enjoy impunity and the rule of law continues to be flouted; whereas the civilian population remains subject to violence from both armed opposition groups and law-enforcement bodies; whereas torture and ill-treatment and arbitrary detention are common; and whereas NGOs which are independent of national governments are important for the development of civil society,
7.

Notes, however, that most horizontal cooperation agreements do not fall within the scope of these two block exemption regulations; asks the Commission to analyse whether stakeholders and the objective of maintaining effective competition would benefit from the establishment of new specific block exemption regulations to cover particular types of horizontal agreements other than R&D and specialisation; if the conclusion is positive, calls on the Commission to seek appropriate authorisation from the Council to adopt these new types of block exemption regulations, after consulting Parliament;
78.

Believes that the EU delegation plays an important role in the climate change negotiations, and therefore finds it unacceptable that the members of the European Parliament contingent in that delegation were unable to attend the EU coordination meetings at the previous Conference of the Parties; as stipulated in the Framework Agreement concluded between the Commission and the European Parliament in May 2005, and renegotiated in 2009, where the Commission represents the European Community, it must, at Parliament's request, facilitate the inclusion of Members of Parliament as observers in Community delegations negotiating multilateral agreements; recalls that, pursuant to the Lisbon Treaty (Article 218 TFEU), the European Parliament must give its consent to agreements between the Union and third countries or international organisations; expects at least the chairs of the European Parliament delegation to be allowed to attend EU coordination meetings in Cancun;
6.

Emphasises the necessity of sharing best practices among the Member States; calls for joint cooperation, pooling of know-how and sharing of best practices among market surveillance authorities; recalls the importance of cooperation between customs and market surveillance authorities at the external borders to carry out appropriate checks on products entering the Community; recognises the important contribution made today by PROSAFE as regards the coordination of joint market surveillance actions and the exchange of tried and tested practices in the framework of the GPSD; therefore calls on the Commission to consider under what conditions PROSAFE could serve as platform for an extended coordination between Member States for harmonised and non-harmonised products; considers it necessary to establish a legal basis and to allocate sufficient resources to PROSAFE to carry out this task; points out that coordination through PROSAFE today is restricted by limited resources and its informal structure;
14.

Reiterates its demand for the EU to revise its democracy and human rights support policy so as to create an implementation mechanism for the human rights clause in all agreements with third countries; insists that the review of the ENP must prioritise criteria relating to the independence of the judiciary, respect for fundamental freedoms, pluralism and freedom of the press, and the fight against corruption; points out, in this regard, that the current Action Plans must be radically revised with the inclusion of clear priorities accompanied by incentives for political reforms; calls on the Council to define a set of political criteria that ENP countries must fulfil in order to be granted ‘advanced status’;
—

having regard to the fact that, at its meeting of 17 March 2011, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs heard the candidate selected by the Board of Supervisors of the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority),
D.

whereas Articles 206 and 207 TFEU do not define FDI, whereas the Court of Justice of the European Union (1) has specified its understanding of the term FDI, on the basis of three criteria: it should be considered as a long-lasting investment, representing at least 10 % of the affiliated company's equity capital / shares and providing the investor with managerial control over the affiliated company's operations, whereas this definition is in line with those of the IMF and the OECD and is opposed to, in particular, portfolio investments and intellectual property rights; whereas it is difficult to distinguish clearly between FDI and portfolio investments and applying a rigid legal definition to investment practice in the real world will be hard,
5.

Fully supports the rights-based approach to employment promoted in the draft text of the convention and recommendation; acknowledges the focus on creating decent work for domestic workers, and supports the definition of domestic worker set out in the convention; welcomes the fact that the convention clearly states that every worker covered by this definition has a right to be dealt with in a manner consistent with core labour standards, social security, non-discrimination and equal treatment whilst seeking or whilst in employment, protection against abusive practices by employment agencies, training and career development, health and safety protection, maternity protection and provisions on working/rest time, protection against abuses and harassment, freedom of association and representation, collective bargaining, collective action and lifelong learning; supports the fact that the convention calls for a minimum employment age and the elimination of gender and ethnic pay gaps;
15.

Recognises that services are the fastest growing sector of the Indian economy; notes that India has offensive interests in the liberalisation of Mode 1 and Mode 4 in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); notes that the EU would like to complete liberalisation of market access and national treatment under Mode 3 in most services; notes that the full ambitions of the FTA cannot be realised without commitments under Mode 4; stresses that there are huge benefits from nationwide and EU-wide accreditation of professional qualifications and agreements on mutual recognition and licensing requirements within professional services in both the EU and India, which could be easily covered by the FTA; requests, nevertheless, that a thorough analysis be carried out in relation to the individual Member States in order to avoid negative consequences for the EU labour market, while permitting, under Mode 4, temporary stays of necessary skilled professionals;
16.

Considers that agriculture chapters will constitute an important issue for both parties in these negotiations; is concerned about possibly substantial concessions in the area of GMOs, milk and origin labelling; therefore stresses that the interests and the priorities in agriculture should be fully taken into account and calls on the Commission to negotiate an agreement which will be beneficial to EU and Canadian consumers and to the agricultural sectors on both sides as well, and ensure, within a balanced overall outcome, greater – but fair – competition among EU and Canadian suppliers to provide agricultural goods; welcomes in this context the initial commitment from both parties not to maintain, introduce or reintroduce agricultural export subsidies on the agricultural goods traded, this being a positive step in the interests of ambitious and fair negotiations, as well as the agreement to cooperate in WTO agricultural negotiations;
15.

Insists that the Commission should propose, in the context of the budgetary procedure and the future multiannual financial framework (MFF), steps to ensure adequate levels of funding for GNSS research and development, as well as for implementation; stresses that EU funding in the transport sector is already sparse and that additional funding for GNSS should therefore not result in less funding for other priorities in the Common Transport Policy area; renews its call, regarding both this specific project and similar projects, such as the TEN-Ts, for the Commission to submit a multiannual financing proposal going beyond the period of the MFF, in order to provide a stable and reliable financial framework for more ambitious European projects whose scope exceeds the present bounds;
50.

Proposes the establishment of a high-level multi-stakeholder working group as recommended by the 3rd SSGI Forum, which is open, flexible and transparent, broadly representative of stakeholders and focused on achieving reforms such as the policy initiatives identified in this report and the opinions thereto, in the 3rd SSGI Forum recommendations, the Commission’s second Biennial Report and the SPC reports, as well as any other relevant proposals as they arise; proposes that the working group be co-chaired by the European Parliament and the Commissioner responsible for Social Affairs and comprise representatives of the Parliament, relevant Commissioners, the Council, the social partners and civil society organisations representing users and providers of SSGIs, the Committee of the Regions, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders, the working group could: — consider the relative merits of establishing a European Observatory or Resource Centre for SSGI to collect information from various sources in the Member States and to enable the exchange of good SSGI practice at the national, regional and local level; — seek to achieve broad consensus on steps to clarify legal obscurities and ambiguities regarding SSGI. — evaluate whether European single market regulations which impact negatively on SSGI provision need to be redesigned so as to respect and support Member States’ responsibilities in the definition, funding and delivery of SSGI, taking account of the current Commission review of rules; — carry out, with the assistance of the Social Protection Committee a comprehensive study concerning the functionality of SSGI; — examine how the Member States, when defining social services of general interest, can take account of gender-specific services, especially advisory and social services particularly designed for women and important services that contribute to women's quality of life and equality, such as health services, particularly sexual and reproductive health services, education and the care of the elderly; — promote innovations such as a Member State register of SSGI, a pilot scheme on elder care, and action programmes based on the European Voluntary Quality Framework; — consider how Member States can develop forms of home help including support for elderly and vulnerable persons, by both men and women, and reduce the negative employment and pension impact on those who take care of dependent family members;
17.

Regrets the delays in project selection for strategic areas such as the rail sector, certain energy and environmental investments, the digital economy, social inclusion, governance and capacity building, and calls for a thorough analysis of the causes of these delays, while also inviting the Member States to involve their regions in closer monitoring of areas where efforts need reinforcement; highlights on the other hand the higher absorption rate of environmental projects in European Territorial Cooperation programmes, and points to the clear added value of cooperation in this context; underlines, however, that Member States may have caught up in areas where implementation was lagging behind, and that therefore delays at this particular stage need not be indicative of overall quality in the programming period; points in this context to the acceleration in absorption capacities and budgetary implementation of cohesion policy during 2010 which stems, inter alia, from recent legislative changes and from operational programmes reaching cruising speed, the last Management and Control Systems having finally been approved by the Commission;