ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
202.

Calls for an agenda for action to combat climate change for the period 2009-2014, to be implemented as follows: a) at EU level, the Commission and the Member States should: — lead discussions at a local and global level on actions to be taken to combat climate change, — develop, fund and introduce an EU-wide supergrid accessible to all forms of electricity providers, — promote and fund efficient, sustainable transport infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions, including hydrogen technology and high-speed railways, — develop new communication strategies to educate citizens and provide them with incentives to reduce emissions in an affordable way, e.g. by developing information on the carbon content of products and services, — develop appropriate legislative instruments to encourage all industrial sectors to become leaders in the fight against climate change, starting with a demand for transparency on carbon emissions, — establish stronger links between the Lisbon policy agenda, the social agenda and climate change policies; b) at local and regional level, best practices should be promoted and exchanged, in particular concerning: — energy efficiency and other measures to combat energy poverty, with the objective of net-zero-energy performance targets in private, commercial and public buildings, — the recycling and re-utilisation of waste, for instance by developing infrastructures for collection points, — the development of infrastructures for low-emission passenger cars using renewable energies, as well as the introduction of incentives for the development of zero-emission vehicles for public transport, — the promotion of more sustainable mobility in cities and in rural areas, — the adoption and implementation of measures for adaptation to climate change, — the promotion of local and regional food production and consumption;
1.

Urges the Egyptian authorities to take all necessary measures to secure the release of Eritreans held hostage; to avoid the use of lethal force against illegal migrants crossing the borders of the country, to protect their dignity and their physical and psychological integrity and to guarantee that detained migrants have the ability to contact UNHCR and allow UNHCR access to all asylum seekers and refugees in state custody;
223.

Concludes that we need more Europe; considers that there is an urgent need for political and intellectual leadership in order to put the European project back on track; takes the views that the Commission needs to make full use of its initiative rights in the fields of shared competences, notably in energy policies, to empower the EU for challenges ahead; believes that the eco-social-friendly internal market project which underpins the Union needs to be completed; urges that mechanisms for economic governance within the Union be strengthened, especially from the point of view of better accountability, contingency management, and economic and employment policy coordination; Asserts that the financial and supervisory reform agenda must move forward rapidly, addressing not just the shortcomings observed in the crisis but also the need to design a financial system that supports the real economy, is conducive to financial stability and engenders economic growth, long-term investment, job creation, social cohesion and the fight against poverty; Considers it necessary to redesign the taxation systems in a fair manner, in a way that discourages the build-up of excessive leverage and promotes social justice, entrepreneurial spirit and innovation; Calls for a revitalisation of the sustainable social market economy and the values it enshrines;
Q.

whereas migrant women taking low-skilled temporary jobs on the periphery of the labour market or jobs as domestic workers may be exposed to double discrimination since, in addition to the fact that they often work in poor, irregular – if not illegal – conditions, they are more likely to be mistreated or subjected to violence or sexual abuse; whereas, furthermore, they are often unaware of their rights, have restricted access to public services, have limited knowledge of the local language and are unable to form networks, and whereas those in illegal employment do not dare contact the authorities to request protection because they fear being returned to their home country,
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having regard to the EU Energy and Climate Change Package, consisting of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the Community's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles, Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC, Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the Community, Directive 2009/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC, Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006, as well as Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020 (3),
14.

Acknowledges the Commission’s broadcasting communication of July 2009, which recognises the right of public service broadcasters to be present on all relevant distribution platforms and reaffirms the competence of the Member States to define the remit, funding and organisation of public service broadcasting while acknowledging the Commission’s responsibility to check for manifest errors, and calls on the Member States to maintain a balance amongst the digital media services on offer, to ensure fair competition between public service broadcasting and private media and thus to preserve a vibrant media landscape in the online environment;
23.

Points out that from an ecological point of view Central and South-Eastern Europe is one of the richest but at the same time one of the most vulnerable areas of Europe, characterised by an ecosystem of high ecological complexity and great value, therefore requiring a high level of protection; welcomes the aim of the European Strategy for the Danube Region to create a liveable, sustainable and at the same time developed, prosperous Danube region by managing environmental risks such as floods and industrial pollution, preserving the quality and quantity of water reserves and ensuring their sustainable use, and preserving biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils; stresses that protecting the environment in the Danube basin is an important aspect which should stimulate responsible agricultural and rural development of the region; calls for improvements to the ecological status of the Danube, and for measures to reduce pollution and to prevent further releases of oil and other toxic and harmful substances; stresses that a good ecological status of the Danube is a prerequisite for all human activity along the river and recommends that the environmental targets should be considered in particular;
31.

Welcomes the fact that the Constitution defines Montenegro as an ecological state; notes a significant role played in the economy by tourism and its potential to contribute to the development of the country; notes, however, the risks to the environment stemming from tourism and calls on the government to take further steps to protect nature, such as swift implementation of the law on the environment and of the outstanding by-laws and further efforts which are needed to prevent possible devastation of the coast on the Adriatic sea; draws particular attention to the need for effective waste management, in particular on the local level, to ensure its safe disposal; welcomes measures to develop a lower carbon economy by developing the country’s huge hydroelectric and other renewable energy potential, which will contribute in covering domestic needs and even constitute an export resource and foreign currency earner for the country; warns, however, that large scale dams often have significant negative impacts on the environment and calls for appropriate and transparent environmental assessments, including of ‘environmentally better options’, public participation and civil society involvement, before their approval or authorisation, in line with the EU acquis;
—

having regard to the provisions of the UN legal instruments in the sphere of human rights, in particular those concerning women’s rights, such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,
21.

Takes the view that initiatives by single Member States cannot be effective without coordinated action at EU level, and that it is thus of fundamental importance that the European Union should speak with a strong single voice and implement common actions; considers that solidarity, on which the European social economy model is based, and the coordination of national responses have been crucial to avoiding protectionist measures of short duration by single Member States; expresses its concern that the re-emergence of economic protectionism at national level would most probably result in fragmentation of the internal market and a reduction in competitiveness, and therefore needs to be avoided; is concerned that the current economic and financial crisis could be used to justify reviving protectionist measures in various Member States, whereas the downturn calls for common safeguard mechanisms instead;
A.

whereas a Community action entitled ‘European Capital of Culture’ has been established in order to highlight the richness and diversity of European cultures and the features they share, as well as to promote greater mutual understanding between Europeans,
10.

Is of the opinion that a comprehensive sustainability and impact assessment is paramount to an overall assessment of EU-Japan trade relations; asks the Commission to present in due time such an assessment, detailing in particular the possible advantages and disadvantages of reinforced trading relations between the EU and Japan for all sectors involved, and in particular for all industrial sectors and those which are more sensitive, such as the automotive, electronics, aviation and machinery sectors;
32.

Notes with concern the relatively modest participation of certain Member States in FP7, which does not contribute to the territorial cohesion and a balanced development in Europe; is of the opinion that a better coordination, coherence and synergy between FP7 and the Structural and Cohesion Funds, as well as a better use of the People programme, could improve the participation of under-represented Member States; believes that by using the Structural Funds to strengthen research infrastructure and foster capacity building in research and innovation, all Member States can be enabled to reach a higher level of excellence (stairway to excellence); welcomes therefore the setting up of the Synergies Expert Group (SEG), set up to find synergies between FP7, the Structural Funds and the CIP; stresses, however, the absolute need to distinguish between criteria for FP7 and Structural Funds, as the principle of excellence (under the sole management and coordination by the Commission) should prevail when allocating FP7 funding in order to ensure maximum added value to RDI in Europe; points out with satisfaction that for the period 2007-2013 within the Cohesion Funds EUR 86 billion is allocated in support for innovation (25 % of the total amount), of which the allocation for core research and technological development amounts to EUR 50 billion, equal to the total budget of FP7; stresses the importance of the territorial dimension of R&D, taking the specific needs and capabilities of the territories into account when devising policies (‘smart specialisation’); therefore, sees the involvement of regional and local authorities as crucial in enhancing the research and innovation capacity of their region; recommends that the present unspent funds remaining in the EU budget up until the end of 2013 and those programmed for the period 2014-2020 be even more strongly orientated towards innovation, science and research, both in terms of human resources, development and infrastructure;
1.

Strongly condemns all convictions on the basis of the criminal charge of ‘mass rioting’ and finds them arbitrary and politically motivated; emphasises that according to reports the authorities have failed to prove the guilt of the accused, that the trials were held behind closed doors, that detainees were denied the opportunity to call their witnesses and to meet discreetly and on a regular basis with their legal representatives, that the lawyers of the accused received several warnings from the Ministry of Justice and that some of them have been disbarred; declares, therefore, that the trials were not conducted in an impartial manner;
1.

Calls on the Hungarian authorities to address the issues and concerns raised by the Venice Commission and to implement its recommendations, either by amending the new Constitution or through future cardinal and ordinary laws, notably to: (a) actively seek consensus, to ensure greater transparency and to foster genuine political and social inclusion and a broad public debate in connection with the forthcoming drafting and adoption of the cardinal laws laid down in the new Constitution; (b) adopt only the basic and clearly defined scope of cardinal laws regulating the tax and pension systems, family policies and cultural, religious and socio-economic policies, allowing future governments and democratically elected legislatures to take autonomous decisions on these policies; revise the current mandate of the Budget Council; (c) guarantee equal protection of the rights of every citizen, no matter which religious, sexual, ethnic or other societal group they belong to, in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in the Constitution and its preamble; (d) explicitly guarantee in the Constitution, including its preamble, that Hungary will respect the territorial integrity of other countries when seeking the support of ethnic Hungarians living abroad; (e) reaffirm the independence of the judiciary by restoring the right of the Constitutional Court to review budget-related legislation without exception, as required by ECHR-based law, by revising the provision on the lower mandatory retirement age for judges and by guaranteeing explicitly the independent management of the judicial system; (f) explicitly protect in the new Constitution all fundamental civil and social rights in line with Hungary’s international obligations, ban the death penalty, life imprisonment without parole and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, provide sufficient guarantees concerning the protection of fundamental rights, and make it clear that fundamental rights are acquired at birth and are unconditional; (g) ensure that the reorganisation of the system of parliamentary commissioners will not serve to water down the existing guarantees concerning the protection and promotion of rights in the areas of the protection of national minorities, the protection of personal data and the transparency of publicly relevant information, as well as the independence of the respective bodies responsible for these areas; (h) make sure that the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the new Constitution does not cause problems of interpretation and overlapping competences between domestic courts, the new Hungarian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice;
30.

Stresses the promising role of new financial engineering instruments based on the principles of ‘projects for money’ and ‘money for projects’ put in place during the current programming period; stresses the need to create scalable financial engineering instruments that can be viable and feasible for much smaller urban areas; calls on the Commission to evaluate the experience with these tools and adapt them where necessary in order to improve their competitive position on the financial market in comparison with common commercial products with a view to making them more user-friendly, practical, attractive and, hence, effective; believes that the interest rates of EIB financial tools should be made lower in comparison with commercial loans to this end; calls on the Member States, in view of the positive results obtained from the use of existing financial engineering instruments, to ensure at all times that the most effective use is made of the potential benefits of these financial instruments;
5.

Emphasises that the State Duma elections should be based on the implementation of election standards set by the Council of Europe and the OSCE; urges the Russian authorities to allow the OSCE/Council of Europe long-term election observation mission and to cooperate fully with it from its earliest stage, and calls on the HR/VP to insist on the establishment of a mission for this purpose; calls for close cooperation by said observation mission with civil society and the monitoring groups;
7.

Emphasises the importance of the fight against terrorism and organised crime, which constitute threats to the security of the European Union, as already identified in the Stockholm Programme, and to that end supports, in this context only, the use of security measures designed to prevent terrorist incidents that are prescribed by law, effective, necessary in a free and open democratic society, proportionate to the aim pursued and fully consistent with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); recalls that the confidence of citizens in their institutions is essential and that a fair balance must therefore be struck between the need to ensure security and the safeguarding of fundamental rights and freedoms;
6.

Calls at the same time for an immediate, genuine and inclusive political process with the participation of all democratic political actors and civil society organisations which could be the basis of a peaceful and irreversible transition to democracy in Syria; welcomes in this context the UN Security Council Presidential Statement of 3 August 2011 stressing that the only solution to the current crisis in Syria is through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process; calls on the members of the UNSC, and in particular Russia and China, to proceed with a resolution condemning the use of lethal force by the Syrian regime and calling for an end to this use of force, and to put in place sanctions for failure to do so; takes note of the meeting of the Secretary-General of the Arab League with the Syrian authorities and hopes that it will be followed by concrete results;
13.

Takes the view that, in order to develop the full potential of public procurement, the criterion of lowest price should no longer be the determining one for the award of contracts, and that it should, in general, be replaced by the criterion of most economically advantageous tender, in terms of economic, social and environmental benefits – taking into account the entire life-cycle costs of the relevant goods, services or works; stresses that this would not exclude the lowest price as a decisive criterion in the case of highly standardised goods or services; asks the Commission to develop, in close cooperation with the Member States, a methodology for the calculation of life-cycle costs on a broad and non-obligatory basis; stresses that supporting the criterion of ‘maximum economic benefit’ would foster innovation and efforts to achieve the best quality and value, i.e. to comply with the requirements of the Europe 2020 strategy; stresses that this is particularly relevant in relation to public procurement of goods that have an impact on consumers’ health – in the food sector, for example – where quality and production methods play an important role; emphasises that public procurement rules should be flexible enough to ensure that passive consumers, for example in hospitals, care facilities for the elderly, schools and kindergartens, have equal access to healthy, value-for-money food, rather than merely the cheapest available option;
26.

Calls on the Member States, supported by the Commission and in coordination with local and regional authorities, to pay attention to better management of human resources by making further efforts to attract and retain qualified staff to manage EU funds, by promoting high-quality training for them, and by avoiding any replacement of staff unless this is strictly necessary and guided by the sole aim of improving their effectiveness and consequently the absorption capacity; recalls in this regard the possibilities for using funds from the ESF and technical assistance for building capacity necessary for programme implementation and follow-up; stresses the importance of one-stop shops at decentralised level to assist the partners in the programme; calls on the Member States to create ‘European One-Stop Shops’ as close as possible to the citizens with a view to helping with Cohesion Fund applications, both for local authorities and EU citizens;
13.

Emphasises that, under Article 106(2) TFEU, undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general interest are subject to the rules prohibiting and controlling state aid only in so far as the application of such rules does not obstruct the performance, in law or in fact, of the particular tasks assigned to them by national, regional or local authorities; highlights, in this regard, the clear stipulation in Article 14 TFEU that the Union and the Member States, each within their respective powers and within the scope of application of the Treaty, shall take care that such services operate on the basis of principles and conditions to enable them to fulfil their mission; calls therefore for the reform of the EU state aid rules to take account of both these articles and to ensure that compensation granted to SGEI does not come with an excessive burden for public finances or low quality of the services provided;