ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
46.

Stresses that an EU regulation requiring companies using and trading minerals and other natural resources sourced from conflict-affected and high-risk areas to carry out due diligence in accordance with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas is needed to complement the revisions of the EU Transparency and Accounting Directives on disclosure of financial and non-financial information of large companies as well as the Dodd Frank Act’s conflict mineral provisions; in particular, believes that such legislation should: (a) create a legally binding obligation for all upstream companies operating in the EU that use and trade natural resources sourced from conflict-affected and high-risk areas and all downstream companies that act as the first placer on the European market to undertake supply chain due diligence to identify and mitigate the risk of conflict financing and human rights abuse; (b) be based on the relevant international instruments, including the International Bill of Human Rights, further elaborated by international human rights treaties and standards (such as UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework), International Labour Organisation (ILO) core treaties, International Humanitarian and Criminal Law, and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas; (c) apply to all segments of the supply chain and to all natural resources, without exception, produced in any conflict-affected or high-risk area; (d) be founded on a risk-based approach, requiring companies to assess actual and potential adverse impacts arising from their operations, and to mitigate the identified risks; (e) include an obligation for regular independent audits and public disclosure of company due diligence efforts; (f) define requirements for company risk assessments and for a management framework; (g) include a sanctions mechanism for cases of noncompliance with the risk-based supply chain due diligence obligations; (h) be comparable with the obligations under the Dodd Frank Act, so that when fulfilling EU obligations on responsible sourcing companies automatically fulfil the obligations under US legislation;
17.

Emphasises that the EU and the Eastern European partners face common political challenges with regard to ensuring a reliable and safe energy supply; recalls that energy security cooperation is clearly identified as a priority under the Eastern Partnership and the ENP; recalls that the Energy Community Treaty lays the basis for establishing a fully integrated regional energy market favouring growth, investment and a stable regulatory framework; considers further progress in the integration of the gas and electricity networks, including reverse-flows, in the region to be essential to achieving the goals of the Energy Community; underlines the importance of focusing more on the consolidation, improvement and efficiency of the energy sector, as one of the main conditions for modernisation of the economy, strengthening energy security and competitiveness as well as developing energy strategies in line with European Energy Community obligations and EU targets; calls for the continuation of gas and electricity market reforms and an adequate share of energy from renewable resources, in line with EU policies and standards; recognises that Eastern Partnership countries” energy dependence on third countries and inadequate diversification of supply complicate the dynamics of European integration, in this regard reminds that projects such as South Stream increase the EU's dependency on Russian gas, and calls on the Commission and the Member States to fast-track projects that will help mitigate the situation; calls on the Commission and Council to make solidarity a fundamental principle of the Energy Community that is expected to be fully respected by all the players active in the EU market;
1.

Asks the Member States to include the study and sensory experience of food, nutritional health and dietary habits, including historical, geographical, cultural and experiential aspects, in school education from early childhood as a means of improving the health and wellbeing of the population, the quality of food and respect for the environment; welcomes the gastronomic education programmes being conducted in schools in a number of Member States, some in cooperation with leading chefs; emphasises the importance of combining education in healthy eating habits with measures to combat the stereotypes which can cause serious eating and psychological disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia;
31.

Reaffirms its support for, and urges the Commission to proceed with, the establishment of the EU Arctic Information Centre as a networked undertaking with a permanent office in Rovaniemi, with reference to the Preparatory Action ‘Strategic environmental impact assessment of the development of the Arctic’, as supported by the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in their 2012 joint communication and implemented by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland together with a network of European centres of excellence on the Arctic, with the goal of ensuring efficient access to Arctic information, dialogues at all levels and communication for the purpose of harnessing information and knowledge with a view to sustainability in the Arctic;
23.

Recalls that Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) establishes the principle of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD), and emphasises the potential for tension between PCD on the one hand and the comprehensive approach to crisis management outside the EU on the other; stresses that the main goal of the EU’s development policy is the eradication of poverty and that it is therefore essential that anti-poverty objectives are not marginalised in EU foreign policy and that the comprehensive approach does not erode the civilian character of development cooperation; takes note of the fact that the Joint Communication entrusts the HR/VP and the President of the Commission with the responsibility to ensure strategic and operational coherence in external relations, including regarding the external impact of internal policies; calls on the HR/VP and the President of the Commission to commit to doing so;
10.

Instructs its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, with the association of its Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in particular its subcommittee on Human Rights, to resume its inquiry on ‘alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in European countries by the CIA’ and to report to plenary within a year by: — following up on the recommendations made in its abovementioned resolution of 11 September 2012 on alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in European countries by the CIA: follow-up of the European Parliament TDIP Committee report; — facilitating and supporting human-rights-compliant mutual legal assistance and judicial cooperation between investigating authorities and cooperation between lawyers involved in accountability work in Member States; — organising a hearing involving national parliaments and practitioners to take stock of all past and ongoing parliamentary and judicial inquiries; — organising a Parliamentary fact-finding mission involving all interested political groups to the EU Member States where CIA secret detention sites allegedly existed; — gathering all relevant information and evidence on possible bribes or other acts of corruption linked to the CIA programme;
I.

whereas freedom of the press is still under great pressure in Egypt and journalists are still being detained on the basis of unfounded allegations; whereas a number of journalists were prosecuted in 2014 on charges related to threatening national unity and social peace, spreading false news reports and collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood; whereas the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest court of law, ruled that there were procedural failings in the trial of journalists Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed from Al-Jazeera; whereas, however, the three journalists are set for retrial and charges of ‘falsifying news’ and ‘involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood’ against them have not been dropped; whereas three other journalists — Sue Turton, Dominic Kane and Rena Netjes — were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison; whereas Egyptian journalists Mahmoud Abdel Nabi, Mahmoud Abu Zeid, Samhi Mustafa, Ahmed Gamal, Ahmed Fouad and Abdel Rahman Shaheen were convicted for merely carrying out their legitimate activities; whereas there is extreme polarisation of the Egyptian media into pro- and anti-Morsi factions, which is reinforcing the polarisation of Egyptian society;
7.

Calls on the authorities of the Russian Federation to stop the shameful propaganda and information war against its neighbours, the Western world and its own people, which is turning Russia into a state characterised by repression, hate speech and fear, where nationalist euphoria is built on the annexation of Crimea and an escalating war in Ukraine, where the rights of the Crimean Tatars are violated and where the Kremlin, in breach of international law, is cultivating and provoking hatred and fighting; condemns the new propaganda war being waged against democratic and fundamental values, which are presented as being alien to Russian society; recalls that both the European Union and the Russian Federation have committed, in numerous international declarations and treaties, to protecting universal democratic values and fundamental rights; stresses the importance of having political opposition forces, in order to ensure a constant debate and exchange of views and ideas in politics and in law-making processes in Russia;
7.

Welcomes the Investment Plan for Europe, which is an important instrument for increasing private and public investment; notes that the plan is meant to trigger additional investment, develop new projects, attract investors and restore confidence; considers, however, that it is far too early to meaningfully assess the actual impact of the plan; notes that boosting investment should not be seen as an alternative but rather a complement to reforms; insists that the resources of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) should be used to spend money on projects with economic return or with a positive social cost-benefit effect; emphasises that the EFSI should not merely substitute co-financed European projects for nationally financed ones; stresses that the European funds should lead to additional investment, not just replace national investment funds that would go to consumption; believes that the Investment Plan for Europe should focus in the first place on projects with a European added value which are not yet eligible for banking finance; emphasises the importance of the regulatory components of the Investment Plan in terms of improving the environment for investment; notes that the implementation of the Commission’s Investment Plan is key in order for it to carry the desired added value; emphasises that the investment projects need to be carefully selected to avoid the plan failing to deliver sustainable growth and jobs in Europe; recalls that the results of the Commission’s Investment Plan should be rigorously assessed, especially on how projects were selected and prioritised, and also to avoid privatising profits or socialising losses; stresses the interdependence between the lever of the Investment Plan and the actual projects being undertaken; underlines that the aim of achieving a high lever should not come at the expense of sound project selection, which should also take into account the projects’ geographic locations; underlines the need to ensure a high quality governance and selection process; notes that the Member States in the adjustment programme expect the Investment Plan to significantly enhance and to facilitate grants and loans for small and medium-sized businesses, which have borne the brunt of the crisis;
15.

Calls on the Member States to work closely with Europol, Frontex, EASO and Eurojust in order to fight against human traffickers and criminal networks of smugglers, and to detect and trace their funding and identify their modus operandi in order to prevent them from making money by putting migrants’ lives at risk; stresses the need to strengthen cooperation with third countries, in particular those surrounding Libya, which is indispensable if such criminal networks are to be successfully dismantled, in terms of both law enforcement training and the provision of information services; stresses the need for third countries to respect international law with regard to saving lives at sea and to ensure the protection of refugees and respect for fundamental rights;
22.

Stresses that the current imbalances in the food supply chain threaten the sustainability of food production, and calls for increased transparency and fairness in the chain and the elimination of unfair trading practices and other market distortions in order to ensure a fair return for farmers, fair profits and pricing along the food supply chain and a viable agricultural sector that will deliver food security; calls, therefore, on the Commission to take all necessary steps to ensure that these goals are achieved as soon as possible;
O.

whereas Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist and activist and president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, has been imprisoned since 2012, as have Hani Al-Zaitani and Hussain Ghrer, for their work defending freedom of expression; whereas Mazen Darwish was reportedly subjected to severe torture and ill-treatment and on 6 May 2015 was taken to an unknown location; whereas Mazen Darwish has been awarded the 2015 UNESCO Press Freedom Prize, as well as other important international awards, such as the Preis der Lutherstädte — ‘Das unerschrockene Wort’ 2015, the Bruno-Kreisky-Preis für Verdienste um die Menschenrechte 2013, and the PEN-Pinter Prize 2014; whereas the continued imprisonment of Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zaitani and Hussain Ghrer is further evidence of the repressive nature of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria;
28.

Stresses that transparency and accountability are essential requirements not only for democratic scrutiny but also for the adequate functioning, and the credibility, of missions carried out under the EU flag; reiterates the importance attached by Parliament to exercising oversight over the way the different CSDP missions and operations are budgeted; welcomes the reporting mechanisms provided for by the interinstitutional agreement of 2 December 2013, such as the quarterly reports on the CFSP budget and the joint consultation meetings on the CFSP; welcomes the commitment made by the VP/HR to breathe new life into the latter meetings and to introduce an appropriate degree of flexibility regarding their scope in order to keep Parliament fully informed on military missions and on the work and agenda of the Political and Security Committee; maintains that any improvement in the flexibility and efficiency of financing and undertaking missions and operations must not compromise the achieved positive developments with regard to transparency and accountability in CSDP interventions; calls on the Commission to make an extensive interpretation of Article 49(1)(g) of the Financial Regulation and to propose specific lines for each civilian CSDP mission under the CFSP chapter, and to automatically include in the annual activity report a breakdown of each mission on the basis of participants and costs incurred;
G.

whereas most of the activists and supporters were released and the foreigners expelled from the country, but whereas Yves Makwambala and Fred Bauma are still being detained in Makala prison in Kinshasa and are charged with belonging to an association formed for the purpose of attacking people and property, conspiring against the head of state, and attempting to either destroy or change the ‘constitutional regime’ and to incite people to take up arms against state authority; whereas the authorities have also charged Fred Bauma with disturbing the peace, and Yves Makwambala with publicly offending the head of state, while they were exercising their freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association;
30.

Believes, at the same time, that consumers should be better able to identify infringing offers so that they can decide not to proceed with a given purchase; deplores the fact that the Commission’s action plan does not include any action designed to improve consumers’ ability to identify infringing goods and contents; calls on the Commission and the Member States to reflect further on the development of specific tools and guidelines, and to have an evidence-based examination and possible development of a harmonised system of procedures for notification/withdrawal of infringing goods and content, so that consumers and undertakings can take action when they are misled, in the same way as they can act to draw attention to undesirable content, based on the experiences gathered by the Commission and the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, especially with regard to the sharing of best practices;
A.

whereas the Russian Federation, as a full member of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations, has committed itself to the principles of democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights; whereas, as a result of numerous serious violations of the rule of law and the adoption of restrictive laws during recent months, there are grave concerns about Russia’s compliance with international and national obligations; and whereas the European Union has repeatedly offered additional assistance and expertise to help Russia to modernise and abide by its constitutional and legal order, in line with Council of Europe standards;
16.

Calls on the Commission to establish a European approach to strengthen the diversification of funding sources and investments in European businesses, by means of a CMU that builds upon the characteristics and interdependence of the European banking and capital markets landscape, bearing in mind the specificities of the European model for financing of businesses, and the need to develop reliable non-bank sources of finance for growth and to complement these with ways for market participants to raise debt, equity and venture capital directly from the market; notes that the Commission should not necessarily only rely on peer reviews with other jurisdictions; draws the attention of the Commission to the fact that cultural differences should not be disregarded and adequate answers need to be provided in order to overcome them; believes further that the Commission should take the newest technological developments into account in its reforms of the capital markets;
4.

Stresses its concern that there was a significant increase in the catch of shark species during the final years of the previous Protocol; calls on the Commission to report to Parliament on the actions taken by the Joint Committee in response to the science-based study to be carried out as described in Article 4, paragraph 6 of the Annex to the Protocol, in order to have guarantees that this fishery is exploited in a sustainable and responsible way; stresses that Parliament should also be informed about the data obtained as regards shark stocks;
10.

Notes the holding of the sixth round of consultations between the EU and Belarus on modernisation issues in Brussels on 3 September 2015, when the delegations discussed the prospects for cooperation in key areas, on the basis of agreements reached in 2014 and 2015; urges the EEAS and the Council to ensure that any participation by the authorities in the Dialogue on Modernisation, alongside and on an equal basis with the democratic opposition and civil society, takes place with full respect for democratic principles, with a view to developing a sustainable competitive economy and fostering democratic reforms, as well as a pluralistic society and the rule of law;
9.

Stresses with concern the delays in implementing cohesion policy during the current programming period; points out that, although a large majority of operational programmes have now been agreed, the implementation itself is still at a very early stage; stresses, nevertheless, that assessments can be made as regards directing policy resources to priorities that contribute to sustainable growth and jobs; notes, in this context, that according to the first evaluation released by the Commission, the amounts allocated to R&I, support for SMEs, ICT, the low-carbon economy, employment, social inclusion, education and capacity-building have increased substantially as compared with the previous programming periods, while the level of support for transport and environmental infrastructure has decreased; draws attention to the fact that, at the time of the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy, data on implementation of the ESI Funds 2014-2020 may still be lacking, and that, as a result, a concrete evaluation of the contribution of these funds to achieving the strategy’s targets may still not be possible at that stage; appreciates the fact that Member States have taken action, e.g. to ensure that 20 % of their resources are spent on climate action;
24.

Calls on the Commission to lift the regulatory barriers to satellite-based air traffic surveillance in order to enable life-saving services for EU citizens, and asks the International Telecommunication Union to make the necessary spectrum allocation, as the ICAO has identified satellite ADS-B as the one technology that can assist flight tracking, also for air traffic management (ATM) purposes, outside of the most densely populated areas, where other forms of terrestrial ATM surveillance technologies are limited; stresses that when implementing ADS-B the needs of all airspace users must be considered and inter-operability between alternative technologies must be ensured in order to avoid safety and security breaches; emphasises that it could help governments, air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and airlines in Europe and around the world to increase air traffic management efficiency and capacity, thus reducing aviation emissions, and significantly enhance aviation safety, all while providing European airspace with another layer of surveillance that could augment the current one;
D.

whereas on 30 October 2015 opposition party deputy leader Kem Sokha was removed from his position as First Vice-President of the National Assembly by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) during a session boycotted by the CNRP; whereas granting the CNRP the post of Vice-President was one of the key concessions which the governing CPP granted the CNRP in July 2014 to end its one-year boycott of parliament after the 2013 elections;