ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
35.

Considers regrettable, as regards the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, the continuing lack of any substantial progress and the failure to produce concrete and visible results; recalls that, on the adoption of a new EU human rights strategy, EU foreign ministers pledged in June 2012 that the EU would now ‘raise human rights issues vigorously in all appropriate forms of bilateral dialogue, including at the highest level’; calls on the newly appointed EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the EEAS, the Council and the Commission to step up their efforts in order to give this process new impetus and make this dialogue more effective and result-oriented, including through preparatory meetings with both international and local civil society organisations and NGOs in the presence of the authorities of both sides; takes the view that such dialogue should be included in all contacts with officials from strategic partners such as China; stresses the importance of addressing thoroughly all the problems relating to human rights and the rule of law in China and in the EU; takes the view that EU-China summits and human rights talks should include a set of transparent issues to be discussed and concrete benchmarks; urges the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, to voice her concerns regarding human rights abuses in China and to refer publicly to the concrete cases and issues discussed with Chinese officials in all encounters; encourages Member States’ officials to follow the same lines in a coherent and coordinated manner; calls on EU companies with activities in China to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and urges the EU and its Member States to monitor such compliance closely;
23.

Looks forward to the launch of negotiations with the US, and to following them closely and contributing to their successful outcome; reminds the Commission of its obligation to keep Parliament immediately and fully informed at all stages of the negotiations (before and after the negotiating rounds); is committed to addressing the legislative and regulatory issues that may arise in the context of the negotiations and the future agreement; reiterates its basic responsibility to represent the citizens of the EU, and looks forward to facilitating inclusive and open discussions during the negotiating process; is committed to taking a proactive role in collaborating with its US counterparts when introducing new regulations;
7.

Calls on the UN Security Council (UNSC) members, in particular Russia and China, to fulfil their responsibility to put an end to the violence and repression against the Syrian people, inter alia by adopting a UNSC resolution based on the UNSC press statement of 18 April 2013, and to mandate humanitarian aid deliveries in all areas of Syria; calls on the VP/HR to do her utmost to secure the adoption of a UNSC resolution by exerting effective diplomatic pressure on both Russia and China; calls for the EU to continue to explore, within the UNSC, all the options under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework, in close cooperation with the US, Turkey and the League of Arab States, in order to assist the Syrian people and halt the bloodshed; strongly supports the work of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the situation in Syria and welcomes its updated report;
(u)

to cooperate with multilateral and bilateral partners towards adding more robust and effective pressure in order to put an immediate end to the violation of human rights and violence in Syria; to explore with partners, especially the US, Turkey and the League of Arab States, all options with regard to the implementation of the principle of the R2P in order to assist the Syrian people and to halt the bloodshed; to put pressure on the Syrian government and all those involved in the crisis to fully respect international humanitarian law and to allow the swift provision of cross-border humanitarian assistance, basic public services as well as full access for humanitarian organisations; to call on international partners to meet their financial commitments as regards providing help to Syrian refugees, thereby allowing the UNHCR and other organisations to provide the necessary assistance; to explore with partners ways how to minimise the impact of the Syrian crisis on neighbouring countries;
32.

Acknowledges the problems regarding investment aid to large enterprises indicated by the Commission, given that evidence suggests a lack of incentive effect; believes that, although State aid should be primarily provided to SMEs, excluding large enterprises, a category which also includes family-owned enterprises exceeding the definition of SMEs or mid-cap companies, from State aid rules in areas covered by Article 107(3)(c) TFEU is not justified given their contribution to employment, the supply chains they create with SMEs, their common involvement in innovation, research and development, and their positive role in combating the economic crisis; takes the view that the presence of large undertakings is often key to the success of SMEs that benefit from clusters led by large companies and from their subcontracting activities; recalls that it was the Commission itself that recognised the contribution of investment by large enterprises to creating knock-on effects and to access for the EU to the world markets; stresses that a decision to exclude large enterprises in ‘c’ areas could lead to job losses, reduced economic activity in the regions, reduced regional competitiveness, reduced attractiveness for foreign investment and the relocation of companies to other regions either within or outside the EU; considers, therefore, that such companies should remain eligible for State aid in ‘c’ areas, subject to particular scrutiny following individual notification and to additional compatibility criteria concerning incentive effect and contribution to regional development through clusters and subcontracting;
10.

Urges the Council to reopen negotiations on DGS, a matter of crucial importance and direct interest to the citizens of the European Union, as well as for trust in, and the stability of, the financial system; notes that the necessity for rapid adoption of that proposal has recently been confirmed by the Cypriot crisis; recalls that a single European deposit guarantee fund with functioning deposit guarantee schemes backed by appropriate levels of funding, which therefore enhance credibility and investor confidence, could be the long-term goal once an effective resolution framework and an effective single supervisory mechanism are working; emphasises their significance for the proper setting-up of the Banking Union and for the achievement of the overall objective of stable financial markets; considers that the DGS proposal should be adopted in parallel with the Directive establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms;
12.

Considers that regulatory involvement in the cyber-security field should be risk-oriented, focused on critical infrastructure the proper functioning of which is of major public interest, and should build on the existing, market-based efforts of the industry to ensure network resilience; underlines the crucial role of cooperation at the operational level in fostering a more efficient exchange of cyber-threat information between public authorities and the private sector — at both Union and national level, as well as with strategic partners of the Union — with the aim of ensuring the security of networks and information, by generating mutual trust, value and commitment, and exchanging expertise; considers that public-private partnerships should be based on network and technological neutrality, and should focus on efforts to address problems that have high public impact; calls on the Commission to encourage all the market operators involved to be more vigilant, and more cooperative, in order to protect other operators from damage to their services;
8.

Calls on the Commission to propose concrete policy measures for the protection of endangered languages; calls also on the Commission and the Council, within their terms of reference under the Treaty, to adapt EU policies and schedule programmes so as to support the preservation of the endangered languages and linguistic diversity, using EU financial support tools for the period between 2014 and 2020, including: programmes on documentation of these languages, as well as on education and training, social inclusion, youth and sport, research and development, the culture and media programme, the structural funds (cohesion fund, ERDF, ESF, European territorial cooperation, EARDF), and all instruments and exchange platforms designed to promote new technologies, social media, and multimedia platforms, encompassing support for the generation of both content and applications; takes the view that these tools should focus on programmes and actions that demonstrate a positive wider agenda, either culturally or economically, beyond their community and their region; calls on the Commission to consider the administrative and legislative obstacles posed to projects relating to endangered languages on account of the small size of the language communities concerned;
16.

Stresses the importance of stock assessments, and calls for enhanced cooperation among scientific institutes in both basins, including the exchange of scientific data and the sharing of information; believes that the EU should promote, stimulate and facilitate cooperation and joint work between EU scientific teams and their counterparts in other involved non-Member States; welcomes, in this respect, the ‘Marine Knowledge 2020’ initiative, which aims to make data on the marine environment available to a large number of potentially interested parties, including public, industrial, educational and research bodies and civil society;
3.

Supports the Commission’s recommendations to streamline the use of existing instruments and channels (such as the default use of the Europol channel and the creation of national integrated Single Point of Contacts) and to improve training and awareness on cross-border information exchange; is disappointed, however, that the Commission did not provide for a more ambitious, future-oriented vision, as was called for in the Stockholm Programme and the Internal Security Strategy, that could be a starting point for a political debate on how to shape and to optimise law enforcement data sharing in the EU, while guaranteeing a robust level of data protection and privacy; strongly encourages the Commission to come forward with this vision, setting a well-tailored framework for EU law enforcement information exchange based on principles such as necessity, quality, proportionality, efficiency and accountability and including a proper assessment of the availability principle and the concept of cross-matching;
H.

whereas the Member States should be encouraged to make use of the funds that will be available from the Asylum and Migration Fund and of the funds available under the Preparatory Action to ‘Enable the resettlement of refugees during emergency situations’, which covers, among other things, the following measures: supporting persons already recognised as refugees by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); supporting emergency action in the case of groups of refugees, identified as priorities, who are under armed attack and who face conjunctures of extreme vulnerability and of a life-threatening nature; providing, where needed, extra financial support during emergencies to the UNHCR and to its liaison organisations in the Member States and at EU level;
9.

Supports the point made by the Commission that many components of space systems are dual-use or of a military nature and are hence subject to Directive 2009/43/EC of 6 May 2009 simplifying terms and conditions of transfers of defence-related products within the Community (3), as amended by Directive 2012/47/EU of 14 December 2012 as regards the list of defence-related products, Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 of 5 May 2009 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items (4), or the Common Position on arms exports; welcomes the proposal made in the communication to submit a formal report to Parliament on the dual-use export control system before the end of 2013; calls on the Commission, the Member States and the EU Council Working Party on Conventional Arms Exports (COARM) to clarify what regulatory framework should apply to each category of goods and technology;
22.

Considers the Eurostat definition of ‘green jobs’ (in the environmental goods and services sector), which for example stipulates that ‘green’ technologies and products must have an environmental protection or resource management purpose as their prime objective, to be useful to avoid diverging statistics, but considers it necessary to further develop an EU- wide uniform definition of green jobs and growth, which would, for example, also include the public transport sector; deems it useful to consider a more comprehensive ‘green jobs’ definition embracing additional jobs/activities as a next step;
29.

Notes that food and nutrition crises are becoming more frequent in the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions, where millions of people are without access to adequate food; points out that the 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis and the 2012 Sahel food crisis demonstrated that humanitarian assistance alone can neither break the cycle of chronic hunger and malnutrition nor address its root causes; stresses the importance of addressing the underlying causes of persistent food insecurity in these regions, namely poor access to appropriate basic services and education, acute poverty, inadequate support for small-scale agriculture and livestock keeping, land access problems, environmental degradation, rapid population growth, market failures, declining per capita food production and poor governance; stress that the underlying causes leading to food crises today are more complex than in the past, with, for example, market-related and prices shocks more frequent and more likely to affect poor people;
A.

whereas the People’s Republic of China performs more than 10 000 organ transplants per year and 165 Chinese organ transplant centres advertise that matching organs can be found within two to four weeks, yet as things stand China does not have an organised or effective public system of organ donation or distribution; whereas the organ transplant system in China does not comply with the World Health Organisation’s requirements for transparency and traceability in organ procurement pathways, and whereas the Chinese Government has resisted independent scrutiny of the system; whereas voluntary and informed consent is a precondition for ethical organ donation;
16.

Calls on the Council and Commission to support and encourage the African Union with regard to the need for a holistic action plan, as the situation is continuing to deteriorate rapidly and is affecting the economy as well as public order in the countries concerned, as the Ebola crisis has become complex, with political, security, economic and social implications that will continue to affect the region well beyond the current medical emergency;
6.

Stresses the fundamental right of the Ukrainian people to freely determine their country’s economic and political future and reaffirms the right of Ukraine to self-defence, in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter; reiterates that the international community supports the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine; urges the Ukrainian security forces to fully respect international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) when conducting so-called anti-terrorist operations and stresses the need to protect the civilian population; and calls on rebels and mercenaries to do the same and not use civilians as human shields; underlines the need for a political solution to the crisis and urges all sides to demonstrate restraint and stick to a ceasefire, which needs to be declared and strictly implemented as soon as possible;
19.

Recalls that, according to Eurofound, the cost of NEETs (in lost income, lost tax revenue and increased spending on welfare transfers) in the EU rose from 153 billion in 2011 to 162 billion in 2012 and that, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a total of EUR 21 billion is needed to contribute to resolving the problem of youth unemployment in the euro area; considers, therefore, that increased EU funding is needed in order to attain the Europe 2020 strategy target of 75 % employment; stresses that frontloading is not fresh money and involves the risk of funding being concentrated at the beginning when take-up is low and running out at times of high take-up, which makes the work of the project beneficiaries on the ground more difficult and unpredictable; considers, furthermore, that there is a need for comprehensive and precise guidelines from the Commission for the Member States and their Public Employment Services on the eligibility of their programmes under the Youth Employment Initiative;
18.

Recalls that humanitarian aid is vital, but cannot fix a political problem, and that the prime responsibility for protecting civilians lies with the government; calls, therefore, for the country’s wealth to be made directly available for the well-being of the South Sudanese people; urges all parties to honour the agreement and to engage constructively, through dialogue and cooperation, in the Addis Ababa peace talks, with a view to the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the rapid resumption of talks leading to the formation of a transitional government of national unity, which represents the only long-term solution, and to national reconciliation in the interests of the South Sudanese population as a whole;
L.

whereas territorial excellence brandings can contribute to the resilience and development of territorial economies, particularly in the most vulnerable regions, mountain regions and the outermost regions, by coordinating sets of high-quality goods (food and non-food) and services which are inextricably interlinked and which embody the specific characteristics of each territory and in particular its heritage (historical, cultural, geographical, etc); whereas assembled together within sets these goods and services are unique and generate revenue at territorial level opening up new opportunities on local and international markets and may also act as an ‘umbrella’ for promoting regions as tourist destinations; whereas the aim of these territorial brandings is to identify those territories that have worked together to create common partnerships and synergies in order to exploit their resources in the long term, encourage local/regional producers and stimulate their economies, which is vital to quality of life in the countryside and a balanced development of rural and urban areas; whereas they should not be confused with the quality labels (protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG)) used for food products, with which far from being incompatible they are on the contrary fully complementary; whereas they should contribute to the promotion of these schemes both within and outside the EU and help to improve the competitiveness of rural economies whilst at the same time opening up employment opportunities;
A.

whereas the economic crisis, high rates of corruption, the chronic shortage of basic goods, the violence and political divisions have triggered peaceful protests against the government of President Nicolás Maduro since February 2014, which are still ongoing; whereas the protestors have been met with disproportionate use of force and violence by the police, members of the National Guard and violent and uncontrolled armed pro-government groups; whereas according to local and international organisations over 1 700 protesters are awaiting trial and more than 69 remain jailed, and at least 40 people have been killed in the protests, while their murderers remain unaccountable; whereas the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms that it has received reports of more than 150 cases of ill-treatment during detention, including torture; whereas, according to several sources, persecution of the democratic opposition by the security forces is still continuing;
4.

Sincerely regrets the fact that the Bangladeshi Parliament and the political parties did not manage to agree on an inclusive mechanism for the elections, and calls on the government and the opposition to put the best interests of Bangladesh first as a matter of urgency and to find a compromise which would give the Bangladeshi people a chance to express their democratic choice in a representative way; believes that all options should be considered, including an early election if all legitimate political parties are willing to stand and offer voters a choice;
12.

Recalls that the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that authorities must, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms and, whenever the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, must use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence;
17.

Calls on all regions to consider investments into skills and training for these new jobs, taking into account the fact that a significant number of new local jobs can also be created in ICT services, the transport sector and sectors that supply smart equipment, infrastructure and services, for instance for new installations, but also to avoid any shortage of specialist labour and enable adaptation to the needs arising from the emergence of new professions in the respective fields; calls on the Member States and regions to support training initiatives both at the academic and the craftsmanship level in the field of renewable energy, such as environmental technical studies and the development of new apprenticeships, for example solateur; highlights that regions which successfully implement a smart energy system can attract further jobs to the region in the form of specialised training through the establishment of technical universities and colleges with expertise in the area; calls on regions to cooperate on smart specialisation and welcomes schemes where knowledge is shared between regions and across borders; draws attention to the initiatives which the EIT is pursuing in the InnoEnergy knowledge and information community (KIC) for the research and development of smart grids and the training of professionals in this sector; draws attention, also, to the new scope for establishing Regional Innovation Schemes;
14.

Strongly condemns the rocket attack at Camp Hurriya on 26 December 2013, which according to various reports claimed the lives of several camp residents and left people injured; stresses that the circumstances in which this brutal incident took place must be clarified; calls on the Iraqi authorities to step up security measures around the camp so as to protect its residents from any further violence; urges the Iraqi Government to find the perpetrators of the attack and hold them accountable; notes that the EU invites all parties to facilitate the work of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in relocating all Camp Hurriya residents to a permanent and safe location outside Iraq as soon as possible;