ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
15.

Acknowledges the difficulties faced by Turkey in concluding Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with third countries, which has negative effects on the Turkish economy by enabling unilateral preferential access to the Turkish market for the EU’s FTA partners with which Turkey has not yet been able to sign FTAs; calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that Turkey is included in the impact assessment studies of prospective FTAs between the EU and third countries and to further strengthen the transmission of information on the EU’s position and the state of play of the FTA negotiations; encourages the Commission to take account, in the FTAs, of the CU between the EU and Turkey;
35.

Is therefore concerned about the current Commission’s overall trend towards result-based funding (essentially justified by the principles of sound accountability) and is deeply concerned about the possible impact of result-based funding on the quality and nature of research, with possible constraints on scientific research and a negative impact on projects with non-measurable objectives or with an objective measurable using parameters other than that of immediate utility; is equally concerned about the potential outcome in terms of further ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of project output/results and about the pinpointing of the criteria necessary to define them;
18.

Calls for the promotion of social integration and inclusion, in order to guarantee effective protection of fundamental human rights, and clear commitments to draw up EU and national policies to combat poverty and social exclusion; considers it necessary to ensure better access, on a universal basis, which is free from physical and communication barriers, to the labour market, public health services, education (from pre-school education to completion of undergraduate studies), vocational education and training, public housing, energy provision and social protection; takes the view that jobs should be high-quality and barrier-free with rights; believes that wages must be decent and that pensions must include a basic old-age allowance which ensures that people who have worked all their lives enjoy a dignified retirement; states that minimum income schemes for everyone must guarantee freedom from poverty and ensure social, cultural and political inclusion in keeping with national practices, collective bargaining and national legislation; notes, further, that in the long term the more the Member States invest in these various policies the less need there will be for a system based on a minimum household income; points out that such measures should be adopted in strict compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and with different practices, collective bargaining and national law in the Member States; takes the view that only in this way can each individual's right to participate in social, political and cultural life be guaranteed;
16.

Expresses concern about the conditions in prisons and other detention facilities, and consistent reports of ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience, including torture, and about the moving of prisoners of conscience to isolated prisons far from their families, where they cannot receive food and medicine; also calls on the Burmese authorities immediately to allow medical treatment for all prisoners and to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume visits to all prisoners;
16.

Takes the view that, owing to the possible influence of plant protection products on colony development in addition to the effects on adult bees, plant protection product effects on the whole hive should be considered as well; recalls in this respect that the Commission stated in plenary, at the time of the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, that when revising the data requirements for active substances and plant protection products, as referred to in Article 8(1) (b) and (c) thereof, the Commission would pay particular attention to follow-up examinations and to study protocols, making possible risk assessment which takes into account the direct and indirect exposure of bees to these products, in particular through nectar, pollen and water, which can contain traces of pesticides originating from water collected by bees;
7.

Notes that urgent attention must be paid to the open, illegal dumping of mixed and unidentified waste near the Ferandelle site, and calls for the enforcement of strict management controls; reminds the competent authorities that, in order to comply fully with the IED/IPPC Directive (Directive 2010/75/EU), they must establish strict controls on the handling of specific types of industrial waste, regardless of their origin; points out, further, that specially designated sites must be established which are consistent with the provisions of the relevant EU directives, thereby ensuring that an appropriate infrastructure for industrial, special and toxic waste is developed; requests an explanation for the failure to use the site planned for the reception of organic waste and calls for it to be put into operation, provided it fulfils the criteria laid down in the Waste Management Directive; calls for the monitoring of unlicensed, privately run landfills and appropriate action to ensure compliance with EU rules;
B.

whereas the border clashes started after a Cambodian court sentenced two Thai nationals to up to eight years’ imprisonment, having found them guilty of espionage and illegal entry after they crossed into the disputed border area in December 2010, and whereas the sentence immediately followed the successful conclusion of the seventh meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia (JC), on 3-4 February 2011, at which both countries had agreed to extend cooperation in all areas and to hold a meeting of the Joint Commission on Demarcation for the Land Boundary (JBC) in Thailand in the near future,
26.

Calls on the Member States to develop the PSCs into comprehensive eGovernment portals for service providers wanting to set up a business or provide cross-border services; calls on the Member States to continue improving the accessibility of PSCs, including by allowing procedures and formalities to be completed through PSCs remotely, by electronic means, as well as the quality and relevance of the information and procedures available to its users, in particular SMEs, including information and the completion of procedures under labour and tax law in force in the Member State that is of relevance to service providers, such as procedures related to VAT and social security registration; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that all information given by PSCs is also available in languages other than national, taking into consideration especially the languages of neighbouring countries;
20.

Recalls that Pakistan has certain obligations as a signatory state of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and calls on Pakistan’s relevant authorities to engage in a process of reviewing the scope of the blanket reservations made to the ICCPR, some of which limit rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan or are contrary to the notion of supremacy of international law over national law; believes that the way the blasphemy laws are currently implemented is in clear breach of these obligations and asks the EEAS to take this into account during the examination of a possible application of the GSP+ scheme to Pakistan from 2013 onwards, and report back to the EP on the matter;
45.

Emphasises that the family is a cornerstone of our society and is inherently associated with the transmission of values and with cooperation in a spirit of solidarity; underlines that introducing flexible working hours and providing teleworking opportunities, as well as extending child care and professionalising home help for the elderly, represent an important step towards making it possible to combine work and family life and to enhance equal participation of women and men in the labour market and in education and training; regrets the fact that the lack of adequate leave schemes, parental leave schemes and flexible working arrangements for both parents often prevents women from participating actively in the labour market or from working full time; considers that this also requires a change in corporate cultures with regard to the appointment and employment of women; calls therefore on the Council, the Commission and the Member States to prevent cuts in benefits or social services in the field of childcare, care of the elderly and vulnerable people as a result of the economic and financial crisis;
44.

Calls on the VP/HR, the EEAS and the Commission to strengthen the role of civil society organisations, in particular human rights organisations and women's organisations, in policy monitoring and the programming and implementation of assistance through a dedicated capacity-building facility; in that connection, highlights the need to empower women, and calls on the EEAS and the Commission systematically to analyse the gender impact of their projects and programmes and to advocate that women rights and gender equality should be taken into account in the revision of constitutions, penal codes, family law and other civil laws and in the human rights dialogues carried on with ENP partner countries; insists that the VP/HR, the EEAS and the Commission should not strengthen relations between third countries and EU if the countries concerned do not involve civil society organisations sufficiently in their policies; notes that civil society organisations are the EU's most faithful and powerful allies in promoting democratic values, good governance and human rights in partner countries; calls for the increased involvement of regional and local authorities and of professional organisations and the social partners in EU cooperation with its southern neighbours; calls on the Council and the Commission to further strengthen and make more effective use of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights in this regard;
30.

Calls for greater account to be taken, in company-level and regional-level development strategies, of women’s agricultural and non-agricultural vocational skills; stresses how important it is for women farmers and other women in rural areas to be able to obtain qualifications and training as producers and entrepreneurs, and calls on the Commission and the Member States, in collaboration with regional and local authorities, rural organisations and women’s and farmers’ associations, to create incentives to promote women's participation in the labour force, to eliminate any discrimination against women at work, and to improve the training of women, including by promoting greater access to postgraduate training and specialist courses in educational establishments, to propose corresponding rural development measures under Axis 3 of the rural development programmes and to encourage existing initiatives; points out that these measures will contribute to the fight against social exclusion in rural areas and that the risk of falling into poverty is greater for women than for men;
8.

With a view to question 114 of the Commission's Green Paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy asking for a ranking of priorities amongst the various issues raised in the Green Paper, endorses the importance of achieving effective solutions concerning the need for fair, open and balanced market access whilst promptly addressing other urgent issues, such as simplification and clarification of the rules, improving SME access to public contracts, driving innovation through public procurement and subsequently considering other aspects of the review of public procurement with regard to concessions; therefore calls on the Commission to first approach the issue of simplification of rules, achieving well-balanced access to public sector markets, improving SME access, and to undertake the revision of public procurement and concessions as a second step, in order to allow for the necessary, sound involvement not only of the European Parliament and the Member States, but also of citizens and businesses, with a view to achieving the necessary recognition for all of these important Single Market issues, which are highly relevant for the overall welfare of the EU;
7.

Insists that there can be no impunity and that no efforts should be spared in order to identify and bring to justice, including at international level, all those responsible for crimes against the civilian population; welcomes, in that connection, the establishment of a commission of inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council; notes that the UNSC has indicated that the ICC will decide whether it has jurisdiction over the situation in Côte d’Ivoire; calls on all actors in Côte d’Ivoire to cooperate with these bodies so that justice can be done; calls on the EU to provide all necessary support to these inquiries;
29.

Stresses that the members of the IAB are independent only in formal terms, since they are currently appointed by and subject to the instructions of the Commission President, and cannot therefore be said to be fully independent; calls, therefore, for the members of the IAB to be scrutinized by the European Parliament and the Council prior to appointment and no longer be subject to the instructions of the Commission President; calls for the work of the IAB and experts to take place in the public remit with the highest transparency so that their independence can be verified in practice;
E.

whereas the cases of the activists Jabbar Savalan and Bakhtiyar Hajiev are of particular concern; whereas Mr Savalan, a member of the youth group of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), and Mr Hajiyev, an activist and former parliamentary candidate, were apparently targeted for using Facebook to call for demonstrations against the government; whereas Mr Savalan was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for allegedly possessing drugs; whereas Mr Hajiev was arrested on 4 March after calling on Facebook for demonstrations against the government and now faces two years in jail for allegedly evading military service; whereas serious doubts exist as regards the fairness of the trials of Mr Savalan and Mr Hajiyev,
87.

In order to increase transparency and public acceptance of development projects funded fully or partially by the EU or the Member States, calls for creating an electronic data base that provides information on ODA; believes that this data base should enable users to track all EU donors’ and, if applicable, United Nations Agencies’ projects and programs in all recipient countries, who finances them, and which organization implements them; takes the view that it should be user-friendly and accessible to all through the Internet and that it should have a function which makes it easy to search for specific information through a set of predefined criteria (donor, DAC sector, location, project status, funding type and MDGs) and offer tables and geographic maps for analysis; notes that this kind of data base is also essential for strengthened coordination and harmonization among donors and alignment with the government of the recipient country;
B.

whereas the misleading business practices in question typically consist in luring businesses, as well as professionals and non-profit entities, into being listed in a business directory free of charge; whereas signatories later discover that they have signed up to a contract with a fee,
6.

Recalls that programmes for deprived persons have to be implemented in the light of the proceedings before the Court of First Instance, as the Commission rightly pointed out in its statement of estimates for the budget year 2012; notes that the Court, in its Judgment T-576/08 of 13 April 2011, stated that only the supply of food from intervention stocks shall be covered by this programme, as opposed to causing expenditure by buying food supplies on the market; considers that, as a result of the Judgment, Article 2 of Regulation (EC) 983/2008 cannot be used as a legal basis for food distribution for the needy;
38.

Highlights the need for better guidance on broadband investment for local and regional authorities in order to encourage the full absorption of EU funds, as expenditure figures for the Structural Funds suggest that the regions have difficulty in absorbing the available funds and targeting them on broadband projects; considers that state aid for broadband investment should be used in synergy with structural funds to stimulate local entrepreneurship and the local economy, create local jobs and promote competition in the telecom market; believes that to make maximum use of limited public funding, whether by the Member States directly or via the EU, such funding needs to have a clear focus on those projects where it can be expected to have the maximum effect in private investment in order to further increase both coverage and capacity; emphasises the need for public funds or preferential loans, in accordance with the Commission’s guidance on state aid, which should be targeted towards future-proof, long-lasting and open infrastructures which support competition and consumer choice;
8.

Reiterates its call to the Member States and the Commission to pursue an ambitious harmonisation agenda pursuant to the ITU conclusions and calls on the Commission to assess and review the need for freeing additional spectrum band, taking into account the evolution of spectrum technologies, market experience with new services, the possible future needs of terrestrial radio and television broadcasting and the lack of spectrum in other bands adequate for wireless broadband coverage in order to make this possible, depending on the necessary decisions being taken, by 2012 and 2016;
R.

whereas women over 50 often face twofold or multiple discrimination based on gender and age stereotypes, frequently exacerbated by their gender-specific work and life patterns (e.g. career breaks, part-time employment, re-employment after a period of unemployment, the fact that they may give up their jobs in order to look after their families or work in family businesses, especially in the distributive trades or in farming, without being paid a salary or belonging to a social security scheme, and the gender pay gap); whereas, therefore, women tend to face a greater accumulation of disadvantages than men from the same groups; whereas, in addition, in times of economic recession the women concerned are in even greater danger of being reduced to poverty,
24.

Emphasises that the fair and equitable access to, and distribution of, resources for present and future generations is a crucial precondition for development and poverty eradication, and that developing countries, as well as regional and local authorities, should be enabled to profit from their natural resources in the most sustainable and inclusive way; stresses that it is paramount that all countries participate in this in order to create sustainable societies; highlights that the poorest countries and the poorest segments of the world’s population will be most affected by the impacts of climate change and thus need support for adaptation, especially to take into account the needs and knowledge of women and the most vulnerable populations;
37.

Reaffirms that the European Schools must be financed on a sound and adequate basis so that the commitments made in the Convention and in the Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union can be fulfilled and the quality of the education provided, as well as equal and equivalent teaching conditions for children of all language communities in the European Schools, can be guaranteed. Notes, in this regard, the recent petition by the parents’ and teachers’ associations of the Brussels European Schools pointing out the serious threats posed by the proposed cuts to the quality of education and the proper functioning of the European Schools and therefore opposing any budget cuts;
3.

Believes that the impact of demographic change varies substantially from region to region, depending on whether it is rapid or slow and whether the region concerned is a region of net immigration or of shrinking population and therefore requires a different adjustment strategy, and must be tackled in a coordinated way by all European, national and regional authorities; notes that in regions of shrinking population, particularly rural regions, quality of life is defined differently from the way it is in regions with a growing population, and therefore considers that different support strategies are needed; takes the view that workforce migration accentuates the effects of demographic change and that population ageing is only part of the picture;
22.

Notes that the right of free movement of workers cannot be viewed in isolation from other rights and basic principles of the EU and that respect for the European social model and the rights guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights, as reflected in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, will offer the possibility of decent jobs, adequate working conditions, including protection and safety at work, social security rights, equal treatment, reconciliation of family and working life and the freedom to provide services; stresses that the right to vote in local, regional and European elections is an essential element of these rights and calls for better implementation; notes that the right to vote in national elections of the Member States of origin may be lost, believes consideration should be given to this issue;
21.

Emphasises once again the significance of the abovementioned Declaration by the JPA on the EU-Latin America bananas agreement, given the major impact this agreement will have henceforth on the competitiveness of ACP and EU banana producers; calls in this regard on the European Parliament and the Council to do all that is in their power to find an agreement which enables compensation for ACP banana producers, provided for in the regulation establishing the banana accompanying measures to be released; asks the JPA Bureau, therefore, and the Committee on Economic Affairs, Finance and Trade to continue to monitor closely developments on this matter;
5.

Considers that such a plan should include as a minimum the following elements: — an EU plan for the recapitalisation of European banks, — the communitisation of the EFSF and the future ESM, and an assessment of whether the available and envisaged means will suffice to bring the sovereign debt crisis under control, — a meaningful European growth, investment and jobs plan that also includes project bonds, — ways of improving Member States’ efforts to coordinate and harmonise elements of their tax systems, including measures against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance, — a proposal for a faster and stronger mechanism which allows the Commission to enforce the Single Market acquis in Member States, — an economic government for the euro area based on the Community method, — proposals to complete the overhaul of financial market regulation to make the EU economy more resilient to future crises, — a report on the setting-up of a system of common issuance of European sovereign bonds (eurosecurities) on the basis of joint and several liability before the end of 2011; these eurosecurities would serve to strengthen fiscal discipline and increase stability in the euro area through the markets, and, by taking advantage of the increase in liquidity, ensure that Member States enjoying the highest credit ratings would not be penalised by higher interest rates;
C.

whereas the draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences are contrary to Article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, which stipulates that ‘the human being must not be hindered from seeking, receiving and imparting information and ideas’, and Article 29, which states ‘all persons shall be equal before the law, the court, and other State institutions and officials. The rights of the human being may not be restricted, nor may he be granted any privileges on the ground of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, belief, convictions or views’,