ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
13.

Considers that the recently postponed meeting with President Yanukovych would have offered an excellent opportunity to tackle serious concerns which have been addressed to the Ukraine Government and re-establish a constructive dialogue that could lead to the initialling of the Association Agreement, provided that significant progress is made on the remaining technical and key political obstacles; calls on the Council and Commission to reschedule the meeting with President Yanukovych so that it takes place ahead of the planned EU-Ukraine Summit in December 2011;
45.

Considers that, for the purposes of international trade and the transport of hydrocarbons in the region, it is essential to develop the EU’s Black Sea and maritime Danube ports, including oil and gas terminals and intermodal transport infrastructure; considers it necessary to modernise infrastructure in the Black Sea region and establish connections with European transport corridors; calls on the Commission and Member States to expedite the completion of priority trans-European transport projects along axes 7, 18, 21 and 22, as provided for in Annex II to Decision No 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 amending Decision No 1692/96/EC on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and their progressive assimilation with the TRACECA corridor, the central axis, the south-east axis and the international maritime transport routes, as defined in the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on ‘Extension of the major trans-European transport axes to the neighbouring countries – Guidelines for transport in Europe and the neighbouring regions’ (COM(2007)0032) and of Pan-European Transport Corridors 8 and 9;
2.

Affirms that the main aim of its gender mainstreaming policy plan for the coming three-year period should be to achieve more consistent and effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in all Parliament’s work, on the basis of the following priorities: (a) a continued commitment at the level of Parliament's Bureau, through the work of the High-Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity; (b) a dual approach – mainstreaming gender in Parliament’s activities through, on the one hand, effective work by the committee responsible, and, on the other, integration of the gender perspective into the work of the other committees and delegations; (c) awareness of the need for a gender balance in decision-making processes, to be achieved by increasing the representation of women on Parliament’s governing bodies, on the bureaux of political groups, on the bureaux of committees and delegations, in the composition of delegations and in other missions, such as election observation, and by increasing the representation of men in areas where they are under-represented; (d) incorporation of gender analysis into all stages of the budgetary process to ensure that equal consideration is given to women’s and men’s needs and priorities and that the impact of the provision of EU resources on women and men is assessed; (e) an effective press and information policy which systematically takes gender equality into account and avoids gender stereotypes; (f) continued submission of regular reports to plenary on the progress achieved in gender mainstreaming in the work of Parliament’s committees and delegations; (g) a focus on the need for adequate financial and human resources, so that Parliament’s bodies are provided with the necessary tools, including gender analysis and assessment tools, with appropriate gender expertise (research and documentation, trained staff, experts) and with gender-specific data and statistics; calls on the Secretariat to arrange regular exchanges of best practice and networking as well as gender mainstreaming and gender-budgeting training for Parliament staff; (h) continued development of Parliament’s Gender Mainstreaming Network, to which each committee has appointed a member responsible for implementing gender mainstreaming in its work; (i) attention to the importance of employing specific terminology and definitions which comply with international standards when terms are used in relation to gender mainstreaming; (j) methodological and analytical support from the EIGE;
25.

Notes the rapid increase in the leverage ratio of the ECB, as measured by its capital and reserves in relation to its assets, even though the leverage ratio cannot be applied to central banks in the same way as it can to commercial banks; notes, however, that by mid-August 2011 the ECB's balance sheet had already shrunk by around 10 % from its peak, although it has been increasing rapidly since then; notes that, while there has been also a substantial expansion in the balance sheets of other central banks, the ECB's leverage ratio is higher than that of other comparable central banks, with the exception of those which have implemented quantitative easing programmes, such as the Federal Reserve or the Bank of England;
5.

Recalls that the expansion of large-scale exploitation of tropical forests and other forests with high biodiversity and carbon stock values is unsustainable and may result in further deforestation and forest degradation, contributing to the destruction of the global environment; notes the inherent tension within VPAs, in that, while encouraging the trade in timber products from countries with large areas of natural forests, the EU could undermine its objectives of combating climate change, support for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, reduction of poverty and stopping deforestation worldwide; therefore calls on the Commission to ensure that the EU policy is coherent and that actions supported by the VPAs will make an effective contribution to the international commitments of all parties to a VPA; urges the Commission and the Council to detail which additional initiatives to the VPAs are foreseen in order to combat deforestation and degradation of natural forests and to promote their protection;
33.

Calls on the Commission to carry out a study to establish if counter-terrorism policies are subject to effective democratic scrutiny, on the basis of publicly available information and information provided by the Member States in the context of Article 70 TFEU, including at least the following issues: (a) a detailed assessment establishing if either national parliaments or the European Parliament had full rights and the means of scrutiny, such as access to information, sufficient time for a thorough procedure, and rights to modify the proposals on counter-terrorism measures, including measures agreed in international governmental and non-governmental bodies, non-legislative EU(-funded) activities, such as research programmes and measures adopted by third countries with an extraterritorial effect in the EU; (b) the need for the review of counter-terrorism measures to include a thorough proportionality test; (c) the provision of an overview of the classification of documents, trends in the use of classification, and data on access granted to counter-terrorism documents; (d) an overview of the instruments for democratic scrutiny of cross-border cooperation by intelligence agencies, and more specifically of SitCen, the Watch-Keeping Capability, the Crisis Room, the Council’s Clearing House and COSI;
7.

Urges the Iranian authorities to remove the concept of ‘deserving of death’ from the revised Penal Code currently under discussion in Iran’s parliament; is gravely concerned that the existence of fatwas calling for the killing of an individual could be used as a defence in Iranian courts by individuals accused of murder, on the grounds that the victim ‘deserved to die’; urges the Iranian authorities to ensure that anyone suspected of inciting, planning, committing or aiding murder, whether the killing takes place in Iran or elsewhere, is brought to justice in a trial which fully meets international fair trial standards;
5.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy, the Commission, the parliaments of the MemberStates, the UN Secretary General and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of Japan and the Japanese Diet.
25.

Notes that the EU should have capacity to adjust and reform its internal governance structures in order to ensure a decision-making process able to reflect its plurality and create consensus; stresses the importance that a coherent foreign policy approach at EU level towards the BRICS and other emerging countries be reflected in the functioning of the EEAS; believes that the EEAS should review and strengthen strategic partnerships with individual BRICS countries, in close consultation with Parliament, exploiting their specificities and the potential for synergies and cooperation with the EU; urges the EEAS to devise horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms that will enable EU foreign policy to benefit from EU institutional synergies and from the density and depth of Member States' bilateral ties with strategic partners, including the BRICS and other emerging powers; takes the view that, with regard to the BRICS, in addition to its organisation along geographical and thematic lines, the EEAS should establish an ad hoc coordinating mechanism to ensure that all individual policies towards the BRICS are compatible from a systemic point of view and that the policy lines adopted are reflected in the EU dialogue with emerged powers such as the USA, Canada and Japan; believes that the EU delegations in BRICS countries and other relevant emerging powers should liaise more closely with one another in order to ensure continuous monitoring and analysis on relations amongst the BRICS and relevant cross-sensitivities, thus enabling a more systemic approach; takes the view in this regard that EU Delegations in BRICS countries should analyse the positions of BRICS countries on governance and global challenges and on relations with other BRICS countries; believes that the EU should direct renewed efforts and resources to leading the reform process of a global system of governance and of international organisations with a view to ensuring a more inclusive consensus-building and decision-making process at global level, in particular the reform of the UN Security Council and global financial multilateralism;
21.

Recalls that the Icesave dispute remains unresolved at this stage; stresses that the Icesave issue must be resolved outside the accession negotiations and must not be an obstacle in the way of Iceland’s accession process; takes note of EFTA’s Surveillance Authority decision to refer the ‘Icesave’ case to the EEA Court and of the ruling of the Icelandic Supreme Court upholding the Emergency Act of 6 October 2008; appreciates the continuous commitment of the Icelandic authorities to resolve this dispute and welcomes the first partial payments to priority creditors in the winding-up of Landsbanki Íslands hf, estimated to be close to one-third of the recognised priority claims;
19.

Emphasises that the Statute for a European Cooperative Society should not be made more attractive by reducing standards; is of the opinion that the review of the Statute must facilitate a furthering of the recognition of this type of society in the EU; emphasises that the economic weight of cooperative societies, their crisis resilience and the values on which they are based clearly show them to be relevant in the EU of today and justify a revision of the Statute; stresses that future European SCE initiatives and measures must be centred on transparency, protection of stakeholders' rights and respect for national customs and traditions; points out that for certain national cooperatives the incentive to use the Statute is unfortunately limited, because of their existing holding structure; stresses that the option of merging national cooperatives from different Member States should be strengthened;
6.

Welcomes the recent decision of the European Patent Office in the WARF case and of the European Court of Justice in the Brüstle case, as they appropriately interpret Directive 98/44/EC and give important indications on the so-called whole content approach; calls on the European Commission to draw the appropriate consequences from these decisions also in other relevant policy areas in order to bring EU policy in line with these decisions;
33.

Welcomes Turkey’s signing and ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence on 24 November 2011; urges the government to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards violence against women and to continue to step up its preventive efforts at all levels in the fight against ‘honour killings’, domestic violence and the phenomenon of forced marriages and child brides, in particular by cooperating and reaching a broad consensus with women rights groups, by amending Law No 4320 on the Protection of the Family to ensure a broad scope of application regardless of marital status and the nature of the relationship between the victim and the aggressor, including effective legal remedies and protection mechanisms, by closely monitoring the implementation of Law No 4320 by the police, by effectively monitoring full compliance by municipalities with the obligation to provide sufficient shelters for women and minors in danger, by ensuring the security of shelters, employing adequate service personnel, and by putting in place a system of follow-up assistance for women and minors leaving the shelters, in order to provide them with appropriate psychological support, judicial assistance and health care and the capacity to reintegrate socially and economically into society; welcomes the efforts by the Ministry for Family and Social Policies to increase the number and quality of shelters and its decision to allow private entities also to open shelters as an additional resource for women and minors in danger; welcomes the recent Circular No 18 of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, which stipulates that the implementation of protection measures in domestic violence cases will no longer be delayed until proceedings are completed; welcomes the efforts of the Government of Turkey to enhance cooperation on gender mainstreaming between State authorities;
11.

Is concerned by the fact that foreign businesses face difficulties in accessing Chinese public procurement, which stands in contrast to the fact that access to European public procurement is guaranteed; is concerned by the possibly unfair terms of competition that apply whereby, in particular, disguised state aid allows Chinese businesses to make markedly better offers than their European competitors; welcomes the revision – and broadened scope – of the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) that was agreed on during the last WTO Ministerial Conference on 15 December 2011, and the commitments made by China on that occasion, even though they are still insufficient; encourages, therefore, China to offer to join the agreement on terms comparable with those of other parties to the Agreement, in line with its commitment in its protocol on accession to the WTO; calls on the Commission rapidly to develop, if possible in 2012, a European instrument to ensure reciprocity as regards openness in public procurement markets; considers that it is also crucial to reinforce instruments aimed at encouraging, coordinating and supporting market access for European SMEs on priority markets such as China;
10.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Member States, the Council, the Commission, the Governments of the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of North Korea and the United Nations Secretary-General.
13.

Welcomes the successful implementation of the EPJUST programme and the new EU-Philippines justice support programme ‘Justice for All’, which will be launched soon and will allocate EUR 10 million over the period 2012-2015 in order to promote equitable access to justice and its efficient enforcement for all citizens in general, and in particular for poor and disadvantaged people, especially women, children, minorities and indigenous peoples, as well as human rights and social activists;
17.

Regrets that the proposal for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy does not take sufficient account of the situation of the ORs; draws attention to the marine dimension of the ORs and the importance of the fishing sector in regional development policy and jobs for local populations in view of their Exclusive Economic Zone, the potential of which should be reflected in concrete and coherent measures for a genuine marine economy and duly taken into account in the integrated European maritime policy programme; recalls the growing economic interest in the immense biogenetic and mineral wealth of the ocean depths in the outermost regions, which must be included in the ‘Renewed Strategy for the ORs’ with the aim of developing a knowledge economy based on the sea; considers in this connection that the ORs must be at the heart of EU maritime policy, emphasising the role they could play in the sustainable use of the sea and coastal regions as well as in international maritime governance, and that the Atlantic ORs should be able to participate in the Atlantic Strategy currently being developed;
C.

whereas, according to UN estimates, an estimated 5 000 people were killed in August as a result of the ongoing fighting, which means that over 20 000 people have died since the start of the conflict; whereas, due to the intensification of the violence and the precarious security and humanitarian conditions in Syria, neighbouring countries, especially in the last weeks, are assisting a significantly escalating number of Syrian citizens seeking refuge, particularly in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon; whereas 235 000 refugees from Syria have been registered or are awaiting registration with the UN High Commission for Refugees; whereas over 75 % of theses refugees are women and children; whereas tens of thousands of refugees are not registering; whereas more than 100 000 refugees are believed to have fled Syria across the borders of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey at an average rate of 500-2000 per day during August; whereas, according to UN estimates, more than 1,2 million people have been internally displaced within Syria and around 3 million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance; whereas the Syrian regime has deliberately cut off access to food, water, electricity and medical supplies to entire communities, such as in Homs and, more recently, in Aleppo; whereas Turkey has asked the UN Security Council to consider setting up a safe zone for civilians guarded by neighbouring countries;
24.

Emphasises the importance of maintaining the 20 % target for education and health programmes and insists on the need to integrate gender equality into the labour market and into society in general; reiterates that education and investment in human capital are the foundation of social cohesion and socio-economic development; calls for the implementation of effective policies and adequate funding to fight illiteracy, the rate of which remains high in some countries in the region, in particular among girls and women, and for the promotion of access to non-fee-paying public education (at primary and secondary levels), which is often restricted owing to a lack of the necessary budgetary resources in some countries; in this context, supports the project drawn up by the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI), ‘Educational goals 2021: the education we want for the generation of the bicentenaries’;
35.

Stresses that appropriate rules that respect transparency should be included for the processing of personal data relating to eCalls, not only by MNOs but also by all other actors involved, including vehicle manufacturers, PSAPs and emergency services, in order to ensure that the principles of privacy and protection of personal data are respected in accordance with European directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC and with national legislation; stresses that any upcoming legislation should clarify the responsibilities, under Directive 95/46/EC, of the different actors involved in the eCall, as well as the modalities for providing information to data subjects and for facilitating the exercise of their rights;
E.

whereas the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Vilayat Zahirov, sent an official letter to the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary on 15 August 2012, in which he stated that the execution of the decisions of foreign states’ courts regarding the transfer of sentenced persons to serve the remaining part of their prison sentences in the Republic of Azerbaijan were carried out in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) of the convention, without any conversion of their sentences; whereas he further gave an assurance that, according to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the punishment of a convict serving a life sentence could only be replaced by a court with a term of imprisonment for a specified period, and that the convict could be released on conditional parole only after serving at least 25 years of his or her prison sentence; and whereas the Azerbaijani authorities subsequently denied having given any diplomatic assurances to the Hungarian authorities;
138.

Stresses the need for PCD to incorporate a global approach which extends beyond the family and microsocial level and takes gender relations into account; takes the firm view that this cross-cutting approach to gender issues needs to be incorporated in every development project and every analysis of a society; insist that this approach must apply not only to all sectors but in all political, economic, social, environmental, cultural and other fields; points out that such an approach, which systematically takes account of the situation and role of women and gender relations in a society, is more comprehensive, humanistic and democratic than an approach which sets women apart, in particular as it avoids marginalising women in ‘women’s projects’ or projects which add to women’s workloads or responsibilities without increasing their power or control over the benefits generated by the projects in question;
B.

whereas, although the economic relationships between the EU and the US are among the most open in the world, and although transatlantic markets are deeply integrated through large flows of trade and investment (with a bilateral trade volume of EUR 702,6 billion, and a bilateral investment stock valued at EUR 2,394 trillion, in 2011), there is a general consensus that the potential of the transatlantic relationship is far from being fully exploited, whereas the EU and US share common values, similar legal systems and high standards of labour and environmental protection, and should exploit these synergies to secure the growth and jobs both partners need, and whereas a study carried out in 2009 for the Commission identified the most important non-tariff measures that affect trade between the EU and the US, and estimated their economic impact, suggesting that the removal of half of such existing measures and regulatory divergences would translate into an increase in GDP of EUR 163 billion until 2018 on both sides of the North Atlantic;