ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
B4-1025/95

Resolution on the protection of minority rights and human rights in Romania

The European Parliament,

A. whereas on 28 June 1995 the Romanian Chamber of Deputies and Senate agreed on an education law,

B. whereas this law has led to a further deterioration of the situation of minorities in Romania,

C. recalling the assurances given by the Romanian government to the Council of Europe concerning minority rights,

D. in view of Romania's application to join the European Union,

E. whereas severe violations of human rights, for example the detention of non- violent political prisoners, the arbitrary arrest of members of the gypsy minority, torture and the mistreatment of prisoners are continuing to occur in Romania,

F. disturbed at the obvious misconception on the part of the Romanian police and security forces concerning their tasks, rights and duties,

G. concerned at the rise in nationalism which has occurred in Romania since 1990 and has been directed in particular against the gypsy minority,

The European Parliament,

1. Regrets the fact that the law of 28 June 1995 arbitrarily restricts the educational rights of minorities, in particular in its paragraphs 22, 32, 118/124, 120/126 and 121/127;

2. Notes that certain important subjects, including economics, engineering and law, may no longer be taught in minority languages;

3. Notes that the law aims to curtail the expansion of minority-language schools;

4. Stresses, while hoping that Romania will one day join the European Union, that membership is only possible for countries respecting human rights and minority rights, and therefore urges Romania not to take measures which would disqualify it from joining the European Union;

5. Calls on the Romanian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to introduce a law seeking to overturn the discriminatory law already enacted;

6. Calls on the Romanian Government finally to respect its international obligations concerning respect for human rights;

7. Calls on the Commission and Council to take the most rapid measures possible - for example under the PHARE programme - to ensure that the Romanian police and security forces are trained in matters of human rights, together with their tasks, rights and duties in a democratic state governed by the rule of law and to give priority to the provision of such training both inside and outside Romania;

8. Calls on the Romanian Government finally to abandon its tolerance of nationalist violence, in particular by ensuring that the police and security forces are no longer immune from prosecution in cases where they fail to take action against outbreaks of nationalist violence;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Council to give particular attention to the broad issue of human rights in their deliberations concerning Romania;

10. Calls on the EU-Romania Joint Parliamentary Committee to include the broad issue of human rights on the agenda of its deliberations and meetings;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Romanian Government.
B4-1228, 1232, 1235, 1272 and 1284/95

Resolution on the earthquake in Turkey

The European Parliament,

A. shocked at the number of people left dead, injured or homeless by the earthquake suffered by the city of Dinar in western Turkey on 1 October 1995,

B. aware of the great difficulties of communication with the afflicted area and that the sufferings of the homeless have been made worse by bad weather,

The European Parliament,

1. Expresses its deep sympathy with the families of the victims and its support for the Turkish people;

2. Calls on the Commission to provide assistance to the Turkish authorities and to the Turkish Red Crescent, especially to ensure that the homeless have adequate shelter before winter;

3. Asks the Commission to inform it in detail of its emergency relief action;

4. Calls on the Commission to step up cooperation between seismological centres in the Member States and those in Turkey;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of Turkey, the President of the Grand National Assembly and the Mayor of Dinar.
B4-0046, 0055 and 0056/96

Resolution on the severe flooding in Ireland in January 1996

The European Parliament,

A. whereas the severe storms which struck Ireland in early January 1996 resulted in the death of three people and also caused particularly serious damage in the South-East of Ireland, notably in Clonmel in Tipperary which has been singled out by development experts as the model for future urban renewal projects and which, following major flooding, was submerged under five feet of water causing severe hardship for businesses and householders alike,

B. whereas account also needs to be taken of other areas affected including Carrick-on-Suir, Ard Finnan, Cork City, Mallow, Fermoy, Clonakilty, the Mulcair catchment area in Co. Limerick and Wexford town,

C. whereas the storms which caused millions of pounds of damage also caused havoc along the east coast of Ireland from Bray to Wexford, Waterford and Courtown due to the combination of gales, heavy rain and high tides, including damage to the Dublin/Rosslare railway line at Wexford,

D. whereas thousands of acres of farmland were also flooded as a result of rivers bursting their banks, causing severe difficulties for farmers and livestock,

The European Parliament,

1. Extends its sympathies to all the victims and to the families of those who lost their lives as a result of the recent severe weather conditions in Ireland;

2. Calls on the Commission, in collaboration with the Irish authorities, to provide immediate emergency aid under budget line B4-3400 to help the worst hit areas in County Tipperary, the east coast, Cork and Limerick, and to mobilize all possible additional resources through the Regional Fund and the Community initiatives so that effective long-term infrastructural measures aimed at preventing flood damage and coastal erosion can be urgently put in place;

3. Calls on the Commission to examine urgently the feasibility of establishing a new and well-funded European Emergency Fund which could make a real contribution in emergency situations throughout the Union;

4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Irish Government.
B4-0042, 0050, 0071, 0092 and 0093/96

Resolution on the floods in Portugal, in its autonomous region of Madeira and in Spain

The European Parliament,

A. having regard to the inclement weather in Portugal, in its autonomous region of Madeira and in Spain since early November 1995, with severe rain and wind at times turning into tornados and typhoons,

B. whereas the torrential rains have caused numerous rivers to overflow their banks, leading to floods (in some cases worsened by Spanish and Portuguese dams having to open their sluice-gates - the Tagus, for example), damage to agriculture and stockbreeding, roads being cut off and railway lines having to cease operating, derailments, power cuts and communication failures, closures of harbours and ports, destruction of houses with numerous households left homeless, damage to residential and commercial premises and loss of human lives,

C. whereas a number of Portuguese districts have been particularly affected by the inclement weather, especially on the Atlantic seaboard and in the basins of the Douro, Vouga and Tagus rivers,

D. whereas provisional estimates for Portugal suggest that damage to agriculture, stockbreeding, fisheries, trade, industry and various infrastructures, particularly in the districts of Aveiro, Santarém and Lisbon, may exceed five billion escudos,

E. having regard to the floods in Spain, in Galicia, Castile and Leon, Estremadura, Andalusia and Asturias, which have resulted in casualties and losses amounting to thousands of millions of pesetas, in agriculture, fisheries and marine produce, and in school infrastructures and centres,

The European Parliament,

1. Expresses its solidarity with the communities affected, the persons who have lost their houses and possessions and the relatives of the victims;

2. Praises the local, regional and national authorities, the volunteers, the private organizations, the firefighters, the Red Cross and all the many others involved for the respectful way in which the evacuation of large numbers of persons was carried out without major problems;

3. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Portuguese government, the Spanish authorities and the regional and local authorities of the districts most affected by the inclement weather to grant emergency aid to make good the damage, provide support to the communities most affected and initiate economic recovery;

4. Reminds the Commission and the Member State authorities, in line with the positions previously adopted by Parliament on this subject, of the need, as a matter of urgency, to take global logistic and technical action and to provide operational technical and human resources for the services and infrastructures whose role it is to prevent and alleviate emergencies and disasters, with a view to their effective anticipation and prevention or the minimization of their consequences;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Portuguese and Spanish governments, the Regional Council of Madeira and the authorities of the Spanish regions concerned.
B4-0226/96

Resolution on the flooding in Romania

The European Parliament,

A. whereas floods have devastated several regions of Romania, destroying thousands of homes, roads, bridges and railway lines,

B. having regard to Romania's economic and social situation,

The European Parliament,

1. Calls on the Commission to grant special assistance to Romania in the form not only of financial aid but also of human resources to help with the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure;

2. Calls, to this end, for the implementation of a specific programme of cooperation with the Romanian authorities;

3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Romanian Government.
B4-0090/96

Resolution on the continuing detention of hostages in Kashmir

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its earlier resolutions on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, in particular its resolution of 13 July 1995 on the kidnapping of EU citizens in Kashmir ((OJ C 249, 25.9.1995, p. 156.)),

A. deeply concerned that Paul Wells, Keith Mangan and Dirk Hasert, as well as the US citizen Donald Hutchinson, are still being held hostage by the Al Faran Group, and that their health may be deteriorating after six months in captivity,

1. Condemns once again the Al Faran Group for not having released these hostages;

2. Calls on the European Union and the US Administration to renew their efforts with the governments of India and Pakistan to secure the early release of the hostages;

3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of India, Pakistan and the United States.
B4-0033/96

Resolution on the proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses (COM(94)0300)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Rule 40(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to Council Directive 77/187/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses ((OJ L 61, 5.3.1977, p. 26.)),

- having regard to the case law of the European Court of Justice in relation to Council Directive 77/187/EEC,

- having regard to the proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses (COM(94)0300),

A. whereas the Commission's proposal is a text that would replace Directive 77/187/EEC rather than amend it,

B. whereas in its proposal the Commission includes a second subparagraph to Article 1(1) which makes a distinction between the transfer of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses and the transfer of only an activity of an undertaking, the latter being excluded from the scope of the Directive if it is not accompanied by the transfer of an economic entity,

C. whereas this distinction may not be self-evidently clear in practice and such clarity may only be achieved by an accumulative process of case law; whereas there are concerns that this would not be in the interests of legal security and transparency which are among the aims of the proposal,

D. whereas in the joint hearing on the proposal organized on 18 July 1995 by its Committee on Social Affairs and Employment and its Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights these concerns were also reflected in the comments of the experts invited to speak at that hearing,

E. whereas these concerns have impeded the forming of a consensus on the proper scope of the Directive,

F. whereas that lack of consensus may mean that other, valuable provisions in the proposal to update Directive 77/187/EEC in line with current business conditions would be lost,

1. Invites the Commission to consider modifying its current proposal to one which amends, rather than replaces, Directive 77/187/EEC, that amending proposal to leave the text of Article 1(1) of Directive 77/187/EEC untouched;

2. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission.
B4-0413/96

Resolution on marine insurance

The European Parliament,

A. in the light of repeated maritime accidents resulting in serious environmental damage, including the recent accident involving the oil tanker 'Sea Empress¨,

B. whereas, although the first priority is to improve substantially maritime safety standards, adequate insurance coverage is nevertheless necessary, where accidents do occur, to ensure effective application of the polluter pays principle,

C. whereas the IG P& I Clubs are mutual insurers who control about 90% of the world market for marine liability insurance,

D. whereas the IG P& I Clubs are reinsured only up to the level of US$ 1.5 billion, but provide coverage to their shipowner members, on a mutual basis, up to about US$ 20 billion (except in the case of oil pollution, where the maximum coverage is US$ 500 million),

E. whereas in consequence, to the extent that any loss (other than oil pollution) exceeds the US$ 1.5 billion reinsurance bought, the loss (known as 'overspill¨) has to be met by shipowners (as mutual insurers) out of their own assets,

F. whereas a large overspill claim could bankrupt a large proportion of the world's shipowners and a larger proportion of Europe's shipowners,

G. whereas with P& I insurance limited to US$ 1.5 billion, the effect of a major catastrophe is to bankrupt one shipowner,

H. whereas in contrast, the effect of offering about US $ 20 billion of cover with only US $ 1.5 billion of reinsurance is that such a catastrophe would have severe consequences not merely for the original shipowner but for other shipowners as well, and put at risk the P& I clubs themselves,

The European Parliament,

1. Urges the Commission to study various solutions to this problem, on the understanding that any solution proposed as a result of this study must fully respect the polluter pays principle;

2. Urges the Commission to consider the question of the Article 85(3) exemption in the light of the conclusions of this study;

3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission.
B4-0514, 0520 and 0525/96

Resolution on the resolution on China and Tibet submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the position of the EU countries

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its previous resolutions on the human rights situation in China and Tibet,

A. having regard to the 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,

B. whereas the Vienna Declaration and the United Nations Action Plan reaffirm the requirement that all Member States should promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect the undertakings given in international conventions,

C. whereas the human rights situation in the People's Republic of China is still very serious, as highlighted in the reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Asia; whereas the situation in occupied Tibet is growing worse,

D. welcoming the decision by the European Union to submit a resolution on human rights violations in the People's Republic of China and Tibet,

1. Calls on the Member States of the European Union to use all the diplomatic means available to them, while making a determined effort to gain support from other members of the UN Commission on Human Rights, to ensure that a resolution on the human rights situation in China and Tibet is approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights and that it takes account of previous resolutions adopted by the European Parliament;

2. Calls on the Member States of the Union to work in cooperation with the United States of America in presenting and supporting the resolution;

3. Calls on the Council to inform Parliament and its Committee on Foreign Affairs on the strategy followed and the results obtained by the Union at the UN Commission on Human Rights;

4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the member countries of the UN Commission on Human Rights and the Tibetan Government in exile.
B4-0546/96

Resolution on human rights in Colombia

The European Parliament,

A. shocked at the murder of ten people on 3 April 1996 in the locality of Urabá, the kidnapping of the brother of the former Head of State of Colombia, and the murder of 31 soldiers and wounding of 17 others in the region of Nariño on 15 April 1996,

B. having regard to the chronic and persistent climate of widespread violence stemming from various sectors, which is leading to human rights violations in Colombia,

C. concerned at the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for human rights violations in Colombia,

D. disturbed by the announcement of February 1996 by the President of Colombia concerning introduction of the death penalty in Colombia and withdrawal from the American Convention on Human Rights,

E. convinced of the vital need to help Colombia to overcome its human rights crisis in order to strengthen the rule of law,

F. convinced of the need to appoint a special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission with a mandate to draw up a report on the evolution of the human rights situation in Colombia,

The European Parliament,

1. Calls on the Government and the Public Prosecutor's office of Colombia to use all means at their disposal to bring to justice those responsible for these latest massacres;

2. Calls on all political and social groups to respect human rights and on the Public Prosecutor's office and judicial authorities of Colombia to punish those responsible for the violations;

3. Calls on the Government of Colombia to work closely with the international authorities in order to improve the human rights situation in the country;

4. Calls on the Government of Colombia to ensure that the state of emergency declared in certain provinces is not used as a pretext for human rights violations;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments of the Member States and the Congress and Government of Colombia.
B4-0597, 0603, 0617, 0652 and 0660/96

Resolution on the free movement and transport of agricultural products in the European Union

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 7 of the EC Treaty which guarantees the free movement of goods within the EU,

- having regard to Article 5 of the EC Treaty which requires Member States to ensure the free movement of goods on their national territory,

A. having regard to the repeated attacks in late May by groups of French farmers on lorries transporting consignments of Spanish fruit and vegetables to countries of the European Union,

B. having regard to the destruction by French farmers of fruit and vegetables already on the French market,

C. whereas these unjustified attacks have occurred repeatedly in recent years and are a violation of the free movement of goods; whereas the economic damage caused also includes the loss of markets,

D. whereas the fact that this matter has been pending before the Court of Justice for years does not exempt France from its obligation to uphold the rule of law nor from its undertakings to the European Union, and whereas the Commission must continue to fulfil its task of ensuring compliance with the Treaties,

1. Condemns these occurrences, which are having a serious effect on the free movement of goods within the European Union, and the passivity of the French authorities towards them;

2. Demands that adequate compensation be swiftly provided by the French Government to cover the losses incurred, as announced by the French Minister for Agriculture, Mr Vasseur;

3. Urges the French Government to take the necessary measures to prevent any repetition of these occurrences and to ensure that those responsible for them are made answerable;

4. Calls on the Council and the Commission immediately to adopt measures that will ensure that the free movement of goods also extends to the fruit and vegetables sector and guarantee fair competition between fruit and vegetable producers;

5. Calls on the governments of the countries where these attacks are occurring to take all measures within their power to prevent them taking place in future and on producers' organizations to continue to keep contacts open so as to help the various professionals in the sector to understand each other's position;

6. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission, the governments of the Member States and the French and Spanish farmers' organizations.
B4-0736, 0768, 0788, 0805, 0812 and 0830/96

Resolution on Chinese nuclear testing

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its resolutions on nuclear weapons testing, non- proliferation and weapons control, in particular those on the resumption of French nuclear testing,

A. deeply regretting that the People's Republic of China recently carried out in the Lop Nor desert its third nuclear test after the conclusion of the NPT Conference in May 1995,

B. deeply concerned at the announcement of a further Chinese test by September 1996,

C. whereas negotiations are continuing in Geneva on the nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT),

D. whereas a comprehensive nuclear test ban is a major objective of the international community in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation,

E. noting reports that the People's Republic of China might be prepared to drop its insistence on allowing 'peaceful nuclear explosions',

1. Roundly condemns the continuation of nuclear testing by the Chinese Government and calls on it to abide by the moratorium adopted at international level;

2. Takes the view that continuation of nuclear testing is incompatible with the objective of the negotiations on the nuclear test ban treaty;

3. Invites the Council and the Commission to put pressure on the People's Republic of China to accept a zero-yield Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, including so-called 'peaceful nuclear explosions';

4. Reiterates its call for a comprehensive and definitive ban on nuclear testing;

5. Calls on all the parties, and in particular the Member States, to do their utmost to ensure that the negotiations on the nuclear test ban treaty result in an agreement which takes up the zero option, with an effective verification system, and urges that it be promptly ratified;

6. Is concerned at the consequences which nuclear testing may have on the health of the communities in the Lop Nor region;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Chinese Government, the United Nations Secretary-General and the chairman of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.