ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
50.

Acknowledges the important role of healthy soil, as the largest terrestrial carbon sink, in capturing and storing carbon, particularly in combination with the co-benefits of wetlands, and nature-based solutions, which must facilitate the achievement of the 2030 climate targets as well as the Union’s objective of climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest; stresses that the new soil strategy should ensure that the contribution of soils to climate mitigation and adaptation is coherent with the rest of the EU climate policy architecture; calls on the Member States, therefore, to strengthen the restoration and sustainable use of soil as a tool for climate policy in their national energy and climate plans (NECPs) and in particular in measures applying to the agricultural and land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors, and to preserve, restore and enhance carbon sinks (especially in areas with carbon-rich soils, such as grasslands and peatlands), in addition to taking action seeking to promote the sustainable use of soil in agricultural policy and to reduce agricultural emissions; believes that measures to increase carbon sequestration in soils should be supported; welcomes, particularly, the Commission’s announcement of a carbon farming initiative and encourages the Commission to explore several options;
12.

Reiterates its call on the Maltese authorities to fully implement all outstanding recommendations by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission, Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval); considers that the recommendations concerning the national Parliament and MPs, the effect of Constitutional Court judgments and the specialised tribunals should be properly implemented; calls on the Maltese authorities to request the Venice Commission’s opinion on compliance with its recommendations; reserves the right to make such a request itself in accordance with Article 3(2) of the Statute of the Venice Commission and paragraph 28 of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union;
4.

Calls on the TMC to ensure an unhindered and swift return to constitutional order and to ensure that democratic values are upheld; notes that the appointment of a civilian transitional government including members of some opposition groups is a first step to returning to constitutional order; further calls on the TMC to create and ensure the conditions for an inclusive national dialogue between government and civil society actors and to ensure a peaceful, civilian-led and urgent transition to democratic, free and fair elections as soon as possible that would lead to a democratically elected president and inclusive government;
21.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote investments in real-time data collection and a robust pipeline of affordable and accessible, gender-sensitive diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine candidates for HIV and other poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases, and to strengthen regional and interregional capacities and cooperation in science, research and innovation; urges the EU to offer particular support to developing countries, especially least developed countries, in the effective implementation of flexibilities provided for in the TRIPS Agreement for the protection of public health, notably on compulsory licencing and parallel import, and to optimise the use of voluntary licensing and technology sharing mechanisms to meet public health objectives by insisting that multinational pharmaceutical companies include middle-income developing countries in such mechanisms and offer affordable HIV treatment in those countries; encourages, more broadly, the decoupling of research and development spending from the price of medicines, for example through the use of patent pools, open source research, grants and subsidies, with the aim of ensuring sustained accessibility, affordability, availability and access to treatment for all those in need;
B.

whereas the EU is facing an unparalleled shortage of women in STEM careers and education, not least given that women make up 52 % of the European population and 57,7 % of tertiary graduates in the EU (8), yet only account for 2 out of 5 scientists and engineers (9); whereas women are under-represented at all levels in the digital sector in Europe, from students (32 % at bachelor’s, master’s or equivalent level) to top academic positions (15 %) in most scientific, engineering and management fields and at higher hierarchical levels, even in sectors where they comprise the majority, such as education; whereas gender stereotypes constitute a serious obstacle to equality between male and female students as early as education and further widen the gender gap in the STEM job sector, which represents a serious obstacle to equality between women and men; whereas the gap is largest in specialist skills and employment in ICT in the EU, where only 18 % are women (10), among STEM graduates, of whom only 36 % are women, and in the digital sector, where there are more than three times more men than women; whereas significant levels of gender segregation among STEM students and graduates lay the ground for future gender segregation in STEM-related careers; whereas very few teenage girls in the Member States (less than 3 %) express an interest in working as an ICT professional at the age of 30 (11); whereas it is particularly difficult for women from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds to enter the STEM sector; whereas although there has been a positive trend in the involvement and interest of girls in STEM education, the percentages remain insufficient; whereas attitudes towards STEM do not differ between boys and girls through primary education, and in many cases girls often outperform boys in STEM and ICT-related tasks (12); whereas gender differences in STEM subjects in higher education are not justified by academic performance, as girls and boys show similar levels of achievement in science and maths in secondary level education; whereas, however, girls fear that they will be less successful than boys in STEM-related careers and, as a result, women are less confident in their own digital skills; whereas social norms and gendered expectations about career choices, which are often reinforced through educational content and curricula, are two of the drivers of gender segregation in higher education;
—

having regard to the legislation adopted since the last annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area aimed at strengthening it in view of persistent challenges, more specifically Regulations (EU) 2018/1860 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the use of the Schengen Information System for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals (1), Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 (2) and Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, amending and repealing Council Decision 2007/533/JHA, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1986/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2010/261/EU (3), Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1726 and (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decisions 2004/512/EC and 2008/633/JHA (4), Regulation (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816 (5), Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2018 establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and amending Regulations (EU) No 1077/2011, (EU) No 515/2014, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2016/1624 and (EU) 2017/2226 (6), Regulation (EU) 2018/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2018 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794 for the purpose of establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) (7), Regulation (EU) 2020/493 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 March 2020 on the False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO) system and repealing Council Joint Action 98/700/JHA (8), Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (9) (‘EBCG Regulation’) and Regulation (EU) 2019/1155 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) (10),
H.

whereas 30 June 2021 marked the first anniversary of the entry into force of the NSL; whereas the authorities had announced that the law would only target an ‘extreme minority’ threatening public security; whereas, however, over the course of one year, the law was applied to completely dismantle Hong Kong’s free society on almost all fronts, based on an array of such vaguely defined charges as ‘subversion’, ‘secession’ and ‘collusion with foreign forces’, completely transforming Hong Kong’s political and legal landscape and stifling freedom of the press and free expression of opinions; whereas national security was used to justify censorship, harassment, arrests and prosecutions systematically targeting political and elected representatives, activists, students and journalists in the pro-democracy camp; whereas it is estimated that 128 people have been arrested under the NSL and 64 people formally charged, of whom 47 are currently in pre-trial detention; whereas the NSL completely violates the ‘one country, two systems’ principle; whereas the erosion of press freedoms is also counter to Hong Kong’s aspiration as an international business hub;
8.

Calls on the Commission to propose legislation requiring all Member States to recognise, for the purposes of national law, the adults mentioned on a birth certificate issued in another Member State as the legal parents of the child, regardless of the legal sex or the marital status of the adults, and requiring all Member States to recognise, for the purposes of national law, the marriages or registered partnerships formed in another Member State, in all situations in which the spouses or the registered partners would have a right to equal treatment under the case law of the ECtHR; emphasises the importance of the recognition of birth certificates in all Member States regardless of the sex of the parents, as this would ensure that children do not become stateless when moving to another Member State;
13.

Calls on the EEAS to propose a list of accountable authorities in Lebanon in cooperation with the Member States; calls for the use of targeted sanctions under the framework adopted by the Council on 30 July 2021, on all persons or entities that fulfil the criteria of that framework; stresses that the introduction of targeted sanctions for obstructing or undermining the democratic political process remains an option that could be activated should the responsible actors in Lebanon continue to stonewall reform and the fight against corruption; calls on all EU Member States without exception to fully cooperate with and strengthen the EU’s new targeted sanctions against corrupted leaders and those responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law and their affiliates in Lebanon; urges the EEAS and the Council urgently to allocate sufficient resources to the effective development of the new mechanism; calls on the EU Member States and their partners, such as the UK and Switzerland, to cooperate in the fight against the alleged misappropriation of public money by a number of Lebanese officials; suggests that the Member States initiate legal proceedings in their national jurisdictions against the owners of illicitly acquired capital held in their territories and to promote efforts towards the restitution of illegal funds to the Lebanese population;
40.

Calls for closer coordination on cyber defence between Member States, the EU institutions, NATO Allies, the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); encourages, in this regard, the further promotion of the OSCE confidence-building measures for cyberspace and underlines the need to develop effective international cooperation tools to support the strengthening of partners’ cyber capacity building, as well as to develop and promote confidence-building measures and inclusive cooperation with civil society and stakeholders; welcomes the importance attributed to a global, open, free, stable and secure cyber space by the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific of 19 April 2021; calls for the active development of closer ties with likeminded democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, such as the US, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and Taiwan, in order to share knowledge and experience and exchange information on countering cyber threats; underlines also the importance of cooperation with other countries, particularly in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, to help build their capacity to defend against cybersecurity threats; commends the Commission’s support for cybersecurity programmes in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries; stresses the urgent need to respect international law, including the UN Charter in its entirety, and adhere to the widely recognised international normative framework for responsible state behaviour, and to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the modalities of application of international law in cyberspace within the UN context;
26.

Stresses that quality education and a well-educated workforce, together with a commitment to research and innovation, is a prerequisite for sustainable recovery and social cohesion; points out that medium- and low-skilled workers must be given the chance to reskill and upskill; insists that sustainable investment in quality apprenticeships, adult participation in lifelong learning and employee training must be a priority; points out that an inclusive economic recovery will require sustainable public and private investment to ensure access to training for the unemployed and low-qualified people so as to obtain certified basic skills, professional skills and key competences leading to qualifications and career transitions; highlights the importance, in this context, of strengthening EU education programmes, aligning training and education with the needs of society and the economy, and supporting employees and teachers, as well as the importance of investments in digital, green and social infrastructure; stresses that implementing the EU skills agenda for all is critical for tackling skills shortages; calls on the Commission and the Member States to maximise their efforts to invest in affordable, accessible, inclusive and high-quality VET, to reinforce upskilling and reskilling measures, including digital and transferable skills, and to promote lifelong learning to prepare workers for the needs of the labour market in the light of the green and digital transformations; underlines that the mutual recognition of qualifications is key to overcoming skills shortages and skills mismatches;
G.

whereas widespread environmental protests have recently been reported across Serbia against the backdrop of the rushed adoption of two laws, the Law on Referendums and People’s Initiative and the Law on Land Expropriation; whereas the latter law is seen as opening space for controversial foreign investment projects, such as the Rio Tinto mine, with a heavy impact on the environment; whereas the citizens of Serbia exercised their fundamental human right to peaceful assembly; whereas strong allegations have stressed that police forces violated their obligation to protect the lives, rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as the protection of the rule of law; whereas the police used a serious amount of force and arrested several protesters; whereas protesters were attacked by unidentified armed groups, hooligans and bulldozers;
14.

Calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately repeal the ‘Youthful Population and Protection of the Family’ law and to ensure access to public sexual and reproductive health services, including safe, legal, free and high-quality abortion services in all circumstances; recalls that denying women abortions constitutes a form of gender-based violence and may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; strongly condemns the threats by the Iranian authorities to impose the death penalty for abortion and calls on the Iranian authorities, in particular, to repeal this provision without delay; calls on the EU and the Member States to cooperate with the UN in closely monitoring the new ‘Youthful Population and Protection of the Family’ law, its impact on maternal deaths, and any developments concerning the application of the death penalty for abortion;
D.

whereas 4 and 5 January 2022 marked a turning point in events, with an escalation of violence particularly in Almaty, the country’s largest city, and the reported appearance of new actors in the protests, such as criminal gangs, marginalised groups and armed groups, who took advantage of the situation to engage in violent action such as raids, arson and looting, including of police stations and military facilities; whereas the Kazakh authorities reacted to the protests, including those that were legitimate and peaceful, with disproportionate violence; whereas the response of the security forces to peaceful protests has been very harsh, with the use of excessive, unnecessary and indiscriminate force, including lethal force, such as the extensive use of tear gas, batons, flash grenades and water cannons; whereas at least 206 cases of political persecution took place on 3 and 4 January 2022 with the aim of preventing people from participating in the peaceful demonstrations, despite the authorities’ claims that they respect the right to peaceful assembly; whereas on 5 January 2022 groups of violent protesters seized the airport and stormed official buildings such as Almaty City Hall;
18.

Welcomes the four rounds of EU sanctions over the military coup and subsequent repression; urges the Council to include the State Administrative Council (SAC) as an entity instead of its individual members on the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures; welcomes the decision by the EU to add MOGE to the list of sanctioned entities; calls on the Council to reverse the derogation explicitly allowing EU oil and gas operators remaining in Myanmar to pursue financial transactions with MOGE and urges Member States to refrain from implementing the derogation; urges the Commission and EU Member States to ensure that the withdrawal of EU companies complying with sanctions does not benefit the junta, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including by clarifying that companies’ shares cannot be sold or transferred to MOGE or other junta enterprises under the enforcement of sanctions; highlights that further international coordination with like-minded jurisdictions is essential; calls on the Council also to target the central bank reserves in a further round of sanctions; stresses that this would require imposing asset freezes and bans on international financial transfers on the two state-owned banks, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank;
29.

Highlights that tax incentives applied in a fiscally responsible manner for private research and development (e.g. via tax credits, enhanced allowances or adjusted depreciation schedules) can help lift an economy’s overall spending towards research and development, which often comes with positive externalities; is concerned, however, that certain types of tax incentives such as patent box/intellectual property box regimes do little to increase research and development spending and may actually distort the single market by inciting profit shifting and aggressive tax planning; notes that tax incentives should aim to attract investments in the real economy and therefore be expenditure-based instead of profit-based in order to better target the input of innovation; invites the Commission to propose guidelines on tax incentives that are not distortive for the single market, notably by favouring incentives that are cost-based, limited in time, regularly assessed, and repealed in the event that they have no positive impact, are limited in geographical scope and are partial rather than full exemptions;
10.

Calls for an immediate and coordinated response and the deployment of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism to maximise support to Ukraine, especially in terms of humanitarian assistance and food aid, as well as by providing safe EU humanitarian corridors and offering food and shelter to all people fleeing the country; highlights that while EU financial humanitarian support has been estimated to amount to around EUR 500 million so far, further support is needed; stresses, notably, that the EU should provide humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people to ensure short-term food security in Ukraine, and to all refugees in the EU through the Cohesion’s Policy’s Action for Refugees in Europe and the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe programmes, as well as by contributing to the FAO Rapid Response Plan for Ukraine, increasing its financial assistance; highlights that additional funding must be found as Cohesion Policy funds play a primary role in ensuring the harmonised development of the EU Member States; calls on the EU to coordinate with UN agencies and all partners on the ground to provide urgent food and livelihood assistance to people affected by the war in Ukraine;
12.

Stresses that human trafficking for sexual exploitation and other purposes remains one of the biggest risks for women and children fleeing Ukraine who are in a particularly vulnerable situation; notes that even before the war, Ukrainian women were among the most common victims of human trafficking to the EU; urges the Member States to guarantee safety and freedom from sexual exploitation for refugee women and girls, including by providing safe and coordinated transportation between Member States; urges the Member States and the EU to swiftly identify and prosecute the trafficking networks profiting from the sexual exploitation of refugee women and girls; reiterates that prostitution feeds the trafficking of vulnerable women; encourages the EU to support Ukraine in investing in anti-trafficking awareness raising and prevention measures on the Ukrainian side, for example by disseminating information about these risks; stresses that surrogate mothers are in a situation of particular vulnerability and precariousness; strongly insists that the primary interest at stake is the life of the women and that they should not be prevented from leaving Ukraine if they wish to do so; recalls that sexual exploitation for surrogacy and reproduction is unacceptable and a violation of human dignity and human rights;