ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
122.

Underlines the fact that the tight 2014-2020 ceilings in payments remain a crucial problem for the EU budget, having negative effects on economic recovery given that late payments are harmful primarily to direct beneficiaries; recalls the need to ensure, in the light of implementation, the timely, and orderly progression of payments so as to concomitantly deliver on both the payments stemming from past commitments and those resulting from prefinancing to promptly launch the new programmes, and to avoid any abnormal shift of outstanding commitments (RALs) onto the 2015 budget; urges, in this connection, the Council to adopt in full draft amending budget Nos 3/2014, as submitted by the Commission, in order for the EU budget to have maximum impact in terms of investment on the ground; points out that if draft amending budgets Nos 2, 3 and 4 are adopted unamended, this would result in an overall budgetary impact of just EUR 106 million in additional gross national income (GNI) contributions, which have to be made available by the Member States in order to ensure a sufficient level of payment appropriations in 2014 to cover the Union’s existing legal obligations; highlights its determination to continue monitoring the overall situation as regards payments and RALs and to make full use of all means of flexibility enshrined in the MFF regulation and the related interinstitutional agreement; underlines the fact that the question of the recurrent EU budget payment crisis will have to be addressed in a sustainable manner at the occasion of the post-electoral revision of the MFF 2014-2020, due to be launched as soon as possible by the next Commission, which is to assume office on 1 November 2014;
8.

Takes note of the decision of the Icelandic Government not to wait for the end of the accession negotiations before holding a referendum; looks forward to the parliamentary debate on, and review by the Althingi of, the assessment of the accession negotiations and the developments within the European Union; offers assistance in preparing such an evaluation; hopes that the relevant assessment can be finalised in due time and awaits further decisions on the way ahead, including a decision on whether or not to hold a referendum on the continuation of accession negotiations;
9.

Stresses the importance of political will in addressing undernutrition; welcomes the Road Map for Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) developed by the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) to accelerate nutrition improvement, particularly in high-burden countries, with the participation of various stakeholders, including those UN agencies with a mandate in the area of nutrition; calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement the principles outlined in the SUN road map; urges the Commission to encourage and orchestrate participation in the SUN initiative by civil society and grassroots organisations with direct links to small farmers and their families;
1.

Recognises that CCS deployment has the potential to allow the EU to meet its 2050 low-carbon aspirations at least cost and that it is necessary in particular for decarbonising high CO2 emitting industries; believes that it may also contribute to the diversity and security of energy supplies while maintaining and creating employment opportunities; affirms the urgent need to develop a range of full-chain CCS flagship projects so as to identify the best and economically most advantageous solutions, and calls on the Commission to set goals for the achievement of this objective; appreciates that, given the substantial investment required, instruments in addition to the EU emissions trading system (ETS) are needed to foster research and the technical and safe application of CCS;
31.

Urges the authorities throughout BiH at all levels to advance decisively with education reform with a view to improving educational standards, to promote an inclusive and non-discriminatory education system and to end ethnic segregation in the education sector (two schools under one roof); invites them to support the training of teachers for the purpose of equipping them with additional skills on how to encourage inter-ethnic mingling of students, and to assist with long-term capacity-building programmes; encourages the BiH media to promote integrated education; urges the Conference of Ministers of Education to create a more coherent legislative framework in the area of education throughout BiH, including increased convergence of curricula and standards as a necessary step for bringing the ethnic communities closer together; deplores the fact that there was no national agency in BiH to participate in any part of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme; urges the competent authorities to establish such an agency, which would enable the country to participate in the follow-up Erasmus+ Programme;
91.

Stresses that, as the EU pursues its goal of energy security, one of the priorities is to develop a model of cooperation between the Member States by ensuring the swift completion of the EU internal energy market, including, in particular, the construction of interconnectors and the elimination of cross-border barriers; believes, furthermore, that completing and modernising the EU infrastructure linking the north, south, east and west will enable the EU to make the best use of the comparative advantages of each Member State, and calls for further efficient and sustainable support for decentralised, micro-scale and community-owned energy production and smart energy infrastructure at the distribution level, along with storage and demand response programmes to allow local balancing of supply and demand in all the Member States; stresses the need for further development of macro-regional power markets in the EU, such as the Nord Pool and Central West markets; stresses, therefore, the need for strong coordination between the Member States' policies and for joint action, solidarity and transparency, as national energy policy decisions can affect other Member States; suggests that it would be desirable to determine whether and how the expertise and facilities of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators could be put to use in carrying out the above tasks, and how better cooperation between transmission system operators could be ensured;
2.

Calls on the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Member States and the Council to: (a) oppose and ban the practice of extrajudicial targeted killings; (b) ensure that the Member States, in conformity with their legal obligations, do not perpetrate unlawful targeted killings or facilitate such killings by other states; (c) include armed drones in relevant European and international disarmament and arms control regimes; (d) ban the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons which enable strikes to be carried out without human intervention; (e) commit to ensuring that, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that an individual or entity within their jurisdiction may be connected to an unlawful targeted killing abroad, measures are taken in accordance with their domestic and international legal obligations; (f) support the work and follow up on the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism;
19.

Stresses the need for the Montenegrin Government to continue and reinforce consultations, and improve interaction and dialogue with civil society, as well as with the opposition, in order to achieve more transparency in policy and law-making, particularly with regard to the implementation of laws and the fight against corruption and organised crime; this being the case, commends the government’s efforts to increase the public transparency of its work, while acknowledging that much remains to be done; welcomes the extensive participation of civil society in the working groups on the EU negotiating chapters, but notes the concerns of some civil society representatives about the nature and quality of that participation; regrets the recent deterioration in the relationship between certain sections of the government and civil society, with fears expressed on both sides that mutual hostility risks trumping the shared desire to advance EU integration; encourages, therefore, a productive and balanced dialogue among all sides, in which the government objectively assists and facilitates the work of civil society, and fully includes representatives in the political process, and civil society organisations critique policy and hold the government to account fairly and constructively;
5.

Demands that imports of canned tuna and other fish products from Thailand be subject, insofar as is possible, to the same competitive conditions as fish products of EU origin; considers this demand to imply in particular that the FTA must contain an ambitious trade and sustainable development chapter, whereby Thailand undertakes to respect, promote and implement internationally recognised labour standards, as enshrined in the fundamental ILO conventions, including those on forced labour and child labour; considers, furthermore, that respect for human rights, the protection of the environment and the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and conformity with the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary rules should be strictly enforced; believes, in this connection, that the Commission should regularly report to Parliament on Thailand’s compliance with the above-mentioned obligations;
13.

In this context, is of the opinion that a visa-free agreement between the EU and Ukraine is a way to respond to the calls of Ukrainian civil society and the students who demonstrated over the last few days; points out that such an agreement would step up exchanges and people-to-people contacts between the civil societies, thus increasing mutual understanding, and would benefit economic exchanges; calls on the Commission to present a proposal in order to put Ukraine on the list of third countries whose nationals are not subject to a visa requirement; also calls on the Member States to fully implement the current visa facilitation agreement in order to facilitate access to the EU, in particular for students and scientists;
1.

Addresses the following recommendations to the Commissioner for Development and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: (a) encourage the signing of action plans for the protection of children in armed conflict with the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict by concerned states and armed non-state actors, while recalling that such engagement with armed non-state actors does not imply support for, or recognition of the legitimacy of, these groups or their activities; (b) recognise the efforts made by the UN and international and non-governmental organisations to persuade armed non-state actors to protect children, while reiterating that this does not imply support for, or recognition of, the legitimacy of the activities of those actors; (c) include in political dialogues with third countries, for instance within the framework of the Cotonou Agreement, the goal of preventing and stopping the recruitment and forced involvement of children under the age of 18 and ensuring their release and reintegration into society; (d) reiterate that states and armed non-state actors must comply with international humanitarian law and international humanitarian customary law, and support them in their efforts to take special measures to protect civilians, in particular children, while recalling that such activity with armed non-state actors does not imply support for, or recognition of the legitimacy of, these groups or their activities; (e) recall that international humanitarian law is a legal framework which binds armed non-state groups and that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and the Second Additional Protocol of 1977 both serve to this end, as do a large number of customary international humanitarian law rules; examine, as a matter of importance, whether existing rules governing international humanitarian law are adequate to deal with non-state actors or whether further regulation is needed; (f) engage directly, or indirectly through specialised NGOs and humanitarian organisations, with armed non-state actors on the issue of the protection of girls and boys, with a view to alleviating child suffering in armed conflict and urging armed non-state actors to sign the Deed of Commitment under the Geneva Call for the Protection of Children from the Effects of Armed Conflict; (g) support humanitarian organisations that engage in dialogue with armed non-state actors in order to promote respect for international humanitarian norms in armed conflict, in particular the protection of children through political, diplomatic and financial means; (h) call on the Member States to join international efforts to prevent attacks against and the military use of schools by armed actors through endorsing the draft Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict;
1.

Proposes that an arbitration system be established, to be operated by the President of the Commission, to bring about PCD, and that in the event of divergences among the various policies of the Union, the President of the Commission should fully shoulder his political responsibility for the overall approach and have the task of deciding among them on the basis of the commitments accepted by the Union with regard to PCD; takes the view that, once the problems have been identified, consideration could be given to a reform of the decision-making procedures within the Commission and in interdepartmental cooperation;
F.

whereas, with both sides citing international law, Italy asserts that the incident took place in international waters and that the marines should be tried in Italy or in an international court; whereas, however, India maintains that it can try the marines because the incident took place in coastal waters under Indian jurisdiction;
9.

Welcomes the First Agreement on the Principles of Normalisation of Relations reached in the high-level dialogue between the Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo on 19 April 2013; welcomes Serbia’s engagement in the normalisation process with Kosovo, and strongly encourages the Serbian authorities to play a constructive role in this process, as well as in the development of good neighbourly relations which can serve the interests of both Serbia and Kosovo; notes that the pace of the overall negotiations has slowed down, due, inter alia to the holding of early elections in both Serbia and Kosovo; welcomes the formation of a new government in Kosovo, which is an important step for the resumption of the high-level dialogue of 9 February 2015 that led up to the agreement on the judiciary in Mitrovica, and also welcomes, in this respect, the constructive role of the Serbian Government in encouraging the elected representatives of the Serbian minority to participate and assume their responsibilities within the new coalition government in Pristina; calls on Serbia and Kosovo to move forward with the full implementation of all the already-reached agreements, in good faith and in a timely manner, and on the EU to carry out an evaluation of the performance of the parties in fulfilling their obligations; encourages the Serbian and Kosovo authorities to further normalise their relations; calls for continuous efforts by both sides to bring ethnic Albanian and Serbian communities closer together; underlines that the negotiating framework requires progress in the process of normalising relations with Kosovo under Chapter 35 to be made in parallel with progress in negotiations overall; stresses that Chapter 35 should be opened early in the negotiations; considers that full normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo would facilitate Serbia’s accession to the EU;
183.

Denounces the dramatic number of deaths at sea in the Mediterranean, estimated by the International Organisation for Migration in its ‘Fatal Journeys’ report at 3 000 in 2013, thereby making this sea the deadliest region in the world for irregular migration; is extremely concerned about reports of human rights abuses against migrants and asylum seekers on their way to the EU; calls for the Union and its Member States to cooperate with the UN, regional mechanisms, governments and NGOs to tackle these issues; stresses the urgent need to develop stronger, more integrated policies that are more closely rooted in the principle of solidarity at Union level, so as to address the pressing issues relating to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in a manner consistent with international human rights law and fundamental human dignity, and calls for the EU and to guarantee effective common standards for reception procedures throughout the Union in order to protect unaccompanied minors and the most vulnerable; invites the VP/HR, the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and the EEAS to increase cooperation and equitable responsibility-sharing among Member States, including in hosting and resettling refugees and contributing to search and rescue services to assist migrants who are in distress at sea while attempting to reach EU shores; recalls, in this connection, the need to respect the principle of non-refoulement in European and international waters, as upheld by the European Court of Human Rights; recalls the Commission’s commitment to developing adequate legal migration channels; calls on the Member States, therefore, to fully implement the recently adopted EU common asylum package and the common migration legislation, and, to this end, calls for the implementation of the crisis mechanism provided for in Article 33 of the Dublin Regulation, which would include a clearly defined minimum contingent per Member State, in order to rapidly achieve a functioning crisis mechanism for redistribution to alleviate pressure on the most affected Member States where the minimum quota is clearly exceeded; calls on the Member States to participate in resettlement programmes and to step up the development of regional protection programmes in the most affected areas; stresses the need to tackle the roots of illegal migration; encourages the EEAS and the Member States to pay detailed attention to countries in which human trafficking or smuggling originates, countries of passage and countries of destination; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to further strengthen the Union’s external dimension, working jointly with countries of origin and transit, including the EU’s partner countries, in particular in the Mediterranean region, raising these concerns systematically in political dialogues with the countries concerned and in public statements, and boosting cooperation with these countries to the highest level in order to dismantle the illegal networks used to traffic migrants and fight illegal mafias profiting from human trafficking and human smuggling;
7.

Stresses that a professional public administration is instrumental in the successful implementation of all other reforms; therefore welcomes the fact that the Civil Service Law has started to be implemented, and calls for its proper implementation to be pursued in order to enhance administrative capacities, depoliticise public administration and fight corruption in the civil service, to strengthen meritocracy in appointments, promotions and dismissals, to increase the efficiency, transparency, accountability, professionalism and financial sustainability of the civil service, and to enhance good governance at all levels; calls for a strengthening of human resources management, an evaluation system for civil servants and independent monitoring of the implementation of civil service legislation; encourages the finalisation of a comprehensive public administration reform strategy and the continued promotion of depolarisation and knowledge of EU law and decision-making processes; stresses the need to enhance public integrity, to improve public services and to manage public resources more effectively; calls for improved public access to services and information; welcomes in this regard the new law on access to information; calls for a strengthening of the institution of the Ombudsman by giving appropriate follow-up to its findings and recommendations;
28.

Notes that the mobility of students, teachers, researchers and non-teaching staff is one of the main priorities of the Bologna Process; calls on the Member States to increase opportunities for and quality of mobility, and highlights the need to strengthen the implementation of the Mobility Strategy 2020 for EHEA and also to reach the quantitative target of 20 % for student mobility by 2020; in this regard, stresses the crucial role of the Erasmus+ Programme and Horizon 2020, and the importance of ensuring their smooth and efficient implementation and promotion; stresses that study grants pertaining to Erasmus+ should be exempt from taxation and social levies;
4.

Calls on all countries in the region to strengthen cooperation on counter-smuggling and counter-trafficking measures while ensuring the protection of victims; underlines the important role ASEAN can play in this regard; encourages the governments of states in the region to participate in the upcoming regional meeting on the migrant situation, which will be hosted by Thailand on 29 May 2015 in Bangkok; welcomes the drafting of the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP), which should be endorsed by ASEAN leaders in the course of 2015;
61.

Calls on the Commission to renew its commitment to the Europe 2020 strategy and to issue its mid-term review without delay and at the latest by 2015; calls on the Commission to reconfirm the targets in the European Semester, taking into account the scoreboard for macroeconomic imbalances and the review of the Europe 2020 strategy; calls on the Commission to propose more ambitious social and environmental targets for 2030 and 2050; stresses that accurate, methodologically grounded and shared monitoring of green jobs could also help Member States in assessing the effectiveness of their environmental and labour policies, and strengthen the tools developed at European level to track the progress of, and monitor, the Employment Guidelines under Europe 2020;
I.

whereas Turkey is an EU candidate country, a NATO ally, a naval power, an active regional foreign policy player and a key partner for the EU, not least in matters concerning energy and border security; whereas Turkey’s strategic location is also of high relevance to the other major threat facing both NATO and the EU, the self-proclaimed Daesh (Islamic State); whereas Turkey can play an important role in countering the Black Sea threats and Daesh; whereas Turkey, despite considering Russia’s annexation of Crimea to be illegal, has not yet expressed a clear position on it or on its consequences; whereas Turkey’s recent diplomatic stances, in particular with regard to nearby conflicts have left room for ambiguity and have not been consistent with the positions of the EU and of NATO; whereas Turkey is a strategic security partner and has an important role to play in the Black Sea region, including as mandated by the terms of the Montreux Convention of 1936;