ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
(13)

Pursuant to Directive 2003/88/EC, workers in the Union have the right to minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time. In that context, that Directive provides for daily rest, rest breaks, weekly rest, maximum weekly working time and annual leave, and regulates certain aspects of night work, shift work and work patterns. It is settled case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that on-call time, during which a worker is required to be physically present at a place specified by the employer, is to be regarded as ‘wholly working time […], irrespective of the fact that, during periods of on-call time, the person concerned is not continuously carrying on any professional activity’ (9), and that standby time, which a worker is obliged to spend at home, while being available to the employer, is to be considered to be working time (10). Moreover, the CJEU has interpreted minimum rest periods as ‘rules of Community social law of particular importance from which every worker must benefit as a minimum requirement necessary to ensure protection of his safety and health’ (11). However, Directive 2003/88/EC makes no express provision for a worker’s right to disconnect, nor does it require workers to be reachable outside working hours, during rest periods or other non-work time, but it does provide for the right to uninterrupted daily, weekly and annual rest periods, during which the worker should not be reached. Furthermore, there is no explicit Union provision that enforces the right to be unavailable at all times outside of the (contractually) agreed working hours.
9.

Points to the fact that problems with the development of harmonised standards need to be addressed in all steps of the preparation process; calls on the Commission to closely consult with all the relevant stakeholders during the preparatory phase, in line with the Standardisation Regulation, and stresses the importance of balanced representation and of transparency and openness of all parties involved in order to find workable solutions; highlights the need to ensure that the standardisation requests issued by the Commission are of high quality and the necessity to provide clear and pragmatic guidance; further encourages the Commission to develop comprehensive and horizontal guidelines for standardisation bodies outlining the structure and requirements of a requested standard; suggests establishing clearly defined timeframes for the Commission to assess the prepared standards and clear deadlines for all parties to ensure further revision if a standardisation request or the CPR is found not to have been adhered to; considers it important to define the scope of the standards more precisely so that manufacturers can have clear guidance when declaring that their products fall within the scope;
14.

Underlines that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that not all learners can access and therefore benefit from digital education and distance and online learning; notes that gaps exist between and within the Member States and have a disproportionate impact on people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those living in remote or rural areas; deplores the persistent digital divide in the Union; regrets that in some Member States, efforts to provide access to quality digital education have failed, leaving too many pupils without access to education for several months; shares the Commission’s analysis that fast and reliable internet and quality digital equipment in educational establishments, non-formal settings and the home are prerequisites for effective digital education; points out that, by the same token, certain Member States are far ahead in providing digital infrastructure and equipment and therefore in delivering digital education solutions; underscores the need to counter the digital divide as an absolute priority and believes that public-private partnerships — driven by the needs of educational establishments can speed up the pace of delivering solutions;
7.

Calls on the Commission to use all tools at its disposal, including the regulation, also to address the persistent violations of democracy and fundamental rights everywhere in the Union, including attacks against media freedom and journalists, migrants, women’s rights, LGBTIQ people’s rights, and freedom of association and assembly; welcomes the decision taken by the Grand Chamber of the CJEU to dismiss Hungary’s action against Parliament’s resolution of 12 September 2018 triggering the Article 7 procedure; regrets the Commission’s inability to respond properly to the many concerns expressed by Parliament about democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in several Member States; calls on the Commission to use all tools at its disposal, including Article 7 TEU, the Rule of Law Framework and infringement procedures under Article 19(1) TEU, as well as further instruments, such as expedited procedures, applications for interim measures before the CJEU and actions regarding non-implementation of the Court’s judgments; asks the Commission to explicitly state reasons when it decides not to use the tools recommended by Parliament;
57.

Calls on BiH and the EU to further strengthen cooperation on the international protection of those in need, to work on solidarity-based solutions and prevent reported violations of international law and fundamental rights, such as reported pushbacks at BiH borders; calls on the Commission to put in place an independent monitoring and investigation mechanism; supports the work of the European Parliament Frontex Scrutiny Working Group; calls on the Commission, EU agencies and international organisations to engage actively with Bosnian authorities in order to develop a functioning and sustainable migration and asylum system; calls on the Commission, EU agencies and international organisations to provide further operational, technical, logistical and financial assistance to BiH for ensuring appropriate reception capacities and conditions across the country, preferably at migrants’ entry points to the country, access to an effective asylum procedure, to boost capacity for processing incoming migrants and asylum claims, and, where applicable, conduct return procedures in line with international and European standards; calls for an assessment of the relevant funding so as to ensure that transparent, conditional and credible EU assistance for migration needs serves its purpose and reaches the intended beneficiaries;
33.

Stresses that societal needs and interests should be at the centre of R&I and that the engagement of citizens, local communities and civil society should therefore be at the core of the new ERA in order to facilitate societal uptake and thereby achieve greater societal impact and increased trust in science; calls, therefore, for enhanced science communication and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as the close involvement of civil society and end users from the beginning of the R&I processes, including representative organisations of groups at higher risk of exclusion such as persons with disabilities and other under-represented groups in society, in order to address critical issues related to their exclusion in the R&I, as well as to make sure that the subsequently developed technologies and innovations indeed serve society and not the other way around;
16.

Makes the following recommendations and requests to the Commission: (a) to keep Parliament informed about the implementation of the agreement and the protocol; (b) to ensure that the implementation of the agreement and the protocol thereto help to mitigate global warming and to permit adaptation to its growing effects, to preserve and restore biodiversity and to achieve the sustainability goals set in the European Green Deal, and is aligned with the objectives of the CFP; (c) to ensure the application of the precautionary approach to the currently exploited and targeted stocks such as cod, redfish and Greenland halibut; (d) to improve arrangements for data collection and analysis and for updating oversight of use of the EU’s financial contribution to sectoral support, with a view to ensuring that stocks fished by the EU are managed sustainably and that the quotas allocated to EU vessels are in fact for surplus stocks; (e) to ensure improvements in the available data on the fleet size and fishing effort of Greenland’s subsistence and small-scale fishing fleets; (f) to ensure that the protocol is renewed for a further two years in four years’ time and endeavour to ensure that European vessels can continue to operate in Greenland’s waters permanently; (g) to do all in its power to prevent cuts to the fishing opportunities provided under the protocol each year, unless scientific advice dictates their necessity; (h) to carry over to the allocation for 2022 all or part of the quotas left unused owing to the delay in the provisional application of the agreement, in line with the best scientific advice; (i) to encourage Greenland to sign the coastal states agreement on the management of Atlantic mackerel; (j) to ensure that special attention is paid to lost fishing nets, to the collection marine litter, to marine ecosystems and vulnerable species, to the identification of habitats and to bird by-catches, particularly in the context of support for the sector; (k) to improve the connection between the EU-Greenland SFPA and the Overseas Association Decision; (l) to improve clarity and transparency as regards the international instruments for managing fish stocks in the region, such as RFMOs and coastal state agreements for the management of certain stocks; highlights in this context the importance of following scientific recommendations, including the effects of climate change, as well as of improving decision-making processes in RFMOs, including harvest control rules; (m) to engage in a long-term process of reflection on how to formalise relations with our partners in the region and to reduce the instability created by the UK’s departure from the EU, particularly in the fisheries sector; (n) to establish a long-term discussion on the connection between the SFPA with Greenland and fisheries agreements with Norway, including their interdependence; (o) to take full account of the SFPA when the EU establishes its geostrategic position on the Arctic Ocean;
T.

whereas among adolescent girls aged between 15 and 19, pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death globally; whereas the Committee on the Rights of the Child urges countries to decriminalise abortion and ensure that girls have access to safe abortion services; whereas teenage pregnancy exacerbates the cycle of poverty; whereas Texas is the seventh state with the highest teen birth rates in the US, and the state with the highest rate of repeat births among teens; whereas Hispanic and African American girls have particularly high rates of teen pregnancy, as well as girls with low educational attainment, living in rural areas, in foster care, and those living in poverty; whereas teenage mothers are significantly more likely to discontinue their studies and face unemployment; whereas 65 % of children born to young parents in Texas live in poverty, and are more likely to be in poor health and have low educational attainment;
J.

whereas in its resolution of 14 January 2014 on effective labour inspections, Parliament called on the Commission to investigate the benefits of introducing a forgery-proof European social security card or other EU-wide electronic document at European level, on which could be stored all the data needed to verify the bearer’s employment relationship, such as details on social security status and working hours, and which would be subject to strict data protection rules; whereas in its resolution of 19 January 2017 on a European Pillar of Social Rights, Parliament pointed to the potential of accessible e-government solutions, possibly including a European social security card, with strong data protection guarantees, which could improve EU social security coordination and individual awareness; whereas, in its resolution of 22 October 2020 on the employment and social policies of the euro area 2020, Parliament called on the Commission to put forward a proposal for a digital EU social security number following a proper, fact-based impact assessment; whereas in its resolution of 17 December 2020 on a strong social Europe for Just Transitions, Parliament called once again on the Commission to put forward a proposal for a digital European social security number (ESSN) and for a potential control mechanism such as a personal labour card, and asserted that workers and their representatives and inspectorates must have up-to-date access to information about their employers and their wage entitlements and labour and social rights; whereas in its resolution of 20 May 2021 on intra-EU labour mobility, Parliament stressed that the digitalisation of data exchanges between Member States could facilitate the free movement of workers on a fair and equitable basis as well as ensuring the enforcement of relevant Union rules;
5.

Is concerned that even though intangibles are some of the most valuable assets, only a few European SMEs are aware of this and benefit from their IP when trying to obtain finance; welcomes, therefore, the announced European IP Information Centre as one of many measures that will ensure that Europe capitalises further on the value of the knowledge our companies constantly create, develop and share, and that they are equipped with the necessary tools and information or manage these assets more actively; stresses that utility models provide fast and low-cost protection for technical inventions and are very attractive for SMEs; encourages the Member States that are not yet offering this tool, therefore, to establish it and calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of introducing EU-level utility model protection, which is currently not available;
33.

Underlines that the Western Balkans is a region of particular relevance for Europol; welcomes the agreements on operational cooperation between Europol and five Western Balkan countries, as well as the working arrangement with the law enforcement authorities of Kosovo; calls for the full implementation of these agreements and commends the successful operations led in the context of this cooperation; welcomes the opening of Europol’s liaison office in Albania in 2019 and the decision to open similar liaison offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia; encourages similar cooperation with the remaining Western Balkan countries; underlines, in addition, the importance of cooperating with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF); calls on the EU and the Western Balkan countries, in this context, to establish a framework for fruitful cooperation between the EPPO and the Western Balkan countries in order to ensure that the EPPO can effectively exert its competences in the area of EU funding, notably IPA III funds in the Western Balkan countries;
19.

Urges Russia and Russian-backed separatists to adhere to the ceasefire agreement; calls on Russia to engage constructively in the Normandy Format and the Trilateral Contact Group and to implement its international obligations, particularly under the Minsk Agreements and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; calls for the immediate release of all illegally detained and imprisoned Ukrainian citizens; encourages the Council to also broaden the scope of its sanctions to cover ‘passportisation’, the organisation of illegal elections in Crimea and the decision to involve residents of the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the State Duma elections of September 2021, and to increase the price Russia pays for blocking the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the Normandy Format talks; invites the International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes committed by the Russian side and its proxies in the Crimean peninsula and in eastern Ukraine; highlights the role that the International Court of Justice and universal jurisdiction cases can play in this regard; considers that the political and military leadership of the de facto authorities of the Luhansk and Donetsk so-called People’s Republics should be sanctioned in the framework of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime;
H.

whereas on 7 December 2021 the ICJ indicated in its Order that Azerbaijan ‘shall take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artefacts’; whereas the ICJ ordered Armenia and Azerbaijan to ‘take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred’; whereas the ICJ ordered Azerbaijan to ‘protect from violence and bodily harm all persons captured in relation to the 2020 Conflict who remain in detention’; whereas in its Orders the ICJ has indicated that ‘both parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve’;
27.

Notes that according to the Levada Center, 83 % of Russians support Putin’s war in Ukraine, while the percentage of Russians who say the country is moving in the right direction has risen from 52 % to 69 %, the highest level ever recorded since 1996; applauds, in this regard, those brave individuals who openly protest and oppose Russian imperialism in its newest form — the invasion of Ukraine — despite the brutality of the rioting policy, as well as media and social pressure; urges EU citizens, nevertheless, not to equate all Russian citizens with the brutal actions of their leadership and military in Ukraine; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support and protect the critical voices within the Russian diaspora who are facing threats from Russian authorities; condemns rallies organised by Russian diasporas in support of the war or in protest against the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees;
12.

Urges the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commission and the Member States to continue to bring up the case of Mr Kavala, and all other cases of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, politicians and academics, among others, subjected to arbitrary detention with their Turkish interlocutors, and to provide diplomatic and political support for them, including trial observation and case monitoring; calls for a delegation of the European Parliament to attend the trial of Mr Kavala and his co-defendants, if it goes ahead; notes the possibility to lodge an appeal against the last court ruling at the Turkish Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court;
1.

Strongly condemns the violence and loss of life in West Africa and the Sahelian region, including abuses committed in the context of military operations, and expresses concern over the increased instability in the Sahel, which undermines the security and stability of the countries concerned and which has profound regional and international consequences; expresses its solidarity with and condolences to the families of all victims of terrorist attacks throughout the region; reiterates its strong support for the people of West and Sahelian Africa and their aspirations for peace, human rights, security, stability, economic development and social and democratic progress; pays tribute to the numerous efforts by local and international actors aimed at fostering peace and progress throughout the region; recognises that the security situation in the Sahel continues to be an enormous challenge and that many civilians are suffering from a lack of security and have become the victims of terrorist attacks;
4.

Recalls that compliance with the rule of law and with Article 2 TEU are prerequisites to gaining access to the fund, that the rule of law conditionality mechanism is fully applicable to the RRF and that no measures should be financed under the RRF that are contrary to the EU values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; recalls that the Commission must constantly monitor very carefully the risks to EU financial interests in the implementation of the RRF and any breaches or potential breaches of the principles of the rule of law and take immediate action if the financial interests of the EU could be harmed, in accordance with Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation and the RRF Regulation;
12.

Highlights the importance of providing resources for guidance and counselling services to help adults and young people identify and certify the skills and competences they have already acquired through informal learning and direct them towards opportunities to further develop their skill sets, so that micro-credentials become tools for inclusion rather than perpetuating or entrenching existing inequities in access to upskilling and reskilling; insists on the use of micro-credentials at undergraduate level in order to ensure that the primary beneficiaries are not learners from groups that already enjoy advantages in terms of education and professional status;
69.

Is of the opinion that it is high time for the Commission to fulfil its duties as ‘guardian of the Treaties’ and to tackle the ongoing violations of the principles of the rule of law in several Member States, particularly Poland and Hungary, given that these violations represent a serious danger to the Union’s financial interests since compliance with these principles is a prerequisite for sound financial management in general and the efficient and effective management of EU funds; welcomes the Commission’s announcement that it will apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism by sending a written notification under Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 to Hungary; is of the opinion that the rule of law is a universal concept and that the Commission should consider the application of the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism to all Member States which fail to respect the rule of law without exception; warns that the delays might already be having a detrimental impact on the financial interest of the EU and the state of the rule of law in certain Member States;