ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
3.

Calls on the EU and its Member States to endorse the following five key commitments and include them in the political statement to be issued at the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2011: — the reduction of preventable NCD mortality by 25 % by 2025, as proposed by the WHO, — the implementation of cost-effective and cost-saving interventions, including the speedier implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, better access to and the promotion of healthy diets, including action to reduce salt, sugar, saturated fat and transfat intakes, effective measures to combat the harmful use of alcohol, and access to and the promotion of physical activities, as well as a population-wide reduction in exposure to environmental pollution, including endocrine disruptors and other environmental contaminants, — the monitoring of trends in NCD mortality and the common risk factors for NCDs, — the development of global and national accountability mechanisms for all key stakeholders involved, — the establishment in 2012 of a high-level partnership to foster the implementation of the recommendations and the organisation in 2014 of a high-level meeting to review the degree to which commitments have been honoured;
44.

Welcomes the wider use of ex-post evaluation of implemented legislation; emphasises, however, that such evaluation should be used for all significant legislation, not only in key sectors; notes in this regard that implementing and delegated acts should also come under consideration; calls on the Commission to expand ex-post evaluation as far as possible to all policy areas, and suggests that increased inclusion of ‘sunset’ clauses – primarily in the form of obligatory prescribed review dates, with the option, if appropriate and desirable, of designating automatic expiry of provisions contained in the legislation – could be a useful means of guaranteeing that regulations still in force are necessary and proportionate;
7.

Stresses that direct negotiations leading to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians should be resumed without delay and according to the deadlines called for by the Quartet, in order to overcome the unacceptable status quo; stresses again that all steps that may undermine the prospects of a negotiated agreement should be avoided and that no changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties should be accepted; insists on the fact that any resulting resolution should not affect the dignity of either side; calls on the Israeli Government to stop all construction and extension of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; calls for a cessation of rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip and insists on the need for a permanent truce;
72.

Welcomes the Commission’s desire to take greater account, through various initiatives, of the role of social economy actors (as defined in Parliament’s resolution of 19 February 2009 on the social economy), in particular by clarifying the legal framework applicable to social economy enterprises (for mutual societies, foundations and cooperatives) so that there are no more obstacles hindering them from making a full contribution, with legal certainty, to reducing poverty and social exclusion by proposing innovative and sustainable responses to citizens’ needs; stresses at the same time that the social economy is not limited to this area of activity; is concerned, however, that no reference is made to the statute for a European association, given that the not-for-profit sector is a major actor in the fight against poverty; stresses, however, that the measures currently being proposed to promote the social economy, in particular associations and mutual societies, do not adequately reflect its potential contribution to the policy on combating poverty and social exclusion, to the economy and to the European social model, and, more generally, do not match its role in responding to the consequences of the economic and social crisis; stresses, in particular, its demands and expectations in relation to the recognition of SSGIs, as reaffirmed in Parliament’s resolution of 5 July 2011 on the future of social services of general interest; notes the proposals for a revision of the EU provisions on public procurement procedures and state aid, and reiterates its call for them to be adapted to the specific nature of the tasks of SSGIs and the way in which they are organised; supports the creation of decent jobs and the provision of personalised job-seeking assistance via specialised training and placement agencies and social economy enterprises, in view of their expertise in helping disadvantaged people find jobs; reiterates its call for sectoral legislative initiatives in relation to the quality and accessibility of social services of general interest, in particular in the areas of health, education, public transport, energy, water and communication;
18.

Stresses the importance of early identification of skill needs, suggesting at least a 10-year time horizon, and calls on the Member States and, where warranted, the regions to set up employment monitoring centres focusing on future needs; stresses furthermore the importance of developing more reliable systems for the anticipation of future skill needs and skill shortages in the EU and Member States, as well as the importance of continued investment in skills upgrading and better matching of qualifications to jobs; reiterates the need to ensure that the public have access to qualitative information and calls for exchange of experience and best practice in that regard; to accomplish this, emphasises the need for stronger, more effective cooperation between education and training providers, including universities and research centres on the one hand, and public employment services, the social partners and enterprises and employers on the other hand;
S.

whereas there is a stigma attached to Alzheimer’s disease and public attitudes towards the illness and the persons affected by it leave sufferers and their families and relatives isolated; whereas the overall approach to the problem is still the wrong one, leading those affected and their relatives to their social exclusion; whereas, therefore, there is a need for better understanding of the stigma, prejudice and discrimination associated with dementia whilst research is also needed on how to prevent social exclusion and encourage active citizenship so as to maintain the dignity and respect of the people with dementia at the core of any action,
8.

Considers that a review of VAT legislation giving more flexibility to Member States on the application of reduced VAT rates should go hand in hand with the application of the principles laid down in Directive 2008/8/CE; points out, however, that in order to enable all Member States to benefit equally from the digital single market, the principle of taxation in the Member State where consumption takes place should apply as soon as possible; stresses that any review should lead to the simplification of the VAT system, with, for example, a one-stop shop for VAT and the elimination of double taxation;
5.

Reiterates Parliament’s support for enlarging the Schengen area to include Bulgaria and Romania, and calls on the European Council to proceed in accordance with the EU Treaty and to take the necessary measures to enable Romania and Bulgaria to accede to the Schengen area;
E.

whereas the German authorities had been expressing safety concerns about the device in question (an inhaler) since 1996 and had informed the Commission about the matter with a view to a safeguard procedure, but the Commission did not consult the manufacturer and never issued a ruling; and whereas, as a result, a decision on the matter is still pending and the petitioner is left without any available means of legal redress,
5.

Recalls the Commission’s declaration attached to Parliament’s resolution of 28 September 2011 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances (‘six pack’) (2), which stated that ‘macroeconomic surveillance covers countries with current account deficits and surpluses with appropriate differentiation as regards the urgency of policy responses and the type of corrective actions required’; points out that this declaration paved the way for a final agreement on the ‘six pack’; invites the Commission to remain fully committed to it; maintains that any conclusions that may be reached by the Council cannot limit the Commission’s legal rights in this respect;
6.

Considers that, as customs are entrusted with more and more responsibilities, the Member States should match these with adequate resources; considers that allocation of appropriate financial resources in line with the budgetary frameworks for customs-related procedures and processes, in particular the development of IT systems, is essential for achieving the much needed modernisation of customs; believes that, in order to enable customs to perform its priority tasks, particular emphasis should be placed on the use of the available, limited resources in the area of risk management, on guaranteeing the protection and security of the market and society and on border protection at the EU’s external borders;
9.

Is concerned about reports by other audit entities such as the United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Commission on Wartime Contracting and the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which have identified the following weaknesses: — high risk of corruption and fraud in the country as evidenced by the Kabul Bank scandal in the recent past and by the final report of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which has estimated that 5 to 9 per cent of total US aid spent in Iraq and Afghanistan was subject to fraud; according to the Integrity Watch report also, of the over $ 1 billion in bribes paid by Afghanistan in 2009, one-third was used as payment for various public services (documentation, education, health), the police service being the most corrupt; — lack of ability on the part of most Afghan ministries to tender and manage contracts owing to a high rate of illiteracy and poorly trained staff; — unreliable databases of the Afghan National Police (ANP), as figures range from 111 774 to 125 218 policemen, which raises doubt as to the legality and regularity of the salaries paid to the Afghan policemen, which is the main objective of the single largest project funded by the EU, the Law and Order Trust Fund (LOTFA); — high risk of waste of funds as evidenced by the final report of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which has estimated that 10 to 20 per cent of total US aid spent in Iraq and Afghanistan was wasted; — cascades of sub-contractors which lead to delays and overhead costs adding up, and also limit the exercise of oversight over the prime contractor, as well as limiting the proportion of Afghan locals benefiting from these projects; — short-term projects being funded with limited chances of being sustainable in the long run; — lack of full independence of the Control and Audit Office of Afghanistan from the GIRoA;
5.

Calls on the Commission to improve the methods for and practice of assessing whether a potential partner qualifies for the FPA or not; recalls that the experience gained prior to the signing of the 2008 FPA indicates that the initial assessment in favour of the partners under P-control mechanism, based on the reliability of their internal control systems and financial solidity, was too optimistic; notes that, once they have been granted this status on the basis of an initial assessment, partners under P-control mechanism are audited less frequently on their internal control systems and are allowed to use their own procurement procedures, and their actions are not subject to contractual limits on funding; recalls that, as a result of the assessment under the 2008 FPA, many of them had to be downgraded to A-partner status, i.e. brought under the A-control mechanism;
17.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States, the Government and Parliament of Turkey, the Government and Parliament of the People’s Republic of China, the Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation, the Director General of the IAEA, the Secretary-General of the UN, the Office of the Supreme Leader and the Government and Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
31.

Welcomes the development of a strategy targeting the victims of war crimes of sexual violence to provide the victims directly with adequate reparation, economic, social and psychological support, including the highest attainable mental and physical health support services; calls on the BiH authorities to develop programmes and allocate adequate resources for the protection of witnesses; stresses in this connection the need to improve the coordination between the various judicial organs and to speed up prosecution procedures in cases of sexual war crimes committed during the war; calls on the Commission and other international donors to support the BiH authorities in this endeavour with financial resources and expertise targeting the victims of war crimes of sexual violence; notes that the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, supported by UNFPA, is entrusted with the task of developing the abovementioned strategy by setting up an expert working group; notes that the Republika Srpska (RS) was invited to nominate representatives from its competent ministries to participate, but has not done so to date; calls on the RS authorities to actively engage in this crucial effort to adopt and implement the strategy;
A.

whereas the situation of NGOs in Egypt is alarming; whereas the establishment of a committee to review civil institutions and NGOs, with the aim of tightening legal control over foreign funding of civil society organisations and political foundations, was announced in October 2011 and a request was subsequently made to the Central Bank to monitor all bank transfers to and from NGOs; whereas the offices of 10 foreign-funded organisations were searched and those organisations were investigated and then banned by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on 29 December 2011; whereas on 5 February 2012 Egypt’s military-led government announced that it was putting 19 American citizens and 24 others on trial as part of a criminal investigation into the foreign financing of non-profit-making organisations active in Egypt; whereas Egyptian judges are investigating alleged illegal foreign financing of pro-democracy NGOs and political foundations, and whereas 44 defendants, including 19 Americans, 14 Egyptians, five Serbs, two Germans, two Lebanese, one Jordanian and one Palestinian, have had their cases referred to the Cairo Criminal Court and ordered not to leave the country;
39.

Welcomes the progress in the reform of the judiciary but calls for more efforts to ensure the professionalism of judges and prosecutors, as well as their independence from any political interference, and to tackle corruption in their ranks; welcomes, to this end, the active role of the Constitutional Court in ensuring the constitutionality of the parliamentary processes and in providing clarity on the issue of functional immunity; notes that, despite progress in some areas, the judicial system in Kosovo remains weak and that a significant backlog of cases persists; stresses, in this regard, the need to pursue reforms; underlines that for the justice system to function properly it is of utmost importance that fully functional and effective programmes for witness protection and witness relocation are in place, and calls for immediate steps to implement the witness protection law and to establish witness protection units within the police and the judiciary; calls, moreover, on the EU Member States, and on other countries participating in EULEX, to commit themselves to participate in witness relocation programmes; regrets the fact that the court in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica still does not function at full capacity, and calls on the Kosovar and Serbian authorities to resolve the issue in order to improve access to justice for citizens in the north;
44.

Welcomes the country’s current chairmanship of the Decade of Roma Inclusion and hopes this will further inspire progress in integrating Roma in political, social and economic life; welcomes the progress in the integration of Roma in the education system, with increased enrolment in secondary and university education, as well as improved representation of Roma in the civil service; draws attention, however, to the Commission’s conclusion that continued efforts are necessary to foster trust, especially in the areas of education, culture and language; reiterates its concern about the very difficult living conditions experienced by the Roma community and the fact that they continue to face discrimination in access to education, the labour market, healthcare and social services; draws attention to the particularly difficult situation of Roma women and children living under the poverty line and calls on the authorities to take immediate steps to address this issue;
31.

Notes that the digitalisation of services may mean that consumers who, for various reasons, cannot access or use the internet could find themselves in a situation of vulnerability, as they cannot take full advantage of the benefits of online commerce and are therefore excluded from a substantial part of the internal market, paying more for the same products or being dependent on assistance from others; calls on the Commission and the Member States to boost consumer confidence while overcoming barriers to cross-border e-commerce through the development of an effective policy which pays special attention to the needs of vulnerable consumers in all measures intended to close the digital divide; calls on the Member States and the Commission to accelerate the delivery of the European Digital Agenda to the benefit of all EU citizens and consumers; stresses that efforts from the community at large and from enterprises in particular should be encouraged in order to inform vulnerable consumers, including senior consumers, and to enable them to take full advantage of the benefits of digitalisation;
24.

Calls on the EU to support both the development of healthy agricultural production and rural development in the region, as part of the fight against poverty, which is a persistent evil in the countryside, and in order to strengthen the stabilisation process; stresses, to this end, the importance of institutional and infrastructural improvements (in such fields as irrigation, handling, storage, packaging, transport, marketing systems and access to services), in addition to technological improvements, and also the significance of education and training programmes, especially for women and in situations where producers are poorly organised and civil society is weak, given that these factors also slow down the development of an efficient agri-food system; emphasises the role of extension services in facilitating the diffusion of knowledge; stresses that global environmental and climate change concerns should determine support for the promotion of sustainable uses of natural resources and energy and compatible methods of production; stresses that the diversification of production, in order to increase resilience during market fluctuations and environmental crises, should be encouraged in the face of increasing global demand for food;
78.

Stresses that the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 represents a unique opportunity to modernise and reduce the costs of European and national public administrations, enabling them to fully exploit the potential of further European integration and foster growth, innovation and mobility for citizens and professional opportunities for businesses, especially SMEs, as well as public participation in policy-making; underlines the importance of public-private partnerships and the role of the private sector in providing innovative solutions, applications and services for the development of interoperable e-Government infrastructure in the EU and in leveraging the available resources;
14.

Calls on President Thein Sein to investigate allegations of sexual violence by the Burmese army and to prosecute those soldiers who have engaged in such acts; urges the Government of Burma/Myanmar to put an immediate end to the recruitment and use of child soldiers, to intensify measures to ensure the protection of children from armed conflict and to pursue its collaboration with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict;
15.

Supports ENISA, in line with the Digital Agenda goals, in exercising its duties with regard to network information security, and in particular by providing guidance and advising Member States on how to meet baseline capabilities for their CERTs, as well as supporting the exchange of best practices by developing an environment of trust; calls on the agency to consult relevant stakeholders with a view to defining similar cyber-security measures for owners and operators of private networks and infrastructure, as well as to assist the Commission and Member States in contributing to the development and uptake of information security certification schemes, norms of behaviour and cooperation practices among national and European CERTs and owners and operators of infrastructure as and where needed through the definition of technologically neutral common minimum requirements;
10.

Recalls that, according to the Commission’s Smart Regulation Agenda, legislation needs to be clearer and more accessible; takes the view that the Commission should codify EU company law in order to provide a user-friendly set of rules and to ensure the consistency of EU law; recognises the merits of a single EU company law instrument, but believes that company law directives need to be grouped together as a first step; suggests grouping them in categories, including formation and operation (e.g. the First and Second Directives and the accounting and audit directives), mobility (e.g. the Third (13), Sixth (14), Tenth (15), Eleventh (16) and 13th (17) Directives and the future 14th Directive) and EU company law forms (e.g. SE, SCE, EEIG); emphasises that this codification project should not, of course, lead to a halt in the necessary reform activities;