ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
13.

Welcomes the efforts made by the National Bishops’ Conference (CENCO) to forge a wider consensus over a political transition; takes note of the agreement reached in late December 2016 denying a third term to President Kabila and calling for the election to take place before the end of 2017; reminds all parties of their commitment to this agreement, and therefore encourages them to apply it in all its components and to set out a concrete calendar for the next elections as soon as possible; reminds them of the high stakes involved if they fail to bring about a successful outcome;
13.

Calls on the authorities of Indonesia to repeal Articles 156 and 156(a) of the country’s Criminal Code, to remove the blasphemy provisions in the current draft Bill of Revision of the Criminal Code (RUU Revisi KUHP), the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and the rebellion laws (in particular Articles 106 and 110 of the Code), and to bring all laws into conformity with Indonesia’s obligations under international human rights law, specifically on freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion, equality before the law, freedom from discrimination, and the right to expression and public assembly; notes that people may be imprisoned for ‘defamation’ for as long as five years;
56.

Welcomes the proposal from the Commission to extend EFSI and double its amount to reach EUR 630 billion by 2022, while at the same time improving geographical and sectorial coverage; notes that EFSI has so far not been particularly successful in improving social and economic convergence between Member States and their regions within the Union, or in targeting social infrastructure; recalls that most projects are being approved in the economically more healthy regions of western Europe, thus deepening the investment gap between Member States and reinforcing European imbalances; asks the Commission to help the weaker regions with the application process, but not to modify the basic premise of selecting projects solely on the basis of their quality; calls urgently on the Commission to support social enterprises and SMEs in being able to access the EFSI; calls on the Commission and the European Investment Bank to take additional and proactive steps to ensure that all Member States and sectors are being appropriately targeted with a view to accessing EFSI, in particular those contributing directly to tackling poverty and social exclusion; stresses the need to reinforce administrative capabilities such as the Advisory Hub; regrets that there is no available data on the jobs that are expected to be created as result of EFSI investments; calls on the Commission to monitor and control investments under the EFSI and measure their economic and social impact, and to ensure that EFSI does not duplicate existing financial programmes or substitute direct public spending; reiterates its call for investment in human and social capital in areas such as healthcare, childcare and affordable housing;
46.

Underlines that the right to form and join a trade union and to undertake collective action is a fundamental right and must be respected, as laid down in Article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; rejects any attempts to undermine the right to strike in the aviation sector; highlights the importance of having strong, independent social partners in the aviation sector, a regular, institutionalised social dialogue at all levels, and participation and representation of employees in company matters; insists on a proper consultation process and strengthened social dialogue ahead of any EU initiative concerning the aviation sector; welcomes attempts by the social partners to negotiate an agreement on the working conditions and social rights of employees in the European aviation sector; encourages them to negotiate collective agreements in all parts of the sector in line with national laws and practices, as such agreements are an effective instrument in combating a race to the bottom regarding social, working and employment standards and in ensuring decent remuneration for all workers;
38.

Stresses the need for the swift establishment of a European Defence Union to strengthen the defence of the EU’s territory, which, in strategic partnership with NATO, would enable the Union to act autonomously in operations abroad, mainly with a view to stabilising its neighbourhood and thus improve the EU’s role as guarantor of its own defence and security provider, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations; draws attention to the Franco-German initiative of September 2016, as well as the Italian initiative of August 2016, which provide useful contributions to this issue; stresses that the European Parliament needs to be fully involved in all steps of the creation of the EDU and must have the right of consent in the event of operations abroad; in view of its relevance, the Treaties should provide specifically for the possibility of establishing a European Defence Union; furthermore, in addition to the European External Action Service, a Directorate-General for Defence (DG Defence) responsible for the internal aspects of the Common Security and Defence Policy should be established;
18.

Requires the fair treatment of EU-27 citizens living or having lived in the United Kingdom and of United Kingdom citizens living or having lived in the EU-27 and is of the opinion that their respective rights and interests must be given full priority in the negotiations; demands, therefore, that the status and rights of EU-27 citizens residing in the United Kingdom and of United Kingdom citizens residing in the EU-27 be subject to the principles of reciprocity, equity, symmetry and non-discrimination, and demands moreover the protection of the integrity of Union law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and its enforcement framework; stresses that any degradation of the rights linked to freedom of movement, including discrimination between EU citizens in their access to residency rights, before the date of withdrawal from the European Union by the United Kingdom would be contrary to Union law;
85.

Calls on the Commission to propose legislation on a European system for health technology assessment as soon as possible, to harmonise transparent HTA criteria in order to assess the added therapeutic value of medicines compared with the best available alternative taking into account the level of innovation and value for the patients among others, to introduce compulsory relative effectiveness assessments at EU level as a first step for new medicines, and to put in place a European classification system to chart their therapeutic added value level, using an independent and transparent procedure that avoids conflicts of interests; considers that such legislation shall ensure that HTA output jointly produced at EU level is used at national level; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to strengthen early dialogues and to consider a coordination mechanism based on an independent body, which could foster cooperation between national HTA bodies while at the same time ensuring that expertise on HTA remains within national (and regional) HTA;
7.

Highlights the fact that building resilience in partner countries is a long-term process and that it therefore needs to be integrated into development programmes that are inclusive of the most vulnerable segments of the population and into financial commitments; stresses that the new joint communication should recognise this and support the promotion of resilience as an essential element of the sustainable development strategies of partner countries, particularly in fragile states; notes that these strategies need to be context specific and in line with the internationally agreed principles of development effectiveness: ownership of development priorities by partner countries receiving support (including alignment with national development strategies), focus on results, inclusive partnerships, and transparency and accountability; underlines in this regard the important monitoring and scrutiny role of the European Parliament, of national parliaments and of civil society;
F.

whereas equality between women and men is a core principle of the European Union and its Member States, and its promotion one of its principal objectives; whereas gender equality is a basic value of the EU recognised in the Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the EU has assumed the specific task of integrating it in all its activities; whereas gender mainstreaming is an important tool in the integration of this principle into EU policies, measures and actions with a view to promoting equality between women and men, and combating discrimination in order to increase active involvement of women in the labour market, and economic and social activities; whereas this tool is also applicable to the EU Structural and Investment Funds, including the EAFRD;
30.

Invites the Commission to strengthen cooperation with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and, in particular, the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, in order to support initiatives on IPR enforcement such as facilitation procedures for rightholders through electronic exchange of data, which would also benefit SMEs, and to make the fight against counterfeiting and fraud one of its priorities in the WTO, involving the OECD and the WCO in its work on the matter; therefore stresses that the current Regulation on Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights plays an important role in the fight against counterfeiting (trademark infringements), piracy (copyright infringements) and smuggling of sensitive products, as well as in the areas of geographical indications, marking of origin and illegal trade; believes it vital that the above Regulation, along with the directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, is duly implemented throughout the Union and that necessary enforcement by customs authorities is conducted in a way that does not prevent legitimate traders from operating in good faith;
19.

Emphasises that the capacity of the lower levels of governance is also essential for the success of the new territorial development tools, such as Community-led Local Development (CLLD) and the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI); calls for the continued decentralisation of the implementation of CLLD; notes that while it may be difficult to measure the effects of technical assistance, it is by no means impossible, particularly when looking at the benefit-cost ratio; emphasises that in some Member States technical assistance provided for the establishment of a complete system for the implementation of the ERDF and the establishment of a system for the implementation of ITIs is showing a negative benefit-cost ratio; notes, however, that high costs could partly be explained by specific circumstances requiring higher efforts, such as the setting-up of a new scheme; calls, accordingly, for clear control mechanisms to be put in place, in particular as regards non-transparent negotiations on technical assistance; recalls the important role of Local Action Groups, in particular for implementation of CLLD, and considers that technical assistance should be made available by Member States to support their valuable contribution to sustainable local development in the Union;
48.

Notes that the socio-economic situation in the sector has deteriorated for different reasons, including the decline of fish stocks, the drop in the value of fish at first sale (which has not been reflected in the retail sales price, owing to an unfair distribution of added value along the value chain of the sector by most of the intermediaries and, in some regions, to monopolies on distribution), and the rise in the cost of fuel; notes that these difficulties have contributed to the increase in fishing effort, which is of particular concern in the case of small-scale fishing and may indeed jeopardise the future of this traditional way of life and the survival of local communities that rely heavily on fishing;
38.

Points to the importance of stability in the rules; calls on the Commission, when drawing up the implementation provisions for cohesion policy under the next MFF, to keep changes to a minimum; is convinced of the need for the EU budget share for cohesion policy after 2020 to be maintained at an adequate level, if not increased, in light of the complex internal and external challenges that the policy will have to address in view of its objectives; considers that this policy must not be weakened under any circumstances, Brexit included, and that its share of the total EU budget should not be reduced by siphoning off means for new challenges; underlines, furthermore, the multi-annual nature of cohesion policy and calls for its 7-year programming period to be maintained or for the introduction of a 5+5 years programming period with an obligatory mid-term revision;
6.

Stresses that the competitiveness clusters, business networks and digital innovation hubs are a very useful solution for bringing together relevant stakeholders; calls for the EU to support public investment in innovation, as it is strategic in this domain; asks the Commission to support these clusters and their cooperation at European level, ensuring the involvement of SMEs, research centres and universities at regional and local level; calls on the Commission to develop smart specialisation platforms encouraging intersectoral and interdisciplinary links; stresses the need to strengthen interregional cooperation in order to develop transnational opportunities and transversal innovation alliances;
J.

whereas, without justification, the draft proposal deletes from Annex II rice and derived products from Fukushima prefecture; whereas this means that there will no longer be any requirement to sample and analyse those products on entry into the Union nor any obligation on the Japanese authorities to attest to their compliance with maximum radioactive contamination levels; whereas one of the rice-derived products removed from Annex II is rice used in baby food and food for young children (4); whereas for the groups concerned, given their particular vulnerability to radiation exposure, no level of contamination would be acceptable; whereas under the Japan-EU Free Trade Agreement exports of rice from Japan could increase; whereas, as evacuation orders have recently been lifted, it is likely that the cultivation of rice will resume in contaminated paddies;
A.

whereas there is no common European definition of franchising and franchising agreements differ from one business to another, but one key feature of such relationships is a contractual partnership concluded on a voluntary basis between entrepreneurs or natural or legal persons that are legally and financially independent of each other, whereby one party (the franchisor) grants to the other party (the franchisee) the right to operate his franchising formula, name, and trademarks, and shares know-how, drawing on the franchisor’s technical and organisational expertise and assistance for the duration of the agreement, where customers rely upon the unity of the franchising system, the intention of both the franchisor and the franchisee being to allow for the rapid acquisition of new markets with limited investment and an increased chance of success;
6.

Calls on the Malawian Government to meet the medical, psychological and social needs of PWAs more effectively by guaranteeing them equal access to healthcare and education, as part of inclusion policies; recalls that access to healthcare and education remains a considerable challenge for PWAs which needs to be tackled; calls for greater investment in creating adequate social, care and counselling structures for victims, in particular for women and children, and a better response to their medical and psychological needs; insists that policies should be put in place to facilitate their reintegration in their communities;
M.

whereas, before an 18-month technical extension was granted for glyphosate on 29 June 2016, Parliament adopted a resolution on 13 April 2016 which called on the Commission to renew the approval of glyphosate for seven years, but also stressed that the Commission should not approve it for any non-professional uses, for its uses in or close to public parks, public playgrounds and public gardens, or for any agricultural uses where integrated pest management systems are sufficient for the necessary weed control; whereas the same resolution also called on the Commission to develop training and user authorisation for professionals, to provide better information on the use of glyphosate, and to place strict limits on the pre-harvest use of products containing the active substance glyphosate, in order to prevent incorrect use of this substance and to limit the potential risks associated with it;
53.

Calls on the Commission to continue keeping Parliament regularly informed on the state of play in relation to compliance with the Directive by the Member States, by providing disaggregated and comparable data on the Member States’ performance in preventing and combating child sexual abuse and exploitation offline and online; calls on the Commission to present a more comprehensive report on the implementation of the Directive, which should include additional information and statistics on take-down and blocking of websites containing child sexual abuse material, statistics on the speed of removal of illegal content beyond a period of 72 hours and on the follow-up by the law enforcement authorities to the reported offences, delays in take-downs as a result of the need to avoid interference with ongoing investigations, information on the use of the stored data by judicial and law enforcement authorities and on the actions undertaken by hotlines after informing the law enforcement authorities to contact the hosting providers; instructs its relevant committee to hold a hearing on the state of play in relation to implementation and possibly consider adopting an additional report on the follow up given to the implementation of the Directive;
26.

Asks the Commission to assess carefully whether national consumer protection rules and practices do not act as unfair barriers to cross-border investment and whether, in line with well-established internal market legislation and case-law, they are justified by overriding reasons relating to the public interest that are necessary and proportionate in view of the objectives to be attained; stresses that the relevant European consumer protection rules often deliberately leave some leeway for national transposition, to enable European law to be inserted into existing national regulations; underlines nevertheless that the dismantling of national barriers must not be achieved to the detriment of consumer protection and that consumer protection should remain a guiding priority in designing legislation; is concerned that much of the paperwork produced in response to EU legislation from providers of retail financial products and services is not in fact strictly required in law and is of little or no practical benefit to consumers while imposing a burden that can result in unnecessarily higher costs to those consumers; calls on the Commission to review such documentation with the aim of streamlining it while not sacrificing consumer protection benefits; stresses that access to relevant and comprehensible information is crucial in enabling the consumer to take informed financial decisions; notes, however, that it is the quality and not the quantity of the information provided which is decisive; stresses the need to coordinate as effectively as possible the information requirements vis-à-vis customers laid down in various European legal acts; emphasises that double or contradictory disclosure requirements must be avoided, in order not to create unnecessary red tape and expenditure and not to confuse clients;
7.

Welcomes the fact that UNRWA envisages sustaining internal measures aimed at containing costs and achieving further efficiency gains while pursuing other areas where efficiencies may be possible; urges the Agency to continue to improve its management structure and strategic planning towards enhanced transparency, accountability and internal oversight, to ensure timely and accurate programme and financial reporting to the EU, to ensure that UNRWA facilities are not misused, to investigate allegations of neutrality violations by its staff members and to take appropriate disciplinary action where appropriate; stresses the importance of respecting the neutrality of UNRWA installations in line with international humanitarian law and the UN diplomatic status of the Agency;
41.

Recommends that the Commission rapidly establish an adequate legal framework to achieve EU-wide cross-border interoperability and a framework laying down rules on liability for the use of the various forms of connected transport; calls on the Commission to publish a legislative proposal on access to in-vehicle data and resources by the end of the year; recommends that this proposal should enable the entire automotive value chain and end users to benefit from digitalisation and guarantee a level playing field and maximum security with regard to storage of in-vehicle data and access thereto for all third-parties, which should be fair, timely and unrestricted in order to protect consumer rights, promote innovation and ensure fair, non-discriminatory competition on this market in line with the principle of technological neutrality; stresses the need to contribute to the modernisation of all urban and rural infrastructure linked to public transport services; calls on the Commission to guarantee that it will, in all cases, ensure full compliance with the GDPR, reporting to Parliament on its monitoring on an annual basis;
F.

whereas many critical comments were submitted by Member States during the three-month consultation period (6); whereas the most critical comments include the fact that the compositional analysis does not cover residues of the complementary herbicides nor its metabolites; that, due to concerns over, inter alia, studies showing an increase in the incidence of bladder stones in mice fed on MON 89034, a conclusion about the risks associated with the use of this GM organism (‘GMO’) in human or animal food cannot be drawn; that further information is required before the risk assessment can be finalised, and that no conclusions are possible with regard to sub-chronic (no 90-day study was performed), long-term, reproductive or developmental effects of the whole food and/or feed;