ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
27.

It would be a good idea to promote the extension of PDO ad PGI protection within the WTO. Efforts should be made to contract bilateral accords with the various non-EU countries on mutual recognition of food and agriculture labelling. Given the large number of new requests for GIs from third countries, the CoR proposes investigating setting up a European agency for the quality of agricultural production. Regardless of whether or not they are exported, products should be able to benefit from EU recognition. The form of international protection could differ depending on the risk of the product being counterfeited. For example, exported products at high risk of being counterfeited would require international protection within the WTO. The procedure could be simpler for lower-risk products sold on a local scale — it would involve the Member State recognising the product and informing Brussels (similar to the current provisional level of protection), and the product being protected under European law. It is also essential to make sure that the GIs are protected within the EU, ensuring that the Member States intervene in their own territories and are responsible for taking official action if products are counterfeited or if registered products are imitated. The CoR proposes that a specific provision along these lines should be made in Article 13 of Regulation 510/06. Official protection should be upheld by the Commission at international level and within the EU in particular.
23.

recognises that a number of EU directives will affect the state of the EU’s water resources. In the directives, binding deadlines are an integral part of implementation. The Water Framework Directive operates with a deadline of 2015 by which time all water authorities must achieve a good ecological status. The first River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) are to be completed on the 22nd December 2009 at the latest, and it is therefore important that the guidelines and a set of tools be developed by the end of 2009 to ensure that the RBMP take account of the current knowledge of the local impact of climate change and continually adapt to new findings of climate modelling and research. The Flooding Directive operates with three deadlines. In the years 2011, 2013 and 2015, preliminary flood risk assessment, flood hazard maps and flood risk management plans have to be carried out. The Water Scarcity and Droughts Strategy will introduce drought management plans. These defined targets will in large part be implemented and driven by municipalities and regions throughout Europe. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the right tools and adequate levels of resources be provided in due time by the Union and the Member States to the local and regional tiers of government;
39.

requests the Commission and the Member States to take into consideration the gender dimension when dealing with the adequacy of pensions, taking into account that women are likely to live for more years than men after the legal retirement age, that women represent the largest group of pensioners, that they are over-represented among the group of older pensioners, that they often are over-represented among those with discontinuous careers and atypical employment, and that they are often over-represented among personal carers; this situation is being aggravated by the current expansion of defined contribution schemes;
17.

recommends that in order to speed up Europe's economic recovery, boost skills, increase employment and commit to the Europe 2020 headline target of investing 3 % of the EU's GDP in R&D (2), education institutions providing vocational education and training should be able to introduce more and better VET provision. The use of non-classroom, work-based learning for learners who are less academically oriented should also be promoted, and even learners who are less academically oriented should be encouraged to obtain qualifications that help them successfully enter the labour market, as well as ensuring parity between vocational qualifications and more academically oriented degrees. Classroom work should also be strongly geared to individual students’ needs and learning methods, with the aim also of developing creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurship. Effective, attractive VET can play a key role in providing early school leavers with an option for getting back to learning, and can also help address the high youth unemployment figures in Europe (3);
26.

recalls that the impact of new EU laws on local and regional bodies can derive as much from amendments by the European Parliament and Council as from the initial European Commission proposal. Calls on the former two institutions to also pay greater attention to the territorial impact of their decisions throughout the legislative process, and offers its expertise in this matter. Considers that the concrete possibilities for such co-operation of the CoR with the European Parliament and the Council should be explored regarding impact assessments, the control of the subsidiarity principle and the implementation of EU legislation, both ex ante and ex-post;
52.

supports the idea that new financing should be made available by allocating at least one third of the incomes of the emissions trading system to local and regional level. The precise allocation key for the revenue should be set in each Member State within the context of the national climate strategy, so that proper account is taken of the very different division of responsibilities for climate protection in the Member States. The Committee calls for an increased use of carbon tax throughout Europe and for the local and regional level to receive new financing from this, too, in accordance with the above-mentioned framework; considering that cities and regions are for the time being under-served by the current carbon markets, strongly encourages the OECD's call for local and regional authorities to set up their own GHG-reduction projects financed via the emissions trading system.
(21) In order to take into account the developments in the areas of information and communication technologies, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the Annex to this Regulation. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The objective of this delegation is to address new technological and market developments, emerging political priorities or opportunities for exploiting synergies between different infrastructures, including those in the fields of Transport and Energy. The scope of delegation is limited to modifying the description of projects of common interest, adding a project of common interest or removing an obsolete project of common interest according to pre-established, clear and transparent criteria.

(21) In order to take into account the developments in the areas of information and communication technologies, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the Annex to this Regulation. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The objective of this delegation is to address new technological and market developments, emerging political priorities or opportunities for exploiting synergies between different infrastructures, including those in the fields of Transport and Energy. The scope of delegation is limited to modifying the description of projects of common interest, adding a project of common interest or removing an obsolete project of common interest according to pre-established, clear and transparent criteria.
60 % of eligible costs for actions referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2 except for Member States whose gross national income per inhabitant is less than 90 % of the Union average, which shall benefit from a financial contribution up to a maximum of 80 % of eligible costs. In cases of exceptional utility, the financial contribution for actions referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2 may be up to a maximum of 80 % of eligible costs for competent authorities of all Member States or third countries participating in the Programme.

60 % of eligible costs for actions referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2 except for Member States whose per inhabitant is less than 90 % of the Union average, which shall benefit from a financial contribution up to a maximum of 80 % of eligible costs. In cases of exceptional utility, the financial contribution for actions referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2 may be up to a maximum of 80 % of eligible costs for competent authorities of all Member States or third countries participating in the Programme.
37.

is convinced that the promotion of a comprehensive strategy for consumers requires that they be well-represented in the decision making bodies. In this respect, the Committee would underscore the role of consumer organisations, which have the broadest overview of the themes that are of concern to consumers in their everyday lives and therefore can help to find solutions when called upon. They also provide a channel for communication between the public and management, enabling information to be disseminated from the top down. The CoR recognises that there is room for improving the relationship between local and regional authorities and first- and second-level consumer organisations, and would also call on Member States to strengthen them when necessary, and establish a framework for action if need be;
EU citizens, whether urban or rural dwellers, benefit from a range of EU policies and initiatives that support sustainable development of urban areas. However, this requires effective, efficient coordination between different levels of administration and across administrative boundaries and systematically involving regional and local authorities in the planning, formulation and development of policies impacting on the quality of the urban environment. The enhanced coordination mechanisms at national and regional level proposed under the Common Strategic Framework for the next funding period and the creation of an ‘Urban Development Platform’ would help to ensure this, as well as involve more stakeholder groups and the general public in decisions that affect them. Local and regional authorities will also benefit from further development of tools to streamline environmental data collection and management, and to facilitate the exchange of information and best practice, as well as efforts to improve implementation of environment law at Union, national and local levels. This is in line with the commitment made at the Rio+20 Summit to promote an integrated approach to planning, building and managing sustainable cities and urban settlements. Integrated approaches to urban spatial planning, in which long-term environmental considerations are fully taken into account alongside economic, and social challenges, are essential to ensuring that urban communities are sustainable, efficient and healthy places to live and work.

EU citizens, whether urban or rural dwellers, benefit from a range of EU policies and initiatives that support sustainable development of urban areas. However, this requires effective, efficient coordination between different levels of administration and across administrative boundaries and systematically involving regional and local authorities in the planning, formulation and development of policies impacting on the quality of the urban environment. The enhanced coordination mechanisms at national and regional level proposed under the Common Strategic Framework for the next funding period and the creation of an ‘Urban Development Platform" would Platform’would help to ensure this, as well as involve more stakeholder groups and the general public in decisions that affect them. Local and regional authorities will may also benefit from further development of tools to streamline environmental data collection and management, and to facilitate the exchange of information and best practice, as well as efforts to improve implementation of environment law at Union, national and local levels. This is in line with the commitment made at the Rio+20 Summit to promote an integrated approach to planning, building and managing sustainable cities and urban settlements. Integrated approaches to urban spatial planning, in which long-term environmental considerations are fully taken into account alongside economic, and social and territorial challenges, are essential to ensuring that urban communities are sustainable, efficient and healthy places to live and work.
56.

In order to further implement the 7th EU Environment Action Programme and its priority objective 4 on improving implementation, and to follow-up on recommendations in previous CoR opinions on improving implementation of EU environment law, the CoR urges the European Commission and the EU (18): (a) to adopt effective source-based policies which further align the levels of ambition and the timeframes of EU source-based or product-based legislation with those of EU legislation on environment quality standards or targets, to better assist competent local and regional authorities in meeting the EU limit values, to identify the transboundary issues that are beyond these authorities’ own direct responsibility, and expanding cost-recovery options in EU environment law for competent local and regional authorities; (b) to further promote, financially support, and where appropriate, to expand and consolidate existing and very diverse, when not overlapping EU initiatives that support innovation and best practices in cities and to encourage cities to showcase their leadership, in particular by further developing the European Green Capital Award, and the new European Green Leaf award for smaller cities; (c) to further make compulsory the carrying out of an analysis on the territorial and competitiveness impact at regional and local level in impact assessments when drafting or revising EU environment legislation; and to further encourage the participation of local and regional authorities and the local business communities in the extended European Commission public consultations in the preliminary legislative stages and in the implementation of legislation; (d) as part of the ongoing regulatory fitness work to conduct territorial and competitiveness impact assessments on the existing environmental acquis and binding targets;
10.

points out that biowaste makes up a significant proportion of household waste volumes, and that more attention should be paid to increasing biowaste recycling rates, for example by means of processes such as anaerobic digestion of clean and properly sorted biodegradable waste, which combines materials recycling with energy recovery. Biowaste should be collected on the basis of local and regional conditions, and there should be scope for development and innovation in this task. It is therefore important for waste collection to be organised in line with local views on how best to meet the recycling targets set out in the Waste Framework Directive, rather than by imposing collection methods on local and regional authorities;
7.

in this respect, draws attention to: a) Article 174 of the TFEU stipulating that particular attention shall be paid to rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions which suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps such as the northernmost regions with very low population density and island, cross-border and mountain regions; b) the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion (COM(2008) 616 final) and the accompanying Commission staff working document (SEC(2008) 2550), which mention territorial typologies such as border regions, mountain regions, island regions and sparsely populated regions. These typologies have already been used within the context of the Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion (published in November 2010); c) the CoR opinion on the abovementioned green paper (COTER-IV-020), which calls on the European Commission to extend its research to develop relevant indicators for the particular socio-economic problems faced by specific types of regions such as mountains, islands, areas with low population density and border areas, and to significantly improve statistical data and its cartographic representation so as to reflect the real situation; d) the CoR opinion on the Sixth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion (COTER-V-052), which calls for better respect to be given to Article 174 of the TFEU; e) the CoR opinion on Indicators for territorial development — GDP and beyond (COTER-VI-009), pointing out the lack of quantitative information on the various territories with particular (geographic, environmental, economic and social) features influencing their development, as well as suggesting that the Commission (Eurostat) adopt the territorial categories identified by the Treaty in order to contribute to the proper implementation of EU policies with a territorial dimension; f) the CoR draft opinion on Entrepreneurship on islands: contributing towards territorial cohesion (COTER-VI/022), which suggests adding islands as an additional category in the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Tercet regulation;
24.

believes that violence against women should be examined from a range of different perspectives, and all forms of violence should be considered, to understand the problem in all its complexity: — From a purely legal perspective, gender-based violence undermines democratic principles and the fundamental rights of victims. — It is also necessary however to look at the issue from a health point of view, as gender-based violence can have a serious impact on victims' health. (Recommendation 1582 on domestic violence against women which was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 27 September 2002 highlights the fact that domestic violence is the main cause of death or permanent disability for women between 16 and 44 years old. Domestic violence causes more deaths among women from this age group than cancer, road accidents or war. — In terms of social policy, women should have access to support services such as job services, housing services, and economic benefits. — From an education perspective, we should examine not just how schools and universities teach values, but at all the ways in which people are influenced growing up in society, including the impact of family and the media;
14.

A key way this can be achieved is by eliminating the linguistic hurdles that countries and individuals have to face, since: a) knowledge of foreign languages greatly enhances professional, educational, cultural and personal mobility. The European Union will never be a true union if its people fail to achieve a greater level of internal mobility; b) knowledge of languages markedly improves competitiveness by enabling new contacts to be made, practices to be exchanged, products to be sold and services to be provided. Globalisation opens up commercial and labour markets. Knowledge of foreign languages is one of the requirements for setting up partnerships and establishing closer partnerships with other Community countries and companies and thus being able to use the opportunities of globalisation; c) language is the most immediate expression of culture and helps to improve communication between the people of Europe. ‘European culture’ cannot be based on the acceptance and passive establishment of a mosaic made up of the cultures of the Member States (a multicultural society), but is consolidated through the comprehensive cultural encounter between citizens and the affirmation of the value of differences and of cultural identity (an intercultural society); d) promoting active citizenship, the institutional involvement of the regions, consulting and listening to the people and social inclusion are all needed to ensure more effective European action on the legislation front which must be increasingly supported and shared by the regions and individuals. The European Community must therefore speak the language of its own citizens in its documents and in its external and inter-institutional relations so that they can be understood, so that local institutions (local and regional authorities) are able to interact and so that members of the public can get the message and participate in the life of Europe and act as a sounding board for the strategic objectives proposed;
42.

would encourage the Commission to continue to pay close attention to the extremely serious problem for extensive aquaculture and biodiversity that is posed by fish-eating birds and other fish-eating animal species (e.g. European Otter) and to assess the effectiveness of any derogation provisions that Member States might have applied to the Birds Conservation and Habitats Directive; additionally it should also be immediately examined if the strict protection of fish-eating, ‘problematic animal species’ in specific regions seems to still be compliant with EU law at all, in order to be able to easily justify, on the basis of modified classifications, the necessary exceptions in the Member States;
51.

is of the opinion that the action proposed in the Communication is necessary because the issue being addressed has trans-national aspects that cannot be satisfactorily regulated by Member States and because existing EU measures and targeted assistance provided in this framework are not sufficient to achieve the intended objectives. The proposed action will provide a clear benefit, by reason of its scale and its effectiveness, compared with fragmented action at national, regional or local levels, mainly by virtue of economies of scale, since comprehensive space programmes require a level of investment that Member States cannot afford on their own;
16.

is aware of the extent of the problems related to youth unemployment and calls on the European Commission to clarify the implementation arrangements for the EUR 6 billion set aside for the Youth Employment Initiative, which should be concentrated on 2014 and 2015, and the interaction between the partnership agreements and the national plans for implementing the Youth Guarantee; expresses doubts as to the take-up capacity for the EUR 6 billion in 2014 and 2015, given the delay in the adoption of the operational programmes and the fact that few Member States opted to frontload expenses on 1 September 2013; stresses, in this context, the need to provide a progress report on the implementation of the initiative in early 2015; calls on the Commission to clarify the amounts that will be allocated to addressing this long-term challenge as of 2016; and shares the European Parliament’s view that all the financing possibilities, including the MFF’s global margin for commitments, should be explored to ensure the continuity of this budget heading after 2015;
4.

in its opinion of 3 July 2003 on the GATS negotiations in the WTO, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) already noted that the negotiations on trade in services were important in view of regional economic concerns (helping local businesses and in particular SMEs to access markets outside the EU) and the interests of local and regional authorities (LRAs), which often regulate services and in some cases deliver them themselves. In that opinion the Committee also expressed the view that it was not feasible to apply the principle of reciprocal market access for companies run by municipalities or regional authorities owing to their embeddedness in their own locality;