European Parliament resolution on the revised sustainable development strategy
Date: 2006-06-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU action, EU policy, economic and social cohesion, economic growth, environmental protection, sustainable development

9.12.2006

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— the determination and the discussion between competent authorities of the most relevant market in
terms of liquidity or its alternative in accordance with Articles 8 and 9 of the Draft Implementing
Regulation, and the resolution of potential conflicts on such issues between the competent authorities;

Emphasises that, at the current stage, the CESR lacks the operational means to fulfil its role effec-

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tively;

Calls on Member States to provide the CESR with the means necessary to put into effect Directive

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2004/39/EC and its implementing measures;

Calls on Member States to strengthen the democratic accountability of the CESR,

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towards the Parliament;

in particular

Takes the view that, as they currently stand, the implementing measures comprise the best achievable

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outcome for all parties concerned;

16.

Approves of the implementing measures;

17.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the CESR.

P6_TA(2006)0272

Sustainable development strategy

European Parliament resolution on the revised sustainable development strategy

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) adopted by the Göteborg European Coun-
cil of 15 and 16 June 2001 and to the Johannesburg Action Programme adopted by the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in 2002,

— having regard to the Commission Communication on ‘the Review of the Sustainable Development

Strategy: A Platform for Action’ (COM(2005)0658),

— having regard to the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council of 16 and 17 June 2005,

and its own previous resolutions on the matter,

— having regard to the questions for oral answer to the Commission and the Council,

— having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. having regard to the persistence of unsustainable trends in many areas, such as land use and land

resources, transport, climate change, fisheries, use of fossil fuels and depletion of biodiversity,

B.

emphasising the importance of the three central and related objectives of environmental protection,
social equity and cohesion and economic prosperity, and having regard to the need to ensure that
these three components of sustainable development are properly integrated and implemented at EU
and world levels,

C. having regard to the policy-guiding principles that must underpin sustainable development, in particular

those of quality of life and solidarity within and between generations,

D.

emphasising the need for a shift in culture towards a society based on sustainable development prin-
ciples, requiring policies of a long-term nature aimed at decoupling economic growth from use of
natural resources,

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E. whereas a significant proportion of the European population continues to suffer severe economic and
social problems, such as poverty, unemployment and social exclusion and whereas the most socially
deprived people often experience the worst conditions in terms of their social environment, including
poor housing and health; having regard also to the dramatic demographic changes in the EU and the
converse trends in the least developed countries,

Overall Assessment

Lack of ambition

Expresses its disappointment at the lack of progress in developing and following up the SDS adopted

1.
in Göteborg in 2001;

2.
Considers that the Commission's platform for action on the review of the SDS is overly cautious and
weak, and in its present form will not succeed in mobilising public opinion and policy-makers behind the
vital tasks that lie ahead;

3. Welcomes, however, the valuable work of the Austrian Presidency in seeking to relaunch the SDS, in
strengthening the proposals from the Commission, in pulling together existing targets and indicators within
a single and more coherent framework, and also in attempting to put forward some new concepts;

Link with the Lisbon Strategy

Considers that the adoption of cross-cutting strategies such as those adopted in Cardiff, Lisbon and

4.
Göteborg is only of value if it is followed by a coherent and consistent overarching process;

5.
Notes that in the Lisbon Strategy environmental objectives ought to be as important as competitive-
ness and job creation while in the SDS economic sustainability and poverty reduction ought to be priorities
as important as environmental goals;

6.
Notes, in this context, the many complementary features of the new SDS and the Lisbon Strategy, such
as their common goals of improved competitiveness, the creation of more and better-quality jobs, greater
social inclusion, environmental protection and risk prevention;

Suggests that concrete steps be taken to ensure that their implementation is timely and properly coor-

7.
dinated, notably by means of compatible monitoring and review procedures;

Suggests, moreover, as a concrete step towards effective coordination of the Lisbon and SDS Strategies,
8.
that the necessary transformation of the energy and transport systems, which has to be based on decoupling
energy demand from economic growth and on modal shift towards environmentally friendly transport
modes — a key objective of the SDS — should be used as a lever to boost growth, employment and
exports within the Lisbon Strategy;

9.
Notes, moreover, the decision of the 2006 Spring European Council to hold an energy review
annually at the Spring European Council, and that work on this should also fit into the wider framework
of the SDS and of the Lisbon Process;

Reinforcing the Strategy

Reinforcing the objectives: setting clear intermediate and long-term objectives and targets

Notes that the term ‘sustainable development’ has the advantage of being a truly cross-cutting econ-
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omic, social and environmental objective; considers, moreover, that it needs to be made as precise as poss-
ible in the light of the different interpretations of the term;

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Concurs, in this context, with the seven key issues that have been put forward for inclusion within a
revised SDS (climate change and cleaner energy, public health, social exclusion, demography and migration,
management of natural resources, sustainable transport, global poverty and development challenges);

Thursday 15 June 2006

12.
Requests that the Commission review the objectives and targets to ensure the highest possible level of
ambition and ensure that they are measurable and specific in order to enable a precise and detailed evalu-
ation of progress to be carried out;

13.
Emphasises the importance of public health issues and protecting biodiversity in the light of the
ambitious objective of reversing by 2010 the loss of biodiversity in Europe and the world, and suggests
that these either be added as a new key issue within the SDS or, at least, be given special emphasis within
specific sections on health and management of natural resources;

14.
Emphasises the importance of gender equality in sustainable development; underlines the fact that the
common goals of the Lisbon Strategy and the SDS cannot be attained without addressing current inequal-
ities and making better use of the potential of both men and women; underlines, therefore, the fact that
social inclusion must be understood in its broadest sense, including the gender dimension;

15.
Considers, therefore, that a limited number of intermediate and long-term targets should either be
reconfirmed or established, should be based on the precautionary principle and be ambitious and realistic in
nature, and should then be properly and systematically applied and monitored; believes that they should
address, in particular, current negative trends in the fields of land use and land resources, transport, climate
change, fisheries, use of fossil fuels and depletion of biodiversity, and should also seek to encourage modal
shift, the decoupling of economic growth from transport, and greenhouse-gas emission reductions in line
with max+2°C warming as compared to pre-industrial levels;

16.
Supports the proposed new emphasis on seeking to measure resource efficiency through application
of environmental resource accounting; suggests that special efforts should be made to monitor closely the
ecological footprint of the EU in the world, analysing environmental impact from both the consumption
and the production end, and setting as a target that the EU footprint be systematically reduced;

17. Welcomes, moreover, the Commission's proposal for a European Year of combating poverty and
social exclusion; urges the Commission to put forward more specific initiatives and efficient implementation
measures to enable real progress to be made; points in this connection, by way of example, to the Com-
mission's initiative aimed at analysing the impact of an ageing society, which seeks to achieve concrete
solutions based on the participation both of the various levels of political decision-makers in the EU and
of civil society;

Improving the quality of growth as a precondition for the SDS

18.
Considers that the emphasis placed on GDP in measuring progress in society should be balanced by
an equal concern about the qualitative aspects of growth, as this is a prerequisite for sustainable devel-
opment; believes, therefore, that agreement needs to be reached on a limited set of key sustainability indi-
cators to be presented and widely discussed at the yearly review of the SDS; considers that these indicators
should pertain to fundamental aspects of the quality of life and should allow quantitative and prompt
assessments of health (quality and distribution of health care, life expectancy, child mortality, etc.), awareness
(education and culture, ICT access, etc.), inclusion (participation in society's decisions and social capital, etc.)
and environmental quality (air and water pollution, etc.);

19.
Calls for the further development of the European social model and for recommendations, on the
basis of that model, that the Member States take action to counteract the ‘unsustainable’ trends of poverty,
social exclusion and the consequences of the ageing of society; considers that, to this end, social situation

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indicators should be developed which would then be included in the sustainability impact assessment;
emphasises that Europe needs a macroeconomic framework to support sustainable development, strengthen-
ing environmentally friendly internal demand, employment and social cohesion;

20.
Considers that sustainable development should be seen more as an economic opportunity than as a
constraint, and as a spur to technological innovation and investment; calls, therefore, upon the Commission
to ensure effective coordination of the Union's growth strategies, integrating information and communi-
cations technologies and resource-efficient technologies for sustainable development and ‘smart growth’
both at home and abroad;

Believes that a society built on knowledge, awareness and participation, as well as on inclusion and
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interpersonal relationships, should be promoted that goes beyond the Lisbon Agenda; considers that this
will represent a higher quality society and one that, through extended support for ICT, can reduce demand
for energy and other natural resources;

Reinforcing sustainability governance at national, EU and international level

22.

Believes that the SDS requires systematic monitoring if it is to be properly implemented;

23.
Resolves to hold a regular plenary debate on the objectives and targets contained in the Sustainable
Development Strategy, based on contributions from all of its relevant committees, so that Parliament can
state its views on progress and priorities for the SDS in time for these to be taken fully into account in the
European Council reviews of the SDS; considers, furthermore, that it should hold regular dialogue with the
Member States' national parliaments and the parliaments of the constitutional regions, on a general or
bilateral basis, in order to examine best practice on sustainable development, as well as to exchange experi-
ences of both Europe-wide and national implementation of the SDS;

24.
Emphasises the importance of national sustainable development strategies within each of the EU
Member States, and the need for the exchange of best practice between them; underlines, furthermore, the
need for action on the SDS at regional and local level, as well as at the level of individual citizens, with
reinforcement of education, participatory processes and public awareness of sustainable development prin-
ciples;

Considers that reviews of sustainability should be a central feature of all impact assessments of new

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EU policy measures and of ‘ex post’ monitoring of policy implementation;

Believes that action at EU level needs to be complemented by action at international level, with a
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view to encouraging the promotion of sustainable development principles around the world, not least in the
rapidly developing countries, with a view to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty while saving
scarce resources and protecting the global environment;

Calls, therefore, for more systematic annual monitoring of progress towards meeting the targets in

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the Johannesburg Action Plan and the Millennium Development Goals;

28.
Recognises that developing countries do not have to repeat polluting mistakes of the industrialised
countries in the development of their economies; calls, in addition, for the mainstreaming of sustainability
principles into the development cooperation activities of the EU and for proper funding to be ensured in
order to address global environmental challenges and needs;

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Complementary measures

29.
Emphasises the need for complementary measures, such as sustainable fiscal measures and public
procurement, and, as soon as possible, the elimination of unsustainable public subsidies in a number of
policy areas, in particular in the fields of energy and agriculture; believes that sustainability will not be
achieved without shifting the tax burden from labour to resource use and pollution;

30.
Underlines the importance of rural development programmes and agriculture (both conventional and
organic) for sustainable development, given that only economically and ecologically viable rural areas can
reverse the trend of rural depopulation and thus safeguard essential infrastructures; calls for specific research
efforts with regard to the possible effects of climate change on water availability and soil quality in the
Mediterranean area;

31.
Emphasises the important role of science and innovation in addressing the many challenges defined
in the SDS, including competitiveness; regrets that public-sector support for energy research within the EU
and its Member States has been drastically reduced recently and calls for a significant increase in support for
renewables and energy efficiency;

32.
Recognises that climate security and the need to break dependency on fossil fuels are emerging as
top priorities within EU policy-making, requiring not only ambitious domestic action to curb greenhouse
gases but also significant financial support for technology cooperation with developing countries to encour-
age investments in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies; emphasises the importance of energy
saving, which is the single most important source of energy in Europe and one which has no negative
environmental impacts;

Believes that the SDS objectives must be reflected in the use of the EU budget over the period from
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2007-2013 and help to set the agenda for the full review of the EU's budget in 2008/2009; welcomes, in
this context, the fact that the proposal for a Council Regulation laying down general provisions on the
European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund (COM(2004)
0492) explicitly states that the objectives of the Funds are pursued within the framework of sustainable
development, but regrets that the earmarking of the assistance co-financed by the Funds does not cor-
respond to the SDS and considers that this ought to be reviewed;

34.
Insists, finally, that measures to support sustainable development objectives should not be judged just
in the light of their short-term costs, but also of their longer-term benefits, and that the costs of inaction
should also be fully taken into account;

35.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

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P6_TA(2006)0273

Increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe

European Parliament resolution on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe

The European Parliament,

— having regard to international human rights instruments which prohibit discrimination based on racial
and ethnic origin, and notably the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination and the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ECHR), both signed by all Member States and a large number of third states,