31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/1

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having regard to Article 2 and Article 3(3), second subparagraph, of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

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having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

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having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 18 December 1979,

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having regard to European Parliament and Council Directive 2011/36/EU of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (1),

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having regard to the 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,

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having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995 and to the subsequent outcome documents adopted at the United Nations Beijing+5 (2000), Beijing +10 (2005) and Beijing +15 (2010) special sessions,

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having regard to the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011-2020), adopted by the European Council in March 2011 (2),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2010 entitled ‘A Strengthened Commitment to Equality between Women and Men: A Women’s Charter’ (COM(2010)0078),

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having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document of 11 February 2011 entitled ‘Report on the progress on equality between women and men in 2010’ (SEC(2011)0193),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 21 September 2010 entitled ‘Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015’ (COM(2010)0491),

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having regard to the Fundamental Rights Agency’s Report on Homophobia, Transphobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (2010),

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having regard to the EU Victims’ Package comprising the Commission communications of 18 May 2011 entitled ‘Strengthening victims’ rights in the EU’(COM(2011)0274), ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime’ (COM(2011)0275) and ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters’ (COM(2011)0276),

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having regard to the Commission communication ‘EU 2020: a European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),

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having regard to the Commission report of 3 October 2008 entitled ‘Implementation of the Barcelona objectives concerning childcare facilities for pre-school-age children’ (COM(2008)0638),

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having regard to Directive 2004/113/EC on implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services and the related judgment of 1 March 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Test-Achats case (C-236/09) (3),

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having regard to its resolution of 13 October 2005 on women and poverty in the European Union (4),

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having regard to its resolution of 3 February 2009 on non-discrimination based on sex and inter-generational solidarity (5),

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having regard to its resolution of 10 February 2010 on equality between women and men in the European Union – 2009 (6) and of 8 March 2011 on equality between women and men in the European Union – 2010 (7),

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having regard to its resolution of 6 July 2011 on women and business leadership (8),

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having regard to its resolution of 5 April 2011 on priorities and outline of a new EU policy framework to fight violence against women (9),

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having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2011 on the face of female poverty in the European Union (10),

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having regard to its resolution of 17 June 2010 on gender aspects of the economic downturn and financial crisis, (11)

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having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A7-0041/2012),

A.

whereas equality between men and women is a fundamental principle of the European Union, enshrined in the Treaty on European Union, and whereas the Union has set itself the specific task of mainstreaming gender equality in all its activities and whereas, despite the gradual progress in this area, many inequalities between women and men still remain;

B.

whereas at times of economic crisis, strengthening women’s position in the labour market and economic independence is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity; whereas the EU 2020 Strategy includes the headline target of aiming to raise to 75 % the employment rate for women and men aged 20-64;

C.

whereas Europe’s future economic competitiveness and prosperity depends crucially on its ability to fully utilise its labour resources, including increased participation by women in the labour market; whereas one of the Europe 2020 priorities is to get more women to work in order to reach a 75% employment rate for women by 2020; whereas comparatively more women than men work in part-time jobs or on temporary contracts and will therefore be more easily made redundant in crisis periods and there is a risk that the current recession will delay advances, or even reverse progress towards gender equality; whereas, however, part-time work opportunities in some cases and for a certain period can have a positive effect for women and men in order to reconcile work family and private life;

D.

whereas the objective of gender equality entails better political representation of women; whereas women’s representation in political decision making has not sustained any linear improvement in recent years - the gender balance in national parliaments across the EU has remained unchanged at 24 % women and 76 % men and the percentage of female members of parliament in certain Member States does not exceed 15%, with women accounting for only 23 % of ministers overall; whereas the number of female vice-presidents of the European Parliament has decreased in the second half of the parliamentary term 2009-2014;

E.

whereas initially the economic crisis mainly hit male employment, but cuts in public spending are expected to have a disproportionate impact on female employment and wage difference, as many more women than men are employed in the public sector; whereas the particularly critical sectors dominated by women are health, education and social care; whereas it is important to pay attention not only to employment rates, but also to equal employment conditions and employment quality, including career opportunities and wages;

F.

whereas violence against women including psychological violence is a prime obstacle to equality between women and men, is a violation of the fundamental rights of women and remains the most widespread violation of human rights within the EU despite measures taken by politicians to counter it; whereas economic recession creates conditions associated with increased violence in intimate relationships, and austerity measures affecting support services leave women victims of violence even more vulnerable than usual;

G.

whereas economists and demographers (World Bank, OECD, IMF) use economic and mathematical models to highlight the economic value of household production – carried out mainly by women – and whereas women’s contribution to GDP would be even higher if their unpaid work were factored in, which proves the discrimination that exists against women’s work;

H.

whereas budget cuts in social services, such as childcare, further hinder women’s participation in the labour market;

I.

whereas access to services providing care for children, elderly and dependent persons is essential for achieving equal participation of women and men in the labour market and in education and training; whereas home caregivers remain discriminated against in terms of the failure to count their years of work towards pensions and entitlements;

J.

whereas 2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations and it is important to stress that more women than men in their later years live in single households due to longer life expectancy;

K.

whereas the European Parliament adopted in October 2011 its position on the proposal for a new Directive on Maternity Leave, extending maternity leave to 20 weeks with full pay and also establishing paid paternity leave of at least 2 weeks;

L.

whereas access to capital is severely limited by the banking crisis, a problem that is likely to hit women entrepreneurs disproportionately, as women increasingly work in a self-employed capacity so as to better combine work and family life;

M.

whereas the collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data are paramount in implementing equality between women and men in the European Union;

N.

whereas progress in achieving gender equality has been excruciatingly slow, in particular economic equality; whereas political leaders must do more than pay lip service to it, rather making it a priority in their economic strategies;

O.

whereas disparities in the pay received by women and men are still very high (in some cases exceeding 25%), and whereas despite the efforts and progress made the pay gap is not becoming smaller but rather stagnating;

P.

whereas employment rates are lower in rural areas and, moreover, a large number of women do not figure in the official labour market and are therefore not registered as unemployed or included in unemployment statistics, causing specific financial and legal problems in connection with maternity and sick leave entitlements, the acquisition of pension rights and access to social security, as well as problems in the event of divorce; whereas rural areas are disadvantaged by the lack of high-quality employment opportunities;

Q.

whereas on average 3 in 10 households in the European Union are single-person households, the majority of them comprising women living alone, particularly elderly women, and the percentage is rising; whereas these households are more vulnerable and more at risk of poverty, in particular at times of economic adversity; whereas single-person or single-income households in most Member States are treated unfavourably, both in absolute and relative terms, with regard to taxation, social security, housing, health care, insurance and pensions; whereas public policies should not penalise people for – voluntarily or involuntarily – living alone;

R.

whereas women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights and should be guaranteed for all women, regardless of their social status, age, sexual orientation or ethnicity;

S.

whereas many women such as disabled women, women caring for children, elderly and disabled women, women from ethnic minorities and especially Roma women and immigrant women suffer from multiple and intersectional discrimination and are more vulnerable to social exclusion, poverty and extreme human rights violations;

T.

whereas families in the European Union are diverse and comprise married, unmarried and partnered parents, different-sex and same-sex parents, single parents and foster parents who deserve equal protection under national and European Union law;

U.

whereas the ECJ judgement in the Test-Achats case demonstrates the need for precise, clear and unambiguous provisions in gender equality legislation;

V.

whereas the gender gap is smaller before family formation and increases when individuals form a couple; whereas a drop in the employment rate occurs for women at first childbirth and the labour market disadvantages accumulate in the earlier stages of their life cycle, connected to child-care, which at a later stage changes into care of elderly people, which often flows into in-work poverty;

W.

whereas positive actions aimed at women have proved to be fundamental for their full incorporation in the labour market and in society in general;

X.

whereas women in rural areas suffer from even greater discrimination and gender stereotypes than women in urban areas and the employment rate of those women is much lower than of those in the cities;

Y.

whereas victims of human trafficking are mostly women and girls;

1.

Calls on the Member States to ensure that their marriage and divorce and matrimonial property laws do not directly or indirectly constitute a financial ‘trap’ for the spouses, in particular women, and to ensure that couples who seek marriage are fully informed in a suitable time-frame of the legal and financial implications of marriage and divorce;

2.

Calls on Member States to invest in affordable, high-quality facilities for the care of children, the sick, the disabled, the elderly and other dependent persons, making sure that they have flexible times and are accessible so that as many people as possible can combine professional and private life; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that men and women caring for children or the elderly receive recognition by giving them individual social security and pension rights; invites the social partners to present specific initiatives to validate the skills acquired during a care-related leave period;

3.

Calls on the Member States to move towards individualised systems of social security, in order to increase women’s individual autonomy and position in society;

4.

Emphasises the importance of developing the legal concept of shared ownership - in order to ensure full recognition of women’s rights in the agricultural sector, appropriate protection in the field of social security and recognition of women’s work - and the need to amend the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Regulation, so as to make it possible, as is the case under the European Social Fund (ESF), to take positive action for women in the future 2014-2020 programming period, bearing in mind that this was feasible in earlier periods but cannot be done in the current one and that such measures will have very beneficial effects on female employment in rural areas;

5.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to elaborate proposals for the mutual recognition of civil unions and of same-sex families across Europe between those countries which already have the relevant legislation in place, so as to ensure equal treatment with regard to work, free movement, taxation and social security, protecting the incomes of families and children;

6.

Welcomes the adoption of Directive 2010/41/EU on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and calls on the Member States to ensure its full and timely implementation;

7.

Regrets the implementation by some Member States of restrictive definitions of ‘family’ in order to deny legal protection to same-sex couples and their children; recalls that EU law applies without discrimination on the basis of sex or sexual orientation, in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

8.

Stresses that fiscal consolidation without consideration for gender equality risks leading to increased gender segregation in the labour market, increased precarious work among women, a wider gender pay gap, increased feminisation of poverty and more difficulties in combining caring and working;

9.

Calls on the Council to move forward on the European Parliament’s position concerning the amendment of the Maternity Leave Directive, particularly with regard to pay for women who have recently given birth, so as to ensure continuity of women’s economic independence during this period.

10.

Calls on Member States to actively promote and closely monitor the implementation of the Social Partners’ Framework Agreement on Parental Leave, particularly with regard to the non-transferable period, and to ensure that all barriers are removed so as to increase men’s take-up rate;

11.

Stresses that income and high-quality gainful employment for women are the key to their economic independence and to greater equality between men and women in society as a whole;

12.

Calls on the Member States and the social partners to include especially female workers in training and vocational training in ‘green jobs’ which are regarded by the EU Commission as a ‘key growth segment’ of the European labour market;

13.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to analyse and eliminate the barriers to (re-)entering the labour market and self-employment for Roma women, and furthermore to place proper emphasis on the role of women in the economic empowerment of marginalised Roma and in launching businesses;

14.

Calls for action to be taken at national and European level to promote women’s entrepreneurship, by setting up training and careers and legal advice services and facilitating access to public and private funding;

15.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to assess the gender impact of the economic and financial crisis through gender impact assessments and subsequent gender budgeting measures;

16.

Calls on the Member States to invest current Structural Funds spending for the period 2007-2013 in the development of care services to enable both women and men to combine professional and private life;

17.

Notes that, despite countless campaigns, targets and measures in recent years, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly wide, women across the EU earn 17.5% less on average than men and there has only been a marginal reduction of the gender pay gap in the last few years; calls on the Member States to redouble their efforts to put European measures in place with the aim of closing this gap;

18.

Calls for a multifaceted strategy from European institutions, Member States and the Social Partners to tackle the full range of causes of the persistent gender pay, including a European equal pay target to reduce the pay gap by 10% in each Member State to ensure equal payment for women and men for the same work and for the same qualifications, and welcomes the Commission’s initiative of launching a European Equal Pay Day (EEPD); regrets that no legislative proposal has been put forward by the Commission since the adoption of the European Parliament resolution of 18 November 2008 and its recommendations;

19.

Calls on the Member States and the Commission to take appropriate measures to reduce the gender pension gap as a direct consequence of the gender pay gap and to assess the impact of the new pension systems on various categories of women, paying special attention to part-time and atypical contracts;

20.

Calls on the Member States to take targeted actions in order to provide a better and fairer financial status for social employment; takes the view that jobs in education and care must be placed on an equal financial footing with other jobs, and that there must be no financial disadvantages arising from the fact that men and women choose social occupations;

21.

Expresses concern that the economic crisis and budget cuts will exacerbate the problem, as women will be disproportionately affected, and calls on Member States’ governments as well as on social partners to devise an action plan and concrete, ambitious targets;

22.

Calls on the Member States to make better of use the skills of highly qualified female migrants and to provide access to education and training including language courses in order to avoid de-skilling and to ensure equal job opportunities and promote the integration of migrants; calls on the Member States to give attention to the adoption of measures for migrant women and encourages the consultation of NGOs and migrant women’s organisations on policies and measures geared towards their social integration;

23.

Is concerned about the legislation in some Member States which does not expressly prohibit the handing of pre-signed resignation letters to employers when women are recruited, which has the effect of enabling maternity laws to be circumvented;

24.

Considers that active participation and full inclusion of women in the European labour market not only has a positive effect on business but also benefits the economy and society as a whole and is an issue that concerns fundamental rights and democracy: women represent 60% of new university graduates, but continue to be under-represented in economic decision-making posts;

25.

Regrets that economic recovery projects still focus mainly on male-dominated employment; calls on the Member States and the Commission to address gender equality in a consistent manner when implementing the EU2020 Strategy and National Reform Programmes, and to give high priority to addressing barriers to women's participation in the labour market with particular emphasis on women with disabilities, migrant and ethnic minority women, women in the age group 54-65 years and Roma women; points out that women and men must have access to flexible forms of employment, including teleworking, in order to achieve a good balance between work and family life and become financially independent; notes that women are under-represented in sectors that are likely to expand such as the renewable sector, science and technology-intensive jobs, and therefore invites the Council, the Commission and the Member States to formulate job creation policies concerning the balanced representation of men and women in these new sectors;

26.

Calls for support to be given to initiatives and campaigns which break down stereotypes about the low effectiveness of female employees and their lack of management skills; calls also for women to be supported in their career development and efforts to reach managerial positions;

27.

Regrets the lack of progress towards increasing the number of women on company boards as demonstrated in the European Commission’s 2012 report on women in economic decision-making; notes that, within the EU, on average only 13% of the executives of the major listed companies are women, with only 3% female chairs;

28.

Calls on the Commission to present, as soon as possible, comprehensive current data on female representation within all types of companies in the EU and on the compulsory and non-compulsory measures taken by the business sector as well as those recently adopted by the Member States with a view to increasing such representation; notes that, according to the Commission’s report on women in economic decision making, steps taken by companies and the Member States are found to be inadequate; welcomes the announced consultation on measures to enhance gender balance in economic decision making; is disappointed, however, that the Commission is refraining from taking immediate legislative measures, as it had committed to do should the targets not be met; believes the meagre progress made in 2011 merits more concrete measures than a mere consultation; reiterates, therefore, its call from 2011 for legislation, including quotas, to be proposed by 2012 to increase female representation in corporate management bodies to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020, while taking account of the Member States’ responsibilities and of their economic, structural (i.e. company-size related), legal and regional specificities;

29.

Stresses the need for Member States to adopt measures, in particular through legislative means, to set binding targets to ensure the balanced presence of women and men in positions of responsibility in business, public administration and political bodies; refers to the successful examples of Norway, Spain, Germany, Italy and France;

30.

Recalls that the European Elections in 2014, followed by the appointment of the next Commission and the nominations for the senior administrative positions within the European institutions, are a chance to move towards parity democracy at EU level;

31.

Calls on the Member States to support parity by proposing a woman and a man as their candidates for the office of Commissioner; calls on the nominated President of the Commission to aim at parity when forming the Commission; calls on the present Commission to publicly support this procedure;

32.

Points out that the use of electoral quotas has positive effects on women’s representation and welcomes the legislated parity systems and gender quotas introduced in France, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal and Poland; calls on the Member States with particularly low representation of women in political assemblies to consider introducing equivalent measures;

33.

Welcomes the significant increase in the numbers of female chairs of parliamentary committees and the number of female MEPs in the legislative term 2009-2014 but regrets the decrease of female EP vice-presidents in the second half of the term; therefore proposes measures for absolute gender balance regarding the vice-presidents’ posts;

34.

Calls on the Member States to promote female entrepreneurship and to provide financial support, vocational guidance and training to encourage women setting up their own companies;

35.

Urges the Commission to include homophobic and transphobic violence and harassment in its action programmes against gender-based violence;

36.

Welcomes efforts, both at Community and national levels, to combat violence against women, men and children such as the European Protection Order, the Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and the legislative package to strengthen the rights of victims in the EU, but stresses that this phenomenon remains a major unresolved problem; calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt and implement policies to combat all forms of violence against women including all sexual, physical and psychological abuse, domestic violence, harassment and the need to include the fight against gender-based violence in EU external and development cooperation policies; stresses the need to ascertain the real extent of the problem of gender-based violence in the EU; notes the important work to be done in this area by the European Observatory on Gender-Based Violence and calls therefore, for the Observatory to be made operational as soon as possible;

37.

Reiterates the need for the Commission to present an EU-wide strategy to end violence against women including a legislative criminal-law instrument to combat gender-based violence as requested by Parliament in several resolutions; calls on the Commission to establish 2015 as the EU Year to End Violence against Women;

38.

Encourages Member States to establish information programmes concerning harassment and mobbing at work, so that women who are subjected to such treatment can take effective counter-measures;

39.

Defines domestic violence as including all sexual, physical and psychological abuse; points out that gender violence claims many lives across the EU each year; thus calls for adequate measures to be taken so that gender-based violence is treated as a public security issue rather than as a private, domestic issue and as a violation of fundamental rights, by ensuring, amongst other things, access to forms of prevention, legal protection and assistance, including with regard to stalking;

40.

Expresses satisfaction with the recent adoption of the European Protection Order Directive - which aims to protect among others the victims of gender violence - and invites the Member States to transpose it into national law at an early date in order to allow for the proper functioning of the European Protection Order;

41.

Notes in this context the EU Victims’ Package; calls on Member States to include in this package specific actions and resources to combat all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual violence, harassment, so called honour killings, Female Genital Mutilation, forced marriages and other forms of violence and violation of individual rights;

42.

Calls on Members States to introduce rehabilitation and psychological programmes for perpetrators of physical abuse, which would reduce the incidence of such abuse; draws attention, furthermore, to the increase in aggressive behaviour among girls;

43.

Calls on the Commission to implement its commitment to mainstream gender equality in the Common European Asylum System.

44.

Stresses the need for Member States and regional and local authorities to take measures, via instruments such as the ESF or the PROGRESS programme, to help women who have been victims of gender violence to get back into the labour market;

45.

Points out that the enhancement of social and economic independence as well as sexual and reproductive health autonomy and the freedom to choose a partner are important preconditions for fighting against violence;

46.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise the gender dimension in health as an essential part of EU health policies and further step up their efforts to adopt a dual strategy with gender and age mainstreaming and specific gender-related actions in EU and national health policies;

47.

Reiterates its position on sexual and reproductive health rights, as stated in its resolutions of 10 February 2010 and 8 March 2011 on equality between women and men in the European Union – 2009 and 2010; expresses concern in this respect about recent funding cuts to family planning and sexual education and also restrictions on access to sexual and reproductive health services in some Member States, in particular pregnancy and maternity protection and safe and legal abortion; stresses that all women must have control over their sexual and reproductive rights including by having access to affordable high-quality contraception;

48.

Expresses concern over the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible diseases, in particular amongst women; points out that 45% of young women and girls who are newly infected with HIV are between the ages of 15 and 24 years old; urges the Commission therefore to place increased emphasis on prevention in their strategy for the fight against HIV/AIDS, to increase general awareness about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases through the inclusion of sex education, free access to condoms and HIV tests, and to reduce the number of new HIV infections;

49.

Calls for a debate at European and Member State level on how to combat stereotypes relating to the respective roles of women and men; stresses, in this regard, the importance of promoting the representation of the female image in a way that respects women’s dignity, and of combating persistent gender stereotypes, in particular the prevalence of degrading images, whilst fully respecting freedom of expression and freedom of the press;

50.

Calls on the EU and its Member States to integrate into all their policies, as part of the gender mainstreaming requirement, a specific focus on women with specific needs.

51.

Calls on the Member States and the Commission to pay special attention to vulnerable groups of women: disabled women, women of advanced age, women with little or no training, women with dependent persons in their charge, female immigrants and women belonging to minorities, all of whom constitute specific groups on whose behalf measures adapted to their circumstances must be taken;

52.

Calls on national, regional and local bodies responsible for ensuring equality to introduce integrated approaches to improve their response to, and management of, cases of multiple discrimination; stresses, furthermore, that these bodies should offer training to judges, lawyers and staff in general to allow them to identify, prevent and manage cases of multiple discrimination;

53.

Calls for human rights for women and the ability to use them effectively to be given the highest priority in the EU’s external policies; calls also for the implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims;

54.

Expresses its concern - while welcoming the moves towards more democracy and freedom in countries of the Southern Mediterranean - that women’s rights may actually emerge weakened from the Arab Spring; calls on the Commission to develop specific support measures for gender equality in those countries;

55.

Deplores the fact that rape is still used in certain regions of the world as a weapon; calls on the European Union, in the form of the European External Action Service, to include this phenomenon as a priority on its political agenda;

56.

Notes that this year the world population has reached 7 billion; expresses its conviction that family planning should be at the top of the political agenda;

57.

Expresses its concern about the slow progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, in particular towards MDG5: Improve Maternal Health, and about the fact that progress towards a three-quarters reduction of the maternal mortality rate is lagging far behind and that the aim of achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015 is still far from being achieved; notes that about 1 000 women still die each day from entirely avoidable pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications;

58.

Urges political and religious leaders to publicly throw their weight behind MDG5 and support modern sexual and reproductive health services;

59.

Calls on Member States to uphold their political and financial support for the MDGs, and even step up efforts to achieve MDG5, despite times of economic downturn;

60.

Welcomes the recent decision of the United Nations to create an International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, which is a powerful way to highlight the particular needs and rights of girls, and to advocate greater action and investment to enable girls to reach their full potential in line with international human rights standards and obligations, including the Millennium Development Goals;

61.

Reminds the Commission and the Member States of their commitment to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and urges the provision of EU humanitarian aid to be made effectively independent from the restrictions on humanitarian aid imposed by the USA, in particular by ensuring access to abortion for women and girls who are victims of rape in armed conflicts;

62.

Calls on the incoming Council to unblock the Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation with a view to adoption during the Danish Presidency;

63.

Requests the Commission to deliver on the European Parliament’s resolution on the Stockholm Action Plan;

64.

Calls on the Commission to take into account the implications of the Test-Achats case in future legislation in order to improve legal certainty, notably and urgently in relation to Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services;

65.

Calls on the Council, within the on-going negotiations on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, to introduce gender-responsive budgeting in the EU budgetary process and to guarantee predictability and no reduction in the level of EU funding for activities on women’s rights and gender equality - including combating violence against women - as related to both internal and external policies;

66.

Regrets the lack of progress by Member States on plans to modernise legislation on maternity and paternity leave and calls for a balanced compromise with the future Danish Presidency of the EU, with a view to adoption in the first half of 2012, to respond to the needs of European families and of the European economy; calls on the Commission to put forward proposals for leave arrangements for care for elderly or sick relatives;

67.

Calls on the Commission to put forward a comprehensive communication on the situation of single-person households in the EU, with policy proposals to achieve fair treatment in areas like taxation, social security, housing, healthcare, insurance and pensions, based on the principle of policy neutrality with regard to household composition;

68.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect, analyse and publish reliable gender-disaggregated data and qualitative gender indicators so as to be able to properly evaluate and update the Commission’s Strategy for equality between Women and Men (2010-2015) as well as to monitor the cross-cutting nature of gender equality in all policies;

69.

Reiterates its call on the Commission for a Road Map on Equality for LGBTI people, analogous to the Gender Equality Road Map;

70.

Expresses its deep concern about media reports on victims of human trafficking being treated as criminals instead of getting support, and calls on the Commission to investigate the treatment of victims of human trafficking, sexual slavery and forced prostitution in the Member States;

71.

Calls for attention to be given to the situation of institutional mechanisms involving gender equality in the Member States, so that the economic downturn, ongoing reforms and other restructurings do not have a particularly negative effect on these mechanisms, without which the horizontal priority of male and female equality with its management specificity is unlikely to be effective;

72.

Stresses the need to improve arrangements for the cooperation and involvement of women’s organisations, and civil society as a whole, in gender mainstreaming processes;

73.

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

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/11

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having regard to the Treaty on European Union, in particular Articles 2 and 3(3) thereof,

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having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Articles 21 and 23 thereof,

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having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

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having regard to the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),

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having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995 and to the subsequent outcome documents adopted at the United Nations Beijing+5 (2000), Beijing +10 (2005) and Beijing +15 (2010) special sessions,

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having regard to the Agreed Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women of 2006 on ‘Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels’,

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having regard to the Commission on the Status of Women Agreed Conclusions 1997/2 on the Critical Areas of Concern of the Beijing Platform for Action 1996-1999,

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having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/58/142 on women and political participation and to UN General Assembly Resolution III women and political participation, approved on 18 November 2011; Resolution A/C.3/66/L.20/Rev.1,

—

having regard to the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011-2020), adopted by the European Council in March 2011 (1),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication entitled ‘Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015’ (COM(2010)0491),

—

having regard to the Commission Decision of 19 June 2000 relating to gender balance within the committees and expert groups established by it (2),

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having regard to the Council Recommendation 96/694/EC of 2 December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process (3),

—

having regard to the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Rec (2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making, adopted on 12 March 2003, and the results of the two rounds of monitoring of the progress made in the implementation of this Recommendation Rec (2003)3, based on a questionnaire on gender-segregated data on the participation of women and men in political and public decision-making, completed in 2005 and 2008 respectively,

—

having regard to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution (PACE) 1079 (1996), on the increased representation of women in the PACE, Recommendation 1413 (1999) on equal representation in political life, Resolution 1348 (2003) on gender-balanced representation in the PACE, Recommendation 1665 (2004), on women’s participation in elections and Resolution 303 (2010) on achieving sustainable gender equality in local and regional political life,

—

having regard to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Resolution 85 (1999), Recommendation 68 (1999) on women’s participation in political life in the regions of Europe and Recommendation 111 (2002) on women's individual voting rights and democratic requirements,

—

having regard to the Declaration on Women’s participation in elections adopted by the European Commission for Democracy through Law (‘Venice Commission’),

—

having regard to the handbook ‘Gender budgeting: practical implementation’ prepared by the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe (April 2009),

—

having regard to Recommendation 1899(2010) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on increasing women’s representation in politics through the electoral system, adopted on 27 January 2010,

—

having regard to its resolution of 2 March 2000 on women in decision-making (4),

—

having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A7-0029/2012),

A.

whereas there is an imbalance in participation by women and men in political and public decision-making and clear under-representation of women in elected and nominated political positions at the level of the European Union and in its Member States; whereas there is an alarming under-representation of women in the mid-term elections within the European Parliament;

B.

whereas the participation of women in political decision-making and the methods, strategies and cultural attitudes and tools to combat discrepancies vary greatly at national level within the EU and among its Member States, political parties and social partners;

C.

whereas women’s representation in the European Parliament has increased to 35% but has not yet reached parity; whereas women are even more under-represented in leading positions in committees and political groups; whereas the representation of women in the European Commission is stagnating at one third, and the Commission has never been chaired by a woman;

D.

whereas, according to statistics and despite the numerous actions undertaken, an absence of parity prevails, and women’s representation in political decision-making has stagnated in recent years instead of displaying linear improvement, the gender balance in national parliaments across the EU remaining unchanged at 24 % women and 76 % men, with women accounting for only 23 % of ministers overall (5);

E.

whereas today an informal system of quotas is de facto in play, where men are privileged over women and where men choose men for decision-making positions, which is not a formalised system but nevertheless a systematic and very real deep-rooted culture of positive treatment of men;

F.

whereas equal representation of women and men in political decision-making is a matter of human rights and social justice and a vital requirement for the functioning of a democratic society; whereas the persistent under-representation of women is a democratic deficit that undermines the legitimacy of decision-making at both EU and national level;

G.

whereas decision-making is based on administrative preparations and thus the number of women in administrative positions, especially in leadership, is a matter of equality and ensures that gender aspects are taken into account in the preparation of all policies;

H.

whereas the European elections to be held in 2014, followed by the appointment of the next European Commission and the nominations for the EU ‘Top Jobs’, is a chance to move toward parity-based democracy at the EU level and for the EU to be a role model in this area;

I.

whereas the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women states, inter alia, that State parties should take all appropriate measures, including positive measures, to eliminate discrimination against women in political and public life;

J.

whereas the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe encourages:

K.

whereas the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on women in power and decision-making underlines the fact that equal participation is a necessary condition for women’s interests to be taken into account and is needed in order to strengthen democracy and promote its proper functioning; whereas it reaffirms also that the active participation of women, on equal terms with men, at all levels of decision-making is essential to the achievement of equality, sustainable development, peace and democracy;

L.

whereas owing to persisting gender stereotypes there is still a severe segregation in key political decision-making positions, with care and distributive tasks such as health, social welfare and the environment being entrusted more to women, while men are assigned powerful, resource-related tasks such as economic and monetary affairs, trade, budget, defence and foreign affairs, which distorts the power structure and resource allocation;

M.

whereas political parties, which bear responsibility for selecting, ranking and nominating candidates for leading positions, have a central role in guaranteeing the equal representation of women and men in politics and should therefore endorse good practices such as voluntary party quotas for elections, which have already been introduced by some political parties in 13 EU Member States;

N.

whereas the World Bank’s 1999 study on ‘Corruption and Women in Government’ concludes that lower levels of government corruption are found where there are higher levels of female participation, because, according to the findings of this research, women have higher ethical behaviour standards and show themselves to be more concerned with the ‘common good’;

O.

whereas comprehensive multifaceted strategies are needed, consisting of non-binding measures such as targets and voluntary party quotas, enabling measures such as gender education, mentoring and awareness-raising campaigns and legally binding measures such as electoral gender quotas, bearing in mind that legally binding measures, which are compatible with the institutional and electoral system and which entail rank-order rules, monitoring and effective sanctions for non-compliance, have proved most effective in achieving gender balance in politics;

P.

whereas women’s access to electoral campaign funding is often more restricted, owing to discrimination within political parties, women’s exclusion from moneyed networks and their lower income and savings;

Q.

whereas procedures in electoral systems, political institutions and political parties play a decisive role and have a serious impact on the effectiveness of strategies applied and on the extent to which gender balance is achieved in politics;

R.

whereas women’s participation and leadership in political decision-making is still affected by various obstacles such as the absence of enabling supportive environments in political institutions and in society’s welfare structures, the persistence of gender-based stereotypes and the consequences of the recent economic crisis and its negative repercussions on gender equality issues;

S.

whereas the low level of participation of women in decision-making and governance is highly attributable to problems in reconciling work and family life, the unequal distribution of family responsibilities, which lie heavily on women’s shoulders, and the persisting discrimination at work and in occupational training;

1.

Invites the Council, the Commission and the Member States to design and implement effective gender equality policies and multifaceted strategies for achieving parity in participation in political decision-making and leadership at all levels, especially in the areas of macro-economic policy, trade, labour, budgets, defence and foreign affairs, assessing the impact and making it available to the public by means of appropriate equality indicators, ensuring quantified targets, clear action plans and regular monitoring mechanisms followed up with binding corrective actions and their monitoring where the set targets are not met by the deadlines;

2.

Welcomes the parity systems/gender quotas for elections introduced by legislation in some Member States; calls on the Member States to consider introducing legislative measures, such as positive action measures, to make progress toward parity and ensure the efficiency of these measures, when compatible with the electoral system and when the political parties are in charge of the composition of the electoral list, through zipper systems, monitoring and effective sanctions in order to facilitate more balanced participation of women and men in political decision-making;

3.

Invites, moreover, the Council, the Commission and the Member States to enforce parity at all levels by sending clear anti-discrimination messages, by providing appropriate resources, by using specific tools and by promoting necessary training for civil servants responsible for preparing budgets in gender budgeting;

4.

Calls on the Member States and the Commission to pay special attention to gender educational programmes aimed at civil society and young people in particular, starting from an early age, acknowledging that women’s rights are human rights and parity is essential in political life;

5.

Calls on the Commission and Member States to launch a pledge to be endorsed by all political parties at European, national and regional level to take measures to encourage women’s active participation and involvement in political life and in elections, to achieve real parity in their internal decision-making, in their nominations for elected office and in party electoral lists through the introduction of quotas and, when compatible with the electoral system and when the political parties are in charge of the composition of the electoral list, to pay attention to the position of women candidates on these lists;

6.

Acknowledges the role of political parties as key factors in the promotion of gender parity; calls in consequence for the Member States to require national parties, when compatible with the electoral system and when the political parties are in charge of the composition of the electoral list, to set up and implement quota systems and other types of positive action, to apply rank-ordering rules to electoral candidate lists for regional, national and EU elections, and to define and enforce effective sanctions for non-compliance; calls on the Member States to link and set targets based on parity between sexes for the political parties as a prerequisite for funding;

7.

Calls on political parties across Europe to introduce a quota system for candidate lists for party organs and elections, when compatible with the electoral system and when the political parties are in charge of the composition of the electoral list, especially as regards the lists for the 2014 European elections; regards the procedure for drawing up electoral lists whereby women candidates alternate with men at the top of the list as the best way of improving women’s participation in politics;

8.

Emphasises the need for concrete steps designed to achieve parity in elected offices in the national parliaments and the European Parliament (such as those of the President, Vice-Presidents, Chairs and Vice-Chairs), for instance by setting a target of 50 % representation of men and women in each of those offices;

9.

Welcomes the Commission’s intention of encouraging participation of women in the next European Parliament elections through the financial programmes ‘Fundamental Rights and Citizenship’ and ‘Europe for Citizens’; calls on the Commission to ensure in its relevant annual work programmes that enough funding is available in 2013-2014 for financing, inter alia, appropriate awareness-raising campaigns in the media to encourage the election of women and to ensure that this funding is easily accessible to national parties and to civil society organisations for project initiatives aimed at increasing women’s participation in decision-making;

10.

Calls on the Commission to encourage and fund actions related to promoting parity in decision-making positions and political activities when programming the next funding period, 2014-2020, for the abovementioned programmes or their successors, as well as when planning actions for the planned European Year of Citizens 2013;

11.

Calls on the Commission to launch parity-targeting campaigns for the electoral lists for the European Parliament at least two years ahead of each election announcement and to encourage Member States to carry out similar actions in their local and regional elections;

12.

Calls on the Member States to support parity by proposing a woman and a man as their candidates for the office of European Commissioner; calls on the President of the Commission to achieve parity when forming the Commission; calls on the Commission to publicly support this procedure; recalls that Parliament should have particular regard to gender balance in this procedure and reiterates the importance of taking the equal representation of women and men into account when giving its consent to the new Commission, in accordance with Rule 106;

13.

Calls on the Commission and the Council to commit to meeting the target of parity in all their decision-making bodies, by establishing and implementing quota systems and other types of positive action when recruiting high-level officials; calls on the national governments to nominate both women and men to high-level positions at EU level;

14.

Takes note of the Commission commitment expressed in its Strategy for Equality between Women and Men – 2010-2015 to monitor progress towards the aim of 40 % of members of one sex in its committees and expert groups, and calls on the EU institutions, bodies and agencies to take concrete action and set up strategies with the aim of achieving balanced participation in their decision-making processes;

15.

Calls on the Member States to promote positive action measures, including binding legislative measures, with a view to ensuring parity in all governing bodies and public appointments and to develop tools for gender monitoring of nominations and elections;

16.

Encourages the Commission and the Member States to implement positive action measures, such as preferential treatment, when a gender is under-represented;

17.

Calls on the Member States to make the selection procedures for nominating men and women for appointment to decision-making bodies transparent, including by publicly requesting curricula vitae and basing selection on merit, competence and representativeness;

18.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase measures supporting women’s organisations, including by providing them with adequate funding and creating platforms for cooperation and gender campaigning in elections;

19.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate women’s networks and to promote mentoring, adequate training and exchange of good practices and programmes, with a special emphasis on women policy-makers in their early careers;

20.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that women have access, if necessary by preferential treatment, to leadership training and positions of leadership as part of career promotion in order to enhance women’s leadership skills and experience;

21.

Acknowledges the other actors as a relevant part of the wider democratic process and thus invites the Council, the Commission and the Member States to promote and welcome the efforts of employers’ organisations and trade unions, the private sector, non-governmental organisations and all organisations that normally form part of advisory councils related to government to achieve equality of women and men in their ranks, including equal participation in decision-making;

22.

Calls on the Council, Commission and Member States to enable women and men to take an active part in political decision-making by promoting reconciliation and a balance between family life and working life by means of measures such as sharing the costs of parenthood equally between both parents’ employers and ensuring accessible and adequate services for e.g. child and elderly care and calls on the Commission to support equal access to services, minimum income and freedom from gender-based violence by appropriate legislative proposals in the form of directives;

23.

Recalls the importance of preferential treatment and special measures in promoting the representation of people from different backgrounds and disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities, migrant women and members of ethnic and sexual minorities, in decision-making positions;

24.

Takes note of the importance of media and education in promoting women’s participation in politics and in reforming societal attitudes; underlines the importance of raising the awareness of the media, and of public broadcasters in particular, of the need to ensure fair and balanced coverage of men and women candidates during elections and of monitoring the media to identify gender bias and means to address it and thus to promote efforts to eliminate stereotypes and encourage the portrayal of positive images of women as leaders, including women politicians as role models, at national, regional and European level;

25.

Urges the Member States, the Council and the Commission, by strengthening the role and resources of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and by facilitating cooperation with women’s non-governmental organisations, to promote and exchange good practices that contribute to achieving gender balance in decision-making positions;

26.

Invites the Member States and the Commission, especially through the involvement of the EIGE where appropriate, to collect, analyse and disseminate data broken down by sex for the purpose of monitoring gender equality in decision-making in all sectors (public and private) and at all hierarchical levels and as a basis for further measures if the set targets are not met; calls on the Commission to continue to collect and disseminate comparable data at EU level through the use of its database on women and men in decision-making positions and to develop this observatory towards a European map of gender balance that includes the annual variations experienced at EU, state and regional levels with regard to gender balance, on the basis of common indicators; considers that this map should include, at least:

27.

Calls on the Commission to submit a yearly report to the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on the progress of gender equality in decision-making in the European Union;

28.

Calls on the Commission and Member States to assess the impact of the various electoral systems at national, local and European levels, and also of the measures and good practice implemented at the various levels, on the balance of women’s representation;

29.

Recalls its demand for gender parity at all levels in the appointment of staff of the European External Action Service (EEAS); calls on the EEAS to promote women’s participation in decision-making in the external relations of the European Union and to ensure that all delegations representing the EU respect the principle of gender parity as regards their composition and that there is balance in speaking time allocated to women and men in these contexts; points out the need to increase the number of women serving as mediators and chief negotiators in processes to observe the situation with regard to human rights and prevention of corruption and in peace building as well as in other negotiation processes such as international trade and environment negotiations;

30.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that adequate financial and technical assistance is provided for special programmes focusing on enhancing women’s participation in electoral processes through training, civic education and media mobilisation and the involvement of local NGOs, in addition to funding general education programmes promoting gender-sensitive civic awareness, elimination of gender stereotypes and ‘built-in’ bias against women;

31.

Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to take measures to promote balanced representation of women at all levels in political life in multinational organisations such as the UN, in governments and in national parliaments as well as at regional and local level and in local authorities and to increase cooperation with other actors at the international level, such as UN WOMEN and the Inter-parliamentary Union, in order to promote these goals;

32.

Calls on its policy departments to ensure that briefing notes for delegations always include a gender perspective and highlight issues of importance for gender equality;

33.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/18

—

having regard to Articles 4, 54, 151 to 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to ILO Recommendation 193 of 3 June 2002 concerning the promotion of cooperatives,

—

having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (1),

—

having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) (2),

—

having regard to the Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 supplementing the Statute for a European company with regard to the involvement of employees (3),

—

having regard to the Council Directive 2003/72/EC of 22 July 2003 supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees (4),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 23 February 2004 on the promotion of cooperative societies in Europe (COM(2004)0018),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 3 March 2010 entitled ‘Europe 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 27 October 2010 entitled ‘Towards a Single Market Act - For a highly competitive social market economy - 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another’ (COM(2010)0608),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 16 December 2010 entitled ‘The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion: A European framework for social and territorial cohesion’ (COM(2010)0758),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 13 April 2011 entitled ‘Single Market Act - Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence - Working together to create new growth’ (COM(2011)0206,

—

having regard to the Synthesis Report on Directive 2003/72/EC supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees (5),

—

having regard to the Study on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 on the Statute for European Cooperative Society (SCE) (6),

—

having regard to the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2012 (7),

—

having regard to the ILO report entitled ‘Resilience of the Cooperative Business Model in Times of Crisis’ (8),

—

having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Diverse forms of enterprise’ (9),

—

having regard to its resolution of 19 February 2009 on Social Economy (10),

—

having regard to its resolution of 19 February 2009 on the implementation of Directive 2002/14/EC establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (11),

—

having regard to its resolution of 5 June 2003 on a framework for the promotion of employee financial participation (12),

—

having regard to the Commission report of 16 September 2010 on the review of Council Directive 2003/72/EC of 22 July 2003 supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees (COM(2010)0481),

—

having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A7-0432/2011),

A.

whereas cooperative enterprises promote the interests of their members and users as well as solutions to societal challenges, and seek both to maximise benefits to members and ensure their livelihood by means of a long-term and sustainable business policy and to put the well-being of clients, employees and members in the entire region at the centre of business strategy;

B.

whereas cooperative enterprises, by their nature, are structurally linked to the area in which they are based and therefore play an important part in accelerating local development, which is a decisive factor in generating genuine social, economic and territorial cohesion; whereas, in cooperative societies, the financing of continuing training in the fields of social responsibility and entrepreneurship, which are two areas not fully covered by other instruments of social participation, is of fundamental importance;

C.

whereas, in cooperative enterprises, the participation of the enterprise’s members has to take precedence and be reflected in the governance and ownership structure of the cooperative;

D.

whereas cooperatives are an important pillar of the European economy and a key driver for social innovation, and thus in particular preserve infrastructure and local services specifically in rural areas and conurbations, and whereas Europe has 160 000 cooperatives, owned by more than a quarter of all Europeans, which provide work for around 5.4 million employees;

E.

whereas cooperatives compete with investor-driven companies in many economic areas, whereas cooperative enterprises have considerable economic power on globalised markets and even multinational cooperatives often remain linked to local needs;

F.

whereas cooperative banks have shown high levels of sustainability and resilience during the financial crisis, thanks to their cooperative business model; whereas thanks to their cooperative business model they increased turnover and growth during the crisis with less bankruptcies and redundancies; whereas cooperative enterprises also provide high-quality, inclusive and crisis-resilient employment, often with high ratios of female and migrant employment and contribute towards the sustainable economic and social development of an area by providing local, non relocatable jobs; whereas cooperatives can be seen as a successful and contemporary approach to the social economy and can contribute to providing secure employment prospects and allow employees to plan their life flexibly at their place of origin, especially in rural areas;

G.

whereas the financial and economic crisis has shown that the issue of the attractiveness of a legal form cannot be answered from the sole point of view of the shareholders; whereas it should be noted that, as a social organisation, an enterprise has responsibilities towards shareholders, employees, creditors and society and this fact should be taken into account in such evaluations;

H.

whereas legislation regarding cooperatives and employee participation varies substantially across the EU;

I.

whereas the statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) is so far the only social economy legal form available at EU level, following the withdrawal of the Commission proposals for a European Association and a European Mutual Society in 2003 and given that the statute for a European Foundation is still under development;

J.

whereas the establishment of an SCE statute aims at encouraging the development of the internal market by facilitating the activity of this type of company at EU level;

K.

whereas the introduction of the statute for an SCE is a milestone in the recognition of the cooperative business model at EU level, also in those Member States where the concept of cooperatives has been discredited for historical reasons;

L.

whereas, in SCEs, the transnational involvement of employees, including their right to participate on administrative boards, is an asset;

M.

whereas the EU 2020 strategy calls for an economy based on high levels of employment, delivering economic, social and territorial cohesion, whereas this includes a strong social economy;

N.

whereas the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2012 provides an excellent opportunity to promote the cooperative business model;

1.

Recalls that cooperatives and other social economy enterprises are part of the European social model and the single market and therefore deserve strong recognition and support, as provided for in the constitutions of some Member States and various EU key documents;

2.

Recalls that cooperatives could constitute another step in the completion of the EU internal market and aim to reduce existing cross-border obstacles and enhance its competitiveness;

3.

Points out that Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) (hereinafter the Statute) and Directive 2003/72/EC supplementing the Statute for a cooperative society with regard to the involvement of employees (hereinafter the Directive) are closely interlinked;

4.

Welcomes Commission communication COM(2012)0072; welcomes the Commission’s intention to simplify the Statute while strengthening the cooperative-specific elements, and the fact that this will be accompanied by a stakeholder consultation; asks for Parliament’s position on the SCE to be taken into account in this process;

5.

Views with regret the fact that the SCE is not yet a success given its scarce use - until 2010 only 17 SCEs had been established, with a total of 32 employees (13);emphasises that these stark figures show the Statute to be poorly suited to the specific circumstances of cooperative societies in Europe even though entrepreneurs have expressed an interest in setting up an SCE; welcomes that an in depth assessment of the Statute has been conducted in order to ascertain why it has proven unattractive, has had such little impact and what can be done to overcome lack of experience in implementation and other obstacles;

6.

Notes that the use of the SCE is often restricted to second-degree cooperatives consisting of legal persons only, by mutual societies, which lack a European statute but wish to use a legal status associated with the social economy, and by large companies; notes that it remains difficult for small cooperative societies, - which constitute a major part of cooperative movement in Europe - to access the SCE;

7.

Welcomes the fact that employee participation provisions are considered a core element in the SCE; points out, however, that they should provide for the requirements linked to the special nature of cooperatives;

8.

Points out that several Member States have not transposed articles of the directive concerning employees' rights, including the gender specific provisions, and that this has led to a number of gaps regarding the monitoring and the implementation of worker participation procedures and stresses the need to remedy this so as to prevent abuse of SCE arrangements; views with regret the fact that the standard rules on the participation of workers in administrative bodies do not make worker participation a requirement;

9.

Is satisfied, however, that some Member States have not only correctly transposed the Directive, but have in fact gone further than the Directive’s requirements;

10.

Nevertheless, calls on the Commission to monitor closely the application of Directive 2003/72/EC in order to prevent its misuse for purposes of depriving employees of their rights; urges the Commission to adopt the measures necessary to ensure the correct transposition of Article 13 of the Directive;

11.

Notes that Article 17 of the Directive requires the Commission to assess its implementation and, if needed, revise it; stresses that the modest use of the Statute impedes proper evaluation of the Directive;

12.

Notes that the Directive should not be revised before the Statute, asks to consider the insertion of the provisions on employee participation directly in the Statute for the sake of simplification and smarter regulation;

13.

Stresses that a revision of the Directive should address the specific needs of employees in cooperatives, including the option to be both owner and employee of the same enterprise; calls on the Commission to develop instruments to facilitate employee and user ownership of cooperatives; aims for employee participation in enterprises to be taken for granted in all Member States of the European Union; advocates greater employee participation in cross-border forms of enterprise rather than remaining at the level of the lowest common denominator;

14.

Welcomes the conclusions of the study on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) (14), particularly as regards the measures proposed to promote the SCE by increasing awareness of it through educational programmes addressed to advisors in cooperative law and social actors, and by promoting cooperation between cooperative societies at cross-border level;

15.

Calls on the Commission and on the Member States to encourage cooperatives to increase the participation of women in the SNB and to implement diversity policies in order to guarantee gender equality in professional and private life and, in particular, increase women participation in senior management positions; calls on the Commission to take into account the gender perspective when monitoring the correct implementation of the Directive, as well as in the future revision of the SCE regulation;

16.

Urges the Commission to include SCEs in the possible European regulations in order to guarantee that women are better represented at senior management levels and on the boards of public and listed companies, in the event that companies do not voluntarily achieve the targets of 30% by 2015 and 40% by 2020;

17.

Stresses that, owing to its complexity, the Statute only partially meets the needs of cooperatives and that it should be simplified and made intelligible to all to make it more user-friendly, easily understood and better applicable, thus ensuring the rights of information, consultation and participation of all employees without losing quality;

18.

Draws attention to the diversity of traditions and laws on cooperatives across the EU; stresses that the Statute should provide for an autonomous legal framework for SCEs alongside existing national law on cooperatives and that direct harmonisation is thus not taking place;

19.

Emphasises that the Statute for a European Cooperative Society should not be made more attractive by reducing standards; is of the opinion that the review of the Statute must facilitate a furthering of the recognition of this type of society in the EU; emphasises that the economic weight of cooperative societies, their crisis resilience and the values on which they are based clearly show them to be relevant in the EU of today and justify a revision of the Statute; stresses that future European SCE initiatives and measures must be centred on transparency, protection of stakeholders' rights and respect for national customs and traditions; points out that for certain national cooperatives the incentive to use the Statute is unfortunately limited, because of their existing holding structure; stresses that the option of merging national cooperatives from different Member States should be strengthened;

20.

Insists on the involvement of all stakeholders in the revision process, especially social actors involved in the cooperative and trade union movement, while also highlighting the need to complete the process in a timely manner;

21.

Expects from the Commission to take appropriate measures in order to ensure a full implementation of the directive;

22.

Deplores the fact that Parliament’s recommendations on cooperatives were largely ignored by the Commission; recalls that the resolution (15) called for:

23.

Recalls that in COM(2004)0018 the Commission committed itself to twelve actions, including:

24.

Deplores the fact that, of this list of commitments, only three have been put into practice, with no significant results; stresses that such shortcomings limit the development potential of cooperatives;

25.

Points out that a lack of resources leads to a lack of results; stresses the need for urgent improvements within the Commission in terms of organisation and the resources devoted to the social economy, given the current dispersion of competences and staff resources working on social economy inside the Commission;

26.

Stresses that EU policies in all areas need to recognise the specificities and added value of social economy enterprises, including cooperative enterprises, through adapting legislation on public procurement, State aid and financial regulation accordingly;

27.

Calls on the Member States to foster more favourable conditions for cooperatives, such as access to credit and tax incentives;

28.

Calls on the Commission to take the financial structure of cooperatives into account in connection with capital requirements legislation and accounting and reporting standards; points out that all cooperatives, and cooperative banks in particular, are affected by legislation concerning the redemption of cooperative shares and indivisible reserves;

29.

Points to the specific challenges created by the digital revolution which face the media sector, and particularly publishers operating as cooperatives;

30.

Urges the Commission to come up with an open method of coordination for the social economy including cooperative enterprises, which are key players in this sector, involving both the Member States and stakeholders in order to encourage exchanges of best practices and bring about for a gradual improvement in the Member States' taking account of the nature of cooperatives, in particular in the areas of taxation, loans, administrative burdens and business-support measures;

31.

Welcomes the fact that the Single Market Act recognises the need to promote the social economy, and urges the Commission to launch the much anticipated ‘Social Business Initiative’ based on cooperative principles (16);

32.

Calls on the Commission to consider a European Year of Social Economy;

33.

Supports business-support measures, in particular business-consultancy and employee training, and access to funding for cooperatives, especially for employee or customer buy-outs, as they are an underrated tool for saving enterprises at times of crisis and for the transfer of family enterprises;

34.

Stresses the growing importance of cooperatives in the area of social services and public goods; stresses the need to ensure decent working conditions and to address the health and safety related issues in this sector regardless of the status of the employer;

35.

Stresses the need to ensure cooperatives' input in the social dialogue at the EU level;

36.

Highlights the potential of the SCE for promoting gender equality through the implementation of policies and programmes at various levels, paying particular attention to education, vocational training, action to promote entrepreneurship and ongoing training programmes; notes that gender equality in decision-making at various levels is economically beneficial and also creates favourable conditions enabling skilled and talented people to carry out management and supervisory duties; stresses, further, that some aspects of cooperative work provide flexibility that makes it easier to reconcile family and professional life; calls on the Commission to design a mechanism for the exchange of best gender equality practices between the Member States;

37.

Stresses that the SCE can respond to women's needs, improving their standard of living through access to decent work opportunities, savings and loan institutions, housing and social services, education and training;

38.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/24

—

having regard to Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

—

having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular Article 26 thereof,

—

having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and in particular Article 14 thereof,

—

having regard to the Sorbonne Joint Declaration, signed on 25 May 1998 in Paris, on harmonisation of the architecture of the European higher education system, by the four Ministers in charge for France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (Sorbonne Declaration) (1),

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration signed in Bologna on 19 June 1999 by the Ministers of Education from 29 European countries (Bologna Declaration) (2),

—

having regard to the Communiqué issued by the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Higher Education on 28-29 April 2009 in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve (3),

—

having regard to the Budapest-Vienna Declaration of 12 March 2010 adopted by the Education Ministers from 47 countries, which officially launched the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (4),

—

having regard to Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (5),

—

having regard to the recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 September 2005 to facilitate the issue by the Member States of uniform short-stay visas for researchers from third countries travelling within the Community for the purpose of carrying out scientific research (6),

—

having regard to the recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 February 2006 on further European cooperation in quality assurance in higher education (7),

—

having regard to the recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (8) (EQF-LLL),

—

having regard to the Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (‘ET 2020’) (9),

—

having regard to the conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 26 November 2009 on developing the role of education in a fully-functioning knowledge triangle (10),

—

having regard to the Council conclusions of 11 May 2010 on the internationalisation of higher education (11),

—

having regard to the Council recommendation of 28 June 2011 on policies to reduce early school leaving (12),

—

having regard to the Council recommendation of 28 June 2011 entitled ‘Youth on the Move – Promoting the learning mobility of young people’ (13),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 10 May 2006 entitled ‘Delivering on the modernisation agenda for universities: education, research and innovation’ (COM(2006)0208),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 3 March 2010 entitled ‘EUROPE 2020 – A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 26 August 2010 on a Digital Agenda for Europe (COM(2010)0245),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 20 September 2011 entitled ‘Supporting growth and jobs – an agenda for the modernisation of Europe’s higher education systems’ (COM(2011)0567),

—

having regard to the report entitled ‘Higher Education in Europe 2009: Developments in the Bologna Process’ (Eurydice, European Commission, 2009) (14),

—

having regard to the report entitled ‘Focus on Higher Education in Europe 2010: The Impact of the Bologna Process’ (Eurydice, European Commission, 2010) (15),

—

having regard to the 2007 Eurobarometer survey on higher education reform among teaching professionals (16),

—

having regard to the 2009 Eurobarometer survey on higher education reform among students (17),

—

having regard to the Eurostat publication of 16 April 2009 entitled ‘The Bologna Process in Higher Education in Europe – Key indicators on the social dimension and mobility’ (18),

—

having regard to the Final report of the International Conference on Funding of Higher Education held in Yerevan, Armenia, 8-9 September 2011 (19),

—

having regard to its resolution of 23 September 2008 on the Bologna Process and student mobility (20),

—

having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education and the opinion of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (A7-0035/2012),

A.

whereas the goals of the Bologna Process – to enable compatible systems of higher education in Europe and to do away with the barriers which still prevent people from moving to another country in order to study or work and make higher education in Europe attractive to as many people as possible, including young people from third countries – are still valid and the continuation of the process, through a dialogue between the different levels of the educational system in order to develop curricula to be built on each preliminary level, is serving the goals of growth based on knowledge and innovation within the Europe 2020 strategy, particularly in the current economic crisis; whereas an assessment is needed in order to establish the evolution of the Process and to take account of the success stories, problems, lack of understanding and opposition encountered;

B.

whereas the role of higher education is to provide a learning environment, open to everyone without discrimination, promoting autonomy, creativity, access to quality education and the broadening of knowledge, and to this end it is essential to guarantee the involvement of the academic community as a whole, particularly students, teachers and researchers, in developing the various stages of university education;

C.

whereas, in view of their threefold function (education, research and innovation), universities have a vital part to play in the future of the Union and the education of its citizens;

D.

whereas the university is a major aspect of European heritage, now almost a thousand years old, whose significance as a force for progress in society cannot be reduced to its contribution to the economy and whose development cannot be made solely contingent on economic needs;

E.

whereas the three-degree structure is applied – in some cases successfully – in most of the Bologna countries, despite the difficulties encountered;

F.

whereas the commitment to push forward the reform should not be pursued via fragmented action and without adequate financial support; whereas the cuts in public spending on education being made in certain Member States are not helping to promote the necessary reforms;

G.

whereas mobility must be available to all and is the cornerstone of the higher education reform; whereas student mobility may ultimately help to foster professional mobility; whereas, however, accessibility for all must also be kept in mind throughout the process;

H.

whereas the Member States need to make further efforts to guarantee the mutual recognition of diplomas, which is crucial for the success of the process;

I.

whereas the social dimension must be strengthened as a necessary condition for the development of the Bologna Process, with the goal of making the right to study economically accessible to all students – especially those from vulnerable groups – in order to create fair access for all and better job opportunities;

J.

whereas universities, public administrations and enterprises must be strongly committed to the issue of employability; whereas the university should provide individuals with the tools and skills required to ensure the full development of their human potential; whereas academic learning should also take into account the needs of the labour market, with the goal of providing students with the skills they need to find a stable, well paid job;

K.

whereas access to education – a fundamental Union value – is a public responsibility of the Member States, the EU institutions and other key actors and the European Union has a key role to play in the establishment of the European Higher Education Area by supporting the Member States' efforts and cooperation in this field; whereas greater coordination of education and degrees – while respecting the principle of subsidiarity – is a precondition for the achievement of the goals of employability and growth in Europe;

L.

whereas the Bologna Process shall not have retroactive effects on students who already started their degree following the pre-Bologna plan;

1.

Stresses the importance of education as a key area for cooperation with Member States in order to achieve essential EU2020 jobs and growth targets and much needed economic recovery;

2.

Calls for a strengthening at EU level of support for the Bologna Process, in particular as regards the mutual recognition of academic qualifications, the harmonisation of academic standards, the promotion of mobility, the social dimension and employability, active democratic participation, the analysis of implementation of the Bologna principles, and the elimination of administrative obstacles; calls on Member States to reiterate their commitment to the Process by strengthening the system of funding in order to achieve the growth targets set in the Europe 2020 Strategy;

3.

Notes that the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is a major achievement from the point of view of creating and fostering genuine European citizenship; considers that it must translate into enhancement of the EHEA through the use of appropriate tools and procedures;

4.

Highlights that the Bologna Process and EHEA play a key role in the Europe 2020 strategy and points out that the alliance between teaching and research is crucial inasmuch as it is a distinctive feature of European higher education;

5.

Highlights the fact that the priorities set up within the Bologna Process – mobility, recognition, employability – represent the conditions necessary to guarantee that every student enrolled in a European university has the right to quality education, to graduate and to see his qualification recognised in any EU country;

6.

Calls for the development of an effective, bottom-up approach, fully involving all key actors such as universities, trade unions, professional organisations, research institutions, the business sector and, first and foremost, teachers, students, student organisations and university staff;

7.

Notes that some European Universities are reluctant to make sufficient efforts to achieve a consolidated EHEA, while being part of the EHEA is the only way for some of them to enhance the competitiveness and quality of the knowledge they produce;

8.

Calls for a commitment on the part of universities to new teaching and new professional and lifelong training strategies – making optimum use of new technologies and recognising the importance of complementary forms of learning such as non-formal education – that are focused on the pillars of a learning-centred, student-centred and research-centred university system able to provide critical thinking, creative skills, continuous professional development as well as theoretical and practical knowledge which students will need in their working lives; calls for Member States and the EU to financially support universities in their efforts to change and develop their education practices;

9.

Urges that teacher training programmes should be strengthened and expanded, taking account of the possibilities offered by lifelong learning and new technologies;

10.

Stresses that the opening of European universities to the needs of the global economy and the further consolidation of the EHEA should be considered as efforts by European universities to help Europe overcome the period of general economic insecurity and to put Europe back on the path of sustainable development and growth;

11.

Calls for the development of the universities’ ‘third mission’ to society, which should also be considered in connection with the multidimensional criteria to be devised for the purposes of classification and the recognition of excellence;

12.

Calls for increased public investment in higher education, especially aimed at countering the economic crisis with growth based on enhanced skills and knowledge and at responding to higher student demand with improved quality of and access to education and services, particularly scholarships; believes that budget reductions have a negative impact on attempts to strengthen the social dimension of education, which is the principle on which the Bologna Process is founded; calls therefore on the Member States and the EU institutions to develop new, targeted and flexible funding mechanisms – and to promote European-wide grants – with a view to supporting growth, excellence and the particular and diverse vocations of universities; stresses the need to develop a multi-fund approach, defined by clear and effective rules, aimed at coping with the future EU financing model and ensuring the independence of universities;

13.

Points out that the Bologna Process and the Erasmus programme have boosted student mobility and have the potential to contribute to enhanced labour mobility; regrets, however, that mobility rates still remain relatively low;

14.

Calls on the EU, the Member States and universities to establish mechanisms for providing information and financial and administrative support for all students, academics and staff in order to foster structured mobility flows; welcomes the introduction of the Erasmus programme for postgraduate students and calls for a strengthening of the services of Erasmus as a whole and the new generation of educational programmes through enhanced funding, based on social criteria, the opening of the programme to a larger number of students, genuine and effective credit recognition, enhanced possibilities for including terms abroad as part of the training and greater flexibility of the time frame allowed; insists, nevertheless, that in no case must mobility create discrimination against students with limited financial resources;

15.

Takes the view that mobility among university lecturers broadens the education and experience of not only the lecturers themselves, but also, indirectly, of their students, and that it enables them to collaborate in the preparation of study materials;

16.

Calls on Member States to fulfil the commitment to full portability of loans and grants, and significantly improve financial support for mobile students that matches the increases in new EU programmes; asks the EU to consider how existing legislation on the rights to freedom of movement can be enhanced through guaranteeing portability of loans and grants;

17.

Calls on the EU to take immigration from Africa, Asia, and Latin America more fully into account for the purpose of laying down rules providing for recognition of school qualifications obtained in countries of origin;

18.

Asks the EU, in order to guarantee mutual trust and facilitate recognition of academic qualifications through the implementation of EQF in each Member State, to consolidate a system of quality assurance at both European and Member State level; asks Member States to implement their national quality assurance systems according to the European Standards and Guidelines on Quality Assurance, while respecting the diversity of courses and approaches among universities in terms of content and modes of learning; encourages QA agencies to apply to the European Quality Assurance Register and support their European cooperation and exchange of best practices also through the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA);

19.

Draws attention to the different grading scales in the Member States and to the need for appropriate conversion of ECTS points into grades;

20.

Urges all the Bologna countries to implement national qualification frameworks linked to the Qualifications Framework of the EHEA and to develop and financially support mutual recognition;

21.

Calls for strong financial support for agreements on common core curricula, which guarantee well defined learning outcomes, inter alia by exploring the methodology approach developed by Tuning and through the experience of the ‘Tuning Academy’; calls for particular attention to be paid to the specific nature of humanities curricula, as a stronghold for democracy and a vehicle for the achievement of European cohesion, in order to determine which specific knowledge and skills should be covered by degree courses so as to encourage learning in a form combining measurable general skills (reflected in the ability to use knowledge) and teaching and research as original critical analysis; maintains that, as well as knowledge of the basic material, every programme in every subject should provide cross-cutting key competences such as critical thinking, communication, and entrepreneurial skills;

22.

Asks for further support for national and European measures to guarantee equitable inclusion, fair access to study, successful progression and a sustainable support system (e.g. housing, transport expenses, etc.) for all students, as well as targeted support in particular for those who belong to under-represented groups, socially disadvantaged backgrounds and those experiencing financial difficulties, in order to reduce the drop-out rate and ensure that education and training are independent of socio-economic factors which cause disadvantages and that teaching meets individual learning needs; recommends that the process of creating careers advisory centres offering free services to students be accelerated;

23.

Highlights the importance of the 2007 London communiqué (21), which made the social dimension of education one of the goals of the Bologna Process, the aim being to ensure equitable access to education regardless of background; regrets the fact that insufficient progress has been made towards achieving this goal, and encourages the Commission to facilitate such progress;

24.

Calls on the Commission and Member States to encourage mutual recognition by eliminating the administrative obstacles to this;

25.

Draws attention to the particular needs of the Bachelor’s degree, its curricula, its access paths to Masters programmes, and its employability; stresses in this respect the need for specific actions, such as the development of theory/practice curricula, and for more effective cooperation between universities, Member States and economic and social actors in order to enhance the prospects for future graduates of finding a stable, well-paid job corresponding to their level of qualification; calls, therefore, on universities to develop their provision of apprenticeships and to improve the integration of traineeships in university courses;

26.

Emphasises that measures to promote employability, such as lifelong learning, and the development of a broader range of skills suitable for the labour market must be top priorities in order to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity goals; in that connection, strongly supports exchanges of university teachers and students, the university-business dialogue, apprenticeships and the skills passport;

27.

Considers that modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) will assist professional mobility in Europe and facilitate student mobility by providing assurances that qualifications gained in another Member State will be recognised across the EU;

28.

Asks the Member States and the EU institutions to support the transition from the “mono-disciplinary“ methodological concept of science that still prevails in European universities towards the “inter-disciplinary“ and “trans-disciplinary” concepts;

29.

Calls on the Member States and the EU institutions to promote the university-business dialogue and cooperation as a common goal of the consolidated EHEA in order to increase the employability of European university graduates;

30.

Points to the need for specific actions and for more effective cooperation between universities and the labour market with a view to developing more relevant curricula, bringing greater consistency to education, and enhancing employability by establishing similar criteria for admission to professions;

31.

Stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of a sufficient number of traineeships for students, so as to further facilitate their joining the job market;

32.

Calls on national governments and the Commission to develop a system of structured cooperation in order to deliver joint degrees, within clusters of disciplines, with recognition across the EU by improving the performance of, and financial support for, Erasmus Mundus and the future education and training programme and by promoting the creation of a European accreditation scheme of joint programmes;

33.

Welcomes the Commission's proposal with reference to an Erasmus Masters Degree Mobility Scheme;

34.

Regards academic PhD degrees, including those carried out in collaboration with enterprises, as a key link between higher education and research, and recalls their potential as a key component in the creation of knowledge-based innovation and economic growth; recognises the importance of carrying out PhD degrees in enterprises in terms of integrating individuals with higher degrees into the labour market; welcomes the Commission's commitment to developing a European Industrial PhD Scheme within the Marie Curie actions;

35.

Believes that better cooperation between the EHEA and the European Research Area is a potential source for enhancing Europe’s innovativeness and development;

36.

Highlights the contribution of the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and the European Research Area to facilitating the mobility of EU researchers and unleashing the innovation and competitiveness potential of the EU;

37.

Calls for an effective strategy to be set up to support lifelong learning programmes in Europe and for sustainable initiatives that are fully integrated into the institution and promote a lifelong learning culture; calls, likewise, for company-based lifelong learning to be encouraged so that workers have the opportunity to expand their training and skills; calls on higher education institutions and universities to offer more flexibility in programs based on learning outcomes, the recognition of non formal and informal learning, and services to support learning pathways by promoting partnerships among universities, enterprises, and higher vocational training establishments in order to enhance and fill the gap in scientific, humanistic and technical skills;

38.

Draws attention to the need to establish the status of pre-Bologna Process students in those countries in which they are disadvantaged in terms of enrolling in Master’s programmes;

39.

Notes that the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) must be more transparent and offer more accurate comparisons between qualifications and diplomas; encourages the Commission and Member States to utilise an improved ECTS tool in order to facilitate mobility for students and professionals;

40.

Welcomes the Commission's proposal to increase significantly the funds devoted to European education and training programmes; calls on the Commission to devote a significant proportion of these funds to supporting the modernisation of higher education and the modernisation of university infrastructures in accordance with the objectives of the Bologna Process and the EU modernisation agenda; encourages the Commission to find solutions that enable access to these programmes also for students experiencing financial difficulties;

41.

Calls on the Member States and the EU to determine whether courses of study could include a compulsory training period to be completed at a university in a Member State other than the student’s home country;

42.

Draws attention to the strong link between the Bologna Process and the Professional Qualifications Directive, and stresses the need for coordination by the Commission in a manner entirely consistent with the Bologna Process; argues that the link can be further strengthened by providing students with all the relevant practical information concerning the recognition of diplomas obtained abroad and the job opportunities which training abroad opens up;

43.

Calls, as part of the revision of the Professional Qualifications Directive and in order to make progress towards a real European Higher Education Area, for a comparison of national minimum training requirements and for more regular exchanges between the Member States, competent authorities and professional bodies;

44.

Proposes that the recognition of credits obtained under the Erasmus Programme by partner universities should be a compulsory element for all institutions participating in student exchanges supported by EU funding in order to strengthen the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System;

45.

Draws attention to the importance of consistent implementation of the ECTS system; calls on the Commission, Member States and higher education institutions to develop a comparative table that would indicate the number of ECTS credits awarded for courses, in order to enhance consistency and facilitate student and professional mobility; notes the barriers that students face when transferring credits between universities, and believes that these obstacles can discourage students from participating in academic exchanges;

46.

Calls for development of an effective strategy for the full harmonisation of academic titles throughout the European Union with possible reverse recognition (including older academic titles) since the establishment of the Bologna Process;

47.

Calls on the EU Member States to adopt a final and clear decision on the full mutual recognition of qualifications and diplomas or to establish a roadmap for when this decision will finally be possible;

48.

Calls for cooperation among universities to be organised more systematically and strengthened so as to increase the impact on higher education institutions and systems for the benefit of students and staff;

49.

Proposes that universities in the signatory states recognise practical traineeships completed as part of the mobility programmes supported by the European Commission;

50.

Calls for enhanced transparency of the information provided to students before the beginning of a given exchange regarding the number of credits to be awarded, and invites Member States and higher education institutions to cooperate when assessing the number of credits to be awarded for courses; encourages the development of common platforms in order to provide a core of knowledge and skills defined by professionals and higher education institutions, with the possible goal of achieving the approximation of some diplomas, while safeguarding allowing national specificities, taking the system of automatic recognition of professional qualifications in the EU (22) as an example;

51.

Calls for improved networking, coordination and communication between EU universities in order to speed up the recognition of new diplomas, to facilitate the transfer of credits, to improve knowledge and understanding of different systems of education and training and enable students to better understand the diversity of European programmes;

52.

Invites the European Commission, within the new education and training programme, to encourage cooperation, including through financial incentives, on transnational curricula, joint degrees and mutual recognition; advocates increasing the number of ERASMUS placement partnerships in practice;

53.

Draws attention to the existence of numerous institutions dealing with European higher education and research; calls on the European Union to promote ways to co-ordinate them under the same umbrella;

54.

Believes that initiatives should be put in place to help students transfer records from one university to another during their degrees;

55.

Calls on the Member States and the EU to provide updated and comparable data – inter alia on the proportionate representation of vulnerable groups – on the basis of which to monitor the implementation of the EHEA and, to that end, to remove the obstacles and resolve the problems associated with the implementation of the process, and not to penalise those institutions which have not yet implemented the planned reforms; believes that these data should be published every year on a country-by-country and university-by-university basis, making it easier to understand where progress is required;

56.

Encourages universities to harmonise their academic standards by forming partnerships for the exchange of good practices;

57.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen cooperation and research programmes, and to develop new ones, based on mutual interests with third-country universities, particularly those in conflict zones, in order to allow access to higher education and training for students from these countries, without any discrimination;

58.

Considers the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) created by the Bologna Process to be progressive; calls therefore for a Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area to be incorporated into this existing structure and for progress towards the establishment of an effective Higher Education Area for the countries involved in Eastern Partnership cooperation as well as in other inter-state areas inside the EU; calls on the Commission to remove obstacles to the movement of students and teachers, to support the networking of Euro-Mediterranean universities, including EMUNI, and to continue the good practices of the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programmes;

59.

Points to the need to provide better information about the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by means of a comprehensive, effective and European-wide communication policy aimed at making universities more attractive within and outside Europe;

60.

Calls on the European Commission and the Member States to guarantee the transferability of loans and grants, in particular merit and needs-based scholarships, between all European countries, in order to ensure equal access to mobility opportunities;

61.

Promotes the creation of unified university brands at regional level in order to strengthen university prestige at international level in accordance with the aims of the Bologna Process;

62.

Calls on the EU institutions to set in place mechanisms to support Member States and higher education institutions in implementing Bologna goals, which could be done by regular reporting and by a targeted use of EU programmes, including those involving cooperation with the non-EU countries in the EHEA;

63.

Asks the EU to support the implementation of its Bologna commitments in its policy cooperation with relevant non-EU countries; calls on the Commission and on the European Parliament to play a strong role in leading these efforts;

64.

Trusts that the stocktaking exercise at next year’s ministerial meeting in Bucharest will result in a clear roadmap for establishing a fully-functioning European Higher Education Area by the 2020 deadline; insists that cross-sectoral proposals concerning ICT training, vocational and lifelong learning and work placements must be put forward and that these should actively promote both inclusion and smart and sustainable growth, giving the EU a competitive edge in the post-crisis world in terms of job creation, human capital, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and the wider knowledge economy;

65.

Calls on the Commission and EU education ministers to fully utilise the opportunities of their joint participation in the EHEA to take a leading role in achieving the Bologna goals, and on Ministers to underpin their commitments in the Bologna Process with joint commitments at EU level in the Council, supported by the Commission, so that this mutually supportive process continues with an harmonious implementation;

66.

Points out that the 2012 Biannual Ministerial Meeting in Bucharest must take into account the fact that the creation of the EHEA enables the EU and the Member States to make a strong and unified contribution to the Bologna Process on the basis of their shared responsibilities on the issue of higher education, their joint participation in the process, and their shared commitment to action, supported by policy statements by the EU institutions;

67.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/33

—

having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Towards robust quality management for European Statistics’ (COM(2011)0211),

—

having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Regional Development (A7-0037/2012),

A.

whereas Eurostat has existed since 1953 and the need for safeguarding its independence is widely recognised;

B.

whereas reliable and accurate statistics are essential to allow effective economic and budgetary policy making by Member States and at Union level;

C.

whereas the success of the Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth and Jobs and the economic governance package, including the European Semester, demands high-quality independent statistics;

D.

whereas users of statistics should be supplied with relevant, timely and accurate data which are collected and compiled by national agencies in accordance with the principles of impartiality, objectivity and professional independence;

E.

whereas statistics should be publicly accessible, easily understandable to both policy-makers and citizens and suitable for comparison on a year-to-year basis;

F.

whereas the quality of European statistics is dependent on the integrity of the entire production process; whereas the ongoing modernisation of statistical production methods represents a vital public investment in streamlining the entire production chain, and requires continued commitment at EU and national level;

G.

whereas the debt crisis in the eurozone has highlighted the dangers of statistical inaccuracy and statistical fraud arising from weaknesses in both the quality of upstream public-accounting data and the current statistical governance arrangement;

H.

whereas statistical offices should not only be statutorily independent, but should also have mechanisms and ‘firewalls’ in place to ensure that statistical offices are separated from the political process and thus avoid systemic failures; at the same time, however, it is to be emphasised that the State is responsible for the correctness and authenticity of statistical data;

I.

whereas the relation between Eurostat and the national courts of auditors should be strengthened;

J.

whereas national statistical institutes should be reformed in the Member States to comply with the new European legislation as soon as possible;

K.

whereas the approximately 350 statistical regulations applying to all Member States impose a proportionately higher statistical compliance burden on the smaller Member States;

L.

whereas Eurostat will provide the economic indicators required for the surveillance of fiscal policies and for the scoreboard on macro-economic imbalances, together with new enforcement mechanisms; whereas recent legal reforms, most notably the economic governance 'six pack', have placed robust and reliable statistics at the core of economic governance at EU level;

1.

Takes the view that a systemic approach to quality needs to be taken, which may require a reform of the method of producing European statistics and a gradual transition from a corrective approach to a preventive approach to the quality management of European statistics in general and public finance statistics in particular; welcomes the binding nature of the rules regarding production, and verification of the accuracy, of European statistics; considers that having independent statistical bodies is essential to maintaining the credibility of statistical data;

2.

Calls on the Commission to provide assistance and expertise to Member States to help them tackle research constraints and major methodological obstacles, with a view to ensuring compliance and provision of high-quality data;

3.

Supports the Commission's intention of proposing amendments to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 (Statistical Regulation) in order to establish a proactive approach to monitoring and assessing public finance data at an early upstream stage in order to allow for corrective action at the earliest possible point; seconds the proposal to establish a legal framework aimed at reinforcing the governance framework, especially as regards the professional independence of national statistical authorities and Eurostat, and requiring all Member States to formally adopt a commitment to take all necessary measures at national level to maintain confidence in statistics and to allow for more rigorous enforcement of the European Statistics Code of Practice;

4.

Urges the Commission to propose to the European Parliament and the Council proposals for legislation aimed at introducing elements of the revised European Statistics Code of Practice into EU law, with a view to distinguishing clearly between the responsibilities and competences of national statistical agencies and those of Member State governments and ensure more transparent and coordinated accountability for data quality;

5.

Urges Eurostat to pursue, in liaison with key data providers and data users, its efforts to modernise the European statistics production methods in order to maintain cost-effectiveness;

6.

Calls on Eurostat to ensure that public accounting systems are established in all Member States in a standardised manner and that they are strengthened with both internal and external audit mechanisms, including the application of the recently revised legal framework of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as well as further legislative proposals as deemed appropriate; welcomes the European Commission's intention to give Eurostat greater investigative powers;

7.

Emphasises that all Members States should make sure that statistics are accurate across all levels of government; encourages Eurostat to disclose publicly whether it has doubts concerning such accuracy across all types of statistics;

8.

Considers that the recently adopted economic governance package requires standards regarding granular data on public-sector exposures related to guarantees and contingent liabilities, for example through public-sector guarantees and exposures to public-private partnerships (PPPs); these should be developed promptly and disclosed by Eurostat, taking all levels of government into account;

9.

Welcomes the action of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) in delivering independent supervision of Eurostat and the European Statistical System; calls on Eurostat and other statistical offices to implement the recommendations the ESGAB put forward in its 2011 annual report;

10.

Emphasises the need for Eurostat to ensure transparency with regards to its own staff by publishing information regarding its officials (who are civil servants) and contract agents, and to provide information about the way in which national experts are deployed;

11.

Emphasises that the independence of the statistical services must be safeguarded at both national and European level from the threat of possible political interventions;

12.

Notes that the quality management system will require close coordination between Eurostat and national bodies responsible for verifying upstream public finance data; calls on the Commission to present proposals ensuring greater independence and greater coherence in the competences of the national courts of auditors in verifying the quality of the sources used to establish national debt and deficit figures and strengthening the coordinating role of the European Court of Auditors;

13.

Underlines the fact that quality management of government financial statistics and other national statistical data, as well as precision and timely reporting of the data, is a prerequisite for the European Semester to function properly;

14.

Recognises that providing accurate statistics can in many cases involve collecting and collating data from numerous sources; notes, therefore, that shortening timetables for publication of statistics may, in some cases, reduce the reliability or accuracy of statistics or increase the cost of data collection; recommends that, when considering best practice in this area, the balance between timeliness, reliability and cost of preparation be carefully considered;

15.

Urges Eurostat to look at ways to make its publications, particularly those online, more user-friendly to the average citizen and non-professionals especially with regard to the use of graphs; believes that Eurostat’s website should allow easier access to complete long-term data series and include intuitive comparative graphs in order to give more added value to citizens; adds, furthermore, that its periodic updates should provide, where possible, information on each Member State and offer year-on-year and month-on-month series and, where possible and useful, long-term data series;

16.

Emphasises that the provision of accurate, relevant, high-quality statistics is of key importance to sustainable and balanced regional development; notes that precise, accurate data constitute a basis for obtaining detailed information on individual areas such as demographics, the economy and the environment, and that they therefore play a key role in the regional development decision-making process, in particular in the context of Europe 2020 Strategy implementation;

17.

Calls on the Commission to continue to address the need for reliable statistical information that enables European policies to better respond to economic, social and territorial realities at regional level;

18.

Supports Eurostat’s intention of establishing a legal framework for ‘Commitments on Confidence in Statistics’; stresses that compliance with the data confidentiality rule within the ESS (European Statistical System), as well as with the principle of subsidiarity, will help to increase trust in statistical agencies;

19.

Notes that it is essential to improve the way that public accounting systems work; asks the Commission, nevertheless, to clarify whether standardising the public accounting systems in all the Member States is necessary and possible; calls on the Commission to draw up a common methodology and implement effective, suitable, proven solutions;

20.

Stresses the need to develop a coherent system for research into socio-economic processes in cross-border areas, including those in the regions located on the external borders of the European Union, together with statistics for macro-regions, in order to obtain a reliable, complete and accurate picture of the economy in terms of regional and macro-regional development, covering both the urban dimension and rural areas; believes that the research mechanisms connected with the balance of payments should be improved; notes, furthermore, that regional and national accounts should be closely monitored as part of a robust system of quality management for European statistics;

21.

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

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/37

—

having regard to Articles 313 and 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (1) (IIA),

—

having regard to the Commission’s updated financial programming for 2007-2013, submitted in accordance with Point 46 of the aforementioned IIA of 17 May 2006,

—

having regard to the European Union’s general budget for the 2012 financial year (2),

—

having regard to the Council conclusions of 21 February 2012 on the budget guidelines for 2013,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A7-0040/2012),

1.

Acknowledges the fiscal consolidation efforts undertaken by most Member States because of the financial and budgetary crisis; underlines, however, the fact that the EU will never be able to respond properly to the current economic and social crisis or prevent future crises without further political integration, common instruments, such as automatic sanctions, and the Commission having the right to take legal action in a deficit procedure, but also common EU-funded programmes and the resources to make them work; insists, that economic recovery requires measures to strengthen solidarity and boost sustainable growth and employment; welcomes the fact that the European Council recognised this in its statement of 30 January 2012 and in its Conclusions following the Summit of 1-2 March 2012, but insists on the need for concrete measures to be taken, notably by making use of the EU budget as a common instrument; underlines the fact that the priorities singled out in the above-mentioned statements are those defended by Parliament in previous budgetary procedures;

2.

Continues to be concerned at the unprecedented global crisis that has seriously damaged economic growth and financial stability and provoked a strong deterioration in the government deficit and debt position of the Member States; understands the Council’s concern regarding economic and budgetary constraints at national level and insists that 2013 will be a key year for economic recovery;

3.

Recalls that the European Union’s budget is one of the most important instruments where solidarity between Member States and between generations is being demonstrated, and that it provides a clear added value, given its extraordinary impact on the real economy and daily lives of European citizens; recalls that if the Union’s policies were to be financed solely by Member States, their costs would skyrocket and that, seen in this light and if used in a synergetic manner, the European budget intrinsically represents a clear common saving for the wellbeing of all; takes the view that austerity measures undertaken at national level should not lead to an equivalent decrease at EU level, since one euro spent at this level can generate savings in the 27 Member States;

4.

Stresses that, in times of crisis more than ever, the collective efforts made at EU level must be strengthened in order to ensure that our actions deliver results; underlines the fact that the annual European Union budget with its leverage effect, the priorities in national budgets and all other European instruments must support Member States' recovery policies and need to be aligned with the Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth and Jobs, and that this is essential for the Strategy’s success and in order to maintain confidence in EU policies, especially amongst its citizens; stresses that, given its role as a catalyst for investment, lowering the level of the EU budget would have an adverse impact on the creation of growth and jobs in the Union;

5.

Takes the view that the promotion of growth and jobs requires specific actions and enhanced budgetary efforts to support a sustainable and long-term industrial policy, competitiveness, innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), since most of the EU's economic potential lies in SMEs, which, according to latest studies, created 85% of net new jobs in the EU between 2002 and 2010 and are the backbone of our economic growth; therefore the promotion of entrepreneurial mindsets and business start-ups through concrete actions is of utmost importance and adequate resources should be provided for that purpose; acknowledges, therefore, that efforts need to be made to further strengthen EU funding in support of growth efforts;

6.

Stresses that such support would be instrumental in preventing SMEs from cutting back their investments, in particular in research and development, while at the same time promoting employment and professional training, especially for younger citizens and ensuring that skills are conserved; considers that strengthening EIB support for SMEs and infrastructure should be considered a key priority thus helping to unleash SMEs’ innovation potential, which is essential to the EU’s prosperity and to the creation of a knowledge-based society; stresses in this context the need to further simplify the application procedure for EU-funded programmes;

7.

Believes that increased investments through the EU budget in a sustainable economy could lead to a higher rate of job creation than with the current budget; such investments could thus contribute significantly to getting the EU back on a growth track;

8.

Underlines the fact that the results of the Europe 2020 Strategy depend to a large extent on today's youth, which is the highest-educated, most technically advanced and most mobile ever, and therefore is and will be the biggest asset for growth and jobs in the EU; is concerned about the high level of youth unemployment in Member States; this being the case, stresses that every effort must be made at EU and national level to ensure that growth and jobs are a reality, especially for young people, who represent the EU's common future; equally highlights the need to address urgently the challenges of unemployment and the growing level of poverty in the European Union in the spirit of the flagship initiative "European Platform against poverty and social exclusion";

9.

Takes note of the Commission's proposal to redirect EUR 82 billion of the money still to be programmed under all EU structural funds (the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund) into helping SMEs and combating youth unemployment; asks to be kept duly informed about this initiative, its implementation and its eventual impact for the 2013 budget;

10.

Underlines the fact that all the measures taken so far to combat the crisis should help to return to the path of growth; stresses, in this regard, that the tailor-made austerity measures already taken need to be accompanied by targeted investments resulting in sustainable economic development; points out that the EU budget has a decisive role to play in this context as a tool to ensure prompt and well-coordinated action in all fields in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the real economy and to act as a catalyst to boost investment, growth and jobs in Europe;

11.

Stresses that well-coordinated, coherent and timely implementation of political commitments and priorities shared at national and EU level requires national and European institutions to work together to prioritise public spending on growth areas, assess ex ante the effects of planned actions, increase synergies between them and ensure that they have a positive impact by removing obstacles and tapping into under-utilised potential; in this regard, underlines the importance of continuing to organise, before the Spring Summit, the presentation by the Commission of its draft budget, and the start of the national budgetary procedures in Member States, interparliamentary debates on the common economic and budgetary orientations of the Member States and the Union in order to ensure that there is coordination between the national and EU budgets in the general framework of Parliament’s upgraded activities in the European Semester in order to enhance its democratic legitimacy as demanded in the resolution of 1 December 2011 on the European Semester for Economic Policy Coordination;

12.

Calls for the adoption of a responsible and result-oriented budget, based on good-quality spending and optimal and timely use of existing EU financing; in the spirit of the statement of 30 January 2012 by the Members of the European Council; emphasises the need to invest in growth and jobs, especially in terms of SMEs and young people; underlines its intention of engaging, together with the specialised parliamentary committees, not only in the identification of concrete areas where actions need to be strengthened, but also in identifying possible negative priorities;

13.

Stresses that the EU budget represents an investment solely directed towards policies and actions demonstrating EU added value; draws attention to the fact that the EU budget – which cannot run into deficit – has a leverage effect on growth and employment much higher than that of national spending, as does its capacity to gear up investment, deliver stability in Europe and help the EU out of the current economic and financial crisis; underlines, however, the need to leverage more investments in order not to endanger key projects for economic recovery and competitiveness; highlights, in this context, the fact that developing new and improved financial instruments could further enhance the leverage effect of EU spending’s contribution to growth, by attracting private investment, thus compensating for constraints at national level and optimising public spending;

14.

Recalls that between 2000 and 2011, national budgets in the EU increased on average by 62% while EU budget payments increased by slightly less than 42%, whereas the EU grew from 15 to 27 Member States;

15.

Will pay specific attention, in the context of the 2013 budgetary procedure, to the implementation of the EP’s previous years’ budgetary priorities and will, in particular, follow closely the funding and implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which is fully endorsed by Member States, in terms of promoting competitiveness and employment, as well as of its other sectoral priorities;

16.

Welcomes the fact that the in the latest version of the financial programming for 2012-13 the Commission respected the EP’s 2012 budgetary priorities, as it did in 2011, by not offsetting past increases; asks for the 2013 draft budget to follow the same line;

17.

Recalls that the ceilings for several headings, in particular Heading 1a (competitiveness for growth and jobs) and Heading 4 (the EU as a global actor) within the current financial framework are insufficient to meet the policies approved as priorities by Parliament, the Council and the Commission; recalls, moreover, that the appropriations allocated for some policies have had to be revised several times in order to meet new goals and tasks, making the use of the Flexibility Instrument necessary in almost every annual budget; stresses that it will not accept longstanding EU political commitments being jeopardised; recalls, in particular, that financial commitments entered into in international agreements and/or agreements between the EU and international organisations should be respected and duly included in the draft budget;

18.

Recalls that the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2007-2013 was designed to improve the prosperity and quality of life of our citizens and to exploit all the potential of enlargement, yet since 2008 the EU has experienced an unprecedented crisis, which has also impacted on each of the annual budgets; underlines, against this background, the fact that the 2007-2013 financial framework was not revised to accommodate additional financing needs stemming from the current crisis but that, on the contrary, substantial global margins have been left under the overall ceilings in every annual budget since 2007 and that, to that extent, all the annual budgets have been contained and austere; stresses that the corresponding payments should therefore at least be disbursed according to the normal budget cycle; recalls that payments are dissociated from commitment appropriations only because of the time lag, in the case of multiannual programmes, before the actual disbursement of the funds;

19.

Stresses that, 2013 being the last year of the current programming period, catching up will be necessary in terms of payments, as has always been the case at the end of financial perspectives, owing to the start of the completion process for the 2007-2013 programmes, and, in terms of commitments, in order to respect the financial programming amounts, which are close to EUR 152 billion for 2013; reiterates that any artificial cut made to the level of payments will delay meeting both contractual obligations and past EU commitments, and could also result in late interest being due and loss of confidence in European policies and the EU institutions’ credibility; underlines, therefore, that contractual debts should be paid as soon as possible as a matter of budgetary discipline;

20.

Notes that the level of payments, which, being the mere result of past commitments, should be determined on the basis of technical criteria such as implementation figures, absorption forecasts or the level of outstanding commitments (RAL), has become the main political issue within the Council in the past few budgetary procedures; points to the growing level of RAL at the end of 2011, amounting to EUR 207 billion, which represents almost 7% more than the level at the end of 2010; in view of the upcoming interinstitutional meeting on the difference between commitment and payment appropriations will establish a dialogue with the Commission in order to fully clarify how the RAL is composed; insists that the Council refrain from deciding a priori the level of payments without taking account of actual needs and legal obligations; notes further that accruing RAL actually undermines a transparent EU budget in which it is clearly visible how commitments and payments are related in a specific budgetary year;

21.

Underlines the fact that a pure ‘net EU budget contributor/net EU budget beneficiary’ approach does not take due account of the great positive spill-over effects the EU budget produces between EU countries to the benefit of common EU policy goals; is deeply concerned at the very moderate increases in payments in the last two budgets, which in the case of the 2012 budget were even below the level of inflation, at a crucial time when all the investment programmes should be running at full speed and unfolding their full potential;

22.

Stresses that under-budgeting should be avoided as a matter of sound financial management, and that appropriations need to be aligned to realistic estimates of absorption capacity; points out that artificially lowering the level of appropriations as against the Commission’s realistic estimates may, conversely, prevent the final level of budgetary implementation from reaching its full potential; recalls that the level of payment appropriations proposed by the Commission in its draft budget is determined mainly by the Member States’ own forecasts and their implementation capacity, since Member States co-manage, together with the Commission, more than 80% of EU funding;

23.

Regrets the fact that, while the Council refused in December 2011 to finance identified additional needs, some payment claims amounting to more than EUR 10 billion could not be honoured in late 2011, which is now impacting directly on available 2012 payments; is concerned at the fact that this resulted from the Council’s questioning of the Commission’s implementation data and assessments of need without providing any alternative data or source;

24.

Is therefore extremely worried about the payments situation in 2012 and calls for the Commission to put forward proposals so that a solution can be found as early as possible this year, in order to avoid postponing the problem once again, to 2013; takes the view, moreover, that such use of the upcoming year’s appropriations to fund current needs is bad financial management and infringes the principle of budget annuality; expresses serious concerns that this practice undermines the zero-debt principle of the Union;

25.

Reiterates its call for the Council to refrain from making artificial cuts in payments during the budgetary procedure, and stresses that this seems to be leading to an unsustainable level of payments; requests, in the event of such proposals being made, that the Council clearly and publicly identify and justify which of the EU’s programmes or projects it believes could be delayed or dropped altogether;

26.

In this context, asks the Council to align its position to one of realistic and responsible budgeting, and undertakes to continue to monitor constantly the implementation of the 2012 appropriations and, in particular, payments; calls on the Council to follow suit, so that the budgetary authority can work on the basis of common, updated implementation data and make reliable estimates of expenditure; to this end, invites the Council and the Commission to an interinstitutional meeting to be held during the first semester of 2012 at an appropriate political level with a view to clarifying and settling any possible misunderstanding as to implementation figures and estimated payment needs and to jointly taking stock of the payments situation for the budget years 2012 and 2013;

27.

Highlights the importance of funding the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) to enable comprehensive delivery of the financial regulation agenda and supervisory structures to prevent future crises; stresses that funding for ESAs and independent legal services for them should be prioritised within the budget;

28.

Welcomes the agreement reached on financing the additional costs of ITER in December 2011; urges the Commission to respect the joint conclusions in this agreement in their entirety and to make concrete proposals on the amount of EUR 360 million in the 2013 draft budget, making full use of the provisions laid down in the Financial Regulation and in the IIA of 17 May 2006 and excluding any further ITER-related revision of the MFF; reiterates its strong conviction that securing the amount of EUR 360 million in the 2013 budget should not impair the successful implementation of other EU policies, especially those that contribute to achieving the goals of the EU 2020 strategy during this last year of the programming period, and specifically opposes any redeployments infringing upon this budgetary priority; stresses that in its financial programming the Commission foresees a margin of EUR 47 million in Heading 1a, which partially covers the needs for ITER;

29.

Expects, in view of the upcoming accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013, that the revision of the MFF will be adopted swiftly, in line with Point 29 of the IIA (‘Adjustment of the financial framework to cater for enlargement’) and asks the Commission to present its proposal for the corresponding additional appropriations as soon as the Act of Accession has been ratified by all Member States; reiterates that the enlargement to include Croatia should be accompanied by appropriate additional funding with fresh money rather than redeployments for the second part of 2013;

30.

Takes note of the letter dated 23 January 2012 from the Commissioner for Budgets and Financial Programming expressing the Commission’s willingness to reduce the number of posts in its establishment plans by 1% as early as 2013, taking carefully into account the different effects for large, medium-sized and small directorates-general; intends to closely examine the Commission’s intention of reducing by 2018 the staffing level in EU institutions and bodies by 5% compared to 2013, and recalls that this is to be seen as an overall goal; recalls that any change to the establishment plan has a direct impact on the budget and should in no way compromise the budgetary prerogatives of the Committee on Budgets and of the European Parliament; considers that any short-term or long-term reduction in staff should be based on a prior impact assessment and take full account of, inter alia, the Union’s legal obligations and the institutions’ new competences and increased tasks arising from the treaties;

31.

Recalls the importance of close and constructive interinstitutional cooperation throughout the procedure and reaffirms its willingness to contribute fully to such cooperation in full accordance with the provisions of the TFEU; expects the present guidelines to be taken fully into account during the budgetary procedure and in the preparation of the draft budget;

32.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/42

—

having regard to Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provide for the adoption under the ordinary legislative procedure of measures aimed at ensuring ‘support for the training of the judiciary and judicial staff’,

—

having regard to its resolution of 10 September 1991 on the establishment of a European Law Academy (1), its position of 24 September 2002 on the adoption of a Council decision setting up a European judicial training network (2), its resolution of 9 July 2008 on the role of the national judge in the European judicial system (3), and its recommendation of 7 May 2009 to the Council on development of an EU criminal justice area (4),

—

having regard to the Commission communication on an Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme’ (COM(2010)0171),

—

having regard to its resolution of 25 November 2009 on the Stockholm Programme (5),

—

having regard to its resolution of 17 June 2010 on judicial training (6),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 13 September 2011 entitled ‘Building trust in EU-wide justice – a new dimension to European judicial training’ (COM(2011)0551),

—

having regard to the pilot project on judicial training proposed by Parliament in 2011,

—

having regard to the comparative study on judicial training in the Member States commissioned by Parliament from ERA in collaboration with the EJTN (7),

—

having regard to Rules 115(5) and 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas the above-mentioned study took stock of the activities carried out in this field by national schools for the judiciary, including the type of training offered, relevant conditions, and budgetary resources, with a view also to identifying needs and suggestions for improvement and best practices, and contains the results of an in-depth survey of over 6 000 judges and prosecutors in the Member States focusing on their experience of EU law training and their suggestions for improvement;

B.

whereas judicial training should properly be called ‘judicial studies’ to reflect the special nature of the continuing intellectual development that members of the judiciary have to undergo and the fact that the best people to provide judicial studies are judges themselves;

C.

whereas the supply of training is currently far from meeting the Commission’s target, namely that it should be available to half of EU legal professionals;

D.

whereas according to the study language barriers, a lack of (timely) information on existing programmes, the fact that programmes are not always adapted to judges’ needs, together with judges’ heavy workloads and the lack of relevant funding are among the reasons for the relatively low level of respondents receiving training in EU law (53 %, and only one third of them within the last 3 years);

E.

whereas it is wise, including from the budgetary point of view in the present situation of financial stringency, to take advantage of existing institutions, particularly national judicial training schools, but also universities and professional bodies, as far as the ‘national law’ aspects of building a European judicial culture are concerned; whereas, by this means, best practices can be identified in the Member States and fostered and disseminated across the EU; whereas as far as training in EU law is concerned, the Academy of European Law (ERA) should continue to play its role;

F.

whereas, as Parliament has already pointed out, the European judicial area must be built on a shared judicial culture among practitioners, the judiciary and prosecutors which is not only based on EU law but developed through mutual knowledge and understanding of the national judicial systems, a root-and-branch revamping of university curricula, exchanges, study visits and common training with the active support of the Academy of European Law, the European Judicial Training Network and the European Law Institute;

G.

whereas judicial training should be linked to a debate on the traditional role of the judiciary and its modernisation, how to open it up and broaden its horizons; whereas this also entails language training and promoting the study of comparative law and international law;

H.

whereas a common judicial culture also needs to be created among members of the judiciary using the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the work of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and so on to promote the core values of the judicial profession by discussing and promulgating common professional ethics, the rule of law and the principles for the appointment and selection of judges, and to avoid the politicisation of the judiciary, thereby promoting the mutual trust necessary to make the common judicial area a reality;

I.

whereas it is necessary to create networks between judges of different cultures and improve coordination of the existing networks in order to create ‘circles of coherence’; whereas, for this, electronic communication is not enough, and there must be fora in which judges can make contact and it is essential to involve judges from the Luxembourg and Strasbourg Courts;

J.

whereas judicial studies cannot be limited to substantive and procedural law, and whereas judges need training related to their judicial business and in ‘judgecraft’;

1.

Believes, while acknowledging that direct contacts are the best option, that in view of the budgetary constraints, as well as the responses given by judges in the study, such training and advice could also be provided via the Internet (video-conferencing, on-line courses, webstreaming) as well as by means of exchanges; notes that judges call for further assessment and adaptation of training programmes to their needs, while they seem to prefer interactive training where they can exchange experiences and discuss case studies rather than ‘classic’ (top-down) training formulae;

2.

Considers that a further aim would be to coordinate the training provided by existing judicial training schools and facilitate and promote dialogue and professional contacts;

3.

Notes that multilingual training is important, as the study shows that only a relatively small number of judges speak a foreign language well enough to be able to participate actively in judicial training in other Member States;

4.

Takes the view that one way of resolving the problems (costs, language training, cost-effectiveness) is to utilise modern technology and finance the creation of applications (‘apps’) on the lines of Apple’s ITunes U; such ‘apps’, prepared by the national schools, ERA, universities and other trainers, would consist of training courses, with video material, including language training (with particular emphasis on legal terminology) and instruction about national legal systems, particular legal procedures, etc. and would be free of charge to members of the judiciary;

5.

Considers that successful participation in such courses could constitute the gateway to Erasmus for judges and to participation in training courses abroad;

6.

Suggests that such ‘apps’ could be also be made available to legal practitioners, professional bodies, academics and law students for a modest charge and that their development and production would provide a modest boost to the economy and employment for a relatively small outgoing;

7.

Considers that the pilot project, presented by Luigi Berlinguer and Erminia Mazzoni and scheduled to be run in 2012, should aim first of all to identify and expand best practices in organising access to EU law and relevant training within the national judicial systems and training schools; considers, for instance, that the EU should encourage Member States to emulate successful institutions, such as EU law coordinators of the kind that exist in Italy and the Netherlands within the national court structure, and promote the training of such coordinators and otherwise facilitate their work at EU level;

8.

Takes the view that the pilot project should encompass the creation of a working group comprising national and European judicial training providers as well as extra-judicial actors, whose aim would be to identify a series of thematic ‘clusters’ of EU law issues, which seem to be the most relevant for everyday judicial practice, both on ‘practical’ matters (how to submit a request for preliminary ruling, how to access EU law databases, etc.), and on matters of substance;

9.

Suggests that the pilot project could coordinate (a) the exchange of advice and knowledge about individual legal systems among the individual judicial training schools, building upon the existing networks and resources and (b) formal training and familiarisation with foreign legal systems;

10.

Proposes, lastly, that the Commission hold an annual forum at which judges of all levels of seniority in areas of law where domestic and cross-border issues frequently arise can hold discussions on a recent area or areas of legal controversy or difficulty, in order to encourage discussion, build contacts, create channels of communication and build mutual confidence and understanding; considers that such a forum could also afford an opportunity for the competent authorities, training providers and experts, including the universities and the professional bodies, to discuss judicial training policy and the future of legal education in Europe;

11.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/45

—

having regard to Articles 3, 6 and 21 of the Treaty on European Union,

—

having regard to Articles 206 and 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, ILO Convention No 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child,

—

having regard to the conclusion of the 2010 International Cocoa Agreement, in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,

—

recalling its previous resolutions on child trafficking and on the exploitation of children in developing countries,

—

recalling its resolutions of 25 November 2010 on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements (1) and on corporate social responsibility in international trade agreements (2),

—

having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas the ILO estimates that more than 215 million children worldwide are child labourers engaged in activities that should be abolished; whereas 152 million of these children are under the age of 15 and 115 million of them engage in dangerous activities;

B.

whereas, for the purpose of this resolution, child labour means child labour as defined by the ILO in Convention No 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and Convention No 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, respectively;

C.

whereas Parliament has to give its consent to the conclusion of the 2010 International Cocoa Agreement; whereas stakeholders have raised strong concerns about child labour in the growing and harvesting of cocoa beans;

D.

whereas 70 % of world cocoa production is cultivated in West Africa and about 7,5 million people work in cocoa production in that region, almost exclusively on family smallholdings, with between 1,5 and 2 million family-run farms spread across West Africa; whereas cocoa farming is very labour-intensive during the five months harvest season and producers face strong pressures from national and international market players to keep labour costs down; whereas at peak times all family members, including children, are involved; whereas child labour poses unacceptable risks;

E.

whereas, according to the ILO, not all work done by children should be classified as child labour to be targeted for elimination, and a clear distinction between the two forms must be established; whereas children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive, unless the tasks are hazardous or keep the children from attending school;

F.

whereas studies carried out in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire suggest that children working on cocoa farms are exposed to different types of danger; whereas, in addition, some children may have been trafficked from other regions of the country or from neighbouring countries; whereas further research needs to be done on the incidence of child labour and child trafficking in the region, as no verified data exist;

G.

whereas the use of the worst forms of child labour in the growing and harvesting of cocoa beans is unacceptable;

H.

whereas in recent years programmes and initiatives to combat the worst forms of child labour on West African cocoa farms had made significant progress, although much remained to be done on account of the vast scale of this sector; whereas renewed conflict situations in the region, in particular in Côte d’Ivoire, have again worsened the situation of children;

I.

whereas poverty, a lack of alternatives for income generation, the scarcity or total lack of out-of-school opportunities for young people, rigid community structures and prevailing attitudes, the lack of adequate legal protection for children’s rights and the failure to put in place mandatory public education for all children regardless of their sex, not to mention corruption and poor governance, are socio-economic and political factors that may contribute to the recurrent abuse of children in some parts of the world;

J.

recalling the primary responsibility of the governments of all countries concerned to implement fully the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Convention No 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and ILO Convention No 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, respectively;

K.

recalling the EU strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility (2011-2014), the UN Global Compact, in particular Principle 5 thereof on the abolition of child labour, and the Harkin- Engel Protocol, which provide a useful framework for corporate social responsibility in the cocoa sector;

1.

Urges those states which have yet to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or ILO Conventions Nos 138 or 182 to ratify and implement these conventions swiftly; takes the view, moreover, that states should implement all appropriate policies to foster awareness of child abuse in the labour market and of the need to comply with existing national and international rules;

2.

Strongly condemns the use of child labour on cocoa fields;

3.

Calls on all stakeholders involved in growing and processing cocoa beans and their derivative products – namely governments, global industry, cocoa producers, organised labour, non-governmental organisations and consumers – to live up to their respective responsibilities in terms of combating all forms of forced child labour and trafficking, to share expertise and to collaborate towards a sustainable cocoa supply chain free from child labour;

4.

Takes the view that only a holistic and coordinated framework that addresses the root causes of child labour and is implemented on a long-term basis by governments, industry, traders, producers and civil society can deliver significant changes;

5.

Calls on the Commission to ensure policy coherence in all its initiatives, namely those related to trade, development (in particular as regards children’s access to education), human rights, public procurement and corporate social responsibility, and to encourage the exchange of best practices between different economic sectors in which child labour occurs;

6.

Urges the Commission to ensure that all trade agreements include effective provisions on poverty reduction and the promotion of decent work and safe working conditions, along with legally binding clauses on internationally agreed human rights, social and environmental standards and the enforcement of those standards, accompanied by measures to be applied in the event of infringements;

7.

Recalls that the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), its main trade policy instrument for promoting core labour standards, is under review and that trade preferences granted to beneficiary countries under that system can be withdrawn in specified circumstances, namely in the event of serious and systematic violation of the principles laid down in a number of core ILO conventions, including Conventions Nos 138 and 182;

8.

Recalls that on 15 December 2011 Parliament decided to withhold its consent to a Textile Protocol to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Uzbekistan on account of concerns relating to the use of forced child labour on cotton fields in Uzbekistan, and recommended that the EU investigate the possibility of temporarily withdrawing Uzbekistan’s GSP benefits if ILO monitoring bodies conclude that it has seriously and systematically breached its obligations (3);

9.

Welcomes all multi-stakeholder initiatives involving governments, industry, producers and civil society that aim at eradicating child labour, improving the lives of children and adults on cocoa farms and ensuring that cocoa is grown responsibly, such as the recent regional initiative by the OECD, the Secretariat of the Sahel and West Africa Club and the International Cocoa Initiative to promote best practice in combating the worst forms of child labour on West African cocoa farms; points out that these initiatives require appropriate follow-up in order to ensure genuine progress; encourages governments to increase their support to fair-trade networks in the cocoa sector and to rural cooperatives, and to enable them to send their product directly to the national and international markets, thus avoiding middlemen and obtaining fair prices; calls on the Commission to support such measures;

10.

Supports the objectives of the Protocol for the Growing and Processing of Cocoa Beans and their Derivative Products in a Manner that Complies with ILO Convention 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (known as the ‘Harkin-Engel Protocol’) and calls for its full implementation;

11.

Recalls that the CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) has recently decided to set up a new project committee in order to develop a two-part European standard for traceable and sustainable cocoa; calls on the Commission to give consideration to, and if appropriate submit a legislative proposal on, an effective traceability mechanism for goods produced by means of forced child labour; calls on the International Cocoa Agreement partners to support supply-chain improvements and better organisation of farmers in order to allow traceability throughout the cocoa sector supply chain;

12.

Calls on the International Cocoa Agreement partners to look into the possibility of introducing accredited, third-party-audited traceability for the cocoa supply chain;

13.

Calls on the Commission, the ILO-IPEC and other partners to continue their efforts to arrive at a better understanding of the economic, social and cultural complexities of farming communities;

14.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, UNICEF, the co-presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the African Union and the ILO.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/47

—

having regard to Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

—

having regard to the St Vincent Declaration on Diabetes Care and Research in Europe, adopted at the first meeting of the St Vincent Declaration Diabetes Action Programme, held in St Vincent between 10 and 12 October 1989 (1),

—

having regard to the creation by the Commission on 15 March 2005 of an EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (2),

—

having regard to the Commission Green Paper of 8 December 2005 entitled ‘Promoting healthy diets and physical activity: a European dimension for the prevention of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases’, which addresses the determinants underlying the onset of Type 2 diabetes (COM(2005)0637),

—

having regard to the Conclusions of the Austrian Presidency Conference ‘Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes’, held on 15 and16 February 2006 in Vienna (3),

—

having regard to its declaration of 27 April 2006 on diabetes (4),

—

having regard to the Council conclusions on promotion of healthy lifestyles and prevention of Type 2 diabetes (5),

—

having regard to the World Health Organisation Regional Committee for Europe resolution of 11 September 2006 entitled ‘Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the WHO European region’ (6),

—

having regard UN General Assembly Resolution 61/225 of 20 December 2006 on World Diabetes Day,

—

having regard to Decision No 1350/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 establishing a second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-13) (7), and the subsequent Commission Decision of 22 February 2011 concerning the adoption of a financing decision for 2011 in the framework of the second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-2013) and on the selection, award and other criteria for financial contributions to the actions to this programme (8),

—

having regard to the Commission White Paper of 23 October 2007 entitled ‘Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU 2008-2013’ (COM(2007)0630),

—

having regard to the Seventh Research Framework Programme (2007-2013) (9) and to the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (COM(2011)0808),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 20 October 2009 entitled ‘Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU’ (COM(2009)0567),

—

having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 64/265 of 13 May 2010 on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases,

—

having regard to the major outcomes and recommendations of project FP7-HEALTH- 200701 set out in ‘DIAMAP – Road Map for Diabetes Research in Europe’ (10),

—

having regard to the Commission Communication of 6 October 2010 entitled ‘Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative – Innovation Union’ (COM(2010)0546), and its pilot partnership on active and healthy ageing,

—

having regard to the Council Conclusions of 7 December 2010 entitled ‘Innovative approaches for chronic diseases in public health and healthcare systems’,

—

having regard to the UN General Assembly Resolution 65/238 of 24 December 2010 on the scope, modalities, format and organisation of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases,

—

having regard to the Moscow Declaration adopted during the First United Nations Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-communicable Disease Control, held in Moscow on 28 and 29 April 2011 (11),

—

having regard to its resolution of 15 September 2011 on the European Union position and commitment in advance of the UN high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (12),

—

having regard to Rule 110(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas diabetes is one of the most common non-communicable diseases, estimated to affect more than 32 million EU citizens, representing nearly 10 % of the total EU population, with an additional 32 million citizens suffering from impaired glucose tolerance and with a very high probability of progressing to clinically manifest diabetes (13);

B.

whereas the number of people living with diabetes in Europe is expected to increase by 16,6 % by 2030, as a result of the obesity epidemic, the ageing of the European population and other factors yet to be determined;

C.

whereas Type 2 diabetes decreases life expectancy by 5-10 years (14) and Type 1 diabetes decreases life expectancy by around 20 years (15), and whereas 325 000 deaths per year are attributed to diabetes in the EU (16), i.e. one EU citizen every two minutes;

D.

whereas the reduction of identified risk-factors, notably lifestyle habits, is increasingly recognised as a key prevention strategy able to reduce the incidence, prevalence and complications for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes;

E.

whereas research is still needed to clearly identify risk factors for Type 1 diabetes, while genetic predisposition is being researched and Type 1 diabetes is being contracted at an increasingly early age;

F.

whereas Type 2 diabetes is a preventable disease and for which risk factors – such as poor and unbalanced diet, obesity, lack of physical activity and alcohol consumption – have been clearly identified and can be addressed via effective prevention strategies;

G.

whereas no cures are currently available for diabetes;

H.

whereas the complications of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and early diagnosis; whereas, however, it is frequently diagnosed too late, and up to 50% of all people with diabetes are currently unaware of their condition (17);

I.

whereas up to 75 % of all people with diabetes are not in good control of their condition, leading to an increased risk of complications, productivity loss and costs for society (18), as found in a recent study (19);

J.

whereas in most Member States diabetes is responsible for over 10 % of healthcare expenditure, a figure sometimes climbing as high as 18,5 % (20), and the general healthcare cost for an EU citizen with diabetes is on average EUR 2 100 a year (21); whereas these costs will inevitably increase given the rising numbers of people with diabetes, the ageing of the population and the associated rise in multiple co-morbidities;

K.

whereas diabetes, if poorly managed or diagnosed too late, is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, blindness, amputation and kidney failure;

L.

whereas promoting healthy lifestyles and addressing the four major health determinants – tobacco, poor diet, lack of physical activity and alcohol – through all policy areas can greatly contribute to the prevention of diabetes, its complications and its economic and social costs;

M.

whereas people living with diabetes must provide for 95 % of their own care (22), whereas the burden of diabetes on individuals and their families is not only financial, but also involves psycho-social issues and reduced quality of life;

N.

whereas only 16 out of 27 Member States have a national framework or programme in place to tackle diabetes, and no clear criteria exist as to what constitutes a good programme or what the best-practice countries are (23); whereas there are considerable differences and inequalities in the quality of diabetes treatment within the EU;

O.

whereas there is no EU legal framework for discrimination against people suffering from diabetes or other chronic diseases, and prejudice against sufferers is still widespread in schools, job recruitment, work places, insurance policies and in assessment for driving licenses throughout the EU;

P.

whereas there is a lack of funding and infrastructure to coordinate diabetes research in the EU, which has a negative impact on the competitiveness of EU diabetes research and prevents people with diabetes from benefiting fully from research in Europe;

Q.

whereas there is currently no European strategy for addressing diabetes, despite the Austrian Presidency Council Conclusions on promotion of healthy lifestyles and prevention of Type 2 diabetes (24), an extensive list of UN Resolutions, and a European Parliament Written Declaration on diabetes;

1.

Welcomes the Council Conclusions of 7 December 2010, entitled ‘Innovative approaches for chronic diseases in public health and healthcare systems’ (25) and its call on the Member States and the Commission to ‘initiate a reflection process aiming to identify options to optimise the response to the challenges of chronic diseases’;

2.

Takes note of its abovementioned resolution of 15 September 2011 on the European Union position and commitment in advance of the UN high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, which focuses on diabetes as one of the four major non-communicable diseases;

3.

Calls on the Commission to develop and implement a targeted EU Diabetes Strategy, in the form of an EU Council Recommendation on diabetes prevention, diagnosis, management, education and research;

4.

Calls on the Commission to draw up common, standardised criteria and methods for data collection on diabetes, and, in collaboration with the Member States, to coordinate, collect, register, monitor and manage comprehensive epidemiological data on diabetes, and economic data on the direct and indirect costs of diabetes prevention and management;

5.

Calls on the Member States to develop, implement and monitor national diabetes programmes aimed at health promotion, risk-factor reduction and the prediction, prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, targeting both the population at large and high-risk groups in particular, and designed to reduce inequalities and optimise healthcare resources;

6.

Calls on the Member States to promote Type 2 diabetes and obesity prevention (recommending that strategies be implemented from an early age through education about healthy dietary and physical-activity habits in schools) and healthy lifestyle strategies, including exercise and diet approaches; stresses, in this regard, the need to align food-related policies with the objectives of promoting a healthy diet, allowing consumers to make informed and healthy choices, and early diagnosis as key fields of action in their national diabetes programmes;

7.

Calls on the Commission to support Member States by promoting the exchange of best practice with regard to good national diabetes programmes; stresses the need for the Commission continuously to monitor progress as regards the Member States’ implementation of national diabetes programmes, and to present the results on a regular basis in the form of a Commission report;

8.

Calls on the Member States to develop diabetes management programmes based on best practices and evidence-based treatment guidelines;

9.

Calls on the Member States to ensure continued patient access in primary and secondary care to high-quality interdisciplinary teams, diabetes treatments and technologies, including e-health technologies, and to support patients in obtaining and sustaining the skills and understanding needed to enable competent life-long self-management;

10.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the coordination of European diabetes research by fostering collaboration between research disciplines and creating general, shared infrastructures to facilitate European diabetes research efforts, including in the fields of risk-factor identification and prevention;

11.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure continued support for diabetes funding under the current and future EU Framework Programmes for Research, while considering Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes as distinct diseases;

12.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure proper and adequate follow-up to the outcomes of the UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases of September 2011;

13.

Recalls the importance for the EU and the Member States, with a view to achieving NCD-related objectives and addressing public health, social and economic challenges, of further integrating prevention and risk-factor reduction into all relevant legislative and policy fields, and in particular into their environmental, food and consumer policies;

14.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the parliaments of the Member States.

31.8.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 251/52

—

having regard to the European Council decision of 16 December 2005 to grant the status of candidate country for EU membership to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and to the Presidency Conclusions issued following the European Council meetings of 15 and 16 June 2006 and 14 and 15 December 2006,

—

having regard to UNSC Resolutions 845 (1993) and 817 (1993), as well as to UN General Assembly resolution 47/225 (1993) and to the 1995 Interim Accord,

—

having regard to the judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Application of the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995 (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia v. Greece),

—

having regard to the Commission’s 2011 Progress Report (SEC(2011)1203) and the Commission Communication of 12 October 2011 entitled ‘Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2011-2012’ (COM(2011)0666),

—

having regard to its previous resolutions,

—

having regard to the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of 4 November 2011,

—

having regard to OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report of early parliamentary elections of 5 June 2011,

—

having regard to Council Decision 2008/212/EC of 18 February 2008 on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with the country,

—

having regard to the General Affairs and Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 13 and 14 December 2010 and of 5 December 2011,

—

having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas at the Thessaloniki European Council meeting of 19 and 20 June 2003 a commitment was made to all the Western Balkan States that they would join the European Union and this commitment was reiterated at the High-Level Meeting on the Western Balkans in Sarajevo on 2 June 2010;

B.

whereas the Commission in its 2011 Progress Report upheld its recommendation from 2009 to start EU accession negotiations with the country;

C.

whereas in its 2011 Enlargement Strategy the Commission confirmed that ‘enlargement policy has proven to be a powerful tool for societal transformation’ and that ‘commitment, conditionality and credibility have been situated at the core of the accession process and its success’;

D.

whereas the Association Partnership called for an intensification of efforts, based on a constructive approach, to find a negotiated and mutually acceptable solution to the name issue with Greece, in the framework of UN Security Council Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), and for the avoidance of actions which could negatively affect such efforts; whereas both the Commission and the Council have repeatedly stressed that maintaining good neighbourly relations, including working towards a negotiated and mutually accepted solution to the name issue under the auspices of the UN is essential;

E.

whereas bilateral issues should not represent and be used as an obstacle in the accession process but should be addressed in a constructive spirit, as early as possible, taking into account overall EU interests and values;

F.

whereas regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations remain essential parts of the enlargement process and working out compromises on contested issues is the best way to enhance regional cooperation, in the interests of maintaining of peace and good-neighbourly relations in the Western Balkans; whereas continuation of the accession process would contribute to the stability of the country and would further strengthen inter-ethnic relations;

G.

whereas every candidate country has its own particular level of progress and dynamics of accession; whereas the EU has a responsibility not to leave any country behind and the credibility of the EU accession process can be compromised by continued delays in opening accession negotiations;

H.

whereas the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was among the first countries of the region to be awarded candidate status, is the country with the highest domestic public support for EU accession and has now been the subject of a positive recommendation from the Commission to set a date for the start of EU accession negotiations for three successive years;

I.

whereas all candidate and potential candidate countries should be treated in the integration process according to their own merits;

1.

Reiterates its call on the Council to set a date for the start of accession negotiations with the country without further delay;

2.

Shares the assessment made by the Commission in its 2011 progress report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as regards the country’s continuous fulfilment of political criteria; regrets that the Council did not follow the Commission’s recommendation for the third consecutive year and did not decide to open the accession negotiations with the country at its meeting on 9 December 2011;

3.

Stresses the importance of the country’s European integration process and of all efforts to support this aim, in particular the start of pre-screening of harmonisation of legislation with the acquis and the implementation of the second phase of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement;

4.

Is concerned, while not wishing to hold back welcome progress towards EU accession made by other countries in the Western Balkans, that the perception of the country’s progress being ‘overtaken’ could hamper continued improvements in inter-ethnic relations in the country and that the failure of any country in the region to achieve steady progress towards EU accession ultimately poses a threat to stability and security for them all;

5.

Points out that, while every candidate country has its own particular level of progress and dynamics of accession, the EU has a responsibility not to leave the country behind;

6.

Notes the comment made by the Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy on 5 September 2011 that ‘the positive recommendation of the European Commission is not inscribed in stone’; points out, nevertheless, that the decision of the Council not to follow the recommendation of the Commission has triggered legitimate frustration and dissatisfaction in the country’s public opinion and notes that the EU and its Member States must never take for granted the European perspective of any applicant country and must show equal efforts towards accelerating the accession process in a true spirit of partnership;

7.

Welcomes the appointment of the new Head of the EU Delegation and hopes that this appointment will strengthen relations between the EU and the country;

8.

Welcomes the commencement on 15 March 2012 of the High Level Accession Dialogue with the European Commission as a step forward in the EU accession process, which aims to take forward the reform agenda through a substantial exchange of views and regular technical consultations in five key policy areas – freedom of expression, rule of law, public administration reform, electoral reform, and the economic criteria; shares the view of the Commission and of Government authorities that there is a need to focus the dialogue on chapters 23 (Judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (Justice, freedom and security), which will further advance the degree of application of EU accession criteria and standards; expects that this advanced form of a dialogue will continue in other areas crucial for EU accession process; considers that this dialogue will create a new commitment to reforms and strengthen our relationship through biannual political level meetings;

9.

Recognises that membership of NATO and membership of the European Union are both essential to the Euro-Atlantic approach adopted by the country, and notes that the NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012 as well as the launch of the High Level Accession Dialogue and the June 2012 European Council provide further important opportunities for additional progress; recalls the recent statement by the NATO Secretary General that an invitation will be extended to the country as soon as a mutually acceptable solution is reached on the name issue;

10.

Reiterates its call on the authorities and the media to work towards the creation of a positive atmosphere that will help to develop relations with neighbouring countries and not encourage hate speech;

11.

Notes the decision of the government formed in July 2011 to apply the Amnesty Law to the four war-crimes related cases which were returned to domestic jurisdiction from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2008; asks the government to investigate alternative options to ensure access to justice and reparation for the victims of these crimes and their families consistent with the obligations of international humanitarian law;

12.

Notes the decision of the International Court of Justice with respect to the name dispute issued on 5 December 2011; takes the view that this decision should give a new impetus to ensure that every possible effort is made to solve the name dispute under the auspices of the UN, and calls on the parties to comply with the judgment in good faith and use it to intensify dialogue, stressing at the same time the need for a mutually accepted compromise; welcomes in this regard the statement by the UN-appointed mediator and his call on the parties to view this event as an opportunity to think constructively about their mutual relationship and to consider a renewed initiative with a view to reaching a definitive solution to this issue;

13.

Strongly regrets that the name dispute is continuing to block the country’s road to EU accession and thus hindering the enlargement process itself; underlines that good neighbourly relations are a key criterion for the EU enlargement process and calls on the governments concerned to avoid controversial gestures, controversial actions and statements which could have negative effects on relations;

14.

Reiterates its call on the Vice-President/High Representative and the Commissioner responsible for enlargement to facilitate an agreement on the name issue and offer political guidance; takes the view, moreover, that the country’s leadership and the European Union should consistently explain to the public the benefits of the solution when it is agreed, ahead of the referendum on the issue;

15.

Regrets the omission of the term ‘Macedonian’ in the Progress Report 2011 and since 2009 despite the fact that it is the norm in references to the country’s language, culture and identity in United Nations texts; draws attention to the negative reactions that this aspect has provoked in public opinion this year and calls on the Commission to take this into consideration when preparing future reports; recalls that the Ohrid Framework Agreement is based on the principle of respect for the ethnic identity of all communities;

16.

Emphasises the importance of maintaining the ‘momentum’ of the accession process; in this connection, welcomes the offer by the government of the country to set a deadline for a successful resolution of the name dispute at the latest before the end of the screening process to be undertaken by the Commission as soon as the negotiations begin; believes genuine efforts by the government and delivery of EU reforms across the full range of relevant issues can help create a political environment conducive to overcoming bilateral issues, as demonstrated by other enlargement processes; points out that the parallel process of solving the bilateral issue and pursuing the accession negotiations, on the same basis as the Slovenia-Croatia model, will be beneficial both to the country and to the EU;

17.

Reiterates its call on the Commission and the Council to start developing, in accordance with the EU Treaties, a generally applicable arbitration mechanism aimed at solving bilateral issues between enlargement countries and Member States;

18.

Welcomes the election of the new parliament and the swift creation of the coalition government, resulting from the early parliamentary elections; calls for the strengthening of political dialogue, drawing attention to the parliament as a key democratic institution for discussion and resolution of issues resulting from political differences; notes that the National Assembly’s resolution welcomed the recommendations of this year’s Progress Report and was adopted by consensus; calls on all political actors in the country to redouble their efforts to proceed with necessary reforms, including the effective implementation and follow-up of the Commission’s recommendations;

19.

Congratulates the country on the conduct of the early parliamentary elections of 5 June 2011 and welcomes the OSCE/ODHIR’s assessment that they were competitive, transparent and well-administered throughout the country; draws attention, however, to some shortcomings and calls on the authorities to follow up on the recommendations of the international community, in particular the conclusions and recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission, and of the domestic observers from the association Most, such as updating the voter list, guaranteeing balanced coverage by the press, including by the public broadcaster, of both the government and the opposition parties, protecting civil servants against all kind of political pressures, ensuring the effective monitoring of party financing and transparent public funding, arrangements for out-of-country voting, and fully respecting separation between state and party structures; calls on the relevant authorities to address these issues in the near future;

20.

Welcomes the ending of parliamentary boycotts and believes the further strengthening of democracy in the country can only be achieved by an enhanced spirit of political dialogue within established democratic institutions, incorporating all political parties; calls for the parliament’s overseeing role vis-à-vis the government and its agencies to be strengthened; calls for the necessary finance to be made available and for the necessary additional staff to be appointed to enable the full establishment of the Parliamentary Institute; encourages the progress made through the establishment of parliamentary oversight hearings and supports further efforts from the European Union to provide technical assistance to the National Assembly to develop its practices; encourages the continuing work of the Joint Parliamentary Committee with the European Parliament;

21.

Commends the country for its good economic performance and for maintaining macro-economic stability; congratulates the government on being the third most successful country in the world over the past five years in undertaking regulatory reforms according to the World Bank ‘Doing Business’ Report; notes that the global economic downturn has affected Foreign Direct Investment, which remains at a very low level; believes that the potential for investment, trade and economic development remains a decisive argument for pursuing the country’s accession to the EU;

22.

Notes that legal predictability and efficient enforcement of laws are essential for further enhancement of the business environment for domestic companies and foreign investors; calls on the government, therefore, to accelerate efforts to ensure an effective and independent judiciary, as well as a professional, competent and impartial administration, including steps to strengthen the independence and capacities of regulatory and supervisory agencies;

23.

Recognises the challenges of high unemployment and poverty, which continue to represent a major burden on the country; welcomes the debate on a minimum wage that is currently taking place in the parliament; recalls the low standing of the country in the UN Human Development Index and welcomes the adoption of the Strategy against Poverty and Social Exclusion; stresses, while calling on the government to make more efforts to address structural unemployment and protect vulnerable groups, that only sustainable economic growth through the creation of an environment that encourages businesses to invest more can be a solution to the serious problem of persistently high levels of unemployment in the country; to this end, urges the government to support small and medium-sized enterprises by facilitating access to finance and encourages it to continue its good practice of consulting business community representatives;

24.

Welcomes the fact that the country has moved up 40 places in the Transparency International anti-corruption index over the last five years; commends the amendments made to the legal framework for anti-corruption policy in line with GRECO recommendations; shares the Commission’s view, however, that corruption remains ‘a serious concern’; urges continued efforts to establish a track-record for achieving convictions on a non-partisan basis in cases of corruption, particularly at a high level and in key areas of concern such as public procurement; underlines the need for greater transparency as regards public expenditure and the funding of political parties; calls on European Union investors and businesses trading with the country to play a greater peer leadership role in speaking out against corruption with their local partners;

25.

Notes the finding of the Progress Report that the independence and impartiality of the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption remains fragile; calls for stronger legal and institutional protection of whistleblowers; welcomes the new Criminal Procedure Code adopted in the framework of the wider Criminal Justice Reform, which should improve the investigative procedures for complex organised crime and corruption cases; welcomes the appointment from next year of an investigative team working directly for the Public Prosecutor and hopes this will enable more cases referred by the Commission to lead to actual convictions; calls on the government to provide the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption with the necessary funding and staff; emphasises that political will is crucial in dealing with systemic corruption;

26.

Notes the adoption of a wide-ranging legal package aimed at further strengthening the efficiency and independence of the judiciary; welcomes in this regard the efficient work of the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors and the implementation of random distribution of cases; encourages the authorities in charge to continue implementing legislation to combat corruption and improving the independence, efficiency and resources of the judiciary; draws attention to the importance of the court system functioning free from political interference; welcomes the efforts to increase the efficiency and transparency of the court system; stresses the need to build up an enforcement record of prosecutions and convictions against which progress can be measured; calls for the unification of jurisprudence in order to ensure a predictable judicial system and public trust;

27.

Congratulates the country on the 20th anniversary of its independence and on the 10th anniversary of the Ohrid Framework Agreement in 2011; stresses that the agreement can be a model of successful resolution of inter-ethnic conflicts while preserving the territorial integrity and reforming the structures of the state; stresses, nevertheless, that further and even stronger efforts are needed in order to achieve full reconciliation between the parties and lay down the basis for the consolidation of non-partisan and interethnic democratic institutions;

28.

Commends the Prime Minister’s speech of 5 September 2011 welcoming multiculturalism as the country’s social and political model, underlining the need to implement the OFA and setting the objective of ‘integration without assimilation’; supports the commitments made towards a second decade of implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement;

29.

Acknowledges the recent adoption of several laws, in particular the amendments to the Law on Languages and the use of symbols; calls for active support in all localities for Committees for relations amongst communities;

30.

Notes with concern the use of historical arguments in the current debate, including the phenomenon of ‘antiquisation’, which threatens to increase tensions with neighbour countries and create new internal divisions;

31.

Emphasises the need for adequate preparation and operational organisation of the census in accordance with the law and Eurostat standards; calls on the government to present a credible plan for implementation of the process; notes the importance of the 20 % threshold for triggering certain rights under the OFA, but insists that no form of discrimination can ever be justified vis-à-vis the Albanian or any other minority ethnic community on the basis of their numbers in the population;

32.

Calls for significantly enhanced efforts to combat separation between children of different ethnic groups in the education system, while supporting the right of all to education in their mother tongue; to this end, underlines the importance of developing new textbooks aimed at improving mutual understanding and ending the harmful practice of ethnic shifts still present in some schools; calls, in view of the crucial importance of education to the country, for more support to be provided to it from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, provided that educational segregation is effectively dealt with;

33.

Supports decisive steps towards political decentralisation in the country, which has been described by the government as the ‘main pillar’ of the OFA and is in the interests of good public administration; welcomes the approval of action plans to achieve this;

34.

Endorses the Commission’s recommendation for stronger impetus to be given to the decentralisation process; calls for a significant rebalancing between central and local budgets to achieve this decentralisation; stresses the importance of transparency, objectiveness and impartiality in the distribution of grants to municipalities; expresses its concern that some municipalities will experience financial troubles due to lack of financial management capacities, and urges the government, where necessary with support from the Commission, to provide them with adequate technical assistance;

35.

Commends the successful cooperation programme between municipalities, assisted by the UNDP, and calls for the EU to step up its support for this practice;

36.

Is deeply concerned about recent developments in the media and the fact that media ownership remains opaque and highly concentrated; urges the country to demonstrate an absolute commitment to media freedoms and pluralism, including informed and pluralistic debate about the reform issues identified in the Progress Report; welcomes the invitation to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media to take part in the newly established Round Table on freedom of the media and endorses her statement that, while all the media outlets must comply with the legal and financial rules for doing business, media critical to one party must not be particularly targeted by the legal system; urges the authorities to ensure respect for the rule of law and media freedom in the country and thereby ensure that the Commission’s assessment remains positive in the future;

37.

Calls for the equitable and transparent distribution of government advertising revenues between all national broadcasters without any consideration of editorial content or political inclination; endorses the Commission’s recommendation for action to ensure that the state television channel fulfils the objectives and plays the impartial role of a public service broadcaster; calls on the authorities to adopt the necessary changes so as to align the Law on Broadcasting with EU legislation;

38.

Calls for efforts to avoid abuse of libel actions against journalists for political reasons; welcomes the recent announcement by the Government that the defamation law is to be removed from the penal code and the pending lawsuits against journalists suspended; stresses that media freedom is the cornerstone of democracy and an imperative for any country aspiring to become an EU Member State; shares the view that the media sector should elaborate and implement high professional standards for journalists and adhere to the rules of journalistic ethics; calls on the authorities to draw up anti-trust legislation in the field of the media, as well as measures to prevent political influence in the media sector;

39.

Welcomes the fact that freedom of thought, conscience and religion is generally ensured; encourages the government to continue its efforts of strengthen anti-discrimination policies, emphasises the importance of preventing discrimination on ethnic grounds, including discrimination against citizens expressing openly their Bulgarian identity and/or ethnic background;

40.

Welcomes the establishment of an Anti-Discrimination Commission this year and calls for the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency and in the Equinet Network of European independent anti-discrimination agencies to fully support and cooperate with its work; welcomes the fact that three complaints of alleged discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation brought forward by the Coalition for Sexual and Health Rights are being investigated by the Commission;

41.

Calls for the strengthening of anti-discrimination policies and the effective implementation thereof, including more efforts to protect the rights of women and children, as well as those of disabled people; welcomes the active and effective role of the Parliamentary Women’s Club, but is concerned by still low participation of women in political life at local level, and considers that education programmes aimed at involving women in civil and political life should be enhanced and implemented; calls for further efforts to deinstitutionalise disabled people; welcomes the parliamentary ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 7 December 2011;

42.

Is concerned that only limited progress has been made regarding gender equality and women’s rights; encourages the government to make gender equality a political priority and to increase support for activities and initiatives aimed at combating discriminatory customs, traditions and stereotypes that undermine women’s basic rights;

43.

Reiterates its call for the Law on Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination to be amended to prohibit discrimination on all grounds, which is covered by Article 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and underlines that this is a prerequisite for accession; expresses its concern about university and school text books which describe homosexuality as a disease and calls for their immediate modification; calls on the Commission to develop capacity-building programmes aimed at strengthening civil society, including the LGBT community;

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;