15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/1

—

having regard to its previous resolutions on the future of democracy, regional security and the role of civil society,

—

having regard to the European Parliament's previous resolutions on the European Neighbourhood Policy, and in particular to its resolutions of 21 January 2016 on Association Agreements/Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine (1), of 5 October 2017 on the cases of Crimean Tatar leaders Akhtem Chiygoz, Ilmi Umerov and the journalist Mykola Semena (2), of 4 February 2016 on the human rights situation in Crimea, in particular of the Crimean Tatars (3), and of 16 March 2017 on the Ukrainian prisoners in Russia and the situation in Crimea (4),

—

having regard to the EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2016,

—

having regard to the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of 25 September 2017 on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine),

—

having regard to the Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy of June 2016,

—

having regard to international humanitarian law and, in particular, to its provisions on occupied territories and the treatment and protection of civilians,

—

having regard to Rule 9(3) of the Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas the deterioration of the human rights situation in the regions of Transnistria, Abkhazia, Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia and Crimea and in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast is alarming;

B.

whereas people living in these territories have limited or no access to the justice system; whereas the legitimate authorities have no access to those areas to administer justice;

C.

whereas schoolchildren residing in those territories are often denied the right to receive education in their native language;

D.

whereas the so-called authorities on the ground have manifested a very limited will to effectively allow human rights and basic freedoms to be enjoyed by the local population;

E.

whereas the Russian Federation bears the responsibility for the human rights violations, as it is directly or indirectly influencing the developments in the conflict areas by providing financial, military and economic assistance to the so-called authorities on the ground;

F.

whereas people living in these conflict areas are under constant threat of military conflict or further escalation;

1.

Strongly condemns the persecution and intimidation of those who oppose the pro-Russian regime, which is helping to establish so-called ‘local authorities’ in the conflict areas;

2.

Deplores the fact that the citizens from those regions cannot freely cross the occupation lines and in many cases are unable to return to their homes; points out that in some instances the occupation line, or so-called border, goes through villages or through the property of a single family;

3.

Stands firm in supporting the people living in the conflict areas, and recalls that the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) can be extended to cover those conflict areas, provided that the so-called authorities abide by the laws of the legitimate central government; confirms that the visa-free regime in these countries extends to all citizens, including those who are living in conflict areas, provided that the requirements as regards biometric passports are implemented;

4.

Calls on the Commission to support projects and exchanges aimed at improving people-to-people contacts, as well as those promoting peace-building, conflict resolution, reconciliation and intercultural dialogue;

5.

Calls for a monitoring mission to be established with a view to monitoring the human rights situation in the conflict areas; calls on international human rights observers, including specialised structures of the UN, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, to explore ways to obtain access to those territories;

6.

Strongly condemns the prevailing practice of transferring detainees to distant regions of Russia, as this severely hinders their communication with their families and the ability of human rights organisations to monitor their wellbeing; calls on the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU Delegation to Russia to closely follow the ongoing trials and to pay attention to the treatment of detainees; expresses particular concern at the reported use of punitive psychiatric treatments; expects the EU Delegation, the EEAS and the Member States' embassies to closely follow these proceedings and to seek access to the detainees before, during and after their trials;

7.

Calls on the Russian Federation, which has direct or indirect influence over the so-called ‘local authorities’ in the conflict areas, to ensure that human rights are protected, which is its obligation under international humanitarian law;

8.

Calls on the European Court of Human Rights to consider with the highest possible priority all applications for redress coming from these conflict areas, and the cases of detainees taken from these areas to Russia, as the so-called judicial system in the conflict areas, as well as in Russia, does not provide legal remedies in these cases;

9.

Supports the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine within their internationally recognised borders, and reiterates its condemnation of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, as well as Russia's ongoing occupation of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia;

10.

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European External Action Service, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Eastern Partnership countries.

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/3

—

having regard to the reports on the use of armed drones of 28 May 2010 and 13 September 2013 by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and of 18 September 2013 by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism,

—

having regard to the statement made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 13 August 2013 on the use of armed drones,

—

having regard to the hearing of 25 April 2013 on the human rights implications of the use of drones, organised by the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights jointly with its Subcommittee on Security and Defence,

—

having regard to the European Parliament study of 3 May 2013 on the ‘Human rights implications of the usage of drones and unmanned robots in warfare’,

—

having regard to the Council conclusions of 19 and 20 December 2013 on preparations for a programme of next-generation European Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS),

—

having regard to the decision of the UN Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) to establish a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems,

—

having regard to the open letter by leaders of robotics and AI companies released at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2017) in Melbourne,

A.

whereas lethal autonomous weapons (hereinafter ‘killer robots’) have become widely used in conflict areas over the past decades;

B.

whereas in lowering the potential loss of combatants' lives the use of killer robots thus lowers the barriers to war;

C.

whereas the use of killer robots leads to arbitrary executions among peaceful civil populations living in extraterritorial zones of lethal operations;

D.

whereas large numbers of peaceful civilians are being killed by killer robots, particularly in conflict areas; whereas Article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions states that ‘acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited’;

E.

whereas the use of drones directly violates the principles of international human rights law;

F.

whereas 116 founders of robotics and artificial intelligence companies from 26 countries have signed an open letter urging the UN to urgently address the challenge of lethal autonomous weapons and to ban their use internationally;

G.

whereas the Israeli Defence Ministry has temporarily suspended the marketing and export licence of an Israeli weapons manufacturer for staging drone attacks on targets in Nagorno Karabakh at the urging of Azerbaijan;

1.

Stresses the importance of the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons within the international legal framework;

2.

Emphasises the importance of policy development in EaP fora aimed at devising responsive mechanisms for the assurance of human rights and international humanitarian law in the EU Member States and in the Eastern Partner countries;

3.

Condemns the perpetration of targeted killings among peaceful populations in conflict zones;

4.

Calls on the EaP countries to contribute towards a more transparent and accountable policy regarding the use of killer robots in extraterritorial zones;

5.

Highlights the importance of setting up investigative mechanisms in the conflict zones of EaP countries with the aim of detecting and preventing mechanisms that allow arbitrary attacks on peaceful populations living in nearby areas;

6.

Urges the EaP countries to support the activities of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems.

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/5

—

having regard to the launch of the Eastern Partnership in Prague on 7 May 2009 as a common endeavour of the EU and its eastern partners Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and the Joint Declarations of the Eastern Partnership Summits of 2011 in Warsaw, of 2013 in Vilnius and of 2015 in Riga,

—

having regard to the recommendations by, and activities of, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and the Committee of the Regions and the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP),

—

having regard to the European Commission and European External Action Service (EEAS) communications on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council on the ENP and the Eastern Partnership,

—

having regard to its resolutions, and in particular those of 21 January 2016 on Association Agreements/Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and of 9 July 2015 on the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy,

—

having regard to the Joint Statement of the Parliaments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and the Joint Communiqué of the Chairpersons of the Committees on European Integration of the parliaments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine,

A.

whereas the tense geopolitical environment is creating new sophisticated challenges, ranging from economic issues to security threats, for EU Member States and Eastern partner countries;

B.

whereas European values, namely the primacy of democracy and respect for human rights, must be defended for the peace and prosperity of the whole continent; whereas partner countries have committed to deepening their relations and adhering to international law and upholding fundamental common values in order to increase political dialogue;

C.

whereas the Eastern Partnership is a strategic dimension of the ENP and a key element for the stability and sustainable development of the continent;

D.

whereas various levels of bilateral relations exist between the EU and its partner countries and the incorporation of European standards into their domestic laws is uneven;

E.

whereas with the full entry into force of the Association Agreements (AAs), including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, there has been noticeable progress in relations with the EU and the European choice of the partners concerned;

F.

whereas the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of some of the EU's Eastern partners are under threat from unresolved regional conflicts which are being actively prolonged by the Russian Federation; whereas these conflicts could be resolved through diplomacy and honest engagement;

G.

whereas Russia's aggressive and expansionist policy towards the partner countries concerned has resulted in the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as the illegal occupation of Abkhazia, Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia and some regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, in breach of international law and bilateral agreements as well as Russia's commitments and obligations with regard to its membership of international organisations;

H.

whereas Russian aggression against Ukraine and its illegal annexation of Crimea has serious implications for security in Europe overall; whereas hundreds of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories have been illegally detained, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned by the Russian authorities and their proxies and that number has been increasing; whereas Ukraine has almost 1,8 million internally displaced persons and 5 million people affected by the conflict;

1.

Calls for a unanimous and strategic response to the consequences of the challenging geopolitical situation provoked by Russia and for effective mechanisms to restore peace in areas of protracted conflicts to be proposed;

2.

Reiterates strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova within their internationally recognised borders;

3.

Condemns the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the annexed and occupied territories of partner countries;

4.

Underlines the need for urgent advocacy, legal and financial support to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in resolving the situation with regard to internally displaced persons; calls for the immediate release of Ukrainian political prisoners in the Russian Federation; encourages the exchange of prisoners;

5.

Reiterates the principles of flexibility and the individual approach and that the scope of cooperation with the EU is determined by its ambitions and those of partners;

6.

Welcomes the entry into force of the Association Agreements, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and the new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the EU and Armenia, as well as the ongoing negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan on a new framework agreement; appreciates the fact that the EU's critical engagement with Belarus has become more comprehensive, including within the EU-Belarus Coordination Group, the Human Rights Dialogue and the Dialogue on Trade;

7.

Calls for close political association and economic integration, including participation in EU programmes as well as recognising that AAs with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are not the final goal in their relations with the EU; calls for their European aspirations to be acknowledged;

8.

Calls for agreement on new strategic long-term goals at the EaP Summit in Brussels on 24 November 2017 with a view to formulating the comprehensive agenda of cooperation for the next biannual period and beyond;

9.

Reiterates its principal position regarding the need for the draft Brussels Declaration to reflect the European aspirations and the European choice of the partner countries concerned, as stated in the AAs;

10.

Stresses in particular that other strategically important elements should be included in the draft Brussels Declaration, such as:

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/7

—

having regard to the Constituent Act of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly of 3 May 2011,

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Riga on 21 and 22 May 2015,

—

having regard to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol thereto,

—

having regard to the Paris Agreement and Decision 1/CP.21 of the Conference of the Parties, held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015,

—

having regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, in particular the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals 7 ‘Affordable and clean energy’ and 13 ‘Climate action’,

—

having regard to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 22 March 2016 on policy development on unconventional gas and potential impact on energy markets in the EU and the Eastern European partner countries',

—

having regard to the Association Agreements between the EU on the one side and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on the other, in particular the provisions on energy cooperation,

—

having regard to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) initialled on 21 March 2017 between the EU on the one side and Armenia on the other, in particular the provisions on energy cooperation,

—

having regard to the Joint Statement of the Visegrad Group's Ministers of Foreign Affairs on the Eastern Partnership following the results of their meeting in Warsaw on 12 April 2017, providing prospects for EU membership to those Eastern Partnership countries interested in such membership;

—

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 6 October 2016 on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh (1),

—

having regard to the ministerial declaration of 18 October 2016 on environment and climate change in the Eastern Partnership by the Ministers for Environment of the EU Member States and Eastern Partnership countries,

—

having regard to the Commission's legislative package of 30 November 2016 on ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’,

—

having regard to the Commission and European External Action Service joint staff working document of 15 December 2016 on ‘Eastern Partnership – Focusing on key priorities and deliverables’ (SWD(2016)0467),

A.

whereas at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2015 in Paris, 193 signatory countries reached a global agreement setting out goals and mechanisms for responding to climate change and establishing binding obligations; whereas in Paris the EU made the commitment to achieve, by 2030, at least a 40 % reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990; whereas the Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016;

B.

whereas, in order to achieve deep emissions reduction, the Parties to the Paris Agreement have to tackle the carbon intensity of their energy systems and implement ambitious strategies for driving the transition to low-carbon markets in a global economy;

C.

whereas the 2015 Riga Eastern Partnership Summit participants reiterated their intention to deepen further bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the sphere of climate change and energy; whereas in line with the November 2015 review of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU and the Eastern European partners have paid greater attention to energy security and climate actions;

D.

whereas under the European Neighbourhood Instrument and its second phase of multiannual programming until 2020, the EU identifies key priorities for energy cooperation under the Eastern Partnership, in accordance with the priorities set in Riga and the 20 deliverables for 2020 proposed by the Commission and the EEAS joint staff working document of 15 December 2016;

E.

whereas the EU has set the foundations of an EU-wide Energy Union, as an instrument to attain secure, sustainable, competitive energy for every European; whereas the Energy Union's objectives are to integrate Europe's energy sector, to tackle the issue of fragmented energy markets through more effective coordination of energy polices, to allow free flow of energy across national borders, to foster investment in new capacity and infrastructures for diversifying energy supply, as well as cutting household bills, creating jobs and boosting growth; whereas through these aims the Energy Union supports the delivery of the EU's commitments to the Paris Agreement and identifies coherent ways to achieve both energy and climate policy goals to ensure a global and all-encompassing transition to a competitive and low-carbon economy;

F.

whereas the Eastern European partners face a growing demand for energy at a faster pace than the EU average; whereas their economies are much more energy-intensive than in the average EU Member State and whereas this energy inefficiency hampers their efforts to tackle climate change;

G.

whereas the Eastern European partners are at an early stage in progress towards a free market and market-set pricing in energy sectors; whereas the lack of reforms in energy regulatory frameworks and of private sector investment are hampering the transition towards a liberal energy market;

H.

whereas the provision of EU membership prospects to those Eastern Partnership countries that are interested in such membership requires both political support and the promotion of projects that are in accordance with EU policies and best practices, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement;

1.

Shares the views of the Parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change, as the latter poses a threat to peace and stability, world economic prosperity, poverty reduction and sustainable development; welcomes the commitment of the Parties to carry out collective action to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and avoid significant adverse climate impacts;

2.

Expresses its satisfaction regarding the commitment of all EU Member States and the Eastern European partners to the Paris Agreement and asks the authorities of those countries that have not yet done so to quickly complete the ratification process; takes note of the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contributions’ (INDCs) submitted by the EU Member States and partners in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; urges the EU Member State and partner country governments to upgrade their INDCs, in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; notes the importance of national energy and climate change plans for programming and ensuring compliance with updated national expected contributions to the implementation of the Paris Agreement commitments; underlines the Parties' obligation to monitor, report and verify the levels of greenhouse gas emissions in a transparent way;

3.

Believes that achieving the objectives set by the Paris Agreement will require major and structural changes in the economies and energy systems of the Parties, including a progressive shift towards a more diversified energy mix, promotion of sustainable energy sources and energy efficiency improvement in all sectors, including the transport and building sectors;

4.

Underlines the key role of renewable energy development and improved energy efficiency in reducing greenhouse gas emissions across energy sectors and in thus helping to attain the Parties' individual commitments to the Paris Agreement; believes that policies aimed at promoting renewables and energy efficiency are vectors of economic growth and employment; calls on the European Commission and the authorities of the EU Member States and Eastern European partners to enhance an integrated system of measures that promote increased consumption of renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, with further incentives to achieve energy savings across all economic sectors, in particular building and transport; calls also for the integration of renewables and energy efficiency policies in all areas relevant to energy production, transportation, distribution and storage;

5.

Stresses that integrating large quantities of electricity generated from renewable energy sources, gradually decentralising electricity production from those sources and alternative fuels and enabling consumer participation in, for example, demand response requires the upgrading of grids, including regional and trans-boundary cooperation to ensure their interoperability; calls on the Commission and the authorities of the Eastern European partners to facilitate the development of interconnection infrastructures and smart grids;

6.

Supports market-based energy policies based on open and fair competition among energy providers and market transparency; stresses that the EU's Energy Union entails the creation of a pan-European energy market in which the Eastern European partners are important players; urges the Commission and the authorities of the Eastern European partners to continuously review market rules and propose adaptations in order to allow a more favourable environment for investment in renewables in response to market failures and energy efficiency projects; emphasises the importance of creating incentives for renewables that would ensure a level playing field for renewables and fossil fuels and, in the long term, of removing subsidies for established sources of energy production that distort energy markets;

7.

Stresses the necessity of ensuring an attractive business climate and appropriate regulatory framework in order to encourage the private sector to invest in renewables, their energy transmission infrastructures and the trading of renewable-generated power across borders;

8.

Calls on the authorities of the partners associated with the EU to speed up the approximation of their legislations to the EU legislation on climate change and energy stipulated in the Association Agreements; underlines, in this regard, the importance of cooperation with the Energy Community, the Commission and the EU Member States with a view to creating legal, institutional, financial, economic and technological prerequisites to ensure a gradual transition to low-carbon development; welcomes the recent enlargement of the Energy Community to Georgia, while stressing the necessity of fully complying with the membership provisions thereof; welcomes the application from Belarus for observer status within this organisation;

9.

Calls on the Commission to increase its support and assistance with capacity building to the Eastern European partners engaged in implementing measures that have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions reduction;

10.

Calls on the Commission and the authorities of the EU Member States to help those Eastern European partners interested in the prospect of EU membership to develop national plans for energy and climate change for 2021-2030, while identifying the sources of their financing and facilitating their implementation;

11.

Underlines the key role of gas in the transition towards low-carbon energy systems in Europe and its complementarity with renewable energy; considers, in this regard, that diversification of energy sources and routes of supply, including enabling reverse-flow gas routes, is key to the energy security of EU Member States and the Eastern European partners and their capacity to achieve their commitments on climate change policies; emphasises the role of a decentralised domestic energy supply; welcomes the opening or development of gas pipeline interconnections and reverse flows in the Southern Gas Corridor and new facilities allowing exports/imports of liquefied natural gas, including the extraction of natural gas from conventional and unconventional sources; notes that new routes should not lead to increased dependency on dominant gas suppliers or undermine regional energy security and the EU Energy Union strategy; stresses that all new offshore and onshore parts of pipeline infrastructure must respect environmental rules and the key principles enshrined in relevant EU legislation; stresses that building the North Stream 2 subsea pipeline will have a negative impact on the regional gas market and, in particular, will have a detrimental effect on Ukraine's gas transmission system; calls for the EU and Eastern European partners to further explore the transit potential of the region and to abstain from participation in projects which would contradict commitments to the Energy Community Treaty and the EU Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine;

12.

Takes the view that every state is sovereign in its choices regarding its own energy mix; reiterates its call on the Belarusian authorities, however, to halt the construction of the Astravets nuclear power plant and further development of the Khatsislaw chalk field until a truly independent environmental impact assessment of their development and operation is carried out in an open and transparent manner, in full compliance with the highest international nuclear and environmental safety standards; calls also for the involvement of all stakeholders in the assessment process, in order to ensure that no compromises are made at the expense of environmental protection and nuclear safety; calls on the EU Member States and Eastern European partners concerned to continue to uphold the safety measures of their nuclear power plants and their equipment in conformity with international standards, in particular in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency's reports, and to enhance adequate safety systems for nuclear power capacities;

13.

Welcomes the joint commitment of the EU and the Eastern European partners to step up cooperation on environmental challenges and climate change and on promoting sustainable and inclusive economic development, as reaffirmed by the declaration of the first ever Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting held on 18 October 2016, which was dedicated to those issues;

14.

Supports the priorities for the Eastern Partnership in the energy field up to 2020, as set out in the second phase of the multiannual programming of the European Neighbourhood Instrument; believes that those priorities are in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement;

15.

Emphasises the importance of research and innovation into climate change and energy policies; calls for the EU and the Eastern European partners to develop cooperation on resource-efficient and low-emission technologies, their transfer, and innovation, in order to increase the adaptive capacity of their economies;

16.

Emphasises the importance for Eastern European partners of strengthening the role of energy diplomacy to promote policies and programmes, advanced clean energy technologies, the sharing of lessons learned and best practices, and the use of a financial package for investments outside the EU;

17.

Welcomes the Eastern European partners' efforts aimed at diversifying their energy sources, for example Moldova's successful implementation of the EU-funded ‘Energy and Biomass project’, which has contributed to an increase in the production of renewable energy resources and the diversification of energy supply in the country; welcomes the efforts of Georgia and Ukraine to increase energy efficiency measures in residential sectors, as well as Armenia's efforts to develop alternative sources of energy; compliments Azerbaijan on its efforts to adopt new legislative acts and to replace ageing technologies and facilities with modern ones in order to achieve the objectives of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement and other international standards; stresses that the conflict-affected areas in the Eastern European partner countries should be properly covered by international governmental and non-governmental environmental projects, despite the political situation, in order to ensure the ultimate protection of the population's environmental needs; stresses that a specific policy under the Eastern Partnership should be inclusive in this regard;

18.

Welcomes the recent expansion to all Eastern European partners of the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (‘E5P’), which aims to accelerate the implementation of important energy efficiency and environmental projects;

19.

Strongly supports the commitment for the period 2016-2020 taken in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors East (CoMO East), which bring together thousands of local and regional authorities working together towards implementing EU climate and energy objectives; encourages municipalities in the Eastern European partners to implement their sustainable energy and climate actions plans with the financial support of CoMO East, while seeking methods for scaling up investments such as project aggregation and other technical assistance;

20.

Welcomes the expansion to all Eastern European partners of the EU4Energy initiative, which aims to improve the legislative and regulatory environment, to enhance the investment climate and to contribute to cooperation by means of key infrastructure projects; supports the EU-funded Clima East policy project, which provides support to the Eastern European partners in dealing with climate change policies, and the close cooperation of the ministries of environment, ecology and nature protection of the six partner countries with the Commission with a view to implementing the Paris Agreement;

21.

Welcomes the cooperation between the EU and Eastern European partners in securing gas deliveries, notably the natural gas reverse-flow capacities to Ukraine from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and to Moldova from Romania;

22.

Calls on the EU Member States and Eastern European partners to enhance the implementation of agreements reached earlier on increasing the capacity of natural gas reverse flows from Bulgaria and Greece through Romania to Ukraine;

23.

Supports the alignment of financial instruments with policies and plans promoted by the EU, Eastern European partners and international and regional organisations, including financial institutions, banks and donors from individual countries to promote low-carbon development;

24.

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, the European External Action Service, the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States and the Eastern European partner countries.

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/12

—

having regard to the Constituent Act of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly of 3 May 2011,

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Riga on 21 and 22 May 2015,

—

having regard to Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and to Article 10 of the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR), as well as to the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights,

—

having regard to the Association Agreements between the EU on the one hand and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on the other, in particular the provisions for cooperation on media, covering audiovisual policy and the training of journalists and other media workers,

—

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2016 on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against it by third parties (1),

—

having regard to the regular reports on media freedom developments in the OSCE region presented by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media to the OSCE Permanent Council,

—

having regard to the Joint Staff Working Document of the Commission and the External European Action Service (EEAS) of 15 December 2016 entitled ‘Eastern Partnership — Focusing on key priorities and deliverables’,

—

having regard to the Joint Staff Working Document of the Commission and the EEAS of 9 June 2017 entitled ‘Eastern Partnership — 20 Deliverables for 2020 focusing on key priorities and tangible results’,

—

having regard to the initialled EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, to be signed in Brussels in November 2017,

—

having regard to the reports by well-known international journalists' organisations,

A.

whereas the Eastern Partnership is based on commitment to the principles of international law and to fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;

B.

whereas, during the 2015 Riga Eastern Partnership Summit, all participants underlined the important role that media play in democratic society and confirmed their continued support for media freedom, under Article 16 of the Joint Declaration;

C.

whereas protection of press freedom is provided within the framework of the Council of Europe, on the basis of the ECHR; whereas media freedom issues are a central part of the whole set of democratic and legal reforms implemented by Eastern Partnership countries and are therefore of high relevance in the political dialogue between the EU and its partners;

D.

whereas EU Member States and partner countries face, at different levels, challenges and problems in the fields of media freedom and the print and digital media economy; whereas common concerns include inadequate legislation, inappropriate use of counter-terrorist legislation, concentration of media ownership, the holding of economically dominant positions in media markets, political elites' intolerance of criticism, undemocratic and politically motivated control and regulation of information space, restrictions on pluralism, and as limitations on and obstruction of freedom of expression in internet media;

E.

whereas under the European Neighbourhood Instrument for 2014-2020 the EU aims to enhance media cooperation with its Eastern European partners and earmarks funding for that purpose; whereas the EU has funded a number of projects to this end, in particular projects aiming to improve media law, monitor the situation of freedom of expression and access to information, and help improve the professional skills of media workers; whereas a well-functioning media environment, based on the principles of plurality and independence, is one of the prerequisites for democratic, stable, prosperous and resilient societies;

F.

whereas, in line with Article 10.2 of the ECHR, the exercise of freedom of expression carries with it duties and responsibilities and may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties, as prescribed by law; whereas such a legal framework is necessary in a democratic society as a means of preventing crime and disorder, protecting health and morals, protecting the rights and reputation of others, preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary and safeguarding the interests of national security, fundamental rights, territorial integrity and public safety; whereas, however, such limitations must apply only where they are absolutely necessary, and the measures taken must be proportionate; whereas no measure taken with the purpose of shielding a government or institution from criticism should be deemed legitimate;

G.

whereas crackdowns on, and violence targeting, journalists, media workers and bloggers, including murder, kidnapping, assault, arbitrary detention, intimidation, harassment and the confiscation of equipment, as well as impunity for such crimes, pose a major threat to media freedom; whereas the physical safety of journalists in Eastern partnership countries has become more problematic in recent years, in particular in regions affected by conflict;

H.

whereas violence serving to silence dissident and uncomfortable views, including terrible crimes such as contract murders and kidnappings of journalists, which have had a shocking impact on media communities, threatens basic European freedoms and greatly damages media freedom by discouraging free expression, not least by inducing self-censorship; whereas, by way of examples, the terrorist attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015 and the killing of television journalist Pavel Sheremet in Kyiv in 2016 had a shocking impact on media communities and caused waves of indignation worldwide;

I.

whereas cooperation with international journalists' organisations, donation support from various foundations, and recommendations and commitments made in relation to the membership commitments of the Eastern Partnership countries to both the OSCE and the Council of Europe, have played a positive role in advancing media freedom and developing modern mass media in partner countries; whereas initiatives to enhance professionalism in journalism, ensure proper education for media workers and improve the instruments of media self-regulation in order to make them suitably operative can also contribute to the effort to build more democratic societies based on greater civic participation and respect for the rule of law;

J.

whereas the promotion of investigative journalism is a useful way of improving good governance and fighting corruption; whereas, on the other hand, widespread corruption and persistent deficiencies in the rule of law have a negative impact on the media environment, undermining the credibility of media actors and preventing them from providing factual information and detached analysis;

K.

whereas the development of the digital economy brings with it an untapped potential for social and economic development, as well as for the creation of growth and jobs in media sectors in the EU and the partner countries; whereas challenges arising in the course of efforts to harmonise digital markets should be addressed jointly by the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries;

L.

whereas national authorities face difficulties in controlling the widespread presence on the internet of illegal content, such as terrorist propaganda, racist and xenophobic material, hate speech, sexually explicit material and incitement to violence, discrimination or hostility; whereas libel and defamation laws are already applicable to this sector; whereas there is now an intensive debate over the need to regulate social media further;

M.

whereas Russian state-controlled media outlets have engaged in a systematic campaign of disinformation and propaganda across the European continent, aiming to undermine European values, manipulate public opinion and interfere in the domestic policies of EU Member States and partner countries; whereas, in response to this, the EU has adopted an Action Plan on Strategic Communication and, as part of this initiative, has set up the EU Strategic Communication Task Force;

N.

whereas proper media education and training in digital skills empower citizens to analyse media with a critical eye and identify propaganda and fake news;

O.

whereas the document ‘20 Deliverables for 2020’ identifies concrete and tangible results for citizens on the basis of already existing commitments on the part of both the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries, including in the area of strategic communication and support for independent media;

1.

Reaffirms that states have the primary duty to ensure freedom of opinion and expression, and that media freedom and freedom of expression are fundamental rights that need to be promoted and protected in a democratic society; calls on the EU institutions and partner country governments to continue to engage in political dialogue on democratic and human rights issues, with priority given to those pertaining to media freedom, integrity, pluralism and the right of access to information; welcomes, in this regard, endeavours in partner countries to protect freedom of expression and to guarantee media freedom;

2.

Expresses its support for a vibrant media environment that allows information and opinions of all kinds to be shared, based on a balanced mix of public and private media outlets and including digital broadcasting services, social networks and online tools for disseminating information;

3.

Condemns acts of violence against, and intimidation of, journalists as major threats to media freedom; calls on the Member States and partner countries to guarantee the safety and independence of journalists and to make sure that legal instruments, including criminal investigations and prosecutions, are not misused in order to hinder journalists from working freely, or to intimidate or influence them; notes with regret that investigations and prosecutions of attacks on journalists are often slow and inadequate, if not totally inconclusive; points out that the executive and judicial powers share the responsibility of maintaining respect for media freedom and integrity and of avoiding impunity for criminal attacks and offences targeting journalists;

4.

Calls for enhanced cooperation in the area of, and specific programmes for the training of security forces on, human rights, freedom of expression and the safety of journalists; considers that the term ‘journalist’ should be understood in a broader sense, to include bloggers; encourages the EU to strengthen its support for journalists' and media professionals' organisations in the Member States and partner countries;

5.

Draws attention to the threats posed by the concentration of private media assets in the hands of a few owners; notes that horizontal concentration hampers media pluralism, while vertical concentration prevents new competitors from entering media markets; takes the view that the national authorities responsible for media market regulation should monitor such concentration processes closely and, where necessary, decide on measures or sanctions to prevent actions that create dominant positions or restrict pluralism;

6.

Calls on the EU and its partner countries to ensure that national minorities have access to information in their mother tongues;

7.

Is concerned at the risk of public and private media, including broadcasters, being constrained or influenced to further governments' political interests; calls on governments to refrain from interfering with or seeking to influence the editorial policy of public media, and to provide for transparency of private media ownership; recommends, to this end, that registries of data on direct and cross-border owners and beneficiaries of media interests be created and maintained at national level and made accessible to the public;

8.

Supports the protection and confidentiality of sources as a right accorded to journalists and recognised in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights; considers that attempts to intimidate journalists into identifying their sources, including by judicial means, clash with the media's role of engaging in investigative reporting on matters of public interest, such as cases of crime, corruption or public wrongdoing;

9.

Calls on a number of Member States and partner countries to reform their media laws in the light of international law, so as to ensure that they are not in breach of fundamental freedoms; urges the governments concerned to consider introducing changes to their media legislation, on the basis of sound objectives and of the outcomes of the consultations of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission;

10.

Considers that any new anti-terrorism legislation proposed in response to the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Europe should be formulated in such a way as to balance the need to strengthen national security with the need not to restrict freedom of expression or introduce media censorship; condemns the abuse of judicial power for the purpose of restricting media freedom; takes the view that any limitation of free expression in the name of decency or the protection of privacy should apply equally to all types of media and that, on this basis, on-line information available through the internet should not be subject to discriminatory legal restrictions; condemns any politically motivated use by media of images of people being injured or killed;

11.

Calls on the Commission to make full use of all existing mechanism under the European Neighbourhood Instrument, in particular the Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Watch, in order to support media freedom in partner countries;

12.

Takes note of various EU initiatives, including the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM), that are aimed at identifying potential risks to media pluralism in the Member States; encourages the national authorities of partner countries, in particular those associated with the EU, to join such initiatives;

13.

Takes the view that media law should primarily focus on guarantees and conditions that ensure the exercise of media activity in accordance with fundamental freedoms and without limitations on the independence of media; considers that regulation of media markets should also serve the interests of citizens, and specifically the right to free expression and the right of access to information, by securing the economic sustainability of media; believes, furthermore, that the independence of the broadcasting media is best served when it is regulated by an independent body;

14.

Stresses that public media should remain impartial and should not be subject to political control by governments or serve as a propaganda channel for them;

15.

Welcomes the cooperation projects launched under the Eastern Partnership aimed at strengthening independent media, professional reporting standards and journalism ethics, involving in particular journalism training and networking activities; underlines that partner countries need to make more effective use of EU programmes of relevance to the media sector; calls for more cooperation and twinning in the media sector, and for such collaboration to be extended to include issues of relevance to the development of profitable digital media platforms;

16.

Recommends that both MEPs and national parliamentarians in the Member States and the partner countries step up exchanges of expertise and experience with a view to drafting, amending and adopting legislation on media issues; welcomes the valuable assistance provided by the Council of Europe to partner country legislators with the task of reforming media legislation;

17.

Expresses its concern over the use of social media for disseminating hate speech and inciting violence, and encourages the Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries to adapt and update their legislation so as to ensure that ongoing digital developments are kept within the bounds of the law; considers that collaboration with online platforms and leading media companies is crucial;

18.

Urges the competent national authorities in the EU and partner countries to organise public dialogues on new laws with a direct bearing on freedom of expression and freedom of the media, and to include civil society and consult professional media organisations as part of the drafting process;

19.

Supports the principle of legislative reforms aimed at establishing or strengthening fair and unbiased competition in media markets and of rejecting concentration processes and state ownership of, or dominance over, media sectors, including in the form of publishing capacity and distribution networks; recommends the drafting of legislation ensuring transparent media ownership structures and funding instruments; recommends that laws governing the audiovisual media sector should limit the opportunities for monopolies to emerge though ownership of multiple over-the-air broadcasting licences by a single physical person or legal entity;

20.

Calls on the Commission and the Eastern Partnership governments to cooperate in formulating new measures to promote transnational cooperation and alliances between print and digital media in the EU and among its neighbours, with a view to supporting the production of information content of quality and promoting linguistic diversity;

21.

Supports changes to partner countries' defamation laws that provide for the abolition of criminal defamation and set reasonable limits to compensation for moral harm;

22.

Welcomes the significant efforts made by the EU and the partner countries to ensure the preservation and development of responsible and quality journalism, support media self-regulation systems, promote ethical standards for journalism and develop professional educational opportunities for journalists;

23.

Notes, however, that public confidence in the media remains low, and highlights the importance of media literacy, transparency regarding the economic links between media and political and economic circles, the development of professional ethics among journalists and the quality of media content, as key factors determining the level of citizens' trust; recommends that further efforts be made to develop training and mentoring schemes for young journalists and that more visibility be given to prizes for young media professionals awarded under the framework of the Eastern Partnership;

24.

Urges journalists' professional associations to raise public awareness regarding cases where journalists or media publishers have acted in ways that are in blatantly contradiction of their moral responsibility;

25.

Condemns policies of propaganda and disinformation, as well as policies of confrontation, which may incite violence and hatred and may also foster intolerance and discrimination;

26.

Denounces the Russian Government's policy of seeking to influence public opinion across the European continent, discredit the EU and create divisions among the Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries by using state-controlled Russian media outlets to generate streams of fake news and distorted facts;

27.

Calls on the competent authorities of the EU institutions, the Member States and the partner countries to take all necessary measures to mitigate the risks mentioned above and to protect their respective media from cyber attacks or hacking operations; stresses the need for careful monitoring of the exposure of media in EU and partner countries to outside pressures; is deeply concerned, however, regarding certain kinds of extreme measure, such as the closure or blockage of particular TV channels and websites or the unfounded denial of access to journalists;

28.

Welcomes the EU Action Plan on Strategic Communication and the fact that the Commission and the EEAS have singled out a better, clearer, tailor-made strategic communication as one of the 20 key priorities of the Eastern Partnership framework, to be presented at the forthcoming summit in November 2017;

29.

Stresses that these efforts must be pursued on a basis of full respect for human rights and freedom of expression; recommends, therefore, placing the focus on improving the resilience of media to propaganda and outside pressures and on developing instruments for identifying manipulative communication content; takes the view that the best way to counter propaganda is to promote fact-based, high-quality information;

30.

Supports initiatives to create EU-funded transnational networks of fact-checkers, investigative journalists and researchers to scrutinise hostile attempts to influence public opinion, thereby providing policymakers with factual bases for responses to hostile disinformation;

31.

Supports non-governmental watchdog organisations in the EU and partner countries that promote critical thinking and digital and media literacy, and that counter the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation;

32.

Calls on the EU to provide strong, clear and tailor-made strategic communications aimed at increasing the understanding and credibility of the EU among citizens across the Eastern Partnership, and of the Eastern Partnership among EU citizens;

33.

Strongly condemns the kidnapping, ill-treatment and killing of journalists in conflict-affected zones and in the territories of Ukraine under illegal occupation (Crimea and certain parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions); underlines the need to end impunity for crimes against journalists and to bring those responsible to justice;

34.

Calls on the partner countries to introduce programmes to support media plurality and independence in order to ensure people's access to information and increase public support for the EU;

35.

Notes that each Eastern Partnership country faces specific challenges and that a specific assessment of each country would make the implementation of the report more effective;

36.

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commissioner responsible for European Neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations, the European External Action Service, and the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries.

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/18

—

having regard to the development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) since 2004 and, in particular, to the Commission's progress reports on its implementation,

—

having regard to the Joint Communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 18 November 2015 entitled ‘Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy’ and to the Council Conclusions on the Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy of 14 December 2015,

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit adopted in Riga on 22 May 2015,

—

having regard to the Joint Working Document of the Staff of the Commission and of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 15 December 2016 entitled ‘Eastern Partnership — focusing on key priorities and deliverables’,

—

having regard to the Eastern Partnership Youth Policy Analytic Report published by the Commission in December 2015,

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 4 October 2016 entitled ‘The Youth Guarantee and Youth Employment Initiative three years on’ (COM(2016) 0646),

—

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 19 January 2016 on skills policies for fighting youth unemployment (1),

—

having regard to the Erasmus Impact Study published by the Commission in September 2014,

—

having regard to the new assistance package of EUR 79,8 million to boost socioeconomic development and SMEs, youth employability and connectivity in the Eastern Partnership countries, announced by the Commission on 19 September 2016,

—

having regard to the outcome of the 2nd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum, held in Riga on 10 and 11 February 2015, with a focus on youth employment and cross-sectorial cooperation in the area of youth,

—

having regard to its resolution of 28 May 2013 on combating poverty and social exclusion in the Eastern Partner countries (2);

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 15 September 2015 entitled ‘Draft 2015 Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018)’ (COM(2015) 0429),

—

having regard to the Yerevan Ministerial Communiqué, adopted by the Ministerial Conference of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) held in Yerevan on 14 and 15 May 2015,

—

having regard to the 1960 Unesco Convention against Discrimination in Education (CADE),

—

having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goal 8 which calls on governments and other actors to ‘promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’,

—

having regard to the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation,

A.

whereas today we have the largest youth generation in human history, with 1,8 billion young people living on the planet, of whom approximately 85 % live in emerging and developing economies or fragile states;

B.

whereas of the additional one billion young people who will enter the job market in the next decade, only 40 % are expected to be able to obtain jobs that currently exist, and whereas the global economy will therefore need to create 600 million new jobs over the next 10 years — 5 million jobs each month — simply to keep pace with projected youth employment rates;

C.

whereas young people have been hit particularly hard by the financial and economic crisis of the past 10 years; whereas the global youth unemployment rate is on the rise, having reached a historical peak of over 13 % in 2016 (from 12,9 % in 2015), at which level it is expected to remain in 2017; whereas, as a result, the number of unemployed young people worldwide rose by half a million in 2016, reaching 71 million, and is likely to remain at this level for 2017;

D.

whereas the SDGs will not be achieved unless the challenges that young people seeking employment face in every region of the world are addressed;

E.

whereas more than 4,2 million young people (i.e. those aged between 15 and 24) in the EU were unemployed in August 2016, and long-term youth unemployment still remains too high in some Member States;

F.

whereas World Bank research shows that, unlike in other regions, the effects of the crisis on unemployment on Europe and Central Asia have been prolonged and that unemployment levels have not reached pre-crisis levels;

G.

whereas youth unemployment rates in the Eastern Partnership countries differ considerably, oscillating between 5 % and 33 % in 2015, owing to differences in the respective national labour markets;

H.

whereas for young people the lack of viable employment opportunities is often the primary factor discouraging them from actively searching for jobs; whereas with youth unemployment rates remaining persistently high, and with the transition from education to work becoming increasingly difficult, a growing proportion of young people (more than 6,6 million people aged 15-24 in 2015) fall into the category of those not in education, employment or training (NEETs), a position which carries with it the risks of deteriorating skills, underemployment and distress;

I.

whereas the lack of relevant skills for available jobs and the education and training mismatch are important factors behind youth unemployment; whereas young people today — despite being more educated and skilled than previous generations — continue to face significant structural hurdles in obtaining quality employment, as judged by EU and national standards; whereas the youth employment crisis in Europe cannot be solved without efficient and sustainable job creation;

J.

whereas effective guidance programmes have a positive impact on economic and social outcomes; whereas young jobseekers and graduates should make more use of career guidance and information services, which in turn should be better prepared to meet the expectations of young people entering the labour market;

K.

whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are among the most important generators of youth employment, accounting for well over 80 % of all jobs and thereby performing an important service for the labour market as a whole, as they play a crucial role in the transition towards a new, sustainable economy;

L.

whereas any policies relating to skills, competencies and education must first and foremost be rights-based, give young people a choice and empower them; whereas for such policies to be successful it is therefore of the utmost importance that young people themselves are key stakeholders, along with educational institutions and businesses or training providers;

M.

whereas early integration, investment in education and training, emphasis on practical skills and a dual vocational training system combining work experience and studying have been key instruments allowing certain Member States to be more resilient than others to rising youth unemployment during the crisis;

N.

whereas the European Training Foundation plays a key role in facilitating the reforms of vocational education, training and employment systems in the Eastern Partnership countries;

O.

whereas particular attention needs to be paid to NEETs, as individuals belonging to this group frequently drift between temporary jobs, unemployment and/or inactivity, even during periods of strong economic growth; whereas the EU Youth Employment Initiative, which was set up by decision of the European Council in February 2013 and which is partly funded through the European Social Fund, has proven to be a successful EU instrument for combating youth unemployment, in particular among the NEET target group;

P.

whereas the European NEET rate is particularly high among young women, and whereas particular attention must therefore be given to the gender perspective;

Q.

whereas, according to the Commission's 2014 Erasmus Impact study, young graduates who have obtained skills and experience abroad through the Erasmus programme have much better opportunities and improved skills by comparison with those who have not spent time abroad; whereas the Leonardo programme targeting apprentices has met with similar success;

R.

whereas a spin-off of the Erasmus programme, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, gives young people interested in entrepreneurship the chance to learn and acquire experience by working with experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other participating countries;

S.

whereas the sustainable creation of quality jobs could be achieved through investment in, for example, green jobs, renewable energies, sustainable housing, energy efficiency, research and development, IT and other innovative sectors with the capacity to employ large numbers of young people;

T.

whereas delays in access to the labour market and long periods of unemployment adversely affect the career prospects, pay, health and social mobility of young people;

U.

whereas young people are an asset to the European economy and should be supported in their efforts to acquire the skills required by the labour market, in anticipation of tomorrow's needs, including coding and e-skills, which are indispensable for economic activity in the 21st century;

V.

whereas high unemployment and idleness, particularly among young people, remains one of the most formidable challenges facing the Eastern European countries, limiting their prospects for better living standards and economic growth;

W.

whereas high unemployment force young jobseekers to work involuntarily in unpopular informal, part-time or low-paid jobs;

X.

whereas young people who are faced with the prospect of unemployment, poverty or vulnerable forms of employment tend to look abroad for better education and job opportunities; whereas youth migration hinders the social cohesion and economic growth of the Eastern Partnership countries and the EU Member States;

Y.

whereas wide disparities exist between young males and females across most labour market indicators, especially during the transition to adulthood; whereas such disparities may represent inequalities in opportunity and reflect deep-rooted socioeconomic and cultural discrimination tending to disadvantage women disproportionately;

Z.

whereas young persons with migrant backgrounds show lower rates of employment, education and training;

1.

Stresses that sustainable economic, education and youth employment systems are essential priorities of the EU and Eastern European countries, and that the partners are committed to taking concrete initiatives to promote integration and employability in the labour market, particularly in the field of youth employment; reiterates that partner parliaments have repeatedly ranked employment, education and training among the highest political priorities for the Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries;

2.

Welcomes, in this regard, the initiatives of the EU and of the Eastern European Partners to put in place youth strategies and legislation addressing the areas of education and training, employment, entrepreneurship, social inclusion and active participation in civil society; calls on the EU and the Eastern Partners to enhance the implementation of existing youth strategies and legislation; encourages both parties to set quality targets and benchmarks for inclusive education systems that ensure equality, non-discrimination and civic competences;

3.

Calls on the EU and the Eastern European Partners to develop a rights-based approach to combat youth unemployment, focusing on quality employment and on the involvement of young people as stakeholders in policy-making;

4.

Calls on the EU and the Eastern European Partners to engage vigorously in exchanging experiences in job creation, the involvement of young people in policies directed at them, the protection of economic, social and human rights at work, and in addressing youth unemployment;

5.

Calls on the EU to step up cooperation with the international financial institutions and with relevant international organisations on private sector development, and on initiatives that promote inclusive growth and employment and that improve living conditions for citizens, as called for in the 2015 Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy;

6.

Stresses that reducing the rate of early school dropout rates would provide both the European economy and the economy of the Eastern European Partners with thousands more qualified employees annually;

7.

Stresses the need to combat early school dropout phenomenon, which can be the first step on the road to lifelong poverty, leading to so-called ‘early scarring’ and contributing to unemployment;

8.

Stresses that the problem of age discrimination against applicants for social benefits, including unemployment benefits, should be addressed;

9.

Stresses the need to promote policies to improve the transition from informal employment to quality jobs, as well as the need to develop strategies for the transition from education and training to work;

10.

Stresses the importance of providing support for young parents, especially young mothers, so as to ensure that they can earn a living wage and can continue to learn and work according to their abilities while fulfilling their caring responsibilities; stresses that early support and investment are key to avoiding lifelong income loss;

11.

Believes that promoting more and equal opportunities for young people, furthering social inclusion, gender equality and solidarity, and fighting all forms of discrimination, in particular on grounds of gender, race or ethnic origin and disability, are central to achieving the objective of reducing youth unemployment;

12.

Believes that the parliaments of the Eastern Partnership countries and the European Parliament should be involved in the strategic approach to developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating relevant initiatives aimed at supporting youth employment at all levels, and that the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly could provide valuable input to this effort;

13.

Calls on the Member States to strengthen their exchange with the Eastern Partnership countries of positive experiences in creating job opportunities for young people;

14.

Encourages the Eastern Partners to participate in a range of EU youth programmes, including: Erasmus+, the Youth Employment Initiative and the Youth Guarantee, EU4Youth, bilateral and regional programmes for vocational education and training (VET) and the Creative Europe programme, as well as international youth programmes such as Solution for Youth Employment (S4YE); believes that young learners and apprentices who have obtained skills and experience abroad have much better opportunities and improved skills by comparison with those who have not spent time abroad;

15.

Calls for an increase in funding for such EU youth programmes, including the European Youth Guarantee, ensuring the added value and quality of the training and jobs offered; asks that consideration be given to extending the age limit for participating in such programmes, given the reality that many graduates and labour market entrants are in their late twenties;

16.

Calls on the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to ensure that their education systems (general, professional and higher) prepare students adequately for their professional careers, and to guarantee close cooperation between representatives of the education sector, social services, employers and students;

17.

Calls on the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries and the Member States to ensure that girls and young women are encouraged to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and to increase the representation of women in STEM areas;

18.

Stresses that, as education and training are of crucial importance in fostering inclusion and equality, emphasis should also be placed on the recognition of non-formal learning and informal learning skills acquired via the mobility programmes implemented in line with the European or national qualifications frameworks; encourages the Member States to promote and support opportunities for professional mobility among young apprentices so as to enable them to develop their skills through contact with other training systems;

19.

Stresses that a smooth transition from education to employment should be promoted by linking theoretical education with practical training, and by providing high-quality internships as stipulated in the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships, as well as through the recognition of qualifications gained during formal and non-formal education, or during volunteering experiences;

20.

Emphasises that the setting-up of bilateral Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova provides crucial tools for modern, transparent and predictable approximation in the trade and regulatory fields, as well as for foreign direct investment, leading to job creation and long-term growth; acknowledges at the same time that the Eastern Partnership countries may follow different paths in order to enhance their respective economic and trade relations with the EU and with their neighbours;

21.

Welcomes, in this regard, the fact that the Association Agreements, including bilateral DCFTAs, between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, respectively, commit the EU and the Eastern Partners to enhance people-to-people contacts, including through cooperation and exchanges in the fields of science and technology, business, youth, education and culture; reiterates that collaboration is critical to any effort to restore growth and support entrepreneurship, investment and job creation in the region; urges the Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries to explore the possibilities of creating mixed employment and fellowship programmes for young people in promising economic sectors in the region;

22.

Stresses that, in the framework of freedom of movement within the Eastern Partnership, labour mobility should remain a choice for young people and not become an obligation to earn a living abroad; stresses that mobility poses various challenges; stresses that young people should also have employment opportunities in their own regions and countries;

23.

Stresses the negative impact of ‘brain drain’, whereby well-qualified young people leave their home countries, especially in smaller countries where highly qualified employees are particularly valuable; encourages the EU and the Eastern Partners to address youth labour migration from Eastern Partnership countries to the EU jointly so as to promote circular migration and ensure options for young people to return home to find sustainable quality employment in the place of their choice;

24.

Urges the EU, where necessary, to refocus its relations with the European Partners on the basis of shared common interests and the latter's own merits, in particular as regards economic development, with an emphasis on youth employment; also urges the EU to help the Eastern Partnership countries to hasten the reform of their industrial policies with a view to promoting a transition to a competitive, knowledge-based economy;

25.

Calls on the Commission to make full use of all existing tools under the European Neighbourhood Instrument, in particular those focused on youth, in support of job creation in Eastern Partner countries;

26.

Notes that EU funds can serve as a remarkable tool for promoting the growth and development of people's opportunities; calls for more funding for spreading information on EU financial instruments and for broadening, in university and business circles, the range of knowledge and skills necessary for applying for funds and drawing up and managing projects;

27.

Stresses the need to boost the role of the private sector in generating jobs; urges, therefore, the authorities of the Eastern Partnership countries to develop a set of incentives for private companies to create jobs, e.g. by easing existing administrative and financial requirements for starting and managing businesses through the simplification of procedures and by ensuring that start-ups have easier access to credit, venture capital and microfinance;

28.

Stresses the need for the development of self-employment among young people, the expansion of access to soft loans and the development of entrepreneurial skills;

29.

Stresses that while enterprises, including SMEs, play a key role in training young people in working-life skills, there is also a need to provide them with education in entrepreneurship in the broadest possible sense; encourages, therefore, the inclusion in school curricula of training in the vocational skills needed to be able to start and manage a business; encourages as well the fostering of transversal entrepreneurship competences, skills and knowledge, delivered effectively through hands-on and real-life experiences;

30.

Calls on the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to develop comprehensive national strategies on employment, with a strong focus on young people, as recommended by the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation; calls on them also to reinforce state employment agencies, as appropriate, transforming them into central bodies that can provide essential support to young people, develop a unified register of unemployed persons, and provide a comprehensive framework for the sectorial action plans proposed in the employment packages presented by the respective governments;

31.

Stresses the need for the EU to consult partners on the establishment of a panel on youth employment and employability within the Eastern Partnership, as called for in the 2015 EU Neighbourhood Policy review;

32.

Calls on the EU and the Member States to create new alliances with the private sector and the IFIs in support of strategies for growth, jobs and youth, in keeping with the EU Neighbourhood Policy review, and with consideration also given to partnership with the multistakeholder coalition Solutions for Youth Employment (SY4E) sponsored by the World Bank;

33.

Stresses the EU's work on skills forecasting, especially as regards green jobs and ICT, and believes that matching skills with available or predictable working opportunities should remain a top priority for the EU and the Eastern Partners;

34.

Stresses that enhancing cooperation with regard to youth and student exchanges and the development of new scholarship and training programmes, as well as facilitating participation in the Erasmus+ programme, would ensure the development of skills and enable young people in the Eastern Partnership countries to become acquainted with the EU and vice versa, offering them better opportunities and facilitating their employment;

35.

Calls on the EU and the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to encourage, promote and reform the business environment; stresses the importance of development though entrepreneurship and SMEs; reiterates that this sector creates numerous job opportunities, including for young people;

36.

Encourages the EU and the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to harmonise the digital environment and to support efforts to implement a digital economy that serves their collaboration better; stresses that such an economy would create jobs, not least for young people;

37.

Calls on the EU and the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries to promote agriculture; stresses the real importance of this sector; stresses that modernisation and diversification in rural areas are necessary if jobs are to be created and young people attracted to contributing to the development and growth of the sector;

38.

Stresses that in order to assess the quality of education and provide young people with the skills (qualifications) that are required by the labour market, regular surveys and polls on the level of youth employment (including by profession) after graduation are needed, along with the definition of a set of indicators to clarify the nature of such figures;

39.

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EEAS, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Eastern Partnership countries.

15.3.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 99/24

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit (Vilnius, 28-29 November 2013) entitled ‘Eastern Partnership: the way ahead’,

—

having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Warsaw on 29-30 September 2011,

—

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 13 December 2016 on the rights of women in the Eastern Partnership states (1),

—

having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2013 on the European Neighbourhood Policy: towards the strengthening of the partnership — Position of the European Parliament on the 2012 progress reports (2),

—

having regard to the Constituent Act of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly of 3 May 2011,

A.

whereas, according to the Prague Declaration, the Partnership is based on commitments to the principles of international law and to fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; whereas the Riga Declaration referred to gender equality as a ‘promising new area of cooperation’;

B.

whereas enhanced differentiation between, and greater ownership by, partner countries are key principles for the reviewed European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), taking into account the specific situation of each country;

C.

whereas due consideration should be given to the objective of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, as enshrined in the fifth of the sustainable development goals approved for 2016-2030 at the UN Sustainable Development Summit held from 25 to 27 September 2015 at the UN headquarters in New York;

D.

whereas gender equality between women and men is enshrined in the constitutions and legal systems of all the Eastern European partners, and all the countries have ratified most of the important international conventions in this area without reservation;

E.

whereas all the Eastern European partners have developed strategies, programmes or action plans to improve the situation of women;

F.

whereas vertical and horizontal segregation of women's employment in the labour markets of the Eastern European partners remains entrenched in cultural and social norms; whereas women are also burdened by the ‘second shift’ of unpaid domestic work;

G.

whereas stereotypes can have a negative impact on the role women can play, and these may be reflected in educational and training choices and continue into the labour market;

H.

whereas while significant differences exist among the Eastern European partners in terms of the prevalence of violence against women, the rate is relatively high; whereas the risk of violence is much higher for women belonging to ethnic minorities, such as the Roma; whereas Roma girls and women face double discrimination on account of their gender and ethnic origin, as demonstrated by their lower levels of education, significantly higher rates of unemployment and poorer health than the rest of the population;

I.

whereas in Ukraine more than 1,5 million people — two thirds of them women and children — have been internally displaced since the attacks by terrorist forces began and suffer from impeded access to healthcare, housing and employment; whereas Roma girls in Moldova spend on average less than 4 years in school, compared with 11 years for non-Roma girls, as a result of child and early marriages, unplanned pregnancies and childcare responsibilities;

J.

whereas the EU and its Member States are committed to the protection, fulfilment and enjoyment of human rights by women and girls; whereas gender equality remains a horizontal priority within the ENP and the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI), and whereas the reviewed ENP should include enhanced support for civil society and a renewed focus on the importance of gender equality; whereas civil society plays a very important role in achieving gender equality in the Eastern Partnership;

1.

Underlines that all EU Member States and all Eastern European partners have signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW);

2.

Recalls that while Part III (Articles 10-14) describes the economic and social rights of women, Article 11 of the Convention specifically focuses on employment: the right to the same employment opportunities, to free choice of profession, to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service, to receive vocational training, to equal remuneration, to social security, and to maternity leave, and a prohibition of dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy;

3.

Further underlines that Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) establish gender equality as one of the main principles on which the EU is founded; recalls that Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states that equality between men and women must be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay;

4.

Recalls that Article 21 TEU stresses that the EU's action on the international scene must be guided by the principles which inspired its own creation;

5.

Stresses that the gender equality acquis which the EU has developed is an important and relevant factor in this respect; underlines that this includes both the legislation and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on gender equality issues;

6.

Strongly believes at the same time that room for further improvement on gender equality issues exists in both the EU and the Eastern European partners, and that the exchange of good practices could be beneficial for all;

7.

Understands that the situation of women in the labour markets of the Eastern European partners differs at national or local level; nonetheless feels that some common trends can be identified, such as comparatively small gaps in male/female employment rates, a high level of education or the concentration of women in specific sectors of the economy;

8.

Recalls that according to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report and its Economic Participation and Opportunity sub index, which measures the average of several factors, including labour force participation or wage equality, Eastern European partners score from 66 (Armenia) to 74 (Moldova) — and are thus a more homogenous group than EU countries, which score from 67 (Hungary) to 85 (Finland);

9.

Welcomes, thus, the relatively high level of women's integration into the labour force in the Eastern Partnership countries, which is likely due to their shared historical experiences; regrets, however, the fact that women's participation in the labour force seems to have been declining over recent decades as a result of the retraditionalisation process observed in the partner countries;

10.

Underlines that while some variations remain between Eastern European partners, a lack of standardised official statistics may contribute to disparities being hidden, such as de facto inactivity (isolation from the labour market) and the poverty of women on long periods of maternity leave and who have taken early retirement; point out that, likewise, other possible disparities can be observed in terms of differences in job security, or respect for labour rights and wages, especially between the formal and informal and private and public sectors;

11.

Regrets that the gender pay gap remains high and can be as much as 50 %, despite the fact that a higher proportion of young women than men receive a university education in some of the Eastern Partnership countries, with women encountering a number of cultural and sociological barriers in their access to managerial positions, as is also often the case in the EU;

12.

Stresses that female entrepreneurship may additionally be hindered by stereotypes, limited access to capital and networks, corruption and sometimes high regulatory burdens; considers that, as in the EU, women are also burdened by the second shift of unpaid domestic work, which has, in some cases, been exacerbated by the rollback of social security programmes, following the transition to a market economy;

13.

Underlines furthermore that unemployment, underemployment and insecure and underpaid jobs may put women at risk of prolonged poverty; fears that this may lead to irregular migration and to women becoming the victims of smugglers and traffickers; stresses in particular that vulnerable groups, such as Roma women, are at a higher risk and that only low numbers of trafficked Roma women or children report their traffickers to the authorities and access the victim prevention and protection services;

14.

Underlines that the various categories of migrant women from Eastern European partners who, as workers, are in low-paid jobs, and who may never acquire eligibility for permanent residence or citizenship, unlike professional migrant workers in the country of employment, may be at a high risk of abuse and discrimination; fears that this may cause serious problems as regards access to health services, including reproductive health services, because insurance or national health schemes are not available to them, or they may have to pay unaffordable fees;

15.

Welcomes the fact that, within the ENP's Strategic Priorities for 2014-2020, gender equality has been emphasised as a cross-cutting issue that must be addressed and mainstreamed in all relevant activities;

16.

Further welcomes the fact that the ENP Action Plans for all the Eastern Partnership countries (except Belarus) address gender equality with a view to gradually moving towards EU standards;

17.

Is encouraged by the fact that the Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia all contain articles addressing gender equality and list the EU directives to which the countries should align their legislation within the next few years; underlines the value of seeing specific rights being thus entrenched in the collective acquis across the European continent, on issues such as equal treatment in employment and occupation, on parental leave, on encouraging improvements in the health and safety at work of pregnant workers and on matters of social security;

18.

Stresses, however, that such elements are lacking from the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements that the Commission negotiated with Armenia and Azerbaijan in the late nineties; welcomes the initialled EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement to be signed in November 2017 in Brussels, and the ongoing negotiations for the EU-Azerbaijan Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, and trusts that the new agreements will include a gender-specific dimension;

19.

Recalls that specific projects aimed at empowering women and promoting gender equality are currently financed in the Eastern Partnership area through the EU's European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the ENI and that EU regional assistance is focusing on promoting women's entrepreneurship through designing national policies, supporting associations of women entrepreneurs and female-led SMEs, and providing coaching and mentoring;

20.

Calls for the EU and the Eastern European partners to expressly recognise gender equality as a fundamental common value and its achievement as a goal in their cooperation; stresses that while most of the challenges are common in nature for the EU and its partners, political impetus can help to move women's rights and gender equality up the political priorities of the Eastern Partnership;

21.

Stresses that key values such as equal economic independence, equal pay for equal work or work of equal value and equality in decision-making should thus be recognised as driving principles and common priorities; calls on the Eastern European partners to consider introducing work-life balance measures in order to remove obstacles to female employment and to reduce the gender pension gap; further underlines that obsolete legal provisions which prohibit the employment of women in specific occupations should be reviewed, as they unduly restrict women's access to certain professions and work;

22.

Strongly encourages all types of actions aimed at enhancing women's rights in the labour market, such as effective implementation of the existing legal framework, advancing equality between women and men, measures fostering women's entrepreneurship, awareness-raising campaigns on their situation, better data collection, their assessment and monitoring with a view to proposing tailored measures, and support for women's networks and grassroots organisations; points out that the new opportunities for women might be consolidated with the development of digitalisation and the collaborative economy in the Eastern Partnership countries;

23.

Underlines the need to formulate a gender-sensitive, rights-based policy on the basis of equality and non-discrimination, to regulate and administer all aspects and stages of migration, and to facilitate the access of women migrant workers to work opportunities abroad, thereby promoting safe migration and ensuring the protection of the rights of women migrant workers; calls on the Eastern European partners to design or oversee comprehensive socioeconomic, psychological and legal services aimed at facilitating the reintegration of women who have returned to their countries of origin;

24.

Considers that strengthening the role of fathers in bringing up their children can improve and facilitate work-life balance for both men and women; points out that equal take-up of leave arrangements by men and women across all categories of workers should be encouraged in order to improve women's access to and position within the labour market; stresses that child support systems, including family and child allowances, should be sufficient to ensure that women can afford to support independent households;

25.

Underlines that parliamentarians, on all sides, could direct more scrutiny to gender-specific issues; this could focus on the implementation of the EU acquis, i.e. on ensuring that the relevant directives are properly applied in the three countries that have signed an Association Agreement with the EU (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) but also on ensuring that Members closely scrutinise the ongoing negotiations aimed at replacing the out-dated Partnership and Cooperation Agreements so as to ensure that similar provisions are included in the ‘new generation’ texts;

26.

Stresses that, while gender equality is a horizontal principle within the ENP and the ENI, more precise and measurable targets should be pursued, also with regard to the new Gender Action Plan in Development 2016-2020;

27.

Calls, within the reviewed ENP, for country-specific reports to focus on priorities agreed with partners, including a focus on gender equality; proposes, in order to achieve these aims, the gathering of harmonised data on the situation of women in the Eastern European partners, through the ENI and notably through the introduction of the Gender Equality Index, developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE);

28.

Stresses that the EU should dedicate more energy to assisting the partners in line with their strategies, programmes or action plans to improve the situation of women, and provide its expertise in adjusting labour legislation on gender equality and improving women's participation in the labour market and decision-making; further insists on the urgent need for gender mainstreaming as a strategy for realising gender equality, and for positive action in the national action plans of the European Neighbourhood Policy;

29.

Considers it possible to increase the number of women in the decision-making process, primarily at political level, by changing the political culture of the Eastern European partners and implementing the best European practices of party-building;

30.

Underlines the need for effective implementation of these strategies, programmes or action plans, and for a monitoring report to be presented annually to the Eastern European partners' national parliaments and shared with the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly; encourages gender-related side events to be organised in parallel to the Eastern Partnership summits for reasons of political visibility;

31.

Calls for women's rights and gender equality issues to be systematically included in all regular political and human rights dialogues taking place, together with proposed actions;

32.

Encourages the Member States to develop stronger bilateral and multilateral links with Eastern European partners and to be actively involved in providing transitional help and technical support and engaged in experience-sharing; believes that Member States in close physical proximity to the Eastern European partners could play an important role in facilitating stronger links and in involving other Member States in partnerships; highlights the important role of vocational education and training for women; encourages increased investment in supporting female employment in quality jobs, particularly in sectors and positions where women are under-represented;

33.

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, to the Council, the Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, the European External Action Service, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Eastern European partners.