Explicaciones de voto por escrito - 8ª legislatura Cătălin Sorin IVAN

I voted in favour because this status agreement will ensure a clear vision on transparency, public scrutiny and democratic oversight of such cooperation. The agreement will ensure the detailed structure of cooperation with third countries on the management of the EUʼs external borders.

I vote in favour, because nowadays the technology evolves with indescribable speed. We need to focus and to support the development of key technologies and infrastructure related to autonomous driving on roads.

. ‒ I support the Commissions legislative package ‘Europe on the Move’, in order to promote fair conditions for competition and fair competition for EU rental and leasing companies. In addition, Member states should not restrict the use of a vehicle engaged by an undertaking established in the territory of another Member states, provided that the vehicle complies with the standards and requirements imposed by them.

The liberalisation of tariffs under the Free Trade Agreement, which allows parties to respond to the increase in imports, leads to serious harm to domestic industry. In addition, some of the EU trade agreements may include special instruments which allow them to reintroduce the MFN duty rate under certain circumstances.

The report presents the ‘Customs’ programme and its importance regarding the coordination between Member States’ authorities, training and exchange of best practices. In addition, it is essential for the programme to support the development, operation and maintenance of the IT field.

Gender equality is a fundamental right recognised by the EU, a common value of the Union and a necessary condition for the Union to achieve its objectives of growth, employment and social cohesion. However, even though women constitute 55% of the European Parliament’s staff, they are still under-represented among the top political and administrative levels of the Parliament. Thus, gender mainstreaming should be supported by systematic efforts to integrate gender at all levels.

The European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (‘F4E’) was created under the Euratom Treaty in order to meet several targets, such as the contribution of Euratom to Broader Approach activities with Japan for the rapid realisation of fusion energy. F4E is responsible for providing Europe’s contribution to ITER, the world’s largest scientific partnership. Moreover, this partnership’s purpose is to demonstrate that fusion is a viable and sustainable source of energy.

The report presents several distinctive factors that contribute to an individual’s health related to the working field, such as stress, illness, injury, disability, chronic mental and physical health problems. The report underlines that the pathways for the reintegration of employees in the working field are early intervention, individual approach, prevention and better understanding of the challenges and discrimination that lead to less opportunities for people with disabilities or health problems. Moreover, psychological, social and employment counselling at an early stage could help the reintegration of workers.

. ‒ Border regions both within and outside the EU are facing physical and geographical barriers, especially the mountain regions and those with a lower population density. According to the European Free Trade Association, there are 40 internal land borders. In order to reduce the persisting obstacles that contribute to the restrictions of the economic, social and territorial cohesion between border regions, the report suggested enhancing mutual trust and the political will of all the responsible authorities. In addition, in order to avoid issues that border workers are facing, they need their qualifications to be recognised and to be informed about the social security coverage. Furthermore, the creation of the Border Focal Point within the Commission will help national and regional authorities to overcome administrative and legal obstacles.

Mobbing and sexual harassment at work, in public spaces and in political life in the EU are, on a large scale, forms of violence and gender-based discrimination. These forms of harassment are acts against human rights and they should not be tolerated under any circumstances. Statistically, the report on this issue states that 90% are women and, unfortunately, these cases are not reported as much as they should be due to doubt, shame, and unfortunate actions such as isolating the victim at the workplace. Furthermore, in order to protect employees, the European Institutions are responsible for improving measures against these forms of violence in our society.

. ‒ The report underlines the importance of removing barriers, in terms of multilingualism, language technologies and interlinguistic dialogue, in order to increase mutual understanding. In the European Union, there are 24 official languages and more than 60 regional and minority languages: therefore, in order to overcome social, geographical and economic obstacles, the EU multilingualism policy needs to be improved. The Commission should recognise the importance of the fact that the Digital Single Market has to be multilingual. Furthermore, language equality in Europe should be improved through the use of new technologies and new policy options.

The resolution on zero tolerance for female genital mutilation is more than welcome. Crimes of this kind do not take place in Africa alone: victims can also be found in the EU. FGM is an unacceptable, highly painful and dangerous practice that violates human rights and takes place without informed consent. Legal prosecution must be supported by efficient legislation, as practices of this sort cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.

The creation of European domestic market belongs to the greatest achievements of the EU. This should of course include the digital market as well. In many cases geo-blocking leads to a limited access to websites by denying customers to purchase products or services from the provider or website of their choice depending on their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. This way they have a more difficult access to products and services and need to pay higher prices than customers in other regions do. The proposal leads to a better and fairer access to products and services as well as lower prices for the former disadvantaged customers.

The commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 is an ambitious and achievable goal. It is important to reduce emissions while avoiding CO2 emigration and to support and promote investment in efficient technologies to achieve the objectives like energy poverty and climate change. Efficient sectors of the economy must receive supporting measures and the innovation and modernisation ability of the European industry must be promoted.

The report supports the necessary acceleration of investment in clean energy. The implementation of regulations has to take place faster and more efficient so that the future energy security is guaranteed. The development of innovative technologies has a great export potential, which would promote the market and investment in development, where it is currently lacking in many places.

. ‒ The EU needs long-term planning and ambitious targets in energy policy. Reviewing the directive for renewable energies and determining increased obligatory goals constitute appreciable progress and an important element of the energy package, making the EU increasingly environment friendly. A clear and realistic position has been taken on first-generation bio-fuels, and, by gradually reducing them, the complete prohibition of palm oils has been achieved.

The governance system of the energy union needs to prevent unnecessary investments, which are often far too unpredictable are made. The EU need to make more intense use of renewable energy sources in order to free itself from fossil fuels. Nuclear power cannot be regarded as renewable energy since it is neither clean nor adequately safe.

The strategies quoted in the report offer great value for most regions in the EU and need to be designed as effectively as possible. This requires long-term planning and appropriate administrative capacities. Simplified approaches as listed in the report will lead to more effective measures to exploit the full potential of the macro-regional strategies. Issues like the single market, European investments, interconnectedness and mobility are addressed in the report as well as the priority for a cohesive European construct.

In the EU there are strong values on human rights, which should be an example for many countries around the world. Even when we cannot force other countries to apply certain standards of human rights, the EU can and should be a role model for other countries infringing human rights. It is important to systematically address this topic and communicate European points of view to other countries where human rights are neglected and infringed. The report emphasises that minority communities have specific needs and promotes the rights and full equality of these communities in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life. However, it is important that the emphasis on human rights is also implemented and respected throughout the whole of the EU.

In times of intensified digital trade, the EU needs to be on the same level as other leading powers.