The European Parliament,

–    having regard to its resolution A7-228/2011 on the financial, economic and social crisis: recommendations concerning the measures and initiatives to be taken,

–    having regard to its resolution P7_TA-(2011)0266 on Investing in the future: a new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for a competitive, sustainable and inclusive Europe,

–    having regard to the Commission Communication on its Work programme 2011 (COM(2010)0623),

–    having regard to its resolutions P7_TA(2010)0242 on Judicial training - Stockholm programme and P7_TA-PROV(2010)0426 on civil law, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme,

–    having regard to its resolution P7_TA(2010)0445 of 25 November 2010 on trade policy in the context of climate change imperatives,

–    having regard to its resolution P7_TA(2010)0434 of 25 November 2010 on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements,

–    having regard its resolution P7_T7(2010)0446 of 25 November 2010 on corporate social responsibility in international trade agreements,

–    having regard to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

–    having regard to Rule 35 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the European Union is at the crossroads of its development, facing the risk of a deep political crisis if no fresh impetus is given in terms of leadership, adequate budgetary means and reaffirmation of its historical objectives,

B.  whereas the European Commission has a key responsibility in shaping the EU's future and should use its next Work programme to promote the community objectives and values, strengthen the ownership of the EU project, lift the EU from the crisis and ensure its representation and respected position in the world,

C. whereas one of the Commission's challenges when drafting its programme is to fight against its own internal long lasting sectoral approach and on the contrary create synergies between policies, ensure coherence of objectives and methods, and streamline the respect of core principles such as non-discrimination, respect of fundamental rights, equality before the law in all its legislative or non-legislative actions,

D. whereas more than two years after the beginning of the financial and economic crisis, the EU has neither properly responded to the economic and social challenges nor drawn the lessons from the excesses of the financial sector,

E.  whereas cohesion and solidarity are at the core of the EU objectives; whereas Article 174 of TFEU reaffirms that territorial cohesion remains one of the top priorities of the EU internal policies,

F.  whereas an EU wide action for growth and solidarity using Structural Funds should support efforts to tackle the effects of the economic crisis in Member States including those with economic difficulties due to the damage caused by financial markets,

G. whereas any attempt for a sustainable recovery involves a European strategy for Cohesion which should be designed and implemented in a coordinated way involving European institutions, Member States and regions backed by the necessary resources,

H. whereas greater policy coherence between external and internal policies must be a priority especially since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, in particular to ensure that trade policy is coordinated not only with the industrial and agriculture policies of the EU, but also with foreign, development, social and environmental policies to effectively favour economic growth and job creation within the EU and promote prosperity abroad,

Introduction

1.  Calls on the Commission to deliver a 2012 work programme chiefly oriented towards growth, job creation, rise in living standards, mobility, guaranteeing a good level of security and social protection for citizens, while promoting Europe's competitiveness and capacity as a global actor; believes that the main priority of the 2012 programme and the years after should focus on the exit process out of the crisis to the benefits of our citizens, with a fair share of responsibility to be borne by those which caused or amplified it;

‘It's the economy, stupid!’(1)

2.  Reminds the Commission that the EU is still suffering from the economic and financial crisis showing that actions undertaken so far were not sufficient to address the problems;

3.  Stresses the Credit Rating Agencies' responsibility in the development and aggravation of the euro zone debt crisis and the major implications for the European banking sector system; urges therefore the Commission to propose without delay a consistent legislative framework to enhance regulation and supervision of the Credit Rating Agencies; considers that the creation of a public European Credit Rating Agency would introduce a welcome plurality of approaches in particular regarding the sovereign debt;

4.  Underlines that even if most of the proposals related to the financial sector have already been announced by the Commission in the course of 2010 and 2011, regulation - to be intended as a simple set of rules - is not sufficient; stresses that the crisis has not only exposed regulatory failure but also the tendency to short term investments, the inadequacy of a system that allows banks to carry out investment banking, commercial banking and retail banking operations and an ill-designed system of incentives that push bankers to take reckless risks, instead of seeking long term and sustainable growth; strongly invites the Commission to be bolder in its proposals and to show vision and willingness to radically modify the system that allowed the excesses of the free market;

5.  Stresses the need to keep the focus on investor protection and investor confidence; considers that initiatives to restore confidence in the financial system are essential and should entail a broad review of due diligence practices, moral hazard in cross-border groups, the incentive and remuneration system and the broad transparency and accountability of the financial system;

6.  Urges the Commission to swiftly draft a legislative proposal on a financial transactions tax to be levied on all on-exchange and all over-the-counter transactions in order to curb purely speculative trading - which creates and exploits excessive liquidity such as electronic trading - and highly leveraged derivative transactions;

A social agenda for a social Europe

7.  Welcomes the flagship initiatives on new skills for new jobs and the platform on poverty but regrets that there are few legislative proposals in the field of employment and social affairs;

8.  Calls on the Commission to come forward with a proposal for the Monti II Regulation guaranteeing fundamental workers rights in the internal market for services; believes that inclusive growth can only be built on a foundation of equal treatment for all workers within the workplace and a level playing field for all businesses; considers therefore that the work programme should include a revision of the Posting of Workers Directive to guarantee these principles;

9.  Considers that the current trend of the Commission's approach is clearly anti-social, in obvious contradiction with the main social advances of the Lisbon Treaty, penalising wage-earners, encouraging precarious work, generating more inequalities between people and countries and ignoring poverty and social rights; asks therefore the Commission to operate a dramatic shift in policy and pull all its strengths into shaping a new social strategy to guarantee as a minimum well established social rights, national practices of collective wage bargaining and income distribution, but also to promote social rights and social progress for all European citizens; requests a strong commitment especially on the horizontal social clause to be formalised in a legislative text as well as an horizontal anti-discrimination strategy and a review of the conditionalities imposed through ‘bail-outs’ from the perspective of social acquis and this horizontal social clause;

10. Calls on the Commission to respect the principles of subsidiarity and social dialogue in the field of wages and pensions and, in keeping with Article 153(5) TFEU, to respect the competences of the Member States and social partners in these areas and to ensure the democratic legitimacy of the process through the involvement of the European Parliament;

11. Calls for a timely revision of the Working time directive taking stock of the outcome of the ongoing social partners negotiations and introducing a 48-hour average working week with no opt-outs or derogations for individual member states, and with new rights to information, consultation and collective bargaining on the organisation of working time;

12. Strongly encourages the Commission to address the problem of youth unemployment in a more serious way, starting by analysing the causes in different Member States, the differences between sectors and making real proposals on how to integrate young people into employment with full rights;

13. Welcomes the reform of the EURES job portal making information and job advice to young workers more accessible, and demands that the reform is put in place as soon as possible;

14. Considers that segregation of the labour market has to be addressed in a holistic way and not by pieces; asks the Commission to present a whole package to reduce labour market segmentation including: subcontracting, bogus self-employment, abuses of temporary agency workers, abuses of internships, leading to give all workers equal rights, decent salaries and working conditions and full legal and collective bargaining protection;

15. Calls on the Commission to heed the views of the social partners in the area of pensions and to ensure that the White book reflects the expectations of both sides of the industry including the strengthening of the first pillar;

16. Welcomes the EU framework for national policies on the Roma but demands that it includes legislative initiatives on social inclusion and non-discrimination and ensure that EU funds reach those in need;

17. Stresses also the importance of equal treatment for all migrant workers who legally reside in the EU, regardless of the type of work permit they have; strongly rejects the creation of a two-tier labour force in the EU;

18. Expects the Commission to come forward in the nearest future with a proposal for regulation on the European Social Fund for the period 2014/2020;

19. Considers that a renewed social agenda for the EU should encompass a proposal for legislation on Social Services of General Interest and for a statute for mutual societies; and a directive on cross-border collective agreements to cope with the realities of our internal market;

20. Asks the Commission to develop a Social Agenda across all transport modes to face workers' social conditions in an integrated European transport market;

Growth promoters

21. Emphasizes the role of Cohesion Policy in implementing the EU 2020 objectives and recalls that the long term cohesion targets have a parallel path for sustainable and inclusive growth but require more efforts for simplification and flexibility in order to be effective;

22. Calls on the Commission to ensure that services of general economic interest (SGEI) are secured within a legislative framework of universal access, high quality, affordability and clear financing rules; believes that such legislative proposal should be based on and consistent with Article 14 of and Protocol 26 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, guaranteeing the objective of social and territorial cohesion and ensuring that SGEI and SSGI are provided at the most appropriate level, in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity;

23. Reiterates its support to the Single Market Act but urges the Commission to come forward with a proposal to modernise public procurement procedures taking into account the need to incorporate social and environmental criteria, to have simpler procurements procedures for contracting authorities and SMEs, to strengthen the European Social Model including the improvement of living and working conditions;

24. underlines once again the necessity to set up a European framework for a ‘Social Business Initiative’ which should accompany specific proposals on the Cooperative sector, Statutes for Mutual societies and Foundations; repeats its request for a legislative proposal on Collective Redress protecting consumer rights, and providing at the same time, for a collective instrument against consumer abuses and for a fair level-playing-field for European companies;

25. Considers that the creation of a digital single market requires proposals in the fields of e-commerce, e-signature, e-procurements etc. so as to enhance consumer protection and ensure a level playing field for cross border activity; calls also on the Commission to assess the viability of the territoriality principle in the digital world;

26. Calls on the Commission to place more emphasis on citizens' power to control and create their own energy through microgeneration, and invites the Commission to adjust the available EU instruments to create incentives towards the development of microgeneration, introduce related policy instruments, and set up a coherent strategy including revised as well as new instruments;

Competitiveness, Cohesion, Environment

27. Calls on the Commission to be more systematic when applying the "SME test" in its proposals for legislation and to clarify both the process of assessment and the criteria used; recalls that besides promoting SMEs any piece of draft legislation should also keep at sight to foster job creation and respect the environment; in order to make legislation more effective at EU level, stresses the importance of social impact assessment for all EU legislation;

28. Regrets that the Commission has not yet proposed a legislative initiative on restructuring to stamp out abuses and protect Europe's industrial base;

29. Considers it necessary to increase considerably the budget for the next funding period so not to fall even further behind our competitors, given the massive increase in R&D spending in some other regions of the world (like the USA and especially China) and in order to fully support the objectives of the EU 2020 strategy;

30. Considers that an integrated and interoperable European Railway Market is still to be achieved, including the necessary extension of the European Rail Agency's competences in the field of safety, certification and homologation of rolling stocks;

31. Insists on the full implementation of the Single European Sky, including the establishment of the Functional Airspace Blocks and SESAR to meet future airspace capacity and safety needs;

32. Urges the Commission to develop specific policies to ensure the transition towards a green and smart growth, especially as regards worker re-skilling for green jobs and assistance for greening European industry in the context of global markets, as well as encouraging the private sector to invest in low-emissions technologies that are favourable to innovation and job creation;

33. Considers that ICT are enabling technologies, providing growth opportunities for industries, bringing people closer, reshaping the way of  working and living, providing new tools for education and training, and improving access to public services and open data; calls on the Commission quickly implement the legal framework that stimulates investments in high-speed  and very-high speed infrastructure and related services, provided by the telecom package, in order to ensure stability and regulatory predictability, and safeguarding affordability and connectivity for consumers; 

34. Asks the Commission to increase support for ICT so that the EU can lead the way in emerging markets such as health technologies and greener transport  and electricity networks; 

35. Fully supports the Commission's efforts to promote an effective environmental and climate change policy and therefore insists on an ambitious 7th Environment Action Programme; furthermore, reiterates its call for the Commission to bring forward as a priority, a set of legislative initiatives aimed at combating Climate Change including i.e., the revision of  the Regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases - which was initially foreseen in its 2011 work programme - as well as legislative proposals to tackle CO2 emissions from maritime transport taking into account the current negotiations at IMO level, and non-CO2 emissions from aviation; regrets that, to date, the Commission has not submitted a legislative proposal amending the directive on consumer information on fuel economy and CO2 emissions of new passenger cars, even though this initiative was already announced in the Commission's 2010 work programme; furthermore, urges the Commission to submit its proposal aimed at tackling the adverse effects of indirect land-use change related to biofuels and tar sands; 

36. Urges the Commission to follow through with the legislative proposals on biodiversity, namely the ratification on the Decision/Protocol on "Access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation" as well as appropriate implementing initiatives, and legislative proposals aimed at integrating biodiversity protection requirements into other sectoral policies, eg. through phasing out of environmentally harmful subsidies and tackling the adverse effects to biodiversity of other EU policies;

37. Urges the Commission to ensure that the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fishery Policy reforms take full account of sustainable development, biodiversity and food safety;

38. Recalls that the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy due to come into force in 2013 should focus on ensuring food security in the sense of availability of supply, quality and safe products, maintaining diversity of farming types and production, ensure the creation of sustainable and gainful jobs, promoting rural and regional development, while taking into account the international trade and development dimensions to cut trade distortion subsidies and support food autonomy in developing countries;

39. Reiterates its request to speed up and closely monitor implementation of existing EU environmental law with a view to achieving the goals of the 6th Environment Action Programme;

40. Calls on the Commission, despite the counterproductive and non understandable position of the Council concerning the legal basis, to continue and intensify its work on long-term fish conservation; calls also to pursue an Integrated Maritime Policy, to develop maritime spatial planning and to pursue the goals of the EU 2020 strategy regarding smart and sustainable growth in the marine economy, ensuring to that end a more effective cooperation between DG Mare and DG Transport, with a clearer and more efficient division of tasks;

41. Calls on the Commission to act proactively in response to new imbalances between EU regions caused and deepened by the crisis, and to take timely initiatives to apply or adapt rules related to the future cohesion policy; recalls in this regard that any legislative action taken by the Commission or the Council has to respect the principle of co-decision, including foremost initiatives on drafting and shaping the Common Strategic Framework for Cohesion resulting in the adoption of the new regulatory package;

42. Urges the Commission's 2012 work programme to include sufficient initiatives to complement and create added value for Cohesion policy from synergies with other internal policies, as well as a prompt legislative action on EU response to natural disasters and catastrophes as requested by the European Parliament;

43. Calls for the review of the 2001 Directive on Copyright in the Information Society and the 2004 Directive on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Right while upholding the fundamental rights and access to cultural goods and services for European consumers; Hopes that the Commission proposal on collecting societies will strike the right balance between fair revenue distribution of rights holders and maintaining the European cultural diversity; recalls that clear standards of good governance are paramount to ensure fair competition in the Single Market;

An integrated energy policy

44. Recalls that the EU is still far from having a sustainable, common, competitive and integrated energy policy where the variety and relative share of energy sources, the security of energy supply would be addressed together in a coherent approach at EU level;

45. Regrets that the revised energy efficiency directive does not include binding national targets for Member States, without which it will be impossible to reach the 20% target for energy efficiency by 2020;

46. Calls for an urgent revision of the nuclear safety directive in order to strengthen it, namely by taking into account the results of the "stress tests";

Citizens first

47. Recalls the need for a revision of the directive on the recognition of professional qualifications to promote a true mobility of workers in the EU, facilitate the recognition of qualifications and create a professional card;

48. Expects the Commission in its work programme for 2012 to launch a legislative proposal for a Directive on Indoor Air Quality, as well as a revision of the National Emission Ceilings Directive 2001/81/EC, as well as a proposal for a review of the Environmental Noise Directive;

49. Calls on the Commission, in light of the recent EHEC outbreak, to review its strategy for dealing with cross-border food safety and health threats, to strengthen the Union's scientific risk assessment capacities and to promote exchange of best practice, involving both Member States and professional bodies; urges the Commission to assess the functioning of the Early Warning and Response System and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed with a view to address possible shortcomings; underlines as well the need to tackle speculation on food prices by a stronger regulation of commodities markets; stresses that food and agricultural commodity markets should only be accessible to commercial businesses which use derivative products to hedge against unforeseeable events and that should be restricted to specialist traders and brokers who do not have a commercial interest in these markets;

50. Urges on the Commission to submit a legislative proposal prohibiting the placing on the market of foods derived from cloned animals and their descendants;

51. Reminds the Commission that sport has a part to play in helping to achieve the objectives set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy, not least in relation to the 'European platform against poverty', as sport is a powerful force for social cohesion and integration, as well as in respect of the 'Agenda for new skills and jobs', since practising sports encourages mobility and increases employability; laments the fact that the Commission has not put in place a Sports Programme for 2012-2013;

52. Regrets that the Commission has still not come up with a legislative proposal to fight violence against women in the framework of a comprehensive strategy with adequate approximation of sanctions; calls on the Commission to endorse EU accession to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence;

53. Calls on the Commission to develop and implement as a matter of urgency a Strategy to halve child poverty by 2020, to mainstream individual children’s rights in all EU policies and to promote measures to monitor and evaluate steps undertaken to end child poverty at national levels;

54. Notes the proposal on work-life balance and would warmly welcome a proposal on paternity leave; reiterates the necessity to urgently start the revision of the Directive on maternity leave;

55. Calls on the Commission to further develop and support judicial training activities in Europe to facilitate access to justice for citizens and nurture a genuine European judicial culture based on dialogue of coordination among legal practitioners via existing training schools and networks;

56. Calls on the Commission to put forward accurate and comprehensive data to assess the real needs of consumers and SMEs in what it concern core contractual principles and ensure a consistent approach between the legal instrument on European contract law and the acquis, in particular Rome I and the Consumer Rights Directive;

57. Calls for substantive proposals on migration; recalls that the necessity and effectiveness of the proposed Entry/Exit System still has not been demonstrated; recalls that the effective and integrated management of EU external and internal borders is strictly connected and an essential tool for migration and asylum policy, including mobility;

58. Recalls that visa policy remains an essential political tool in the context of mobility and migration policies and reaffirms the need to ensure the full implementation of the new EU Visa Code, in order to avoid abuses and ensure the enhanced mobility benefits for bona fide travellers; reiterates that reciprocity must remain an essential element of visa policy and recalls the need to make progress in securing equal application of Visa waiver agreements to all EU citizens without discriminations;

59. Reiterates the need  to put in place a new Schengen evaluation system based on Article 77(2) (e) TFEU, aimed at  avoiding  double standards between old and new Member states while dealing with accession to the Schengen acquis and reaffirms the need to define adequate controls and sanctions to ensure its respect;  expresses concerns on the introduction of new safeguard mechanisms that could weaken the Schengen system and reaffirms that such mechanisms can only be adopted in ordinary legislative procedure; regrets that SIS II is still not operational, and invites the Commission to increase efforts to put the system in place and will continue to closely monitor the allocation of EU budget thereof;

60. Regrets that the proposal on the rights of victims of crime fails to consider the specificity of victims of terrorism and organized crime and do not define adequate protection for witnesses in criminal proceedings; calls for a clear timetable for the remaining measures of the procedural rights roadmap;

61. Regrets the absence of a legislative proposal on enhanced intra-EU solidarity in the field of asylum, as repeatedly called upon by the Parliament, bearing in mind that the Union is committed to having a functioning common asylum policy in place by 2012, guaranteeing a high level of protection and full respect of fundamental rights;

62. Calls for clear evidence on the necessity and proportionality of an EU Passenger Name Records system, taking on board the observations of institutions' legal services, the EDPS and the EU FRA; recalls the need to ensure high levels of protections and guarantees and avoid double standards while dealing with agreements concerning the transfer of PNR data to third countries ; invites the Commission to rapidly put forward the legislative proposal for the extraction on EU soil of financial data owned by SWIFT, as foreseen by Council decision authorizing the conclusion of the EU US agreement on TFTP;

63. Supports the definition of a new comprehensive legal framework for data protection, provided that it offers a higher uniform level of protection for data subjects building on the protection defined by Directive 95/46 and going beyond the insufficient protection offered by Framework Decision for data protection in the former third pillar;

External dimension

64. Calls on the Commission to ensure greater policy coherence in the EU's external action through a new and more coherent trade and development strategy but also to recognize the need for greater consistency between trade policy and industrial policy, in order to use trade as a genuine instrument for growth and job creation in Europe;

65. Asks the Commission to make an evaluation of the current situation of Member States' efforts to make their development actions more coherent, along with an assessment of whether a legislative proposal would be appropriate; requests the Commission to take an initiative to ensure a better implementation of Article 210 TFEU;

66. Calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative initiative to bring transparency to the extractive industries through legally binding measures at EU level, in order to allow developing countries access to revenues generated by their natural resources to help lift their communities out of poverty;

67. Asks the Commission to present a communication with concrete proposals for building an efficient link between humanitarian assistance and development, which should take into account the flexibility to allow Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD) to take place in situations of transition; encourages joint needs assessments and the setting up of common objectives between humanitarian and development practitioners;

68. Calls on the Commission to include in all trade agreements legally binding provisions concerning human rights, social and environmental standards and corporate social responsibility as specified in different own initiative reports adopted in 2010;

69. Calls on the Commission to ensure an enhanced association of the Parliament in ongoing negotiations with key trade partners such as Canada, India and Mercosur and in the definition of negotiating mandates for investment agreements with Mercosur, China and Russia;

70. Emphasis that the revision of the External Financial Assistance instruments should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen the European external policy, particularly in the current process of transition towards democracy in the Southern Neighbourhood; calls for more flexibility and rapidity in disbursing financial assistance to eligible countries in crisis situations; stresses the need for the Commission to strengthen the capacities of the beneficiary countries to assume ownership of the assistance and in this way maximise its impact; asks the Commission to build on lessons learnt from the previous generation of external financial instruments and address the concerns raised by the Court of Auditors;

71. Asks the Commission to keep the Parliament fully informed on the monitoring of Croatia's respect of commitments assumed in the accession negotiations; stresses that the EP will closely follow the monitoring procedure should the Council agree to establish such a mechanism for the period after the closure of accession talks and till the actual accession of Croatia to the Union; calls on the Commission to strongly encourage Turkey to work on a new civilian constitution, based on a consensus between political parties, with a full involvement of the civil society and with a particular emphasis on the strengthening of fundamental rights and individual freedoms;

The proper means to achieve our objectives

72. Insists that the European Semester should be used to strengthen budgetary coordination and synergies between EU and national budgets in order to achieve the overall political aims of the EU; regrets the lack of concrete proposals so far in that respect; awaits with great expectations the publication by the Commission of its comprehensive report on the "Cost of non Europe"; believes  that this report should  highlight the European added value  of EU expenditures /programmes  not only in numerical terms but equally as to their effective and efficient contribution to EU objectives and the development of EU public goods; strongly believes that the Cost of non Europe report should as well underline how investments at EU level can lead to high savings at national level;

73. Urges Council and Commission to comply with the Treaty of Lisbon and make every effort to swiftly reach an agreement with the EP on a practical working method for the next Multilateral Financial Framework negotiating process; recalls the link between a reform of revenue and a reform of expenditure, and demands accordingly a firm commitment to discuss, in the context of the next MFF negotiations the proposals on new own resources;

74. Insists on the pressing need for better financing of the Trans-European Networks in the field of Transport (TEN-Ts) and improving the coordination with Cohesion funds;

75. Calls on the Commission to ensure that, in the context of the next Multi-annual Financial Framework, proper funding is allocated for an individual and separate Sports Programme for 2014-2020; Urges the Commission to use fresh funds for such a programme and not to use existing cultural funds;

Institutional considerations

76. Recalls the importance and urgency of aligning the EU legislation to the Lisbon Treaty as far as secondary legislation is concerned and calls on the Commission to submit in due time the necessary legislative texts to adapt the former comitology framework to the new implementing measures and delegated acts as foreseen in Articles 290 and 291 of the TFEU;

77. Underlines the crucial importance of an adequate and timely implementation of EU law in Member states' national legislation and urges the Commission to use its executive power and open if necessary infringement procedures to ensure adequate transposition and effective enforcement in particular in the field of working time in road transport; considers that the use of any tool such as correlation tables meant to provide data on enforcement should be made mandatory in every piece of legislation and expects the Commission to apply this principle in its forthcoming work programme;

78. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers.

(1) Bill Clinton.