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| Texts adopted | |
| Wednesday, 16 February 2000 - Strasbourg | |
 Financial instrument for the environment (Life) ***II |
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(Codecision procedure: second reading) - having regard to the Council common position, (10233/2/1999 - C5-0224/1999 (1) ), - having regard to its position at first reading(2) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(1998) 720 (3) ), - having regard to the Commission's amended proposal (COM(1999) 305 ), - having regard to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty, - having regard to Rule 80 of its Rules of Procedure, - having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (A5-0014/2000 ), 1. Amends the common position as follows; 2. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.
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| Scrapie ***I |
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The proposal was approved.
(Codecision procedure: first reading) - having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(1998) 623 (1) ), - having regard to Article 251(2) and Article 152 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C4-0026/1999 ), - having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure, - having regard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (A5-0023/2000 ), 1. Approves the Commission proposal; 2. Asks to be consulted again should the Commission intend to amend its proposal substantially or replace it with another text; 3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.
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| WIPO treaty (copyright, performances, phonograms) *** |
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(Assent procedure) - having regard to the Commission proposal (11221/1999 - COM(1998) 249 -1998/0141(AVC) )(1) , - having regard to the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, - having regard to the Council's request for Parliament's assent pursuant to Article 300(3), second subparagraph in conjunction with Article 47(2), Article 55 and Article 95 of the EC Treaty (C5-0222/1999 ), - having regard to Rules 86 and 97(7) of its Rules of Procedure, - having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market and the opinion of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport (A5-0008/2000 ), 1. Gives its assent to the approval of the Treaties; 2. Instructs its President to forward this legislative resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
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| Additives in feedingstuffs * |
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The proposal was amended as follows(1) :
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| EQUAL initiative |
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The European Parliament, - having regard to the draft communication from the Commission (COM(1999) 476 - C5-0260/1999 ), - having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999(1) with general provisions on the Structural Funds, and in particular Articles 5 and 20 thereof, - having regard to the decisions of the Berlin European Council of 24 and 25 March 1999 on the level of allocations for the Structural Funds for the period 2000 - 2006, - having regard to the code of conduct for implementing the structural policies by the Commission of 6 May 1999(2) , - having regard to its resolution of 28 October 1999(3) on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2000 - Section III - Commission, and in particular paragraph 35 thereof, - having regard to the two former "Human Resources" Initiatives, ADAPT which addressed the human resources aspects of industrial change and EMPLOYMENT with its four distinct strands: NOW for developing equal opportunities for women in the labour market, HORIZON for disabled and other disadvantaged groups, YOUTHSTART for young people without formal qualifications and INTEGRA for people excluded or at risk of exclusion from the labour market, - having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure, - having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities, the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (A5-0034/2000 ), General 1. Approves the EQUAL programme, which expresses in concrete terms the EU's aim to reinforce social cohesion and combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, which is also suffered by refugees and asylum-seekers; 2. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has oriented the Community initiative EQUAL in accordance with employment policy guidelines and developed a set of assistance mechanisms aimed at establishing innovative models and approaches to labour-market policy strategies designed to combat discrimination and inequality in a European context; 3. Considers that in addition to combating workplace discrimination, programme objectives should also include making greater use of employment potential, whereby account should be taken of the quality of jobs; 4. Considers that discrimination cannot be combated merely through financial measures, and calls on the Member States and the EU to remove discriminatory laws as a matter of urgency as stipulated by Article 13 of the EC Treaty; Partnership 5. Welcomes the Commission's intention to target projects better than in the past, on a more strategic basis, with a view to combating discrimination, and to reinforce partnerships between the public authorities, the private sector and NGOs; 6. Welcomes the proposal for Geographical Development Partnerships and asks the Commission to introduce explicit safeguards in the EQUAL guidelines to guarantee the full and direct participation of NGOs representing discriminated groups in all aspects of the EQUAL programme; 7. Considers that Geographical Development Partnerships should be integrated with the local and regional economic development strategies within the Member States, by consulting with regional development agencies or equivalent bodies on the planning and implementation of projects, and reporting the results of projects back to the structural funds Monitoring Committees at regional level; 8. Calls on the Commission to make explicit in the EQUAL Guidelines that Member States must choose both Geographical and Sectoral Development Partnerships for each of the selected thematic fields in their Community Initiative Programmes in order to ensure a balanced involvement of all discriminated groups in the EQUAL programme; 9. Looks to the Commission to make budget resources available for each of the thematic fields and the target groups on the basis of a fixed scale; 10. Draws attention to the fact that predominantly large-scale association networks and regional groupings will receive assistance and expects that they will be attentive to the creative ideas and needs of smaller projects and urges the Commission to ensure that the arrangements regarding the Development Partnerships are sufficiently flexible not only to enable small project promoters to take part but to also allow the addition of partners during the lifetime of the partnership; 11. Calls therefore on the Commission to reword paragraph 12 of its draft communication as follows: "EQUAL will operate within these thematic fields principally through integrated projects, called development partnerships (DPs). The Development Partnerships are dynamic and opened to new and innovative projects, also coming from small organisations not included in the initial partnership. These small organisations must be able to make their contribution in becoming involved during the life of the partnership:
Member States can choose either or both of these types of partnership to suit the thematic fields they have selected." 12. Supports the possibility of including in the networks organisations and projects from the countries which have applied to join the European Union and calls for existing project partnerships from earlier programmes which represent positive examples of successful work to be taken into account to a greater extent in the EQUAL initiative; 13. Takes the view that the Commission should ensure the Member States and Development Partnerships undertake comprehensive impact assessment and data collection in relation to each of the specific discriminated target groups. All the discriminated groups concerned must be represented directly on the EQUAL monitoring committees as full members. The direct involvement of the discriminated target groups in EQUAL and its impact on them must be monitored and evaluated adequately; 14. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the thematic fields identified in the EQUAL guidelines are to be fully and equally accessible to all discriminated target groups supported by the EQUAL programme and that no thematic field is identified for participation by one discriminated target group to the exclusion of all other discriminated groups; Thematic fields 15. Calls on the Commission to insert the following topics under the "Employability" pillar:
16. Calls on the Commission to insert the following topics under the "Entrepreneurship" pillar:
17. Calls on the Commission to insert the following topics under the "Adaptability" pillar:
18. Calls on the Commission to insert the following topics under the "Equal opportunities" pillar:
19. Points out that any change in priorities for the Community's EQUAL initiative will require that Parliament be consulted again; 20. Calls on the Commission to reword paragraph 11 of its draft communication as follows: "The list of thematic fields may be reviewed every two years to take account of developments in the labour market and in employment. Proposals for additional thematic fields will be put forward by the Commission following the necessary consultations. The new proposals will be submitted for agreement to the ESF Committee after discussion in the Employment Committee and submitted to the European Parliament for its opinion." Equal opportunities 21. Asks the Commission to ensure that in the Community Initiative Programmes (CIPs) a clear distinction is made between priority actions aimed at combating gender discrimination and inequality between women and men on one hand, and actions aimed at combating discrimination and inequalities based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation on the other; 22. Calls upon the Commission to earmark funds for CIPs promoting new means of combating gender discrimination and inequalities between women and men; asks the Member States, therefore, to earmark financing for combating local female unemployment at least in proportion to the unemployment rate for women recorded at the local level; 23. Asks the Commission to see to it that the selection of programmes by Member States takes account of the need to adopt a gender mainstreaming approach in each of the chosen thematic fields under the four pillars, in order to tackle successfully gender discrimination and inequality between women and men; Asylum seekers 24. Considers that asylum-seekers, and in particular those whose application is still under consideration and those under temporary protection, should be eligible for the EQUAL programme; 25. Specifically calls on the Commission to ensure that the EQUAL programme makes a significant contribution to the social integration of refugees and asylum-seekers by helping them to find work, and that particular attention is paid to immigrant and refugee women, because of the multiple discrimination which they suffer; 26. Calls on the Commission, with the Member States, in general to seek better ways than are used at present of integrating asylum-seekers and all groups that suffer from discrimination into vocational training programmes and the job market, as otherwise the EQUAL programme will have no real effect on them; Involving business 27. Considers it essential that EQUAL address the weaknesses identified by the Commission resulting from inadequate participation by business in the EMPLOYMENT and ADAPT Initiatives which often meant that good projects did not lead to real job opportunities and that the positive experience of innovative actions of small promoters was jeopardised by their distance from the policy process; 28. Stresses the importance of the third sector and the social economy in enhancing the role of citizens and social groups, thereby contributing to the democratisation of local economy and combating any form of exclusion or discrimination; Administration 29. Recognises that the proposed administrative structure and procedure is very complex and probably quite difficult to administer and control in practice; calls on the Commission to amend its communication in accordance with the following principles:
30. Calls upon the Commission to employ simple, clear language in all documents drawn up and distributed in connection with this initiative programme, to avoid perpetuating the ambiguities which already exist in the various language versions and to give practical meaning to the concepts of prevention, innovation, transnationality, cooperation management, comprehensive dissemination, including via the Internet, evaluation and gender mainstreaming; 31. Points at the problem for applicants of one Member State with a given priority list of thematic areas to be tackled to identify a partner in another Member State which might have different national priorities, and therefore suggests the creation of infopools with the addresses of possible partners in all EU countries; 32. Points out that problems could arise with co-financing at the preparatory stage of the EQUAL Community initiative; 33. Asks to be informed about the modalities of payment flows and urges the financing bodies to deliver payments at the beginning of the projects so that smaller project partners do not undergo enormous financial problems; Assessment of results 34. Supports the Commission's innovative approach of making the positive experiences in carrying out activities under EQUAL in one Member State available to other Member States within the framework of international networks and providing for the exchange of experiences at European level as part of the initiative; 35. Calls on the Commission to set up thematic networking in order to achieve a genuine multiplier effect by the dissemination of results and best practice and exchange of experiences, with particular emphasis on the most innovative and efficient projects related to gender-mainstreaming; 36. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the programme will be monitored and evaluated in such a way as to fully exploit the potential leverage effect, in particular in terms of dissemination of best practice; 37. Calls on the Commission to reword paragraph 43 of its draft communication as follows: 'If EQUAL is fully to play its role as a testing ground for developing and promoting new ways of delivering employment policies, it will need strategic cooperation mechanisms between Member States to exploit the potential impact of good practice identified all over the Union. Two types of action will be implemented by the Commission to support this process:
Coordination with other Community policies 38. Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure a proper coordination between the activities and budgetary funds provided by the EQUAL initiative and the other Community initiatives, by the ESF and the Structural Funds in general, by the budget headings for innovative projects, by the Fourth Action Programme on Equal Opportunities and other Community policy instruments having a bearing on equality for women and men, in order to optimise the use of Community resources and to ensure a successful implementation of gender mainstreaming and equal opportunity actions;Technical assistance; Technical assistance 39. Considers that a solution regarding technical assistance in the sphere of the EQUAL initiative should be devised in the overall context of the Commission reform process currently under discussion; 40. Calls on the Commission to amend paragraph 40 of the draft communication as follows: 'Technical assistance, with a budget not exceeding 5% of the ESF co-financing of the CIP, will be available to support the implementation of Actions 1 to 3 and will be used particularly for the preparatory phase and the dissemination of the experience gained and the results achieved by the development partnerships.' Final provisions 41. Reserves the right not to release the appropriations earmarked in the budgetary reserve for the EQUAL initiative until the Commission has submitted the final programme; o 42. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the governments of the Member States.
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| Community action in the field of water policy ***II |
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(Codecision procedure: second reading) - having regard to the Council common position (9085/3/1999 - C5-0209/1999 (1) ), - having regard to its position at first reading(2) on the Commission proposal and amended proposals to Parliament and the Council (COM(1997) 49 (3) , COM(1997) 614 (4) and COM(1998) 76 (5) ), - having regard to the Commission's amended proposal (COM(1999) 271 (6) ), - having regard to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty, - having regard to Rule 80 of its Rules of Procedure, - having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (A5-0027/2000 ), 1. Amends the common position as follows; 2. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.
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| Modernising social protection |
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The European Parliament, - having regard to the Commission's communication on a concerted strategy for modernising social protection (COM(1999) 347 - C5-0253/1999 ), - having regard to the Commission's report on social protection in Europe 1997 (COM(1998) 243 - C4-0375/1998 ), - having regard to its resolution of 19 February 1997 on the Commission communication - The future of social protection: a framework for a European debate and the report from the Commission on social protection in Europe 1995(1) , - having regard to its resolution of 6 November 1997 on the Commission communication on modernising and improving social protection in the European Union(2) , - having regard to its resolution of 18 November 1998 on the Commission communication on a social action programme 1998-2000(3) , - having regard to its resolution of 12 March 1999 on the Commission report to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee on "Social protection in Europe 1997 - Executive summary”(4) , - having regard to Articles 2, 3, 13, 125-130 and 136-152 of the EC Treaty, - having regard to the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, - having regard to Council Recommendation 92/441/EEC of 24 June 1992 on common criteria concerning sufficient resources and social assistance in social protection systems(5) , and Council Recommendation 92/442/EEC of 27 July 1992 on the convergence of social protection objectives and policies(6) and the Commission's report on the implementation of that recommendation (COM(1998) 774 ), - having regard to the relevant parts of the conclusions of the European Council summits held in Cardiff, Luxembourg, Vienna and Cologne, - having regard to the conclusions of the Council for Labour and Social Affairs of 29 November 1999 on the co-operation for modernising social protection, - having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedures, - having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities (A5-0033/2000 ), A. whereas, if European social convergence is to be achieved, the separate areas of economic policy, employment policy and social protection must be treated as interdependent parts of the same policy triangle in order to establish a successful social convergence in Europe and in the Member States; whereas social convergence should be a process by which common broad policy objectives form guidelines for social policies of Member States; B. whereas no strategy has yet been drawn up in Europe in the field of social protection and social security, but social protection is primarily based on the principle of mutual solidarity and is one of the means (alongside a dynamic and a job-creating economic policy) of combating the ever-greater dissociation between economic growth and social development, C. whereas modernising and improving social protection can be handled by making better use of available resources and not by lowering the level of social protection, D. whereas employment policy, social integration and social improvement have to be implemented in practice within the Member States and the subsidiarity principle therefore must be respected with regard to the way in which Member States organise their social security systems as well as the maintaining of social rights; whilst the Union may provide added value by adoption of proper binding and effective convergence criteria, including common, quantifiable objectives applicable to all the Member States, E. whereas every person has the right to social protection and a guaranteed social minimum income, F. whereas the implementation of a European social convergence strategy may comprise a strategy on methods and instruments in order to promote the proposed objectives for social convergence, and details of how local and regional networks may be used to promote the exchange of information and experience between Member States, G. whereas future work on a European social convergence strategy, as proposed in the Commission's communication, must pay particular attention to the need for a gender perspective in order to overcome the segregation of men and women at work and promotion of equal opportunities by means of:
H. whereas the employment and economic guidelines both contain recommendations to reduce taxes in order to boost employment, which puts the emphasis on the need for social investment to promote active measures on the labour market, for example, I. whereas, if Member States encourage their citizens to make arrangements to take out additional cover of their own against social risks, such arrangements should be voluntary and must not result in different levels of social protection or detract from the principle of solidarity, J. whereas the trend towards employment-friendly social protection systems cannot hide the fact that not all sections of the population can be integrated by means of labour market measures, so that social safety nets must be in place at a high level, K. whereas efforts to promote social integration and combat poverty must include a comprehensive, integrated strategy, incorporating all relevant policy areas and players, and special measures for vulnerable groups, particularly for those persons unable to work, L. whereas, a satisfactory quality of care and acceptable waiting lists in public-sector health systems are of high importance in order to avoid creating divisions and therefore in its communication, the Commission highlights the need to investigate the extent to which social security systems cover the need for care and the personnel who provide that care, which entails emphasising the fundamental right to high-quality care for all; in this case, comprise studies should analyse not only the various models' economic impact, but also their impact on people's free and equal access to care and their freedom to choose between different options, M. whereas the achievement of economic and monetary union, which has brought about ever-increasing interdependence amongst the economies of the Member States, has made social protection a matter of common interest to those States, 1. Endorses once more the approach and validity of the 1992 Council Recommendations on common criteria concerning sufficient resources and social assistance in social protection systems, on the one hand, and the convergence of objectives and policy in the field of social protection, on the other; 2. Points out that effective social protection schemes are an integral part of the European social model which is based on the belief that economic progress and social progress are linked; considers, therefore, that social protection must be regarded as a production factor and that modernising it should enable its potential to be fully exploited in the fields of vocational and in-service training; 3. Welcomes the Commission's communication in that it provides the necessary framework for social convergence, i.e. sets out an analysis of the challenges common to all the Member States, identifies common objectives for modernising the Member States" social security systems and stepping up the process by setting up a high-level group and submitting the report on social protection on an annual basis; 4. Notes that the Council meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers on 29 November 1999 decided to set up a high-level group to be responsible for establishing a scheme for greater cooperation in the field of social protection which is to draw up an interim report for the Feira European Council (June 2000); calls therefore on the Council and the Commission to define the group's remit more precisely, including a composition where women should be adequately represented and to take the following aspects into consideration in order to further the process of establishing European social convergence:
5. Calls at the same time for developing and simplifying the Luxembourg process, which should be better integrated with the establishment of the economic guidelines and involve the modernisation of social protection, so that a number of clear general employment and social policy objectives can be set to serve as a basis for a fruitful exchange of experience in this area, thus making it possible to create a framework for achieving such objectives; 6. Calls on the Commission to submit a social action programme which sets out a practical plan, including a timetable for implementation, including measures for social protection on the basis of Article 140 of the TEC as well as legislative proposals for statutory minimum standards of social protection on the basis of both Article 42 and Article 137 of the TEC, and a plan for initiatives for framework agreements in the context of industrial relations; 7. Stresses that the social convergence process must be accompanied by an effective and ambitious fiscal coordination; calls therefore on the Commission in the event of legislative proposals being blocked or draft guidelines being rejected, to take steps to establish a code of conduct to combat unfair competition arising from social security and taxation; 8. Calls on the Council to take decisions on the specific Commission proposals put forward as part of the "Monti” fiscal package with a view to establishing the framework needed to help relieve the burden placed by social security costs on employment whilst providing stable funding for social welfare schemes in order to combat unfair competition in the field of taxation; 9. Calls on the Commission and the Council, in devising a social convergence strategy:
10. Calls on the Commission and the Council:
11. Takes the view that the European employment guidelines should take into account the need for quality in the jobs created in order to prevent the emergence of underclasses and encourage the creation of permanent jobs, to prevent the emergence of 'working poor' and in order to take account of the need to create financially sustainable social security systems under which the rights which have already been acquired in the various Member States are still maintained; 12. Points out that social protection schemes must take into account the emergence of new forms of working and better protection for the self-employed; 13. Stresses the need for taxation and social security schemes to be devised in such a way as to enable more effective action to be taken against employment traps, since the healthiness of social security schemes is dependent on the performance of the economy and a high level of employment; 14. Reminds the Commission and the Council of Parliament's previous call for a switch from tax on labour to tax on other resources such as the environment, energy and consumption and calls on the Commission to submit an assessment to establish whether a tax on energy or emissions would be an appropriate means in the long term of securing the funding of the social security systems; 15. Welcomes the fact that the 1999 report on social protection in Europe will contain information on social security in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; expects the Commission also to include an account of the situation of marginalised groups such as poorly educated women, the disabled, orphans and ethnic minorities, and to pay particular attention to the need for measures to create conditions in which employers and employees in the applicant countries are able to take part in the modernisation of their social security systems; 16. Points out that, with the prospect of enlargement of the European Union, social convergence is needed as a way of strengthening the European social model and of eliminating the threat of social dumping; 17. Calls on the Commission to consider drawing up a separate social action programme for social policy in the context of enlargement; 18. Calls on the Commission to help establish arrangements, through initiatives in the context of industrial relations, to facilitate the introduction of flexible pensions for a gradual transition to retirement inter alia to protect unexpected retirement and to bring forward voluntary retirement for social reasons; 19. Welcomes the Commission's opposition in its communication to the trend towards older workers being forced to leave the labour market prematurely; calls, however, on the Commission also to examine the working-environment aspects of this matter in terms of the measures than can be taken through legislation, by stepping up information campaigns, primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, vocational training and retraining programmes and arrangements for rehabilitation in cooperation between industry and the health service; 20. Calls on the Commission to put forward proposals to improve Directive 79/7/EEC (7) on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security, particularly with regard to pensionable age and the rights of surviving dependants, with a view to bringing it into line with the more advanced Directive 96/97/EC(8) on equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes; 21. Advocates further encouragement of preventive measures and draws attention in particular to the effectiveness of incentives for healthier living and more individual responsibility; 22. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and to employers and employees on the European labour market.
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| Legal notice - Privacy policy |