European Parliament legislative resolution of 8 July 2010 on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (11222/1/2010/REV 1 and COR 1 – C7-0158/2010 – 2010/0178(NLE))

P7_TA(2010)0279 A7-0224/2010

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the draft Council decision (11222/1/2010/REV 1 and COR 1),

–  having regard to the text of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, which is attached to the above-mentioned draft Council decision,

–  having regard to its resolution of 5 May 2010 on the Recommendation from the Commission to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations for an agreement between the European Union and the United States of America to make available to the United States Treasury Department financial messaging data to prevent and combat terrorism and terrorist financing(1),

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor of 22 June 2010(2),

–  having regard to the opinion expressed by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party and the Working Party on Police and Justice on 25 June 2010,

–  having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council pursuant to Article 218 (6), second subparagraph, point (a) in conjunction with Article 87(2), point (a) and Article 88(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C7-0158/2010),

–  having regard to Rules 81 and 90(8) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A7-0224/2010),

1.  Consents to conclusion of the Agreement;

2.  Invites the Commission, in compliance with Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which requires that personal data be under the control of ‘independent authorities’, to submit to the European Parliament and to the Council as soon as possible a choice of three candidates for the role of the EU independent person referred to in Article 12(1) of the Agreement; points out that the procedure is to be, mutatis mutandis, the same as that followed by the European Parliament and the Council for the appointment of the European Data Protection Supervisor as provided for by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001(3) implementing Article 286 of the EC Treaty;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the government of the United States of America; further instructs its President to enter into inter-parliamentary dialogue with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate on the future framework agreement on data protection between the European Union and the United States of America.

(1) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0143. (2) Not yet published in the Official Journal. (3) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1).

European Parliament legislative resolution of 8 July 2010 on the proposal for a Council decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (08029/2010 – C7-0090/2010 – 2010/0816(NLE))

P7_TA(2010)0280 A7-0228/2010

(Consultation)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (08029/2010),

–  having regard to the statement given by the High Representative at Parliament's plenary sitting on 8 July 2010 on the basic organisation of the EEAS central administration,

–  having regard to the declaration by the High Representative on political accountability,

–  having regard to Article 27(3) of the Treaty on European Union, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C7-0090/2010),

–  having regard to Rule 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, the Committee on Development, the Committee on International Trade, the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (A7-0228/2010),

1.  Approves as amended the proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy;

2.  Is determined to reinforce its cooperation with national parliaments of Member States as required by the Treaty, in the area of the Union's external action, and especially concerning the CFSP and the CSDP;

3.  Is of the view that amendments to the Financial Regulation should, in addition to the present Council Decision, further specify the role of the Commission concerning sub-delegation of powers to Heads of Delegation to implement operational appropriations, in particular ensuring also in the Financial Regulation that the Commission takes all necessary measures to guarantee that sub-delegation of powers does not affect the discharge procedure;

4.  Invites the Commission to include in its comprehensive working document on expenditure relating to EU external action, which is to be drafted together with the Draft EU budget, details concerning, inter alia, the establishment plans of the Union's Delegations, as well as the external action expenditure per country and per mission; points out that it intends to modify the Financial Regulation accordingly;

5.  Reiterates that, in the event of disputes concerning Commission instructions to Heads of EU Delegations which are, in accordance with Article 221(2) of the TFEU, placed under the authority of the High Representative, and in the event of disagreement between the High Representative and the Commissioners responsible for the programming of the relevant external assistance instruments, it is for the College of Commissioners to take the final decision;

6.  Urges the High Representative to make sure that the provisions laid down in Article 6 of the Council Decision, whereby at least 60% of all EEAS staff at AD level are to be permanent EU officials, are reflected in all grades in the EEAS hierarchy;

7.  Is of the view that additional specific measures envisaged in Article 6(6) of the Council Decision for the strengthening of the geographical and gender balance should include, as regards geographical balance, measures analogous to those provided for in Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 401/2004(1);

8.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

9.  Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy;

10.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Commission.

Position of the European Parliament adopted on 8 July 2010 with a view to the adoption of Council decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 27(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (‘the High Representative’)(2),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament(3),

Having regard to the consent of the Commission(4),

Whereas:

(1)  The purpose of this Decision is to establish the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (‘EEAS’), a functionally autonomous body of the Union under the authority of the High Representative, set up by Article 27(3) of the Treaty on European Union (‘TEU’), as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon. This Decision and in particular the reference to the term ‘High Representative’ will be interpreted in accordance with her different functions under Article 18 of the TEU.

(2)  In accordance with Article 21(3), second subparagraph, of the TEU, the Union will ensure consistency between the different areas of its external action and between these and its other policies. The Council and the Commission, assisted by the High Representative, will ensure that consistency and will cooperate to that effect.

(3)  The EEAS will support the High Representative, who is also a Vice-President of the Commission and the President of the Foreign Affairs Council, in fulfilling her mandate to conduct the Common Foreign and Security Policy (‘CFSP’) of the European Union and to ensure the consistency of the EU's external action as outlined, notably, in Articles 18 and 27 of the TEU. The EEAS will support the High Representative in her capacity as President of the Foreign Affairs Council, without prejudice to the normal tasks of the General Secretariat of the Council. The EEAS will also support the High Representative in her capacity as Vice-President of the Commission, for her responsibilities within the Commission for responsibilities incumbent on it in external relations and for coordinating other aspects of the Union's external action, without prejudice to the normal tasks of the Commission services.

(4)  In its contribution to the EU external cooperation programmes, the EEAS should seek to ensure that these programmes respond to the objectives for external action as set out in Article 21 of the TEU, in particular its paragraph (2)(d), and that they respect the objectives of EU development policy in line with Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’). In this context, the EEAS should also promote the fulfilment of the objectives of the European Consensus on Development and the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid.

(5)  It results from the Treaty of Lisbon that, in order to implement its provisions, the EEAS must be operational as soon as possible after the entry into force of that Treaty.

(6)  The European Parliament will fully play its role in the external action of the Union, including its functions of political control as provided for in Article 14(1) of the TEU, as well as in legislative and budgetary matters as laid down in the Treaties. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 36 of the TEU, the High Representative will regularly consult the European Parliament on the main aspects and the basic choices of the CFSP and will ensure that the views of the European Parliament are duly taken into consideration. The EEAS will assist the High Representative in this regard. Specific arrangements should be made with regard to access for Members of the European Parliament to classified documents and information in the area of CFSP. Until the adoption of such arrangements, existing provisions under the 2002 Interinstitutional Agreement on classified documents and information in the area of ESDP will apply.

(7)  The High Representative, or her representative, should exercise vis-à-vis the European Defence Agency, the European Union Satellite Centre, the European Union Institute for Security Studies and the European Security and Defence College the responsibilities provided for in their respective founding acts. The EEAS should provide these entities with the support currently provided by the General Secretariat of the Council.

(8)  Provisions should be adopted relating to the staff of the EEAS and their recruitment where such provisions are necessary to establish the organisation and functioning of the EEAS. In parallel, necessary amendments should be made, in accordance with Article 336 of the TFEU, to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities (‘Staff Regulations’) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of those Communities (‘CEOS’), without prejudice to Article 298 of the TFEU. For matters relating to its staff the EEAS should be treated as an institution within the meaning of the Staff Regulations. ▌The High Representative will be the Appointing Authority, in relation both to officials subject to the Staff Regulations ▌ and agents subject to the CEOS. The number of officials and servants of the EEAS will be decided each year as part of the budgetary procedure and will be reflected in the establishment plan.

(9)  The staff members of the EEAS will carry out their duties and conduct themselves solely with the interests of the Union in mind.

(10)  Recruitment will be based on merit whilst ensuring adequate geographical and gender balance. The staff of the EEAS should comprise a meaningful presence of nationals from all the Member States. The review foreseen in 2013 should also cover this issue, including, as appropriate, suggestions for additional specific measures to correct possible imbalances.

(11)  In accordance with Article 27(3) of the TEU, the EEAS will comprise officials from the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission as well as personnel coming from the diplomatic services of the Member States. For that purpose, the relevant departments and functions in the General Secretariat of the Council and in the Commission will be transferred to the EEAS, together with officials and temporary agents occupying a post in such departments or functions. Before 1 July 2013, the EEAS will recruit exclusively officials originating from the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission as well as staff coming from the diplomatic services of the Member States. After that date, all officials and other servants of the European Union should be able to apply for vacant posts in the EEAS.

(12)  The EEAS may, in specific cases, have recourse to specialised seconded national experts (SNEs), over which the High Representative will have authority. Seconded National Experts in post in the EEAS will not be counted in the one third which staff from Member States should represent when the EEAS will reach its full capacity. Their transfer in the phase of setting up of the EEAS will not be automatic and will be made with the consent of the authorities of the originating Member States. By the expiry of the contract of an SNE transferred to the EEAS under Article 7, the function will be converted into a temporary agent post in cases where the function performed by the SNE corresponds to a function normally carried out by staff at AD level, provided that the necessary post is available under the establishment plan.

(13)  The Commission and the EEAS will agree on modalities relating to the issue of instructions from the Commission to delegations. These should foresee in particular that, when the Commission issues instructions to delegations, it will simultaneously provide a copy of these to the Head of Delegation and to the EEAS central administration.

(14)  The Financial Regulation should be amended in order to include the EEAS in Article 1 of the Financial Regulation, with a specific section in the Union budget. In accordance with applicable rules, and as is the case for other institutions, a part of the annual report of the Court of Auditors will be dedicated also to the EEAS and the EEAS will respond to such reports. The EEAS will be subject to the procedures regarding the discharge as provided for in Article 319 of the TFEU and in Articles 145 to 147 of the Financial Regulation. The High Representative will provide the European Parliament with all support necessary to complete the European Parliament's right as discharge authority. The implementation of the operational budget will be the Commission's responsibility in accordance with Article 317 of the TFEU. Decisions having a financial impact will in particular respect the responsibilities laid down in Title IV of the Financial Regulation, especially Article 75 thereof regarding expenditure operations and Articles 64 to 68 regarding liability of the financial actors.

(15)  The establishment of the EEAS should be guided by the principle of cost-efficiency aiming towards budget neutrality. To this end, transitional arrangements and gradual build-up of capacity will have to be used. Unnecessary duplication of tasks, functions and resources with other structures should be avoided. All opportunities for rationalisation should be used.
In addition, a number of additional posts for Member States' temporary agents will be necessary, which have to be financed within the framework of the current multi-annual framework.

(16)  Rules should be laid down covering the activities of the EEAS and its staff as regards security, protection of classified information and transparency.

(17)  It is recalled that the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Union applies to the EEAS, its officials and other agents, who shall be subject either to the Staff Regulations or the CEOS.

(18)  The European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community continue to be served by a single institutional framework. It is therefore essential to ensure consistency between the external relations of both, and to allow the Union Delegations to undertake the representation of the European Atomic Energy Community in third countries and at international organisations.

(19)  The High Representative should, by mid-2013, make a review of the functioning and organisation of the EEAS, accompanied, if necessary, by proposals for a revision of this Decision. Such a revision should be adopted no later than the beginning of 2014.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Nature and Scope

1.  This Decision establishes the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (‘EEAS’).

2.  The EEAS, which has its headquarters in Brussels, shall be a functionally autonomous body of the European Union, separate from the Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council, with the legal capacity necessary to perform its tasks and attain its objectives.

3.  The EEAS shall be placed under the authority of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (‘High Representative’).

4.  The EEAS shall be made up of a central administration and of the Union delegations to third countries and to international organisations.

Article 2

Tasks

1.  The EEAS shall support the High Representative in fulfilling her mandates as outlined, notably, in Articles 18 and 27 of the TEU:

2.  The EEAS shall assist the President of the European Council, the President of the Commission and the Commission in the exercise of their respective functions in the area of external relations.

Article 3

Cooperation

1.  The EEAS shall support and work in cooperation with the diplomatic services of the Member States as well as with the General Secretariat of the Council and the services of the Commission ▌, in order to ensure consistency between the different areas of the Union external action and between these and its other policies.

2.  The EEAS and the services of the Commission shall consult each other on all matters relating to the external action of the Union in the exercise of their respective functions except on matters covered by CSDP. The EEAS shall take part in the preparatory work and procedures relating to acts to be prepared by the Commission in this area. This paragraph shall be implemented in accordance with Chapter 1 of Title V of the TEU, and with Article 205 of the TFEU.

3.  The EEAS may enter into service-level arrangements with relevant services of the Commission, the General Secretariat of the Council, or other offices or interinstitutional bodies of the European Union.

4.  The EEAS shall extend appropriate support and cooperation to the other institutions and bodies of the Union, in particular to the European Parliament. The EEAS may also benefit from the support and cooperation of these institutions and bodies, including agencies as appropriate. The EEAS internal auditor will cooperate with the internal auditor of the Commission to ensure the consistency of audit policy, with particular reference to the Commission's responsibility for operational expenditure. In addition, the EEAS shall cooperate with the European Office for the Fight against Fraud (OLAF) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999. It shall in particular swiftly adopt the decision required by that Regulation on terms and conditions for internal investigations. As provided in that Regulation, Member States, in accordance with national provisions, and institutions shall give the necessary support to enable OLAF's agents to fulfil their task.

Article 4

Central administration

1.  The EEAS shall be managed by an executive Secretary-General who will operate under the authority of the High Representative. The executive Secretary-General shall take all measures necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the EEAS, including its administrative and budgetary management. The Secretary General shall ensure effective coordination between all departments in the central administration as well as with the Union delegations ▌.

2.  The executive Secretary-General shall be assisted by two Deputy Secretaries-General.

3.  The central administration of the EEAS shall be organised in directorates general. These shall in particular include:

The specificities of these structures, as well as the particularities of their functions, recruitment and the status of the staff shall be respected.

Full coordination between all the structures of the EEAS shall be ensured.

4.  The High Representative shall designate ▌the chairpersons of Council preparatory bodies that are chaired by a representative of the High Representative, including the chair of the Political and Security Committee, in accordance with the modalities set out in Annex II to Council Decision 2009/908/EU of 1 December 2009 laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council, and on the chairmanship of preparatory bodies of the Council(5).

5.  The High Representative and the EEAS shall be supported where necessary by the General Secretariat of the Council and the relevant departments of the Commission. Service level arrangements may be drawn up to that effect by the EEAS, the General Secretariat of the Council and the relevant Commission departments.

Article 5

Union delegations

1.  The decision to open or close a delegation shall be adopted by the High Representative ▌, in agreement with the Council and the Commission.

2.  Each Union delegation shall be placed under the authority of a Head of Delegation.

The Head of Delegation shall have authority over all staff in the delegation, whatever their status, and for all its activities. He shall be accountable to the High Representative for the overall management of the work of the delegation and for ensuring the coordination of all actions of the Union.

Staff in delegations shall comprise EEAS staff and, where this is appropriate for the implementation of the Union budget and Union policies other than those under the remit of the EEAS, Commission staff.

3.  The Head of Delegation shall receive instructions from the High Representative and the EEAS, and shall be responsible for their execution.

In areas where the Commission exercises the powers conferred to it by the Treaties, the Commission may, in accordance with article 221(2) of the TFEU, also issue instructions to delegations, which shall be executed under the overall responsibility of the Head of Delegation.

4.  The Head of Delegation shall implement operational credits in relation to EU projects in the corresponding third country, where sub-delegated by the Commission, in accordance with the Financial Regulation.

5.  The operation of each delegation shall be periodically evaluated by the Secretary General of the EEAS; evaluation shall include financial and administrative audits. The Secretary General of the EEAS may request to be assisted for this purpose by the relevant Commission departments. In addition to internal measures by the EEAS, OLAF shall exercise its powers, notably by conducting anti-fraud measures, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999.

6.  The High Representative shall enter into the necessary arrangements with the host country, the international organisation or the third country concerned. In particular, the High Representative shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the host States grant the Union delegations, their staff and their property, privileges and immunities equivalent to those referred to in the Vienna Convention of 18 April 1961 on Diplomatic Relations.

7.  Union delegations shall have the capacity to service the needs of other EU institutions, in particular ▌the European Parliament, in their ▌contacts with the international organisations or third countries to which the delegations are accredited.

8.  The Head of Delegation shall have the power to represent the EU in the country where the delegation is accredited, in particular for the conclusion of contracts and being a party to legal proceedings.

9.  The Union delegations shall work in close cooperation and share information with the diplomatic services of the Member States. ▌

10.  The Union delegations shall, acting in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 35 the TEU and upon request by Member States, support the Member States in their diplomatic relations and in their role of providing consular protection to Union citizens in third countries.

Article 6

Staff

1.  The provisions set out in this Article, except paragraph 3, shall apply without prejudice to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities (‘Staff Regulations’) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of those Communities (‘CEOS’), including the amendments made to these rules, in accordance with Article 336 of the TFEU, in order to adapt them to the needs of the EEAS.

2.  The EEAS shall comprise ▌officials and other servants of the European Union, including personnel from the diplomatic services of the Member States appointed as temporary agents(6).

The Staff Regulations and the CEOS shall apply to this staff.

3.  If necessary, the EEAS may, in specific cases, have recourse to a limited number of specialised seconded national experts (SNEs).

The High Representative shall adopt the rules, equivalent to those laid down in Council Decision 2003/479/EC as amended by Council Decision 2007/829/EC of 5 December 2007(7), under which SNEs are put at the disposal of the EEAS in order to provide specialised expertise.

4.  The staff members of the EEAS shall carry out their duties and conduct themselves solely with the interests of the Union in mind. Without prejudice to Articles 2(1), third indent, 2(2) and 5(3), they shall neither seek nor take instructions from any Government, authority, organisation or person outside the EEAS or any body or person other than the High Representative. In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 11 of the Staff Regulations, the EEAS staff may not accept any payments of any kind whatever from any other source outside the EEAS.

▌

5.  The powers conferred on the appointing authority by the Staff Regulations and on the authority authorised to conclude contracts by the CEOS shall be vested in the High Representative, who may delegate those powers inside the EEAS.

6.   Recruitment in the EEAS shall be based on merit whilst ensuring adequate geographical and gender balance. The staff of the EEAS shall comprise a meaningful presence of nationals from all the Member States. The review foreseen in 2013 shall also cover this issue, including, as appropriate, suggestions for additional specific measures to correct possible imbalances.

7.   Officials of the European Union and temporary agents coming from the diplomatic services of the Member States shall have the same rights and obligations and be treated equally, in particular as concerns eligibility to assume all positions under equivalent conditions. No distinction shall be made between temporary agents coming from national diplomatic services and officials of the European Union as regards the assignment of duties to perform in all areas of activities and policies implemented by the EEAS. In accordance with the provisions of the Financial Regulation, the Member States shall support the Union in the enforcement of financial liabilities resulting from any liability under Article 66 of the Financial Regulation of EEAS temporary agents coming from national diplomatic services.

8.  The High Representative shall establish the selection procedures for EEAS staff, which shall be undertaken through a transparent procedure based on merit with the objective of securing the services of staff of the highest standard of ability, efficiency and integrity while ensuring adequate geographical and gender balance and a meaningful presence of nationals from all EU Member States in the EEAS. Representatives of the Member States, the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission shall be involved in the recruitment procedure for vacant posts in the EEAS. ▌

9.  When the EEAS has reached its full capacity, staff from Member States, as referred to in paragraph 2, first subparagraph, should represent at least one third of all EEAS staff at AD level. Likewise, permanent EU officials should represent at least 60% of all EEAS staff at AD level, including staff coming from the diplomatic services of the Member States, who have become permanent EU officials, in accordance with the provisions of the Staff Regulations. Each year, the High Representative shall present a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the occupation of posts in the EEAS.

10.  The High Representative shall lay down the rules on mobility so as to ensure that the members of the staff of the EEAS are subject to a high degree of mobility. Specific modalities shall apply to the personnel referred to in Article 4 (3), third indent. In principle, all EEAS staff shall periodically serve in Union delegations. The High Representative shall establish rules to that effect.

11.  In accordance with the applicable provisions of its national law, each Member State shall provide its officials who have become temporary agents in the EEAS with a guarantee of immediate reinstatement at the end of their period of service to the EEAS. This period of service, in accordance with the provisions of Article 50b of CEOS, shall not exceed eight years, unless, it is extended for a maximum period of two years in exceptional circumstances and in the interest of the service.

EU officials serving in the EEAS shall have the right to apply for posts in their institution of origin on the same terms as internal applicants.

12.  Steps shall be taken in order to provide EEAS staff with adequate common training, building in particular on existing national and EU practices and structures. The High Representative shall take appropriate measures to that effect within the year following the entry into force of this Decision.

Article 7

Transitional provisions regarding staff

1.  The relevant departments and functions in the General Secretariat of the Council and in the Commission listed in the Annex shall be transferred to the EEAS. Officials and temporary agents occupying a post in departments or functions listed in the Annex shall be transferred to the EEAS. This shall apply mutatis mutandis to contract and local staff assigned to such departments and functions. SNEs working in those departments or functions shall also be transferred to the EEAS with the consent of the authorities of the originating Member State.

These transfers shall take effect on 1 January 2011.

In accordance with the Staff Regulations, upon their transfer to the EEAS, the High Representative shall assign each official to a post in his function group which corresponds to his grade.

2.  The procedures for recruiting staff for posts transferred to the EEAS which are on-going at the date of entry into force of this Decision shall remain valid: they shall be carried on and completed under the authority of the High Representative in accordance with the relevant vacancy notices and the applicable rules of the Staff Regulations and the CEOS.

Article 8

Budget

1.  The duties of authorising officer for the EEAS section of the General Budget of the European Union shall be delegated in accordance with Article 59 of the Financial Regulation. The High Representative shall adopt the internal rules for the management of the administrative budget lines. Operational expenditure shall remain within the Commission section of the budget.

2.  The EEAS shall exercise its powers in accordance with the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union within the limits of the appropriations allocated to it.

3.  When drawing up estimates of administrative expenditure for the EEAS, the High Representative will hold consultations with, respectively, the Commissioner for Development Policy and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy regarding their respective responsibility.

4.  In accordance with Article 314(1) of the TFEU, the EEAS shall draw up estimates of its expenditure for the following financial year. The Commission shall consolidate these estimates in a draft budget, which may contain different estimates. The Commission may amend the draft budget as provided for in Article 314(2) of the TFEU.

5.  In order to ensure the budgetary transparency in the area of external action of the Union, the Commission will transmit to the budgetary authority, together with the Draft EU Budget, a working document presenting, in a comprehensive way, all expenditure related to the external action of the Union.

6.  The EEAS shall be subject to the procedures regarding the discharge provided for in Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and in Article 145 to 147 of the Financial Regulation. The EEAS will, in this context, fully cooperate with institutions involved in the discharge procedure and provide, as appropriate, the additional necessary information, including through attendance in meetings of the relevant bodies.

Article 9

External Action Instruments and programming

1.  The management of EU external cooperation programmes is under the responsibility of the Commission without prejudice to role of the Commission and of the EEAS in programming as set out in the following paragraphs.

2.   The High Representative shall ensure overall political coordination of the EU's external action, ensuring the unity, consistency and effectiveness of the EU's external action in particular through the external assistance instruments:

3.   In particular, the EEAS shall contribute to the programming and management cycle for the said instruments, on the basis of the policy objectives set out therein. It shall have responsibility for preparing the following Commission decisions regarding the strategic, multi-annual steps within the programming cycle:

In accordance with Article 3, throughout the whole cycle of programming, planning and implementation of these instruments, the High Representative and the EEAS shall work with the relevant members and services of the Commission without prejudice to Article 1(3). All proposals for decision will be prepared through Commission procedures and submitted to the Commission for decision.

4.  With regard to the European Development Fund and the Development Cooperation Instrument, any proposals, including those for changes in the basic regulations and the programming documents in paragraph 3 above, shall be prepared jointly by the relevant services in the EEAS and in the Commission under the responsibility of the Commissioner responsible for Development Policy and then jointly submitted with the High Representative for decision by the Commission.

Thematic programmes, except the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, as well as the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and the part of the Instrument for Stability referred to in the seventh indent of paragraph 2, shall be prepared by the appropriate Commission Service under the guidance of the Commissioner responsible for Development and presented to the College in agreement with the High Representative and other relevant Commissioners.

5.  With regard to European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, any proposals, including those for changes in the basic regulations and the programming documents in paragraph 3 above, shall be prepared jointly by the relevant services in the EEAS and in the Commission under the responsibility of the Commissioner responsible for Neighbourhood Policy and then jointly submitted with the High Representative for decision by the Commission.

6.  Actions undertaken under the CFSP budget, the Instrument for Stability except the part referred to in the seventh indent of paragraph 2, the Instrument for Cooperation with Industrialised Countries, the Communication and Public Diplomacy as well as the Election Observation Missions are under the responsibility of the High Representative/EEAS. The Commission shall be responsible for their financial implementation under the authority of the High Representative in her capacity as Vice-President of the Commission.(8). The Commission department responsible for this implementation shall be co-located with the EEAS.

Article 10

Security

1.  The High Representative shall, after consulting the Committee referred to in Council Decision 2001/264/EC, decide on the security rules for the EEAS and take all appropriate measures in order to ensure that the EEAS manages effectively the risks to its staff, physical assets and information, and that it fulfils its duty of care responsibilities. Such rules shall apply to all EEAS staff, and all staff in Union Delegations, regardless of their administrative status or origin.

2.  Pending the Decision referred to in paragraph 1:

3.  The EEAS shall have a department responsible for security matters, which shall be assisted by the competent services of the Member States.

4.  The High Representative shall take any measure necessary in order to implement security rules in the EEAS, in particular as regards protection of classified information and the measures to be taken in the event of failure by EEAS staff to comply with the security rules. For that purpose, the EEAS shall seek advice from the Security Office of the General Secretariat of the Council, from the relevant services of the Commission and from the relevant services of the Member States.

Article 11

Access to documents, archives and data protection

1.  The EEAS shall apply the rules laid down in Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The High Representative shall decide on the implementing rules for the EEAS.

2.  The Secretary General of the EEAS shall organise the archives of the Service. The relevant archives of the departments transferred from the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission shall be transferred to the EEAS.

3.  The EEAS shall protect the individuals with regard to the processing of personal data in accordance with the rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. The High Representative shall decide on the implementing rules for the EEAS.

Article 12

Immovable property

1.  The General Secretariat of the Council and the relevant Commission services shall take all necessary measures so that the transfers referred to in Article 7 can be accompanied by the transfers of the Council and Commission buildings necessary for the functioning of the EEAS.

2.  The terms on which immovable property is made available to the EEAS central administration and to the Union delegations shall be decided on jointly by the High Representative and the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission, as appropriate.

Article 13

Final provisions

1.  The High Representative, the Council, the Commission and the Member States shall be responsible for implementing this Decision and shall take all measures necessary to do so.

2.  The High Representative shall submit a report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the functioning of the EEAS no later than the end of 2011. This report shall in particular cover the implementation of the provisions of Article 5(3) and (10) and of Article 9.

3.  By mid-2013, the High Representative shall make a review of the functioning and organisation of the EEAS, which will cover inter alia the implementation of the provisions of Article 6(8) and (11). This review, shall, if necessary, be accompanied by appropriate proposals for revision of this Decision. In this case, the Council, in accordance with Article 27(3) TEU shall, revise this Decision in the light of the review no later than the beginning of 2014 ▌.

4.  This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption. Its provisions on financial management and recruitment ▌shall take effect once the necessary amendments to the Staff Regulations and the Financial Regulation, as well as the amending budget, have been adopted. Arrangements shall be entered into by the High Representative, the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission, and consultations shall be undertaken with the Member States to ensure a smooth transition.

5.  At the latest one month after the entry into force of this Decision, the High Representative shall submit to the Commission an estimate of the revenue and expenditure of the EEAS, including an establishment plan, in order for it to present a draft amending budget.

6.  This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, [date]

For the Council

The President

ANNEX

Departments and functions to be transferred to the EEAS(9)

The following is a list of all the administrative entities to be transferred en bloc to the EEAS. This does not prejudge the additional needs and the allocation of resources to be determined in the overall budget negotiations establishing the EEAS, nor decisions on the provision of adequate staff responsible for support functions, and the linked need for service-level agreements between the General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission and the EEAS.

1.  GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL

All staff in the departments and functions listed below shall be transferred en bloc to the EEAS, except for a very limited number of staff to perform the normal tasks of the General Secretariat of the Council in line with Article 2(1), second indent, and for certain specific functions which are indicated below:

Policy Unit

ESDP and crisis management structures

·  Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD)

·  Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC)

·  European Union Military Staff (EUMS)

o Departments under the direct authority of DGEUMS

o Concepts and Capability Directorate

o Intelligence Directorate

o Operations Directorate

o Logistics Directorate

o Communications and Information Systems Directorate

·  EU Situation Centre (SITCEN)

Exception:

·  Staff in the SITCEN supporting the Security Accreditation Authority

Directorate-General E

·  Entities placed under the direct authority of the Director-General

·  Directorate for the Americas and the United Nations

·  Directorate for the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia

·  Directorate for Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

·  Directorate for Parliamentary affairs in the area of CFSP

·  New York Liaison Office

·  Geneva Liaison Office

GSC officials on secondment to European Union Special Representatives and CSDP missions.

2.  COMMISSION (INCLUDING DELEGATIONS)

All staff in the departments and functions listed below shall be transferred en bloc to the EEAS, except for a limited number of staff mentioned below as exceptions.

Directorate-General for External Relations

·  All hierarchy posts and support staff directly attached to them

·  Directorate A (Crisis Platform and policy coordination in CFSP)

·  Directorate B (Multilateral Relations and Human Rights)

·  Directorate C (North America, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, EEA, EFTA, San Marino, Andorra, Monaco)

·  Directorate D (European Neighbourhood Policy Coordination)

·  Directorate E (Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, Central Asia Republics)

·  Directorate F (Middle East, South Mediterranean)

·  Directorate G (Latin America)

·  Directorate H (Asia (except Japan and Korea))

·  Directorate I (Headquarters resources, information, inter-institutional relations)

·  Directorate K (External Service)

·  Directorate L (Strategy, Coordination and Analysis)

·  Task Force on the Eastern Partnership

·  Unit Relex-01 (audit)

Exceptions:

·  Staff responsible for the management of financial instruments

·  Staff responsible for the payment of salaries and allowances to staff in delegations

External Service

·  All Heads of Delegation and Deputy Heads of Delegation and support staff directly attached to them

·  All Political Sections or cells and staff

·  All information and public diplomacy sections and staff

·  All Administration sections

Exceptions

·  Staff responsible for the implementation of financial instruments

Directorate-General for Development

·  Directorate D (ACP II – West and Central Africa, Caribbean and OCT) except OCT task force

·  Directorate E (Horn of Africa, East and Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Pacific)

·  Unit CI (ACP I: Aid programming and management): Staff responsible for programming

·  Unit C2 (Pan-African issues and institutions, governance and migration): Staff responsible for Pan-African relations

·  Applicable hierarchy posts and support staff directly attached to them

ANNEX

DECLARATION BY THE HIGH REPRESENTATIVE(10)ON POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY

In her relationship with the European Parliament, the High Representative (HR) will build on the consultation, information and reporting engagements undertaken during the last legislature by the former Commissioner for external relations, the former High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well as by the rotating Council Presidency. Where necessary, these engagements will be adjusted in light of Parliament's role of political control and the redefinition of the role of the High Representative as set out by the Treaties and in accordance with Article 36 TEU.

In this regard:

1.  On CFSP, the HR will seek the views of the European Parliament on the main aspects and basic choices of this policy in conformity with Article 36 TEU. Any exchanges of views prior to the adoption of mandates and strategies in the area of CFSP will take place in the appropriate format, corresponding to the sensitivity and confidentiality of the topics discussed. In this context, also the practice of Joint Consultation Meetings with the Bureaux of AFET and COBU will be enhanced. Briefings given at these meetings will relate in particular to CFSP missions financed out of the EU budget, both to those being implemented and those under preparation. If necessary, additional Joint Consultation Meetings may be arranged, on top of regular meetings. The EEAS presence (at all the meetings) will include in addition to the permanent Chair of the Political and Security Committee, senior officials responsible for the policy.

2.  The results of the ongoing negotiations on the Framework Agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission on negotiations of international agreements will be applied mutatis mutandis by the HR for agreements falling under her area of responsibility, where the consent of the Parliament is required. The European Parliament will be, in accordance with Article 218 (10) TFEU, immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedure, including for agreements concluded in the area of CFSP.

3.  The HR will continue the practice of holding in-depth dialogue on and of communicating all documents for the strategic planning phases of the financial instruments (except European Development Fund). The same will apply to all consultative documents submitted to Member States during the preparatory phase. This practice is without prejudice to the outcome of negotiations on the scope and application of Article 290 of the TFEU on delegated acts.

4.  The present system of providing confidential information on CSDP missions and operations (through the IIA 2002 ESDP EP Special Committee) will be continued. The HR can also provide access to other documents in the CFSP area on a need to know basis to other MEPs, who, for classified documents, are duly security cleared in accordance with applicable rules, where such access is required for the exercise of their institutional function on the request of the AFET Chair, and, if needed, the EP President. The HR will, in this context, review and where necessary propose to adjust the existing provisions on access for Members of European Parliament to classified documents and information in the field of security and defence policy (2002 IIA ESDP). Pending this adjustment, the HR will decide on transitional measures that she deems necessary to grant duly designated and notified MEPs exercising an institutional function easier access to the above information.

5.  The HR will respond positively to requests from the European Parliament for newly appointed Heads of Delegations to countries and organisations which the Parliament considers as strategically important to appear before AFET for an exchange of views (differing from hearings) before taking up their posts. The same will apply to EUSRs. These exchanges of views will take place in a format agreed with the HR, corresponding to the sensitivity and confidentiality of the topics discussed.

6.  In cases where the High Representative cannot participate in a debate in the plenary of the European Parliament, she will decide on her replacement by a Member of an EU institution, that is either by a Commissioner for issues falling exclusively or prevailingly into Commission competence or a Member of the Foreign Affairs Council for issues falling exclusively or principally into the area of CFSP. In the latter case, that replacement will either come from the rotating Presidency or from the trio Presidencies, in conformity with Article 26 if the Council's Rules of Procedure. The European Parliament will be informed of the High Representative's decision on replacement.

7.  The HR will facilitate the appearance of Heads of Delegations, EUSRs, Heads of CSDP missions and senior EEAS officials in relevant parliamentary committees and subcommittees in order to provide regular briefings.

8.  For military CSDP operations, financed by the Member States, information will continue to be provided through the IIA 2002 ESDP EP Special Committee subject to any revision of the IIA, in accordance with point 4 above.

9.  The European Parliament will be consulted on the identification and planning of Election Observation Missions and their follow-up - in keeping with Parliament's budgetary scrutiny rights over the relevant funding instrument, i.e. the EIDHR. The appointment of EU Chief Observers will be done in consultation with the Election Coordination Group, in due time before the start of the Election Observation Mission.

10.  The HR will play an active role in the upcoming deliberations on the updating of existing arrangements regarding the financing of CFSP contained in the 2006 IIA on budgetary discipline and sound financial management, based on the engagement with regard to the issues set out in point 1. The new budgetary procedure introduced by the Lisbon Treaty will apply fully to the CFSP budget. The High Representative will also work for greater transparency on the CFSP budget, including, inter alia, the possibility to identify major CSDP-missions in the budget (like the present missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Georgia), while preserving flexibility in the budget and the need to ensure continuity of action for missions already engaged.

Statement given by the High Representative in the plenary of the European Parliament on the basic organisation of the EEAS central administration

The HR will establish in the EEAS the services and functions necessary to fulfil its objectives and to strengthen the EU's capacity for consistent external action, while avoiding duplication. Where necessary, she will ensure that appropriate proposals are submitted to the budgetary authority.

The services and functions will be adapted over time in light of new priorities and developments.

Crisis management and peacebuilding: the CSDP structures will be part of the EEAS in the way agreed by the European Council in October 2009 and as foreseen in the EEAS Decision. The appropriate structure is to integrate relevant units in the Commission dealing with crisis response and peace building.

The High Representative will ensure that the relevant units from the Commission transferred to the EEAS which deal with planning and programming of crises response, conflict prevention and peace building, and the CSDP structures, work in close cooperation and synergy, both under her direct responsibility and authority, within the appropriate structure. This is of course without prejudice to the specific nature, notably intergovernmental and communitarian, of the policies.

Under the direct authority and responsibility of the High Representative, full coordination between all the services of the EEAS, in particular between the CSDP structures and the other relevant services of the EEAS will be ensured, respecting the specificities of these structures.

The HR will ensure that the necessary coordination is established between the EU Special Representatives and the relevant Departments in the EEAS.

The HR will give high priority to the promotion of Human Rights and good governance around the globe and promote its mainstreaming into external policies, throughout the EEAS. There will be human rights and democracy structure at headquarters level as well as focal points in all relevant Union delegations with the task of monitoring the human rights situation and promoting an effective realisation of EU human rights policy goals.

(1) Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 401/2004 of 23 February 2004 introducing, on the occasion of the accession of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, special temporary measures for recruitment of officials of the European Communities (OJ L 67, 5.3.2004, p. 1). (2) OJ… please, complete the footnotes. (3) OJ… (4) OJ… (5) OJ L 322, 9.12.2009, p. 28. (6) Article 98(1), second subparagraph of the Staff Regulations will read as follows: ‘As from 1 July 2013, the Appointing Authority shall also consider the applications of officials from other institutions without giving priority to any of these categories.’. (7) OJ L 327, 13.12.2007, p. 10. (8) The Commission will make a declaration to the effect that the High Representative will have the necessary authority in this area, in full respect of the Financial Regulation. (9) The human resources to be transferred are all financed from the expenditure heading 5 (Administration) of the multiannual financial framework. (10) Footnote: The term HR in this declaration covers all functions of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who is also a Vice-President of the European Commission, and the President of the Foreign Affairs Council without prejudice to the specific responsibilities under the specific functions she exercises.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on the European integration process of Kosovo

P7_TA(2010)0281 B7-0409/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Presidency Conclusions issued following the Thessaloniki European Council of 19 and 20 June 2003, at which a promise was made to all the Western Balkan States that they would join the European Union,

–  having regard to the conclusions of the General Affairs Council meeting of 7 December 2009 stressing that Kosovo, without prejudice to Members States' position on its status, should also benefit from the perspective of eventual visa liberalisation once all conditions are met and inviting the Commission to move forward with a structured approach to bring the people of Kosovo closer to the EU,

–  having regard to Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP of 4 February 2008 on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX KOSOVO, amended by Council Joint Action 2009/445/CFSP of 9 June 2009,

–  having regard to Council Joint Action 2008/123/CFSP of 4 February 2008 appointing a European Union Special Representative in Kosovo and Council Decision 2010/118/CFSP of 25 February 2010 extending the mandate of the European Union Special Representative in Kosovo,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 14 October 2009 entitled ‘Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2009-2010’ (COM(2009)0533) and the Commission's accompanying 2009 Progress Report on Kosovo and study entitled ‘Kosovo(1)- Fulfilling its European Perspective' (COM(2009)0534),

–  having regard to the recommendations of the 2nd EP-Kosovo Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of 7 April 2009 and of the 3rd EP-Kosovo Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of 23 June 2010,

–  having regard to its resolution of 29 March 2007 on the future of Kosovo and the role of the EU(2) and its resolution of 5 February 2009 on Kosovo and the role of the EU(3),

–  having regard to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244(1999),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1244/2009 of 30 November 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement(4) and in particular its Annex I in which a reference to persons residing in Kosovo (UNSCR 1244) was made for reasons of legal clarity and security,

–  having regard to the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly of 8 October 2008 (A/RES/63/3) requesting an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo,

–  having regard to its resolution of 26 November 2009 on the Commission's 2009 enlargement strategy paper concerning the Western Balkan countries, Iceland and Turkey(5),

–  having regard to the UN Special Envoy's final report on Kosovo's future status and the Comprehensive Status Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement of 26 March 2007,

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

A.  whereas regional stability in the Western Balkans and the integration of these countries into the EU are priorities for the European Union; whereas these priorities can only be sustained if EU membership is a tangible prospect for all the countries in the region,

B.  whereas the international community has always defended the sustainability of multiethnic and pluri-religious states in the Western Balkans, based on the values of democracy, tolerance and multiculturalism,

C.  whereas the citizens of Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro have been able to travel to the EU without visas since 19 December 2009 and the same is expected to become possible for citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina shortly; whereas Kosovo citizens cannot be left behind and isolated from the citizens of other countries in the region and therefore the visa liberalisation process with Kosovo should start without delay, providing that all the necessary criteria are met,

D.  whereas the International Court of Justice has been asked for an advisory opinion on the accordance with international law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo and whereas its conclusions are pending,

E.  whereas the decision not to include Kosovo in the visa liberalisation demonstrates a profound contradiction in the EU's Kosovo strategy which lies in the discrepancy between an enormous aid effort in terms of resources and personnel on the one hand and keeping the borders closed to all those whose labour could contribute to development on the other hand,

1.  Notes the declaration of independence of Kosovo of 17 February 2008, which has been recognised by 69 countries; notes that 22 EU Member States have recognised Kosovo as an independent country and five have not; encourages Member States, in order to make EU policies more effective for all the people in Kosovo, to step up their common approach towards Kosovo with the objective of Kosovo's accession to the EU; welcomes the constructive attitude towards Kosovo emphasised by the Spanish Presidency in spite of its non-recognition of the country; would welcome the recognition by all Member States of the independence of Kosovo;

2.  Stresses the utmost importance of the EU integration processes of all countries in the region for regional stabilisation; underlines that the prospect of accession to the EU is a powerful incentive for the necessary reforms in Kosovo and calls for practical steps to make this prospect more tangible both to the government and to citizens; to this end, calls on the Commission to include Kosovo in the screening process starting in early 2011 with a view to preparing the country for the launch of negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and to communicate to the Kosovo authorities which steps need to be taken before the Commission prepares the road map for visa liberalisation and to define the road map immediately after these steps are taken;

3.  Notes the recognition of Kosovo's independence by most of its neighbouring countries and good-neighbourly relations with them; notes the fact that Kosovo has been admitted as a member of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other international organisations;

4.  Reiterates its view expressed in its resolutions of 29 March 2007 and 5 February 2009 that rejects the possibility of the partitioning of Kosovo;

5.  Is concerned about the state of relations with Serbia and underlines that good-neighbourly relations are an essential criterion for the aspirations of Serbia as well as of Kosovo and all the other countries in the region to join the EU; while understanding the emotional implications of the aftermath of the 1999 war and understanding that the official recognition of Kosovo is not a feasible political option at the moment for the Belgrade leadership, nevertheless calls on Serbia to be pragmatic on the status issue; to this end, welcomes the signing of the police protocol with EULEX and calls for increased cooperation with the mission; moreover, calls on Serbia to refrain from blocking Kosovo's membership of international organisations and in particular its recent application to join the World Health Organisation; underlines that the conflict also affects regional trade and cooperation under the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), harming the economies of the countries in the region; calls on all sides to show a pragmatic approach to allow Kosovo's regional integration; underlines in this regard that the expected advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo should not hinder all parties involved from clearly committing themselves to effective cross-border, regional and local cooperation in the best interests of the whole population in and around Kosovo;

6.  Recalls that any country wishing to join the EU must meet the accession criteria and that in the case of the Western Balkans the stabilisation and association process is the framework for EU negotiations; emphasises that one of the three important aims of the stabilisation and association process is regional cooperation;

7.  Stresses that regional integration and cooperation are crucial for European security and stability as well as for creating a favourable context for the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo; is of the opinion that a package deal concerning security and cooperation in the Western Balkans would be desirable;

8.  Calls for strengthening of the cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo, particularly at the local level, on the issues which are important to citizens, such as the environment, infrastructure and trade;

9.  Notes that some Member States apply visa facilitation measures unilaterally while eight Member States continue to charge full visa fees; calls on EU Member States and the Commission to make every effort to adopt quickly uniform provisional facilitated procedures in order to ease travel for Kosovo citizens, especially in the light of the possibilities offered under the new visa code;

10.  Welcomes the local elections conducted on 15 November 2009 as the first elections organised under the political responsibility of the Government of Kosovo; welcomes the fact that in general they passed calmly and in a good atmosphere; underlines however that a series of irregularities were reported; calls on the authorities to swiftly implement the recommendations of the international community, including the necessary changes to electoral law in order to clarify the levels of jurisdiction for dealing with complaints and to clearly divide competencies between the Central Election Commission and the Complaints and Appeals Commission, update the electoral roll and ensure consistent voter education; underlines the utmost importance of the political will to advance these reforms and to hold to account those responsible for electoral fraud with a view to the upcoming general elections;

11.  Regrets that Belgrade is still supporting parallel structures in Serbian enclaves, challenging and weakening the powers of the newly established municipalities; calls on Serbia to adopt a more constructive attitude and to dismantle these structures;

12.  Reiterates the importance of effective implementation of the decentralisation process and warmly welcomes the high participation of Kosovo Serbs south of the Ibar river in the last elections – a step towards building their sustainable future in the country; urges the Government to fully support the newly elected leadership in these municipalities with sufficient financial and political assistance so that they can quickly establish the necessary structures in order to start delivering important services, with the assistance of the Commission; sees efficiently functioning municipal structures as essential for participation by Kosovo Serbs in the political processes and administrative structures of Kosovo; encourages the international community to support development and infrastructure projects coming from the newly established municipalities; in order to avoid a clash with the parallel structures, in particular in the field of education and health, encourages the Government, with the aid of EUSR/ICR, to come up with a strategy on how to deal with such structures;

13.  Welcomes the establishment of the EU House in northern Kosovo but is concerned about the situation in the north of Kosovo, which continues to suffer from severe shortcomings in the rule of law, increasing pressure on and intimidation of civil society by radical groups and organised crime; therefore stresses the need for the Council to make the rule of law mission functional in the entire territory of Kosovo and asks the Commission to raise the profile of its work on behalf of the Serbian community in the north, while underlining to all stakeholders on the ground that local, regional and cross-border cooperation is valuable to the population as a whole; to this end, welcomes the registration of commercial goods at Gates 1 and 31, which has helped to reduce smuggling in the region, and calls for further steps to restore the collection of customs duties; expresses concern about the problems in the current functioning of the judiciary in the Mitrovica region and calls on Serbia and Kosovo to finalise the agreement on staffing the court in Mitrovica North with Kosovo Serbian judges and a prosecutor; supports the plan to reintegrate the north into the political and administrative structures of Kosovo and calls for it to be implemented with due attention to the Serbian minority's sensitivities with a view to improving and increasing government services to the region and improving living conditions for the citizens there in a way which permits wide-ranging self-government; calls on EULEX to make efforts to increase its activities in the north, particularly in order to foster good inter-ethnic relations, while informing the population on the ground about EU action and the ongoing rule of law mission;

14.  Expresses its deep concern at the fatal blast that killed one person and injured ten others that took place in Mitrovica North on 2 July 2010 during the demonstrations against the opening of the civil services centre and at the attack of 5 July 2010 on an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo Assembly; strongly condemns all acts of violence and calls on the parties to act responsibly; urges EULEX to make every effort to defuse tension and prevent further violence and calls on the Kosovo Police, with the assistance of EULEX, to start, immediately, thorough and impartial investigations into the events in order to bring the perpetrators to justice;

15.  Underlines the importance of the success of the EU rule of law mission EULEX, both for sustainable development, the consolidation of the institutions and the stability of Kosovo, and for the EU's ambitions as a global player in peace-building; stresses EULEX's responsibility regarding its executive powers as well as its mandate to monitor, mentor and advise; in this regard, encourages EULEX to take concrete actions to make progress with high-level corruption cases; acknowledges the good progress made in some fields such as police and customs but stresses that the work should be accelerated so that the mission finally starts delivering tangible results in other fields, particularly high-level corruption cases, organised crime and war crimes; therefore welcomes the latest approach of EULEX to address possible cases of corruption also on the highest government and administration level and stresses the need to continue on this path in order to ensure credibility for and visibility of EULEX actions; stresses that in this regard a particular focus on the area of public procurement is of high importance and that in the area of organised crime EULEX must continue to achieve concrete results on the ground; in this regard, is concerned about the large backlog of cases caused by the unexpectedly high number of cases transferred to EULEX by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo; stresses that an insufficient number of judges and prosecutors have been made available to EULEX and calls on Member States to second the required number of experts or to make provision for contracting them; underlines the importance of streamlining the bureaucracy within EULEX; in this regard stresses the necessity for competent internal management, coordination and cooperation to make the mission work efficiently; stresses the need for transparency and accountability in the work of EULEX as well as to display sensitivity to the political context of its activities in order to increase its legitimacy in the eyes of citizens; moreover, underlines the importance of maintaining close communication with the Government, citizens and media of Kosovo; encourages EULEX to communicate the accomplishments of the mission to Kosovo's citizens and, in addition, work to increase trust in the mission and be alert to the expectations of citizens; welcomes the recent setting-up of the Human Rights Review Panel that will be in charge of reviewing complaints from persons claiming to be victims of human rights violations by EULEX in the conduct of its executive mandate;

16.  Calls on its competent bodies, particularly the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, to step up scrutiny and oversight of EULEX, possibly in cooperation with Kosovo civil society; to this end, calls upon the Council to forward all regular and exceptional evaluations and review reports on EULEX to Parliament;

17.  Notes the efforts of both Serbia and Kosovo to locate persons missing since the 1998-1999 conflict through the ‘Working Group on Persons Who Are Unaccounted For In Connection With Events In Kosovo’; underlines the significance of the resolution of this issue in moving forward from the 1998-1999 conflict; further notes the approximately 1 862 cases of persons still missing and calls on both Kosovo and Serbia to extend all possible cooperation to each other, the ICRC, EULEX and other entities in searching for these persons;

18.  Stresses that 2010 is a crucial year for both the Kosovo Government and all levels of the administration in order to make progress on key reforms such as the fight against corruption and organised crime, decentralisation and public administration reform; underlines that the reform process, in order to be successful, must be based on a thorough debate on draft legislation in consultation with all stakeholders, including all parts of civil society; moreover, reminds the Government that particular attention should be paid to the swift and efficient implementation of laws, without which the adoption of legislation will not have any real impact on the situation in Kosovo;

19.  Is extremely concerned about the widespread corruption which remains one of the biggest problems in Kosovo, another being organised crime, and calls for urgent action to combat it by improving the legal framework for tackling corruption, adopting an anti-corruption strategy and action plan and stepping up cooperation with the police and judicial authorities of all the countries of the region; is deeply concerned at the recent bloodshed caused by a violent incident near the borders of Kosovo and calls for immediate measures to be taken to prevent such incidents in future and to put an end to the arms trafficking which contributes to the destabilisation of the Western Balkan region; welcomes the establishment of a special anti-corruption department within the Special Prosecution Office of Kosovo but underlines that the commitment of all the line ministries is necessary in order for the department to be effective and that staffing in all cases must be with people who are irreproachable; calls for swift adoption of a law regulating the financing of political parties, which would effectively and transparently regulate party finances, ensuring full disclosure of their financial reports;

20.  Stresses the utmost importance of the reform of the judiciary and prosecution service, which is still at an early stage, in order to ensure the independence and professionalism of judges and prosecutors and to allow citizens to regain trust in the rule of law; to this end, welcomes the appointment of the Ombudsman, the judges of the Supreme Court, the prosecutors of the State Prosecutor's Office and the prosecutors of the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office; is concerned that shortcomings in witness protection continue to impede justice for the most serious crimes; calls for the adoption and rapid implementation of the Law on Courts and for the establishment of an effective protection system for witnesses and judges; in that sense urges the EULEX representatives to continue to report publicly on the remaining challenges with regard to the rule of law in Kosovo;

21.  Calls for more efforts to speed up the public administration reform in order to create a professional and independent civil service respecting gender balance and fully reflecting the diverse ethnic composition of the Kosovo population; underlines the need for the legislative framework to be adopted and implemented to this end and for appropriate attention to be paid to, and finance provided for, the building of human resources; is concerned about political interference in appointments to key civil service positions and calls for this practice, which seriously undermines the functioning of the administration, to be halted;

22.  Urges the Government to ensure media pluralism and financial and editorial independence of the media, without political pressures, and transparency of ownership and funding; calls for working rights for journalists as well as efficient procedures for protecting investigative journalists from threats; underlines the importance of the public broadcaster for providing high-quality independent information to the entire population and is concerned about the lack of a sustainable financing system to ensure it; welcomes the investments made by the Government in providing internet access; urges the Government to make internet access even more widely available to its citizens; stresses the important role of uncensored access to the internet for business and politics, especially in order to increase youth participation at the time of elections;

23.  Calls for support to strengthen the Assembly of Kosovo so that it can effectively fulfil its legislative functions and carry out democratic oversight of the Government's political and budgetary activities; calls, in this regard, for the setting-up of an ad hoc twinning programme in order to provide the administrative staff of the Kosovo Assembly with the opportunity of internships in the European Parliament and calls on Member States' parliaments to set up twinning programmes in order to provide MPs and administrative staff of the Kosovo Assembly with the opportunity for exchanges and capacity-building in relation to parliamentary legislative and control procedures, especially for parliamentary minority and opposition groups;

24.  Commends the Government for its progress in the adoption of the legislation protecting human rights, and encourages it to swiftly adopt the remaining laws; notes, however, that the implementation of the legislative framework remains unsatisfactory and overall progress slow; calls for more active policies to fight discrimination on all grounds (ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability and others) and to ensure gender balance as well as active participation by minorities in political life and administrative structures, both at national and local level; stresses the importance of education in this process; calls on the Government to provide schooling for minorities in their own languages, including the curricula and textbooks, enabling them to preserve their culture and identity, as well as to assist them with building human resources;

25.  Is concerned about high levels of domestic violence, discrimination against women and the phenomenon of trafficking in persons, particularly girls and women for sexual exploitation; calls for active steps to ensure gender equality and to effectively protect women's and children's rights;

26.  Underlines the very difficult legacy of the armed conflict, which has eroded public trust in the possibility of a peaceful resolution of conflicts, both among social groups and in private life;

27.  Underlines that the fragile political situation, the occurrence of inter-ethnic incidents in some areas and poor economic conditions have hampered the sustainable return of refugees, and calls for more efforts to be made to improve their situation;

28.  Underlines the difficult situation and the discrimination faced by minorities and in particular Roma in access to education, housing, social services and employment; welcomes the Commission's initiative to close the lead-contaminated camps in the north of Mitrovica and to resettle the families living in them and calls for its swift implementation; shares the concern expressed by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights that Kosovo is not yet in a position to provide proper conditions to reintegrate forcefully repatriated Roma and urges the Member States to stop carrying out this practice; takes note, in this regard, of the agreement reached between German and Kosovo authorities to repatriate gradually 14 000 refugees to Kosovo, of whom about 10 000 are Roma, and urges the Commission to step up ad hoc assistance programmes; calls on the countries participating in the Roma Decade to facilitate Kosovo's involvement in the programmes;

29.  Stresses the crucial importance of education, both in providing young people with the necessary skills in the labour market and in contributing to reconciliation between ethnic groups; to this end, encourages the gradual introduction of common classes, teaching of minority languages, particularly Serbian, to pupils of Albanian ethnicity, and of the Albanian language to all the minorities; welcomes the recent establishment of the International Business College in Mitrovica, which, while representing a significant international investment in the local economy, attracts students from all communities, aims to create prospects for young people by promoting entrepreneurship, and introduces them to European professional standards in business, environmental and public management;

30.  Emphasises that respect for cultural diversity is always at the heart of the European project and that the religious and cultural heritage is a necessary condition for peace and security in the region; stresses that adequate cultural heritage protection is of importance to all communities in Kosovo; calls on the Government to proceed with the planned institutional reform of the cultural heritage sector; emphasises that the adoption of the List of Cultural Heritage Sites is an important precondition for implementation of the cultural heritage legislation; welcomes the activities of the Facilitator for the Protection of the Religious and Cultural Heritage or the Serbian Orthodox Church and encourages all stakeholders to actively cooperate with him;

31.  Emphasises that academic exchanges must be supported and promoted through programmes such as Erasmus Mundus in order to allow Kosovo citizens to obtain qualifications and experience within the EU and to reinforce their interaction with the citizens of the EU;

32.  Calls on the authorities to actively support civil society and its involvement in the formulation of social and economic policies in full support of freedom of expression and association, underlines the important role that civil society and international NGOs play in reconciliation between ethnic groups and calls on the Commission to step up its financial assistance to their work; emphasises in this respect the need for an effective framing of these issues in the Annual Programmes for Kosovo under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance; notes that good interpersonal and especially business cooperation exists between individuals from different ethnic communities and that more efforts should be undertaken by the Kosovo authorities, civil society and the international community to support local projects which enhance this kind of cooperation;

33.  Is seriously concerned about the fact that Kosovo continues to be one of the poorest countries in Europe, with unemployment exceeding 40%; stresses that this situation is unsustainable and that difficult living conditions have resulted in growing discontent in society; calls for urgent action to improve the efficiency of social systems to provide a safety net for the vulnerable parts of society and to pursue active labour policies to decrease unemployment; calls, in this regard, on the Commission to make full use of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance to foster Kosovo's socioeconomic development, in particular for young people; appeals to the EU and Member States to accept as many Kosovo citizens as possible as seasonal workers and in sectors with labour shortages;

34.  Considers economic development to be the key to solving important problems of the country, which includes its vital contribution to improving the situation of women and minorities and facilitating inter-ethnic relations; underlines the importance of the agricultural sector to this end; welcomes a number of laws in preparation in this field and calls for their swift adoption; underlines however that the efficient implementation of the legal framework already adopted is a precondition for conditions on the ground to improve;

35.  Stresses that Kosovo should choose the appropriate economic policies that will ensure sustainable economic growth, environmental protection, job creation and diminishing social exclusion; calls on the Kosovo authorities to improve the economic climate for foreign investment and transparency in trade relationships;

36.  Calls for active steps to be taken in the field of energy in order to ensure the energy security necessary for the development of Kosovo; underlines that huge infrastructure needs in this field constitute an opportunity to diversify the energy supply to include more ecological sources, to modernise and step up the energy efficiency of the electricity grid and to implement the best available technologies, including in the planned coal-fired plants; calls for the closure of Kosovo A power plant without delay and Kosovo B as soon as possible without compromising the energy needs of the country;

37.  Calls on the Kosovo authorities to continue investing in renewable energy and seeking regional cooperation in that field;

38.  Points out that the transport policy of Kosovo has been focused so far on road-building; regrets the poor condition of public transport with regard, in particular, to railways; calls on the Kosovo Government to make full use of the IPA funds in order to develop, upgrade and modernise the railway network and improve interconnections with neighbouring countries for both people and freight with a view to making mobility sustainable;

39.  Expresses its concern at the widespread environmental problems affecting land, air and water and calls on the Government to amend and implement the legislative framework in order to bring it into line with EU standards and to make environmental education a key element of education;

40.  Underlines the need to streamline the EU presence in Kosovo in line with the development of the European External Action Service and the creation of EU Delegations in the world and to change the Commission Liaison Office into an EU Delegation so as to improve the effectiveness and coordination of EU action in Kosovo; takes note of the opening of the new EU Office in Belgrade in the framework of the EU SR Kosovo mandate, operating separately from the existing EU Delegation to Serbia;

41.  Deplores the lack of transparency with regard to the latest extension of the mandate for the EU SR to Kosovo, including a substantial increase in appropriations; recalls that the adoption of the new interinstitutional agreement on budgetary matters will have to address properly the EP's information requirements by taking into account the Lisbon Treaty;

42.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, to the Council and Commission, to the EU Special Representative/International Civilian Representative for Kosovo, to the Government and Assembly of Kosovo, to the Government of Serbia, to the members of the International Steering Group for Kosovo and to the United Nations Security Council.

(1) Under UNSCR 1244/1999. (2) OJ C 27 E, 31.01.2008, p. 207. (3) OJ C 67 E, 18.03.2010, p. 126. (4) OJ L 336, 18.12.2009, p. 1. (5) Texts Adopted, P7_TA(2009)0097.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on Albania

P7_TA(2010)0282 B7-0408/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Presidency conclusions issued following the Thessaloniki European Council of 19 and 20 June 2003, concerning the prospect of the Western Balkan countries joining the European Union,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2009-2010’ (COM(2009)0533) and the accompanying Albania 2009 Progress Report (SEC(2009)1337) οf 14 October 2009,

–  having regard to Council Decision 2008/210/EC of 18 February 2008 on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the European Partnership with Albania and repealing Decision 2006/54/EC(1),

–  having regard to the first meeting of the EU-Albania Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, which took place on 3 and 4 May 2010,

–  having regard to the conclusions of the meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council between Albania and the EU of 18 May 2009,

–  having regard to Council Decision 2007/821/EC of 8 November 2007 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Albania on the facilitation of the issuance of visas(2),

–  having regard to the recommendations of the 16th EP-Albania Inter-parliamentary Meeting of 19 and 20 March 2009,

–  having regard to its decision to increase the frequency of political dialogue with Albania at parliamentary level to reflect the entry into force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement,

–  having regard to Resolution 1709(2010) of the Council of Europe on the functioning of democratic institutions in Albania,

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

A.  whereas the renewed consensus on enlargement, as expressed in the conclusions of the European Council of 14 and 15 December 2006, reaffirms that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the EU,

B.  whereas the prospect of EU integration is giving impetus to several reforms in the Western Balkans and should play a constructive role in enhancing the region's capacity for peace, stability and conflict prevention, improving good neighbourly relations and addressing economic and social needs through sustainable development; whereas any realistic prospect of membership involves more than simply completing an administrative or technical procedure, also requiring a genuine political commitment on the part of relevant decision-makers in the Member States,

C.  whereas the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Albania entered into force on 1 April 2009; whereas the country applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009 and submitted its answers to the Commission's pre-accession questionnaire on 14 April 2010; whereas the Commission is preparing its opinion on the subject,

D.  whereas each country's progress towards EU membership depends on its efforts to meet the Copenhagen criteria and comply with the conditions attached to the stabilisation and association process,

1.  Confirms – in line with the conclusions of the Thessaloniki European Council of 19 and 20 June 2003, the Salzburg Declaration of 11 March 2006 and the relevant subsequent Council conclusions – its full support for Albania's application for EU membership (and for future EU membership for all the other Western Balkan countries), once it has achieved a certain level of political stability and reliability and fully meets the Copenhagen criteria;

2.  Acknowledges the progress achieved by Albania in the context of the reform process, but underlines the need for further substantial efforts, which are necessary both to consolidate democracy and the rule of law and to ensure the country's sustainable development;

3.  Notes with satisfaction that Albania replied on 14 April 2010 to the Commission's questionnaire on the preparation of its opinion on the country's application for EU membership, and at the same time stresses that a candidate country's progress towards EU membership depends on its ability to meet the Copenhagen criteria, including the existence of stable institutions guaranteeing democracy;

4.  Expresses the hope that the Albanian Government and opposition clearly understand that overcoming the current political controversies is crucial for the country's progress towards EU integration and for furthering Albanians' European aspirations; reiterates the conclusion reached at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting of 14 June 2010 that it is high time to find a solution to the current political crisis on a basis which will stand the test of time, and that it is the responsibility of the Government of Albania together with the opposition to promptly find, in a transparent manner and in full respect of the Albanian constitution, solutions and ways forward which will be required for the country on its EU path;

5.  Deplores the political crisis following the June 2009 parliamentary elections in Albania, and underlines that fully functioning, representative institutions (especially parliament) are the backbone of a consolidated democratic system and, as a key priority for the European Partnership, an important political criterion for EU integration; welcomes the opposition's decision actively to participate in the Albanian Parliament's work, but deplores the fact that – in spite of the recent talks facilitated by the EU – a consensus has still not been reached regarding the 2009 elections; strongly urges all political sides to assume their responsibilities and engage in constructive political dialogue, including discussions on a new electoral law ensuring a fully transparent electoral process for future elections; emphasises that a solution to the stalemate can be found only by complying fully with the Constitution and the principles of transparency;

6.  Takes the view that the basic agreement on setting up a parliamentary committee of inquiry to investigate the conduct of the 2009 parliamentary elections – with the Chair and the majority of members to be selected from the opposition, and having a mandate to investigate the electoral material – should be implemented as soon as possible; emphasises that this committee of inquiry should present its conclusions in time to enable parliament to adopt new legislation well before the next local and regional elections on the basis of the committee's findings and of the proposals made by the OSCE/ODIHR;

7.  Calls on the government and opposition, if a solution cannot be found without outside help, to agree to mediation, for example by jointly inviting Council of Europe and/or European Parliament representatives;

8.  Urges the Albanian authorities to draft and implement as soon as possible a consensus-based reform of parliament's rules of procedure, which will ensure transparency in relation to administrative and financial resources, high-quality legislation based on extensive expertise, improved supervisory capacities for parliament and adequate rights and representation for the opposition in parliamentary committees and parliamentary activities; calls on both sides – majority and opposition – to develop constructive dialogue in order to ensure an open and transparent legislative process, in consultation with relevant stakeholders and civil society actors, in order to adopt and approve crucial legislation without further delay, including laws requiring a 3/5 majority;

9.  Welcomes the improvements made to the legal and administrative framework for the election process, and notes the Venice Commission's overall positive assessment in its Joint Opinion on the Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania; notes, furthermore, that according to the OSCE/ODIHR's assessment the June 2009 parliamentary elections met most international standards, but failed to enhance confidence in the electoral process; draws attention to the need for full implementation of the recommendations set out in the OSCE/ODIHR's final report on the 2009 parliamentary elections, and calls on both the majority and opposition in the Albanian Parliament to begin work immediately with a view to implementing those recommendations fully;

10.  Expresses disappointment that, at the Parliamentary Law Committee meetings ahead of the Albanian Parliament's plenary session of 18 March 2010, the majority and opposition did not reach agreement on proposals concerning the committee of inquiry into the 2009 elections;

11.  Underlines the urgent need to establish a cross-party consensus on economic, political and social reforms in order to improve the well-being of Albanian citizens and allow the country to make progress towards EU membership;

12.  Welcomes the adoption on 27 May 2010 of the Commission's legislative proposal on visa liberalisation, and calls on the Commission to check that the remaining benchmarks are met in the coming months, with the aim of clearing the way for the Council and Parliament to approve the introduction of a visa waiver for Albanian citizens by the end of 2010;

13.  Welcomes the cross-party political support for visa liberalisation expressed in the resolution adopted by the Albanian Parliament on 11 March 2010;

14.  Underlines the importance of respecting and protecting human and minority rights as the top priority;

15.  Recalls that the protection of personal data should always be ensured and must not be arbitrarily disregarded, and calls on all authorities to legislate and act in accordance with that rule;

16.  Welcomes the progress made in respect of the judicial system, but underlines that implementation of the reforms is still at an early stage; takes the view that judicial reform, including the enforcement of court decisions, is a key prerequisite for Albania's EU membership application process, and underlines the importance of the separation of powers in a democratic society; stresses that a transparent, impartial and efficient judiciary, independent of all political or other pressure or control, is fundamental to the rule of law, and calls for the urgent adoption of a comprehensive long-term strategy in this field, including a roadmap for adopting the necessary legislation and implementing measures; calls on the opposition to be involved in the drafting process and to give full support to the reform of the judiciary; stresses, moreover, that the judiciary needs to be provided with sufficient funding to enable it to operate effectively throughout the country; looks forward, therefore, to new assistance initiatives from the Commission and welcomes, in this regard, the recent inauguration of a Serious Crimes Court in Tirana;

17.  Welcomes the fact that the Constitutional Court has suspended implementation of the lustration law and the fact that this law is currently under review; asks for wider consultation and consensus – especially with the Venice Commission – should a new draft law be prepared, and stresses the importance of safeguarding the independence of constitutional institutions;

18.  Welcomes the measures taken to fight petty corruption, and in particular the adoption of the integrated Anti-Corruption Action Plan for 2010; notes that the fight against corruption remains a major political challenge, that law enforcement and prosecution are still weak, and that further vigorous steps need to be taken to remedy the situation whereby people guilty of corruption enjoy impunity; underlines the need to establish a track record of investigations and convictions, including in cases of high-level corruption, and to continue implementing the latest GRECO recommendations, especially as regards reducing the number of officials enjoying immunity; welcomes the fact that strategic documents have been made public in order to allow monitoring of the progress made in implementing them; calls, furthermore, for the adoption of a legislative framework for fully transparent political party financing;

19.  Welcomes plans for the establishment of a Public Administration Institute, and calls for further action to implement the public administration reform strategy and ensure full enforcement of the law on the civil service, including an adequate human resources management system; draws attention to the risks of politicising public administration through the use of non-transparent recruitment procedures, and to the practice of hiring temporary staff outside the scope of the law, and calls on the authorities to put an end to these practices and to create a depoliticised civil service based on merit, which would also help to enhance citizens' trust in public administration;

20.  Underlines the crucial importance of professional, independent and pluralist media – both public and private – as a cornerstone of democracy; is concerned that little progress has been made in completing the legal framework for the media; urges the authorities to make every effort to adopt and implement the legal framework in line with EU standards, and to ensure media freedom from political or any other interference, including that of the executive; is concerned about political pressure on the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT), and calls on the relevant authorities to secure its independence; calls for steps to be taken to ensure transparent media ownership and funding; deplores the absence of established working rights for journalists, which undermines their ability to work objectively and independently, and urges the authorities to take adequate steps to address this situation; calls, in particular, for the legislation on electronic broadcasting to be adopted and for the civil codes to be adjusted in order to decriminalise libel and defamation; welcomes the lack of government restrictions on internet access, and urges the government to make it more widely available to all citizens;

21.  Welcomes the establishment of a legal framework designed to address and prevent forms of organised crime, including money laundering and trafficking in drugs and human beings; takes note of efforts to fight organised crime, but notes that further action is needed in respect of implementation and that all the necessary human and financial resources must be provided in order to achieve concrete results; underlines the importance of effective investigation, prosecution and punishment of offenders; welcomes the decision to establish an interinstitutional committee chaired by the Prime Minister on measures to combat organised crime and trafficking; stresses that, given the regional ramifications of organised crime, greater efforts must be made to step up police and judicial cooperation with adjoining countries, including joint border patrols;

22.  Underlines the importance it attaches to civil society organisations, and acknowledges the government's small steps forward in terms of consulting such organisations about draft laws and the reforms in progress; calls for further steps to be taken to formalise and increase civil society involvement in formulating policy and monitoring its implementation and effectiveness at all levels, including the transparency of civil society organisations and of their financing;

23.  Underlines the importance of mobility programmes, especially those aimed at youth, teachers and researchers, and takes the view that the number of participants in such programmes should be increased; welcomes, in this connection, initiatives designed to provide Albanian students with study opportunities in EU countries;

24.  Acknowledges that, although basic trade union rights are recognised in the Constitution, union activities are frequently blocked, and that restrictions on strikes within the civil service and public utilities are too broad by international standards; deplores the Albanian Government's recent acquisition of trade union assets; welcomes the Constitutional Court's decision of 22 April 2010 to rule this law unconstitutional, and calls on the government to return the assets immediately; asks the government fully to respect trade unions' rights and to take all the necessary legal steps to ensure that all workers, in both the public and private sectors, have the right to participate in trade unions;

25.  Welcomes the measures taken to increase the participation of women in political life; takes the view, however, that the State Committee on Equal Opportunities remains weak, and the Gender Equality Act largely unimplemented; takes the view, therefore, that further action is needed to facilitate the inclusion of women in the labour market and their participation in the decision-making process;

26.  Welcomes the legal reforms in recent years with regard to the protection of victims of domestic violence and trafficking; recognises, however, that these are inadequate and that further steps should be taken, and remains seriously concerned about widespread domestic violence and trafficking in women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour; expresses concern that a significant increase in the reporting of incidents in this field is not always followed by proper police investigations or court protection orders; calls for full implementation of the existing legislation protecting women and children against all forms of violence and for the adoption and implementation of a comprehensive system for their protection and rehabilitation, including mandatory, efficient registration of all children and newborns, comprehensive provision of free legal, social and psychological aid to victims, public awareness-raising campaigns, adequate training for law enforcement agencies and the creation of a network of shelters (which should be of sufficient quantity and quality and able to meet the different needs of victims of domestic violence and trafficking); calls on the Commission to strengthen its support for the Albanian authorities in this regard;

27.  Acknowledges the progress made in respect of protection of minorities, and that an adequate institutional and legislative framework for the protection of minorities is largely in place; notes, however, that discrimination continues to be a problem in Albania, particularly with regard to people vulnerable to discrimination and respect for gender identity and sexual orientation, and that more efforts are needed to combat discrimination, including raising awareness; notes with concern, in this connection, the recent anti-gay demonstration in Albania; underlines that more efforts are needed to tackle the European Partnership priorities with regard to minorities, and more specifically the use of minority languages and provision for minority-language education and non-discriminatory treatment for members of all minorities;

28.  Welcomes the changes to the Criminal Code aimed at addressing racist crimes; commends the recent adoption of the anti-discrimination law drafted in cooperation with civil society organisations, and calls for its swift and effective implementation; welcomes in particular the establishment of an independent commissioner for protection against discrimination, with responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the law and investigating complaints; stresses, moreover, the urgent need for accurate and reliable statistical data, which are essential for the effective implementation of anti-discrimination measures, and, to this end, draws attention to the importance of the national census planned for 2011 in line with internationally recognised standards ensuring full respect for the principle of free self-identification;

29.  Calls for further efforts to improve the situation of Roma, who continue to face difficult living conditions and to suffer discrimination in the areas of access to education, social protection, health care, employment and adequate housing; welcomes, in this connection, the government's action plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion, but notes that local authorities and communities should play a key role in implementing it and be provided with an adequate budget for this purpose; encourages the relevant authorities to implement the action plan and publish regular progress reports;

30.  Acknowledges the significant reduction in poverty in recent years as a result of high real GDP growth; points out, however, that despite the economic progress made, a considerable proportion of the population still lives in poverty, and that continued efforts are consequently necessary to reduce poverty further, particularly in rural and mountain areas;

31.  Welcomes the progress made with regard to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, including in the prison system; calls for improvements to living conditions in prisons in order to bring them up to a standard commensurate with human dignity and to fight the high levels of corruption in the prison service; underlines that progress needs to be made in improving conditions at detention facilities following the recommendations along these lines made by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) in 2008, and recalls the Ombudsman's conclusions that conditions are below national and international human rights standards for the detention of prisoners and efforts to fight high levels of corruption in the prison service;

32.  Underlines that most courts do not carry out ex officio judicial reviews for psychiatric patients, preventing those patients hospitalised involuntarily from being seen by a judge; recalls the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Dybeku v Albania, and asks for an assurance that prisoners suffering from mental illnesses are not placed in the same facilities as prisoners not suffering from such conditions;

33.  Expresses concern about the unnecessary placement of children in orphanages as a result of poverty, and about the long-term consequences for, and unequal treatment of, adult orphans as regards equal access to social facilities such as housing;

34.  Acknowledges Albania's good relations with its neighbours as making a vital contribution to regional stability, and welcomes the recent positive trend in relations between Albania and Serbia, along with the country's active participation in regional initiatives such as the South-East European Cooperation Process, the Regional Cooperation Council, the Energy Community and the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), the South East Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO) and the negotiations on the establishment of a Transport Community Treaty; emphasises that regional cross-border cooperation is essential in dealing with issues such as human trafficking;

35.  Notes with satisfaction Albanian initiatives to waive visa requirements for neighbouring countries, which are a positive step that facilitates people-to-people contacts and enhances regional reconciliation; is of the opinion that such initiatives should be undertaken in parallel to the visa liberalisation process involving the Schengen countries and Western Balkan countries;

36.  Commends Albania on its economic growth even during the global economic recession; points, however, to its large informal economy, high unemployment rate and unregulated labour market, which lead to job insecurity and substantially undermine workers' rights; notes its rising fiscal and public debt;

37.  Expects the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) to help improve Albania's economic situation; notes, however, that IPA financing programmes must be accompanied by an effective evaluation system;

38.  Is of the opinion that Albania must continue to work on implementing the necessary economic policies to ensure sustainable economic growth, environmental protection and job creation; underlines the importance of sustaining macroeconomic stability;

39.  Notes that little progress has been made in terms of consolidating property rights, thereby hampering the development of a functional land market; points out that the process of property registration, inventory of state land and possible compensation still lacks transparency and has yet to be completed in a fair manner, without discrimination against people belonging to minorities; calls for further efforts as regards registration of real estate, property restitution, legalisation of unlawful construction and compensation;

40.  Welcomes the Albanian authorities' efforts to improve the business climate by simplifying procedures for registering businesses and obtaining licences and permits; stresses, however, that further improvement is needed, since Albania's business climate is still regarded as one of the toughest in the Western Balkans; calls on the authorities to address numerous shortcomings, for example in relation to procedures for acquiring land ownership titles, enforcement of contracts, weak public administration and high levels of corruption;

41.  Underlines the need – bearing in mind that a significant proportion of Albania's economy relies on remittances from emigrants living in neighbouring countries – for continued work on public policies and investments with a view to upgrading infrastructure in fields crucial to sustainable economic development and social cohesion, including education, health, justice, transport and agriculture;

42.  Underlines that particular attention should be paid to ensuring security of energy supply and diversifying energy sources, while at the same time improving energy efficiency, and reiterates the need for further progress in implementing the 2005 Energy Efficiency Law; draws particular attention to Albania's considerable potential as regards renewable energy sources, and calls for more efforts to develop them further, bearing in mind that most of the country's energy supply framework is in the process of being developed; welcomes, in this regard, new projects in the hydro-power sector, and calls for more efforts to be made with regard to the development of solar and wind energy projects; points out that investment in energy from renewable sources creates opportunities for growth and employment at local and regional level;

43.  Underlines, in relation to the project announced in 2007 for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Albania, the paramount importance of nuclear safety and radiation protection; notes, in this regard, that Albania has not yet signed the Convention on Nuclear Safety or the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management;

44.  Urges the Albanian Government to develop renewable energy sources, improve the implementation of waste management policy and further build up environmentally sustainable tourism in order to preserve the country's beautiful natural and architectural heritage;

45.  Expresses concern about the poor condition of public transport, particularly the railways; calls on the Albanian Government to make full use of the IPA funds in order to develop, upgrade and modernise the railway network and improve connections with adjoining countries for both people and freight;

46.  Calls for further progress in the field of environmental protection, in both urban areas and the countryside, full implementation of environmental legislation and stronger regional cooperation with a view to promoting environmental sustainability; welcomes, in this connection, the agreement on the protection and sustainable development of Prespa Park signed by Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece, along with the Commission;

47.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of Albania.

(1) OJ L 80, 19.3.2008, p. 1. (2) OJ L 334, 19.12.2007, p. 84.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on the situation in Kyrgyzstan

P7_TA(2010)0283 RC-B7-0419/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, in particular those of 12 May 2005 and 6 May 2010,

–  having regard to its resolution of 20 February 2008 on an EU Strategy for Central Asia(1),

–  having regard to the EU Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflict adopted by the European Council in Göteborg in 2001,

–  having regard to the statements made by the Vice-President/High Representative Catherine Ashton on the fresh clashes which took place in Kyrgyzstan on 11 June 2010 and on the constitutional referendum of 28 June 2010,

–  having regard to the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council of 14 June 2010,

–  having regard to the joint statement on the situation in Kyrgyzstan issued by the Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the UN Special Representative and the EU Special Representative in Kyrgyzstan on 16 June 2010,

–  having regard to the EU Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia adopted at the European Council meeting of 21/22 June 2007,

–  having regard to the Joint Progress Report of 14 June 2010 by the Council and the Commission to the European Council on the implementation of the EU Strategy for Central Asia,

–  having regard to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Kyrgyzstan, which entered into force in 1999,

–  having regard to the European Community Regional Strategy Paper for Assistance to Central Asia for the period 2007-2013,

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

A.  whereas on 11 June 2010 violent clashes erupted in the southern Kyrgyzstan cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad and continued to escalate until 14 June 2010, with hundreds of armed men reportedly storming the city streets, shooting civilians and setting fire to shops, choosing their targets on the basis of ethnicity,

B.  whereas according to the Kyrgyz authorities around 300 people died in the clashes, although fears have been expressed, including by the head of the interim government Rosa Otunbayeva, that the real figure could be much higher; whereas more than 2000 people were injured or hospitalised and many are still missing,

C.  whereas it has been estimated that as a result of the violence 300 000 people have been internally displaced and 100 000 have sought refuge in nearby Uzbekistan; whereas the Tashkent government provided humanitarian assistance to the refugees with the help of international organisations, but closed its border with Kyrgyzstan on 14 June 2010, citing a lack of capacity to take in more people,

D.  whereas the interim government declared a state of emergency in the area and security forces were unable to take control; whereas appeals issued by interim president Roza Otunbayeva to Russian President Medvedev and to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation for military support in restoring order were turned down; whereas a request to send an international police force has been made and is currently being considered by the OSCE,

E.  whereas the EU has a clear interest in a peaceful, democratic and economically prosperous Kyrgyzstan; whereas the EU has committed itself, in particular through its Central Asia Strategy, to act as a partner of the countries in the region; whereas a much greater international commitment is now urgently needed and the EU's response will have an impact on its credibility as a partner,

F.  whereas the Commission has allocated EUR 5 million to provide emergency medical support, humanitarian aid, non-food items, protection and psychological assistance for persons affected by the crisis; whereas this should be set against the UN's flash appeal for USD 71 million in emergency aid,

G.  whereas, through the Göteborg Programme adopted in 2001 and subsequent documents, the EU has recognised the importance of conflict prevention, and whereas the current situation in Kyrgyzstan calls for theoretical ideas to be transformed into practical action,

H.  whereas a referendum which was conducted in fairly peaceful circumstances on 27 June 2010 and which saw a high turnout resulted in the approval by more than 90% of the voters of a new constitution that strikes a balance between presidential and parliamentary powers, the confirmation of Rosa Otunbayeva as interim president until 31 December 2011 and the dismissal of the Constitutional Court; whereas parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on 10 October 2010,

I.  whereas the countries of Central Asia face a number of common challenges, such as poverty and serious threats to human security and the need to strengthen democracy, good governance and the rule of law; whereas there is a need to revive and step up regional cooperation in order to develop a common approach to the problems and challenges facing the region; whereas regional and international actors must pursue a more common approach to the problems and challenges facing the region,

J.  whereas the EU must always honour its commitment to mainstream human rights, democracy and the rule of law in its agreements with third states and to promote democratic reforms through coherent policies which enhance its credibility as a regional player,

1.  Expresses grave concern at the tragic, violent clashes which broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan and extends its condolences to the families of all the victims;

2.  Condemns the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan; deplores the loss of human lives and expresses the hope that a peaceful solution can be found to the conflict in Kyrgyzstan, on the basis of democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights;

3.  Calls on the interim government to conduct a credible, impartial and independent investigation into the violence, with the possible assistance of international actors, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice;

4.  Calls on the interim authorities to make every effort to secure a return to normality and to put in place all the necessary conditions so that refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) can voluntarily return to their homes in safety and dignity; urges the local authorities to take effective confidence-building measures and to open a genuine dialogue with all the ethnic communities living in southern Kyrgyzstan with the aim of developing a credible reconciliation process;

5.  Calls, in that connection, on the Commission to step up humanitarian assistance, in cooperation with international organisations, and to start short- and medium-term reconstruction programmes to rebuild destroyed homes and replace lost assets and to carry out rehabilitation projects in conjunction with the Kyrgyz authorities and other donors in order to create conditions conducive to the return of refugees and IDPs; draws attention, in this regard, to the importance of local development projects;

6.  Draws attention to the need for a major international effort to assist in reconstruction, stabilisation and reconciliation in southern Kyrgyzstan and to the opportunity to lay the groundwork for such an effort which a planned meeting of donors in Bishkek on 27 July 2010 offers;

7.  Emphasises that the humanitarian response must be accompanied by efforts to stabilise the situation and reduce and prevent the considerable risk of renewed violence, which could threaten also peace and security in other parts of the Ferghana Valley, which runs through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan;

8.  Calls for a substantial increase in EU humanitarian aid to the people affected by the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, as well as for comprehensive use of the Instrument for Stability;

9.  Believes that a new level of EU engagement in southern Kyrgyzstan will be necessary in the longer term as well; reiterates its call to the Commission to prepare proposals for a reallocation of funds under the Development Cooperation Instrument designed to put the EU in a better position to give a sustained response to the new situation in Kyrgyzstan; maintains that a focus on human security is essential in the EU's Central Asia policy;

10.  Calls on the Vice-President/High Representative and the Member States to support and contribute actively to the prompt deployment of an OSCE police mission with the aim of preventing any fresh outbreak of violence, stabilising the situation in the cities affected by the clashes, protecting the victims and the most vulnerable people and facilitating the return of refugees and IDPs;

11.  Takes note of the fairly peaceful conduct of the constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan on 27 June 2010; stresses that the return to constitutional order and the rule of law is crucial with a view to the long-term stabilisation of the situation in the country; emphasises that the next parliamentary elections (provisionally scheduled for October 2010) should provide the constitutional basis for a government enjoying both strong legitimacy and widespread popular support; calls, therefore, on the authorities to take immediate and resolute measures to remedy the significant shortcomings identified by OSCE/ODIHR in time for the forthcoming parliamentary elections; looks forward to establishing strong interparliamentary links with the future Parliament of Kyrgyzstan;

12.  Expresses concern at reports of arrests of some human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan and calls for their immediate release; calls on the Kyrgyz authorities to take all the measures needed to ensure that human rights defenders can carry on their work to promote and protect human rights without hindrance;

13.  Stresses the common interest of and the common responsibility borne by Kyrgyzstan, its neighbours, Russia, China, the EU, the US, the OSCE and the rest of the international community in preventing destabilisation, and calls on all the actors involved to identify synergies;

14.  Expresses concern at the difficulties besetting the democratisation process in Kyrgyzstan, which seem to stem from the weak position of Kyrgyzstan's interim government and the strength of criminal networks in the country, including drug-smugglers in southern Kyrgyzstan;

15.  Believes that establishing a pluralist political system which allows for representation of a range of interests and arbitration is fundamental to reducing tensions and preventing new eruptions of violence and that the EU and its Member States must actively support democratisation and strive to reduce the differences in the attitudes of international actors, so as to improve the prospects for the reform process in Kyrgyzstan;

16.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the parliaments and governments of the Member States, the interim government of Kyrgyzstan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Secretary-General of the OSCE and the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.

(1) OJ C 184 E, 6.8.2009, p. 49.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on a rights-based approach to the EU's response to HIV/AIDS

P7_TA(2010)0284 RC-B7-0412/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the upcoming XVIII International AIDS Conference: ‘Right Here, Right Now’, to be held in Vienna on 18-23 July 2010,

–  having regard to the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, ‘Global Crisis – Global Action’, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 27 June 2001 during its 26th Special Session,

–  having regard to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS of 2 June 2006 and the political declaration adopted at that meeting,

–  having regard to UNAIDS International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, of 2006, based on the Second International Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, held in Geneva on 23-25 September 1996 and the Third International Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, held in Geneva on 25-26 July 2002,

–  having regard to the WHO report, ‘Towards Universal Access: Scaling up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector’,

–  having regard to the Abuja Declaration of 27 April 2001 on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases, to Africa's Common Position to the UNGASS 2006 High-Level Meeting and to the Call for Accelerated Action Towards Universal Access to HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Services in Africa, signed in Abuja on 4 May 2006 by the African Union,

–  having regard to its resolutions of 6 July 2006 on HIV/AIDS: Time to Deliver; of 24 April 2007 on combating HIV/AIDS within the EU and in the neighbouring countries, 2006-2009; and of 20 November 2008 on HIV/AIDS: early diagnosis and early care,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions on Progress on the European Programme for Action to confront HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis through External Action (2007-2011), November 2009,

–  having regard to the Commission communication on ‘Combating HIV/AIDS in the European Union and neighbouring countries’ and the strategy for combating HIV/AIDS in the EU and neighbouring countries 2009-2013,

–  having regard to the 2009 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic,

–  having regard to the UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-2011,

–  having regard to the United Nations 2010 Millennium Development Goals Report,

–  having regard to its resolution of 15 June 2010 on progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: mid-term review in preparation of the UN high-level meeting in September 2010,

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

A.  whereas the number of people living with HIV/AIDS continues to grow, with an estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS globally and, particularly worrying, 2.7 million newly infected in 2008, which means that HIV/AIDS constitutes a global emergency requiring an exceptional and comprehensive global response,

B.  whereas HIV/AIDS is still one of the leading causes of death globally, accounting for 2 million deaths in 2008, and is projected to remain a significant global cause of premature mortality in the coming decades,

C.  whereas, by the end of 2009, an estimated 5 million people in low-income and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy – a tenfold increase over five years and an unprecedented scale-up in the history of public health,

D.  whereas the number of new infections continues to outstrip the expansion of treatment, and two-thirds of the people in need of treatment in 2009 were still not receiving it, which means that 10 million people in need did not have access to the necessary effective treatment,

E.  whereas Sub-Saharan Africa, with 22.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, remains the most heavily affected region, accounting for 71% of all new HIV/AIDS infections in 2008,

F.  whereas there is strong evidence that HIV/AIDS prevention measures are an effective means of reducing new infections,

G.  whereas there is a major gap in programming with regard to involving people living with HIV/AIDS in prevention efforts – particularly those targeting people living with HIV/AIDS – and in efforts to reduce stigmatisation and discrimination,

H.  whereas women and girls continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV/AIDS, with women accounting for approximately 60% of HIV/AIDS infections in sub-Saharan Africa and HIV/AIDS still the leading cause of death and illness in women of reproductive age,

I.  whereas current HIV prevention options are not sufficiently effective in protecting women, and prevention methods such as condoms and abstinence are not realistic options for many women, especially those who are married, who want to have children or who are at risk of sexual violence, and whereas a safe and effective vaccine or microbicide could provide women with powerful new tools to protect themselves from HIV without limiting reproductive choice,

J.  whereas there is increased evidence of higher levels of infection and risk among key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners, injecting drug users, migrant populations, refugees and mobile workers in nearly all regions, and also in countries with generalised epidemics, and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes for those populations are commonly under-prioritised and under-financed,

K.  whereas, due to stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, about 30% of the people in the EU who are infected are unaware of their HIV/AIDS-positive status, and studies suggest that undiagnosed infection facilitates ongoing HIV/AIDS transmission and increases susceptibility to early mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS,

L.  whereas, according to the 2009 WHO report, ‘Towards Universal Access-Progress: Scaling up priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector’, it is estimated that the level of antiretroviral-treatment coverage is only 23% in Europe and Central Asia, which is considered poor, given the situation in Russia and Ukraine,

M.  whereas same-sex behaviour is still heavily stigmatised, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa, where 31 countries criminalise same-sex activity between consenting adults, four punish it with the death penalty, and others provide for criminal penalties in excess of 10 years' imprisonment, such stigmatisation impeding HIV/AIDS prevention work,

N.  whereas criminalisation of illicit drug users in many countries prevents their access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support, and has the effect of increasing the transmission of HIV/AIDS related to injected drug use,

O.  whereas 106 countries report that they still have laws and policies which present significant obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS responses,

P.  whereas an estimated 17.5 million children lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS in 2008 – the vast majority of these children living in sub-Saharan Africa – and such children frequently suffer stigmatisation and discrimination and may be denied access to basic services such as education and shelter, while at the same time having an increased level of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection,

Q.  whereas the relationship between HIV/AIDS and disability has not received due attention, although persons with disabilities are found among all key populations at higher risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS, and face disadvantages in accessing prevention, treatment and care services,

R.  whereas a rights-based approach in response to HIV/AIDS is crucial in efforts to end the epidemic,

1.  Reaffirms that access to health care is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that governments have a duty to fulfil their obligation by providing a public health service to all;

2.  Considers, at the same time, that the EU must give high priority to the protection and promotion of human-rights defenders, inside and outside the EU, including those who focus their action mainly on educating communities on HIV/AIDS; calls, in this respect, on the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to ensure that all practical actions and measures provided for in the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders be duly implemented in respect of civil-society representatives active in the field of HIV/AIDS;

3.  Requests the Commission and the Council to meet their commitments and step up efforts to address HIV/AIDS as a global public health priority, with human rights as a central aspect of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support, including in EU development cooperation;

4.  Calls on the Commission and the Council to promote efforts towards the decriminalisation of unintentional HIV/AIDS transmission and exposure(1), including by encouraging the recognition of HIV/AIDS as a disability for the purposes of existing and future non-discrimination legislation;

5.  Calls on the Baltic States, Russia and Ukraine to put in place policies for vigorously combating HIV/AIDS in their respective countries;

6.  Calls on the Commission and the Council, in political dialogue at both global and country level, to promote best policies and practices regarding rights-based responses to HIV/AIDS:

7.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address women's needs for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care as an essential measure for curbing the epidemic, notably by expanding access to sexual and reproductive health-care programmes – with HIV/AIDS testing, counselling and prevention services fully integrated into such programmes – and by reversing the underlying socioeconomic factors contributing to women's HIV/AIDS risk, such as gender inequality, poverty, lack of economic and educational opportunity, and lack of legal and human-rights protection;

8.  Calls on the EU and the Member States to provide fair and flexible funding for research into new preventive technologies including vaccines and microbicides;

9.  Expresses grave concern at the fact that half of all new HIV infections occur among children and young people; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to address children's and young people's needs for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support and to ensure that they have access to HIV/AIDS services, particularly early-infancy diagnosis, appropriate and affordable antiretroviral formulations, psycho-social support, social protection and legal protection;

10.  Asks the Commission and the Member States to support participation by people with disabilities in the HIV/AIDS response, to incorporate observance of their human rights into national HIV/AIDS strategic plans and policies, and to ensure they have access to HIV/AIDS services which are both tailored to their needs and equal to the services available to other communities;

11.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support harm-reduction programmes for prisoners and injecting drug users;

12.  Calls on the Commission and the Council to urge countries most affected by HIV and AIDS to establish coordinated, transparent and accountable national HIV policy frameworks guaranteeing the accessibility and effectiveness of HIV-related measures for prevention and care; in this context, asks the Commission to support national governments, and engage civil society, in improving the poor level of coverage of programmes to reduce stigmatisation and discrimination and in increasing access to justice in national HIV/AIDS responses;

13.  Calls on the Commission and the Council to work with UNAIDS and other partners to improve indicators for measuring progress and sharing knowledge at global, national and programme level in order to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigmatisation and discrimination, including indicators specific to key populations and HIV-related human-rights issues and protection mechanisms at international level;

14.  Asks the Commission and the Council to support the work of the recently established Global Commission on HIV and the Law to ensure that legislation works for an effective response to HIV/AIDS;

15.  Calls on the Commission and the Council to engage the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights to gather further evidence on the human-rights situation of people living with HIV/AIDS and other key populations in Europe, taking particular account of their vulnerability to multiple and inter-sectional discrimination;

16.  Calls on all the Member States and the Commission to allocate at least 20% of all development spending to basic health and education, to increase their contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to increase their funding for other programmes designed to strengthen health systems and community systems; calls, too, on developing countries to prioritise health spending in general and combating HIV/AIDS in particular; and calls on the Commission to provide incentives to partner countries in order to encourage the prioritisation of health as a key sector in Country Strategy Papers;

17.  Calls on all the Member States and the Commission to reverse the worrying decline in funding for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights in developing countries and to support policies for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections and the provision of reproductive-health supplies consisting of life-saving drugs and contraceptives, including condoms;

18.  Calls on the EU to continue to work through a mix of financial instruments at global and country level, in addition to budget support, and through relevant organisations and mechanisms which have proved successful in addressing the human-rights dimension of HIV/AIDS, in particular civil-society organisations and community-based organisations;

19.  Calls on the Commission, the Member States and the international community to enact legislation to provide for affordable HIV-effective medications, including antiretroviral and other safe and effective medicines, diagnostics and related technologies for the preventive, curative and palliative care of HIV and related opportunistic infections and conditions;

20.  Criticises bilateral and regional trade agreements that include provisions which go beyond the WTO's TRIPS Agreement (‘TRIPS-plus’), thus effectively hindering, if not actually limiting, the safeguards established by the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS which asserts the primacy of health over commercial interests; points out the responsibility borne by those countries that put pressure on developing countries to sign such free-trade agreements;

21.  Emphasises that compulsory licensing and differential prices have not fully solved the problem, and calls on the Commission to propose new solutions to ensure genuine access to HIV/AIDS treatments at affordable prices;

22.  Commends the adoption by the Council's Working Party on Human Rights of the Toolkit to Promote and Protect the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People, and calls on the Council and Commission to implement its recommendations;

23.  Calls on those EU institutions which, under their terms of reference, prepare annual reports on the human-rights situation, to incorporate into such reports a focus on HIV-related human rights, in such a way as to give a voice to people living with HIV and those vulnerable to infection;

24.  Calls on the Commission and the Members States to reiterate their support for Paragraph 16 of the Council's Conclusions on the Programme for Action of November 2009: to initiate a broad consultative process with Member States and other stakeholders for the preparation of a European Programme for Action to Confront HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis through External Action for 2012 and beyond; and to put their weight behind the establishment of EU Action Teams as a vehicle for joint action by the Commission and Member States in established priority areas;

25.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments of the Member States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the World Health Organization and the organisers of the XVIII International AIDS Conference.

(1) According to the UNAIDS Policy Brief on Criminalisation of HIV Transmission, governments should limit criminalisation to cases of intentional transmission, i.e. where a person knows his or her HIV positive status, acts with the intention to transmit HIV, and does in fact transmit it. (2) Promoting and addressing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of people living with HIV/AIDS is a key element in a human-rights based approach to HIV. Such an approach should reflect the right of people living with HIV/AIDS to have a full and satisfying sexual life, and respect the fertility choices and wishes of HIV-positive people.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) and the role of the EU

P7_TA(2010)0285 RC-B7-0413/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) adopted by 107 countries at the diplomatic conference held in Dublin from 19 to 30 May 2008,

–  having regard to the message of 30 May 2008 from the United Nations Secretary-General encouraging ‘States to sign and ratify this important agreement without delay’ and stating that he looked forward ‘to its rapid entry into force’,

–  having regard to its resolution of 20 November 2008 on the Convention on cluster munitions(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2010 on the Implementation of the European Security Strategy and the Common Security and Defence Policy(2),

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

A.  whereas the CCM has been open for signature since 3 December 2008, first in Oslo and subsequently at the United Nations in New York, and will enter into force on the first day of the sixth month after the thirtieth ratification, namely 1 August 2010,

B.  whereas the CCM defines cluster munitions as munitions designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions, each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions,

C.  whereas the CCM will prohibit the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions as a category of weapons,

D.  whereas the CCM will require States Parties to destroy stockpiles of such munitions,

E.  whereas the CCM will establish a new humanitarian standard for the assistance of victims and will require the States concerned to clear unexploded cluster munition remnants that are left behind after conflicts,

F.  whereas cluster munitions pose serious risks to civilians when used around populated areas, owing to their typically large lethal footprint, and whereas in post-conflict settings the use of these munitions has caused many tragic injuries to and deaths of civilians, as unexploded submunitions left behind are often found by children and other unsuspecting innocents,

G.  whereas to date 20 EU Member States have signed, 11 have ratified, and seven have neither signed nor ratified the CCM,

H.  whereas, following the entry into force of the CCM on 1 August 2010, the process of acceding to the convention will become more demanding, because States will need to accede to the Convention in a one-step process,

I.  whereas the support of most EU Member States, inter-parliamentary initiatives and a huge number of civil society organisations has been decisive in the successful conclusion of the ‘Oslo Process’ resulting in the CCM,

J.  whereas the signing and ratification of the CCM by all 27 EU Member States prior to its entry into force on 1 August 2010 would be a strong political signal in support of a world without cluster munitions and the EU's objectives with regard to the fight against the proliferation of weapons that kill indiscriminately,

1.  Welcomes the forthcoming entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) on 1 August 2010;

2.  Calls on all EU Member States and candidate countries to sign and ratify the CCM as a matter of urgency before the end of 2010, including the non-signatory States Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey and the States that have signed but not yet ratified the Convention, namely Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden;

3.  Commends all States that have signed and ratified the CCM and have also adopted moratoriums on the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions and completed the destruction of their stockpiles of such munitions;

4.  Urges all EU Member States that have signed the CCM to take every opportunity to encourage States not party to the CCM to sign and ratify or accede to the Convention as soon as possible, including through bilateral meetings, military-to-military dialogue and multilateral fora, and, in accordance with their obligations under Article 21 of the CCM, to make their best efforts to discourage States not party to the Convention from using cluster munitions;

5.  Calls on EU Member States not to take any action that might circumvent or jeopardise the CCM and its provisions; calls, in particular, on all EU Member States not to adopt, endorse or subsequently ratify any Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) protocol allowing for the use of cluster munitions which would not be compatible with the prohibition of such munitions under Articles 1 and 2 of the CCM; calls on the Council and EU Member States to act accordingly at the next CCW meeting from 30 August to 3 September 2010 in Geneva;

6.  Urges EU Member States that are not yet party to the CCM to take interim steps pending accession, including adoption of a moratorium on the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions and making a start on destroying cluster munitions stockpiles as a matter of urgency;

7.  Urges all States to take part in the upcoming First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) that will be held from 8 to 12 November 2010 in Vientiane, Laos, the most cluster munitions-contaminated country in the world;

8.  Urges EU Member States to take steps to begin to implement the Convention, including by destroying stockpiles, undertaking clearance and providing victim assistance, and to contribute to the provision of funding or various forms of assistance to other States wishing to implement the Convention;

9.  Urges the EU Member States that have signed the Convention to pass legislation to implement it at national level;

10.  Calls on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to make every effort to secure the Union's accession to the CCM, which is possible following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and, in addition, to develop a strategy for the first review conference in the form of a Council decision on a common position;

11.  Calls on the Council and Commission to include the ban on cluster munitions as a standard clause in agreements with third countries, alongside the standard clause on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

12.  Calls on the Council and Commission to make the fight against cluster munitions an integral part of Community external assistance programmes in order to support third countries in destroying stockpiles and providing humanitarian assistance;

13.  Calls on EU Member States, the Council and the Commission to take steps to prevent third countries from providing cluster munitions to non-state actors;

14.  Urges EU Member States to be transparent about the efforts they make in response to this resolution and to report publicly on their activities under the Convention;

15.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States and the candidate countries, the UN Secretary-General and the Cluster Munition Coalition.

(1) OJ C 16 E, 22.1.2010, p. 61. (2) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0061.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 (2009/2236(INI))

P7_TA(2010)0286 A7-0204/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Part Three, Title III, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy,

–  having regard to the Commission document ‘Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (COM(2010)2020),

–  having regard to its study on ‘The Single Payment Scheme after 2013: New Approach, New Target’,

–  having regard to the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology (IAASTD) report drawn up by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Bank and signed by 58 countries,

–  having regard to the Commission publication on the ‘Prospects for agricultural markets and income 2008-2015’,

–  having regard to the Commission document ‘The CAP in perspective: from market intervention to policy innovation’,

–  having regard to the study ‘Provision of public goods through agriculture in the European Union’ by the Institute for European Environmental Policy,

–  having regard to the Commission White Paper ‘Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action’ (COM(2009)0147), as well as to the staff working documents entitled ‘Adapting to climate change: the challenge for European agriculture and rural areas’ (SEC(2009)0417) and ‘The role of European agriculture in climate change mitigation’ (SEC(2009)1093),

–  having regard to the study ‘CAP reform beyond 2013: An idea for a longer view’, conducted by Notre Europe,

–  having regard to the Working Document on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 29 March 2007 on the integration of the new Member States into the CAP(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 5 May 2010 on EU agriculture and climate change(3),

–  having regard to its resolution of 25 March 2010 on agricultural product quality policy: what strategy to follow?(4),

–  having regard to Rule 48 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 Budgets (A7-0204/2010),

A.  whereas the EU must continue to ensure food security for its citizens and participate in global food supply, while cooperating in a better and more coherent manner with the rest of the world, especially with the developing countries in order to help the long-term development of their agricultural sectors in a sustainable way that maximises local know-how; whereas in the current situation where the global number of hungry people exceeds 1 billion and in the European Union there are over 40 million poor people who do not have enough to eat, scientific developments should be used if they can provide appropriate solutions to alleviating world hunger, notably through better resource efficiency,

B.  whereas global food demand is expected to double and world population is predicted to grow from 7 billion today to 9 billion by 2050 according to the FAO, and global food production will need to increase accordingly against a background of pressure on natural resources, meaning that the world will need to produce more food whilst using less water, less land, less energy, fewer fertilisers and fewer pesticides,

C.  whereas the objectives of the CAP, as listed in Article 39 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFUE), aim at increasing agricultural productivity, ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, stabilising markets, guaranteeing availability of supplies, and ensuring that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices; whereas, to date, the CAP has met its goals to a large extent, and has participated in the efforts to foster EU integration, territorial cohesion in Europe and the functioning of the single market; it has, however, only partially contributed to a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, and has not yet achieved agricultural market stabilisation, as markets have become extremely volatile, putting food security at risk; whereas further efforts are needed if the CAP is to fulfil its goals while preserving the environment and rural employment,

D.  whereas agriculture and forestry remain important sectors of the economy and at the same time provide essential public goods by maintaining natural resources and cultural landscapes, a precondition for all human activities in rural areas, whereas these sectors are already making the largest contribution in the EU to the achievement of the European climate and energy targets, particularly the targets for renewable energies from agriculture- and forestry-derived biomass, whereas this contribution must continue to grow in the future, and whereas these bio-energy sources also help to reduce the EU's energy dependency and, in the context of increasing energy prices, to create new jobs and improve incomes in the sector,

E.  whereas EU citizens receive significant benefits from the CAP in terms of availability and choice of safe, high-quality food at reasonable prices, food security, protection of the environment, creation of employment and measures for combating climate change,

F.  whereas there are currently 13.6 million people employed directly in the agricultural, forestry and fishery sectors, with an additional 5 million people working in the agri-food industry, where the EU is the world's largest producer of food and beverages; whereas this represents 8.6% of total EU employment and accounts for 4% of the EU's GDP,

G.  whereas as a result of the last EU enlargements (2004 and 2007), an additional 7 million farmers were added to the total agricultural labour force and the area of agricultural land increased by 40%; whereas real agricultural per capita income has fallen by 12.2% in the EU-27 for the past 10 years, gradually falling back to 1995 levels, whereas the average agricultural income in the EU-27 is less than 50% of the average income in the rest of the economy, while production costs for commodities such as fertilisers, electricity and fuel are at their highest level in the last 15 years, making the continuation of agricultural production in the EU very difficult,

H.  whereas, since 7% of farmers in Europe are under 35 years old, while four and a half million farmers who are over 65 years old will have stopped working by 2020, the future of the agricultural sector may be at risk if the number of farmers continues to decline,

I.  whereas agriculture provides the main land cover in the EU, occupying 47% of the entire territory of the European Union; whereas across the EU there are 13.7 million agricultural holdings, generating over EUR 337 billion in production, whereas 15% of agricultural land in the EU (some 26 million hectares) is in mountainous areas, and whereas the natural handicaps in those areas make farming difficult,

J.  whereas the average physical size of agricultural holdings has increased as a result of the restructuring of the sector, but small farms still remain predominant in the EU, with an average farm size of 12.6 hectares; whereas subsistence farms remain a critical challenge, especially in new Member States, where subsistence farming accounts for half of the total labour force, and whereas small farms and the farmers who run them are particularly important in the delivery of non-production public goods,

K.  whereas the economic crisis has had a serious negative effect on agriculture, with farm income decreasing by 12.2% on average between 2008 and 2009 and unemployment in rural areas increasing in the last year; whereas as a direct effect of the economic crisis, consumption in Europe decreased on average by 10.55% between 2008 and 2009, and in some Member States this reduction exceeded 20%; whereas other effects of the economic crisis have been a lack of access to credit for farmers and a strain on the public finances of the Member States, weakening their ability to provide co-financing,

L.  whereas price volatility in agricultural markets is a permanent feature, but has recently increased dramatically owing to a combination of factors – including extreme weather conditions, energy prices, speculation and demand changes – and is expected to increase further, as predicted by both the OECD and the FAO, leading to extreme booms and busts in agricultural commodity prices on European markets, whereas between 2006 and 2008, the prices of several commodities rose considerably, some by as much as 180%, as was the case for grains; whereas dairy prices collapsed in 2009, falling on average by 40%, and whereas other products such as cereals, fruit and vegetables, olive oil have also been affected, and extreme fluctuations in prices have had detrimental consequences for producers and have not always benefited consumers,

M.  whereas agri-environmental indicators show an important potential for the agricultural sector in the effort to mitigate the effects of climate change, particularly with regard to carbon sequestration, direct reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions and the production of renewable energy, which secure genuine emission savings; whereas sustainably practised agricultural activity is essential for the preservation of biodiversity, water management and combating soil erosion and can be a key factor in addressing climate change,

N.  whereas greenhouse gas emissions caused by agricultural activity (including rearing of livestock) decreased by 20% between 1990 and 2007 in the 27 Member States; whereas the proportion of these emissions produced by agriculture dropped from 11% in 1990 to 9.3% in 2007, inter alia as a result of more effective use of fertilisers and liquid manure, the recent structural reforms of the CAP and the gradual implementation of agricultural and environmental initiatives,

O.  whereas the EU has become a net importer of agricultural goods with over €87.6 billion worth of products being imported each year (around 20% of world agricultural imports); whereas in some cases the balance of trade has steadily shifted in favour of third countries (the EU now imports €19 billion worth of agricultural products from Mercosur countries and only exports under €1 billion worth to the region); whereas the EU continues to experience a widening trade deficit in agricultural products,

P.  whereas the EU remains the world's leading exporter of agricultural goods (roughly 17% of total global trade); whereas the EU has lost a significant market share in the last 10 years (in 2000 the EU contributed about 19% of world trade); whereas the EU exports mainly high added-value and processed products (67% of all its agricultural exports),

Q.  whereas high-quality products are essential to the production and export potential of the European Union and represent a very large share of its international trade, whereas the EU is exporting high-profile products with considerable economic value, and in the case of products with protected origin and geographical indications the net value of these products and foodstuffs is EUR 14 billion a year (excluding wines and spirits, which also account for a significant share of EU exports), whereas, in order to continue developing high-quality production to meet consumers' expectations, account should be taken of the specific needs of these sectors to ensure their competitiveness, including the need for more effective protection of EU geographical indications and protected origin labels by third-country trading partners,

R.  whereas producer support estimates (PSEs) show that total farm support in the EU has been gradually decreasing since 2000 and is now comparable on a per capita basis with the level of support in the EU's major trading partners, while other trading partners have maintained and increased trade-distorting subsidies over the last few years,

S.  whereas the current distribution and level of support to Member States and farmers results from the distribution and level of that support in the past, when it was coupled with the type and scale of production and represented compensation for the fall in farmers' incomes resulting from the substantial drop in guaranteed prices; whereas that method of distribution gives rise to an understandable sense of injustice on the part of some EU farmers, and maintaining it is, moreover, inconsistent with the future goals of the CAP,

T.  whereas, since 2007, voluntary modulation mechanisms have allowed the redeployment of financial aid between direct payments and rural development, without however improving the transparency, legitimacy and simplification of the financial resources allocated to agriculture,

U.  whereas the share of CAP expenditure in the EU budget has steadily decreased from nearly 75% in 1985 to a projected 39.3% in 2013; whereas this represents less than 0.45% of the EU's GDP; whereas the decline in budgetary expenditure on market measures is even more significant – from 74% of all CAP expenditure in 1992 to less than 10% at present; whereas CAP expenditure has constantly moved away from market support and export subsidies to decoupled payments and rural development,

V.  whereas these reforms have substantially altered farm support instruments, while maintaining the CAP's three founding principles, namely:

W.  whereas, since the CAP will have to confront many challenges and pursue broader objectives after 2013, it is essential that the budget the EU allocates to the CAP is at least maintained at current levels,

X.  whereas the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union renders the multiannual financial framework (MFF) a legally binding act with which the annual budget has to comply,

Y.  whereas expenditure in the form of direct aid accounts for 0.38% of EU GDP (2008 figure), whereas expenditure linked to the rural development policy accounts for 0.11% of EU GDP,

Z.  whereas the current small margins available under Heading 2 as from the 2011 budget year make it very difficult for the Union to respond appropriately to market crises and unexpected global events and may deprive the annual budgetary procedure of its substance,

AA.  whereas, with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has gained the power to shape the Union's agricultural policy, not only as regards multiannual agricultural programmes but also by amending the annual budget for agriculture, thus giving Parliament responsibility for ensuring a fair and sustainable common agricultural policy,

AB.  whereas with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Common Agricultural Policy is subject to the ordinary legislative procedure and the European Parliament has an important responsibility to help adopt sound and efficient legislation in this area,

AC.  whereas according to the latest Eurobarometer, 90% of EU citizens surveyed consider agriculture and rural areas to be important for Europe's future, 83% of EU citizens surveyed are in favour of financial support to farmers and, on average, they believe that agricultural policy should continue to be decided upon at European level,

AD.  whereas the objectives and substance of the future Common Agricultural Policy must be subject to broad public discussion in order to increase public knowledge of the CAP, and whereas the Commission's initiative on the public debate on the future of the CAP after 2013 is therefore to be welcomed,

AE.  whereas the CAP must be geared to the maintenance and development of multifunctional, area-wide, sustainable agriculture in Europe,

The evolution of the CAP: from market distortion to market orientation

1.  Recalls that the CAP has undergone radical reforms over the last 25 years, in particular bringing about a fundamental shift from production support to producer support(5), reducing regular intervention buying and the dumping of European surpluses on world markets(6) and making the CAP and EU farmers more market-oriented;

2.  Recalls that the CAP played a crucial role in increasing production and feeding Europe's population after the Second World War; recalls furthermore that the CAP was the first common EEC policy, which paved the way for European cooperation and integration in other policy areas;

3.  Points out that CAP market instruments specific to each sector play a fundamental role and are now used as safety nets to help reduce market volatility in order to guarantee farmers a certain degree of stability; (stresses that the changed market policy has not led to a reduction in farmers' dependence on purchasers; notes, moreover, that since the adoption of decoupled Single Farm Payments there has been a resolute move away from trade-distorting measures in line with WTO requirements;

4.  Notes that the CAP reforms initiated in 1992 and 1999 and, in particular, the 2003 reform, which was reviewed during the Health Check and introduced the principle of decoupling, as well as the various sectoral reforms, were all intended to allow EU farmers to better respond and react to market signals and conditions; wishes this trend to continue in further reforms, while some market measures are still needed in view of the specific features of agricultural production;

5.  Points out that rural development is now an integral part of the CAP architecture, and should remain an important element of the future CAP through a well-equipped rural development strategy with its focus on rural communities, improving the environment, modernising and restructuring agriculture, strengthening cohesion in EU rural areas, revitalising disadvantaged areas and areas at risk of abandonment, improving product marketing and competitiveness and maintaining employment and creating new jobs in rural areas, as well as on the new challenges addressed in the Health Check, namely climate change, renewable energies, water management and biodiversity;

6.  Recalls that agriculture has always been a producer of public goods, or of what in today's context may be called ‘first-generation’ public goods, the reference here being to food security and food safety, and to the high nutritional value of agricultural produce, which should continue to constitute the primary raison d'être for the CAP, corresponding to its essence and representing the first concern of Europe's citizens; the more recently identified or ‘second-generation’ public goods, e.g. the environment, land management or animal welfare, while also objectives of the CAP, are complementary to the first-generation goods and should therefore not replace them;

7.  Welcomes the recognition of the multi-functional role of farmers in delivering public goods such as preserving our environment, high-quality food production, good animal husbandry, shaping and improving the diversity and quality of valued landscapes in the EU, and the move to more sustainable farming practices by not only meeting the basic requirements for maintenance of the land in a Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) but also achieving even higher standards through agri-environmental schemes, precision farming, organic production and all other forms of sustainable agricultural practice;

8.  Recalls that the CAP is the most integrated of all EU policies and therefore logically accounts for the largest share of the EU budget; recognises that its share of the budget has steadily decreased from about 75% of the total EU budget in 1985 to 39.3% by 2013(7), representing less than 0.45% of total EU GDP(8), whilst at the same time support is more thinly spread today with 12 new Member States joining the EU;

9.  Is of the opinion, therefore, that the CAP has evolved, becoming greener and more market-orientated, and has dramatically reduced its impact on developing countries, whilst at the same time supporting farmers to produce high-quality food for European consumers;

The challenges that the CAP post-2013 must respond to

10.  Points out that food security remains the central challenge for agriculture not only in the EU but globally, in particular in developing countries, as the world population is predicted to grow from 7 to 9 billion by 2050 and demand for food is projected to double by 2050 according to the FAO (especially in emerging economies such as China and India);

11.  Affirms that Europe must continue to contribute to global food supplies in order to make a contribution to meeting that need against a background of increasing discontinuation of farming, less water and reduced energy inputs owing to the impact of climate change, which will act as a serious constraint on European capacity to increase supply;

12.  Notes that the global energy crisis and increasing energy prices will drive agricultural production costs up, leading to rising food prices and increasing market price volatility for both farmers and consumers, which will have a detrimental effect on the stability of food supply and will seriously constrain the ability to maintain and increase current production levels; considers, however, that energy self-sufficiency for the agriculture and forestry sectors could increase its sustainability;

13.  Believes that agriculture is well placed to make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change by continuing to reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon sequestration;

14.  Recognises that farming has already made considerable progress in cutting its greenhouse gas emissions and, in general, addressing environmental problems (management of water resources, soil, biodiversity, biomass, etc.), but maintains that those efforts need to be continued in order to gear production methods to a more sustainable form of development that is efficient in environmental and social, as well as economic, terms;

15.  Recalls that consumers' expectations of guaranteed food safety must be met, as well as their demands for higher quality standards, better animal welfare and good value for money;

16.  Considers that the CAP must continue to provide solutions to, and tangible assistance in combating, the threat of land abandonment, rural depopulation and the ageing of the rural population in the EU by establishing appropriate funding and assistance for that purpose, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of rural communities in the EU; , believes, therefore, that it is also necessary to continue with target-oriented rural development within the CAP;

17.  Believes that the CAP must provide immediate responses to the effects of the economic crisis on farming businesses such as the lack of access to credit for farmers, constraints on farm incomes(9), and increasing rural unemployment;

18.  Points out, therefore, that differences in the capacity of Member States to deal with the economic crisis might result in increasing inequalities among rural regions in the EU;

19.  Recognises that the CAP must take into account the differences in structure and modernisation needs of agriculture in the enlarged EU, with the aim of achieving equal levels of development and cohesion;

20.  Believes that, in the light of these challenges, the CAP priorities post-2013 should be embedded in a strong, sustainable, well supported and credible multifunctional food and agricultural policy which sends strong signals to support farmers efficiently in a targeted manner and provide answers to the concerns of the rural community whilst benefiting the wider society;

The need for a strong CAP post-2013
Meeting socio-economic needs

21.  Is of the opinion that, in the light of the Europe 2020 Strategy, a strong and sustainable European Common Agricultural Policy is needed to serve the interests of all European farmers and deliver wider benefits to society; takes the view that it should enable agriculture to play its part in the European economy and ensure it has the tools to compete on world markets; believes that, for strategic reasons, the EU cannot afford to rely on other parts of the world to provide for European food security in the context of climate change, political instability in certain regions of the world and potential outbreaks of disease or other events potentially detrimental to production capacity;

22.  Recalls that EU agriculture remains a central sector of the EU economy, making an important contribution to EU GDP and jobs both directly and indirectly through the multiplier effect on both the upstream and downstream food and drink industry market; believes, therefore, that a strong agriculture and a strong food and drink industry are inextricably linked, with each contributing to the other's success, in particular on export markets;

23.  Recalls that one of the main reasons why the EU needs a strong CAP is to contribute to the maintenance and development of viable and dynamic rural communities, at the heart of European cultural diversity, and that they are the key to sustainable, balanced socio-economic development across all European territory; takes the view that this calls for the socio-economic gap between rural and urban communities to be narrowed, in order to avoid the growing land abandonment and rural depopulation which are further isolating rural areas;

24.  Points out that there is an urgent need to attract younger generations and women to rural areas through long-term policies and to provide new and alternative economic opportunities for them to ensure a sustainable rural population; considers that new ways of attracting young people should be explored, such as availability of favourable loans and credit for investments and recognition of their professional skills in order to ensure they are able to enter the rural economy with relative ease; recognises the obstacles young farmers face when willing to enter the sector, such as high start-up costs, the sometimes prohibitive cost of land and difficulty in accessing credit opportunities, especially in difficult times;

25.  Believes that the increase in rural unemployment should be tackled by preserving existing jobs, encouraging high-quality jobs and fostering additional opportunities for diversification and new income sources;

26.  Recalls, as Article 39 of the Lisbon Treaty rightly suggests, that agriculture is a specific sector which suffers from a long-term production cycle and several types of market failure such as high market volatility, great exposure to natural disasters, a high level of risk, lack of demand elasticity, and the fact that farmers are ‘price-takers’ rather than ‘price-makers’ in the food supply-chain;

27.  Considers that, in the case of some agricultural sectors which require substantial capital investment over the course of multiannual cycles of production (of milk, citrus fruits, wine, olives and fruit in general), new supply management methods need to be introduced;

28.  Points out, most importantly, that in the future European agricultural policy must remain a common policy and that only a balanced and fair system of support across the EU with a common set of objectives and rules – albeit acknowledging the specific features of certain sectors and regions – can deliver the appropriate conditions for farmers and a properly functioning single market with fair competitive conditions for agricultural products and farmers within the EU, thus achieving greater value for money than could be delivered by renationalised, and possibly conflicting, agricultural policies in individual Member States;

29.  Considers that the CAP should ensure the coexistence of:

Delivering benefits in terms of public goods

30.  Stresses that food is the most important public good produced by agriculture; recognises that farmers deliver a range of public goods which the market does not reward them for; therefore insists that they must be fairly rewarded and further incentivised to continue delivering safe and higher-quality products, better animal welfare conditions and additional environmental benefits, , in addition to creating more jobs, in order to preserve the countryside throughout Europe;

31.  Recalls, therefore, that unless sustainable (economically, socially and environmentally viable in the long term) farming activity continues across the EU, the provision of public goods will be at risk;

32.  Recognises that generations of farmers have shaped the valued EU landscapes and, therefore, should be rewarded for continuing to do so in a sustainable way, especially in mountain regions and naturally disadvantaged areas; believes that they are actively contributing to the great cultural value and attractiveness of Europe, providing the backdrop for successful rural tourism; points out that this should, however, be complemented by European regional policy and national instruments to ensure, by means of suitable synergetic effects, the creation of stable regional conditions, which are an essential precondition for properly functioning agriculture;

33.  Points out that farmers have the potential to deliver additional environmental benefits that match societal demands, in particular soil preservation and restoration, sound water management and quality improvement and farmland biodiversity preservation, and that they must be encouraged to do so and that investment support must be provided to this end;

34.  Points out that the cross-compliance system makes the granting of direct aid subject to compliance with statutory requirements and the maintenance of farmland in good agricultural and environmental condition, and remains one of the appropriate means of optimising the provision of eco-system services by farmers and meeting new environmental challenges by securing the provision of basic public goods; notes, however, that the introduction of cross-compliance has raised a whole range of problems relating to administrative issues and acceptance by farmers, who had the impression that they were losing a degree of freedom in their work; calls therefore for the administrative burden on farmers to be reduced through a simplified implementation system for cross-compliance requirements;

35.  Believes that the climate impact of agriculture can be considerably mitigated by means of improved education and training of people working in agriculture, better use of innovations stemming from research and development and improving the efficiency of agricultural production;

36.  Believes, in line with the latest research available, that without a common agricultural policy and Good Agricultural Practice, unsustainable modes of production would develop across the EU (extreme intensification on the best land and widespread land abandonment in disadvantaged areas), causing serious damage to the environment; insists that the cost of support through a strong CAP is nothing compared to the costs of no action and its negative unintended consequences;

The new CAP priorities for the 21st century

37.  Believes that agriculture is well placed to make a major contribution to delivering the new EU 2020 Strategy priorities of tackling climate change and creating new jobs through green growth and supplying renewable energy whilst at the same time continuing to provide food security for European consumers by producing safe and high-quality food products;

A fair CAP

38.  Insists that EU agriculture must remain competitive against fierce competition and trade-distorting measures on the part of trading partners and/or countries where producers are not subject to standards as high as in the EU as regards, in particular, product quality, food safety, the environment, social legislation and animal welfare; therefore believes that improving competitiveness at different levels (local, regional, internal market and world markets) should still be a fundamental objective of the CAP post-2013 in order to ensure that the EU has a wide range of diversified high-value food and other agricultural products which continue to win a greater share of the world market, as well as ensuring fair trade and remunerative prices for farmers;

39.  Recalls that EU farmers produce food to the highest safety, quality and animal welfare standards and should be rewarded for doing so; believes that imports from third countries should, respecting WTO rights and obligations, meet the same requirements to ensure fair competition and guarantee that consumers can make an informed choice regarding the products they buy, based inter alia on reliable traceability; calls on the Commission to uphold the interests of European farmers in the context of multilateral and bilateral trade agreements negotiated on behalf of the EU;

40.  Insists that the maintenance of farming activity across the whole of Europe is fundamental in order to maintain diverse and local food production, secure rural socio-economic dynamism and jobs, particularly in the context of the current economic crisis, and prevent the threat of land abandonment across EU rural territory through continuous preservation of the environment and landscape management; believes, therefore, that disadvantaged regions should be given the opportunity to overcome additional obstacles caused by their specific situation and to take the measures needed to adapt; considers that the specific challenge of subsistence farming must be addressed;

41.  Stresses that farmers require long-term investment prospects and adequate incomes in order to carry out their tasks; calls therefore for the guarantee of a fair and stable return for the farming community to remain a primary goal for the new CAP, whilst providing good value for money and fair treatment for consumers, not least through increasing competitiveness in the agricultural sector and allowing farmers to cover their real costs and respond to market signals;

42.  Calls for measures to be taken to strengthen primary producers' and producer organisations' management capacity and bargaining power vis-à-vis other economic operators in the food chain, and encourage the formation of organisations that strengthen the links between the various stakeholders within branches, given that they can improve information sharing and help bring supply into line with consumers' demands; takes the view that such developments could improve the functioning of the food supply-chain with greater transparency of food prices and action to address unfair commercial practices, enabling farmers to obtain the added value they deserve; believes that these objectives may call for an adjustment or clarification of EU competition rules to take account of the specific features of the agricultural markets, provided they do not hinder the proper functioning of the single market;

43.  Believes that there have to be flexible and efficient market measures to ensure an adequate safety net within the future framework of the CAP in order to avoid extreme market price volatility, provide a greater degree of stability, and provide rapid and efficient responses to economic crises arising in the sector; takes the view that this should be complemented by a risk management system that helps minimise the consequences of natural and health disasters;

44.  Takes the view, also, that, in order to enable the market to be managed more efficiently and to avoid overproduction crises, the specific instruments for the management of production potential which are available in some sectors should be retained, based on the principles of fairness and non-discrimination;

45.  Calls for a fair distribution of CAP payments and insists that it should be fair to farmers in both new and old Member States;

46.  Considers that reducing direct payments under the first pillar would have devastating consequences, not only for farmers but, to an equal extent, for the countryside, for agriculture-linked public services, for consumers and for society, given that the latter is a beneficiary as a whole; direct payments are, therefore, essential and must be maintained; draws attention to the possibly unfavourable impact of any reduction in CAP funding on the value of farms, with serious repercussions especially for farmers with bank loans, particularly in the context of the economic crisis which has seriously affected European agriculture;

47.  Believes that viable farming businesses are fundamental to sustaining thriving rural communities as they generate employment and services at local level; considers therefore that the CAP should involve local communities in order to provide the necessary conditions for their socio-economic viability, including through the preservation of family farms and the continuous restructuring and modernisation of farms where it is needed; recalls that diversification measures and rural infrastructure development are also important in this respect;

A sustainable CAP

48.  Believes that agriculture has a leading role to play in tackling climate change by reducing GHG emissions, increasing carbon sequestration capacity and developing and using more renewable energy sources and bio-based materials; believes that climate considerations should be integrated across CAP measures where appropriate;

49.  Considers that production efficiency is fundamental to more sustainable management of scarce resources and that farmers should innovate in their technical production methods by using the most efficient financial, scientific and technical management tools to help meet the growing demand for food and for renewable agricultural materials in a more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner;

50.  Emphasises in the context of the EU 2020 Strategy that research and development, the use of new technologies and good agricultural practices are important in order to improve competitiveness and increase production while reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers and scarce resources such as water and energy; takes the view that investment in agricultural innovation should be further encouraged, inter alia through the CAP and EU research and development framework programmes, in order to address new challenges;

51.  Recommends to this end the active presence of agronomic advisors in the regions to guide farmers in their attempts to deliver environmental public goods;

52.  Believes that safeguards need to be introduced to ensure that biotechnology can continue to be used in agriculture without impacting on existing production methods;

A green CAP

53.  Notes that the market has failed, to date, to properly reward farmers for protecting the environment and other public goods; therefore believes that the CAP must place a greater emphasis on sustainability by providing proper economic incentives for farmers to optimise the delivery of eco-system services and further improve the sound environmental resource management of EU farmland; emphasises that this should be achieved without creating an extra financial or bureaucratic burden for farmers;

54.  Believes that, thanks to improvements in production factors linked to advances in knowledge, farmers are well placed to contribute to green growth and respond to the energy crisis through the development of green energy in such forms as biomass, biowaste, biogas, second-generation biofuels and small-scale wind, solar and hydro energy, which will also help create new green job opportunities;

A common and simple policy

55.  Insists that a common agricultural policy is more relevant than ever before to ensure that the cross-border dimension of food supply, climate change, high common standards of environmental protection, product safety and quality and animal welfare is guaranteed in a properly functioning Single Market;

56.  Believes that the new CAP, through a simplified support system, must be easy to administer, transparent, and reduce red tape and administrative burdens on farmers, particularly for smaller producers, in order to allow farmers to concentrate on their main task of providing high-quality agricultural products; believes that this could be achieved inter alia by moving towards the use of delivery tools that set the goals and empower farmers to choose their own farming systems to meet these objectives, such as outcome agreements, simple contracts and multiannual payments;

57.  Calls for appropriate measures to be taken to explain what the CAP consists of, not only to farmers but to all Europe's citizens, while providing transparently clear information about the objectives being pursued, the means available and the anticipated beneficial effects of implementing the CAP;

58.  Considers that there needs to be a more proportionate and risk-based approach by the Commission to the application of regulatory controls, the conduct of compliance audits and the imposition of financial corrections;

59.  Calls for the European Parliament to be provided with prompt, up-to-date information on the current state of the agriculture budget;

Delivering a fair, green and sustainable CAP

60.  Expects the re-design of the CAP in line with the spring European Council conclusion on Europe 2020, with a view to providing instruments that deliver smart, inclusive, green growth;

61.  Recognises the wide range of existing and new priorities for the CAP and notes that the new Member States' justified expectation when they joined the European Union was that CAP support would, over time, be comparable with old Member States; in order to fully respond to the new challenges and deliver the priorities of a reformed CAP, calls for the amounts allocated to the CAP in the 2013 budget to be at least maintained during the next financial programming period;

62.  Calls for the CAP budget to have an end-of-year flexibility mechanism in order to carry over and reallocate under-spends in the following year;

63.  Insists that the CAP should not be renationalised and therefore believes that direct support should remain fully financed by the EU budget, hence rejecting any further co-financing which could harm fair competition within the EU Single Market;

64.  Calls for a fair distribution of CAP funds to farmers across the EU; recalls that to respect the diversity of farming in the EU, objective criteria must be found in order to define a fair system of distribution; points out that direct payments contribute to the provision of public goods, help stabilise farmers' incomes and ensure against risks, partially offsetting the socially desirable high standards in the EU and the continuing reduction in tariff barriers, as well as rewarding basic public goods provision, which receives no market compensation;

65.  Believes that direct support should move to an area basis in all Member States within the next financial programming period; this would constitute a sufficient transition period allowing farmers and agricultural structures that are still using the historical payments system the flexibility to adapt to the changes, and to avoid too radical a redistribution of support, without prejudice to promptly achieving a balanced distribution of support amongst Member States; notes that the move away from the historical basis may create particular challenges for Member States or regions with a relatively large amount of ‘naked land’ (unclaimed eligible land); calls for the specific needs of such regions to be given full consideration when designing future support; also believes that Member States and regions must continue to have the flexibility to regionalise their area payments system in such a way as to reflect their specific priorities while respecting fair competition in the internal market;

66.  Considers that there should be no return to coupled payments as a guiding principle of the CAP; takes the view, however, given the move from a historical to an area support model in the wake of the decisions following the Health Check, that an adequate margin for flexibility should be left to Member States; believes that this flexibility will enable Member States to respond to the specific needs of their territory and to prevent production from stopping completely or the diversity of farming from being reduced; takes the view that this margin for manoeuvre would take the form of capped coupled payments for vulnerable agriculture sectors and territories and environmentally sensitive areas, in compliance with WTO requirements, whilst ensuring fair market conditions for farmers across the EU;

67.  Identifies the need for central key building blocks – Food Security and Fair Trade, Sustainability, Agriculture across Europe, Food Quality, Biodiversity and Environmental Protection, and Green Growth – to achieve a fair and more sustainable CAP; considers that the two-pillar structure should be maintained, but that it should avoid duplication of policy objectives and instruments as well as reflecting the content of the building blocks identified here;

68.  Believes that, in the interest of simplification, clarity and a common approach, funding for each of the priorities of the CAP must be agreed from the start of the reform;

Food security and fair trade

69.  Maintains that farm viability and quality of life for farmers are a sine qua non if farming activity is to continue; believes therefore that there should be a basic EU-funded direct area payment to all EU farmers in order to ensure the social and economic sustainability of the European agricultural production model, which should provide basic food security for European consumers, allow farmers to produce high-quality food competitively, ensure that farming activity and jobs in rural areas are encouraged across the EU and provide baseline public goods through cross-compliance requirements for Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions, as well as high quality and animal welfare standards;

70.  Calls for an absolute requirement that only active agricultural production be rewarded, whereby minimum activity requirements would be included in the cross-compliance rules as a precondition for payments, and for proportionality to be the key principle applied when enforcing the rules;

Sustainability

71.  Believes that an EU-funded top-up payment should be made available to farmers through simple multiannual contracts rewarding them for reducing their carbon emissions per unit of production and/or increasing their sequestration of carbon in the soil through sustainable production methods and through the production of biomass that can be used in the production of long-lasting agro-materials;

72.  Notes that this would have the double benefit of making EU agriculture more environmentally and economically sustainable through lower carbon emissions and/or improved efficiency and would also ensure that farmers can financially benefit from increased carbon sequestration on their land and put them on the same footing as other industries which are in the EU ETS; calls for clear and measurable criteria and targets to be defined appropriately to allow these payments to be implemented as soon as possible in every Member State;

Agriculture across Europe

73.  Calls for the continuation of specific measures to compensate farmers producing in disadvantaged areas such as areas with natural handicaps, including e.g. mountainous regions, environmentally sensitive areas and/or regions which are the most affected by climate change, and outermost regions, in order to ensure that agricultural activity takes place so that land continues to be managed and local food is produced across the EU, reducing the threat of land abandonment and ensuring balanced territorial management across the EU and a rational development of agricultural production;

74.  Believes that any reform to the less-favoured areas (LFA) scheme, particularly regarding how LFAs are designated and classified, should take into consideration the difficulties experienced by farmers in all parts of the EU, as these vary greatly with different biophysical and climatic conditions; takes the view that areas which may be excluded under any new rules should be granted an adequate phasing-out period;

75.  Draws attention to the particular role played by farmers in peri-urban areas, where there can be intensive pressures on rural and agricultural resources; stresses that this production of food and public goods near urban populations should be maintained;

Food Quality

76.  Stresses that the development of food quality policy, including in terms of geographical indication (PDO/PGI/TSG), must be a priority aspect of the CAP and be deepened and strengthened so that the EU can maintain its leadership position in this area; takes the view that, in the case of these high-quality products, the use of original management, protection and promotion instruments should be allowed, enabling them to develop in a harmonious fashion and to continue to make their major contribution to the sustainable growth and competitiveness of European agriculture;

Biodiversity and environmental protection

77.  Believes that farmers can contribute to biodiversity and environmental protection, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, in a cost-effective way; this therefore needs to be further incentivised; calls for the CAP to provide the opportunity for the vast bulk of agricultural land to be covered by agri-environmental schemes to reward farmers for the delivery of additional eco-system services while encouraging more sustainable, lower-input production models such as organic farming, integrated agriculture, the development of high-nature-value farming and sustainable intensive agricultural practices; considers that all these rural development measures should continue to be co-financed, with an increased budget if necessary;

Green growth

78.  Believes that ‘green growth’ should be at the heart of a new rural development strategy that focuses on creating new green jobs through:

79.  Believes that to underpin the key building blocks of the CAP, an adequate safety net should still be available; takes the view that this safety net should be sufficiently flexible to take account of market developments, and include tools such as public and private storage, intervention and market clearance, which should be activated when required to combat extreme volatility and as a rapid reaction tool in the event of crises; to that end, considers that a special reserve budget line should be made available in the EU budget which could be activated rapidly to respond to crises which arise;

80.  Calls for these measures to be backed by instruments designed to help reduce volatility and provide stable conditions for agricultural business and planning; in this context, takes the view that new innovative economic and financial tools such as across-the-board harvest risk insurance policies, futures markets and mutualisation funds should also be considered as a way of dealing with extreme market or climate conditions, without disturbing any private schemes that are being developed;

81.  Takes the view that regulating the expansion in production capacity can play a vital role in securing sustainable growth in a number of farming sectors;

82.  Insists that, to complement market measures, there is an urgent need to strengthen the position of primary producers within the food-supply chain through a range of actions to address transparency, contractual relationships and unfair commercial practices; takes the view that possible adjustments to competition rules should also be investigated to allow primary producer organisations to become more efficient and grow in size where needed, equipping them with improved negotiating power to stand up to major retailers and processors; in this context, believes that the appointment of national Ombudsmen and/or a European Ombudsman should be considered with a view to solving disputes within the food-supply chain;

83.  Recalls that, amongst the current set of market tools and in the context of WTO commitments, export refunds should continue to be phased out in the EU, in parallel with similar measures being taken by WTO partners;

84.  Believes that the competitiveness of European agriculture needs to be promoted within and beyond Community borders in order to find ways of meeting the main challenges of the future, including food security in the EU, supplying food to a growing world population, an environmentally sound approach, biodiversity and tackling climate change;

85.  Recalls that the EU can fund measures in European and third countries that provide information on, or promote the advantages of, European agricultural and food products in Europe and around the world; believes that the budget for these funds should be reviewed so as to enhance the visibility of EU agricultural and food products on the markets within the EU and in third countries; believes that these promotional schemes should be more widely implemented and have a greater and more effective application under the new CAP;

86.  Takes the view that the common agricultural policy must enable a healthier diet to be made available to all consumers, particularly the poorest among them, on the basis of a more varied, accessibly priced range of products; in order to combat poverty and improve health, aid programmes for the poorest in society must be continued, and programmes to boost consumption of fruit and vegetables in schools extended;

87.  Believes that the design and implementation of the new CAP should have simplicity, proportionality and the reduction of bureaucracy and of administrative costs at its heart;

The CAP in the multi-annual financial framework and annual budgetary procedure

88.  Stresses the need, given the new Common Agricultural Policy objectives, to provide adequate funding in the new MFF, in order to be able to better support the policy in accordance with the major challenges this crucial sector for EU food security will have to face in the coming years;

89.  Recalls that over the last four years of the current MFF, it was only possible to agree the annual budgets either by using up the existing margins in the different headings of the MFF or through recourse to the revision provided for by paragraph 23 of the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) of 17 May 2006 by using the margins available below the ceilings of Heading 2 to finance other EU priorities; points out that, from the 2011 budget year until the expiry of the current MFF (2013), the margins below the ceiling of Heading 2 will be extremely limited;

90.  Emphasises that the legally binding nature of the MFF necessitates the introduction of more flexible implementing arrangements so that the Union can respond sufficiently flexibly and effectively to unforeseen events;

91.  Draws attention to the fact that, according to Article 314(3) TFEU, the Commission may no longer amend its draft budget once the Conciliation Committee has been convened; recalls that the Commission must present an Amending Letter to update the agriculture forecast in the autumn; insists that the Amending Letter should be available before the EP vote; invites its competent committees to set up an internal procedure in order to define Parliament's position with a view to the Conciliation Committee meeting;

92.  Recalls that Pilot Projects (PP) and Preparatory Actions (PA) introduced by the European Parliament have evolved into important tools for the formulation of political priorities and the introduction of new initiatives that often turned into EU activities and programmes, including in the field of agriculture and rural development; believes that pilot projects and preparatory actions could also in the future be a platform for testing new ideas for reforms;

93.  Calls on the Commission to give full consideration to the European Parliament's recommendations when working on its communication and drawing up its legislative proposals;

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

(1) AGRI_DT (2010)439305. (2) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2007)0101. (3) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0131. (4) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0088. (5) See graph 1 annexed to report A7-0204/2010. (6) See graph 2 annexed to report A7-0204/2010. (7) See graph 3 annexed to report A7-0204/2010. (8) See graph 4 annexed to report A7-0204/2010. (9) See graph 5 annexed to report A7-0204/2010.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on the arrangements for importing fishery and aquaculture products into the EU with a view to the future reform of the CFP (2009/2238(INI))

P7_TA(2010)0287 A7-0207/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982,

–  having regard to the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (the ‘New York Agreement’), signed on 4 August 1995,

–  having regard to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, adopted on 31 October 1995,

–  having regard to the final declaration issued at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September 2002,

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy(1),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 of 17 December 1999 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2007 on the common organisation of the market in the fisheries and aquaculture products sector(3),

–  having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing(4),

–  having regard to Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the EU Ecolabel(5),

–  having regard to the Commission Green Paper entitled ‘Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy’ (COM(2009)0163),

–  having regard to its resolution of 25 February 2010 on the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy(6),

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Building a sustainable future for aquaculture – A new impetus for the Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture’ (COM(2009)0162),

–  having regard to its resolution of 17 June 2010 on a new impetus for the Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture(7),

–  having regard to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO), signed on 15 April 1994,

–  having regard to the WTO ministerial declaration adopted in Doha on 14 November 2001,

–  having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Global Europe: competing in the world’ (COM(2006)0567),

–  having regard to its resolution of 7 May 2009 on Parliament's new role and responsibilities in implementing the Treaty of Lisbon(8),

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

–  having regard to Rule 48 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries and the opinion of the Committee on International Trade (A7-0207/2010),

A.  having regard to the strategic importance of the fisheries and aquaculture sector for supplying the population and for the food balance of both the Member States and the EU as a whole, as well as its considerable contribution to the social and economic wellbeing of coastal communities, local development, employment and the preservation of cultural traditions,

B.  whereas fish is a natural resource that, under proper management, can be renewable and provide both food and jobs within the EU and around the world, and needs to be sustained in order to avoid depletion of fish stocks and subsequent hardship in coastal communities in the EU and abroad; whereas, in this respect, there is a need to strengthen effective fisheries management, including the dimension and impact of international trade on fish resources worldwide,

C.  in the light of the ambitious reform of the Common Fisheries Policy launched by the Commission with the adoption of the Green Paper of 22 April 2009 with a view to reviewing most aspects of that policy,

D.  also in the light of the new Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture set out by the Commission in its communication of 8 April 2009 (COM(2009)0162),

E.  having regard to the specific objectives set for fisheries management at the World Sustainable Development Summit held in Johannesburg in 2002, among them that of, by 2015, bringing down the exploitation of fish stocks to a level compatible with maximum sustainable yield (MSY),

F.  whereas EU fishery and aquaculture production has dropped by about 30% over the last 10 years,

G.  whereas this drop is a result of both declining fish stocks in EU waters and the measures (rightly) put in place to limit fishing and ensure sustainable management of fish stocks under the CFP, both within and outside EU waters, notably where EU fisheries are conducted by virtue of fisheries partnership agreements,

H.  whereas EU fisheries represent less than 6% of world catches,

I.  whereas, although the Green Paper on the reform of the CFP suggests that it may be possible to reverse the trend towards declining catches in the long term, the drastic measures envisaged to promote the regeneration of stocks (such as reduced fleet capacity, more stringent management measures and closer monitoring) will inevitably exacerbate the problem in the short and medium term,

J.  whereas, furthermore, despite the new strategy defined for the area, the multiple constraints on the development of aquaculture in the Community are such that it is unlikely to be able to compensate significantly, in the short or medium term, for the general trend of lower production in the extractive sector,

K.  whereas this makes it essential to encourage additional European production, especially in the new EU Member States with proven aquaculture potential,

L.  whereas, by contrast, demand for fishery and aquaculture products is generally rising in the European Union, with growth especially buoyant in the markets of the new Member States in central and eastern Europe, and whereas various factors are expected to lead to sustained growth in consumption over the next 20 years,

M.  whereas the European Union is now the world's largest market for fishery and aquaculture products (12 million tonnes in 2007, worth EUR 55 billion), ahead of Japan and the USA, whereas it depends very heavily on imports from non-EU countries to meet more than 60% of demand, and whereas its dependence on imports is likely to be further exacerbated,

N.  whereas it is now clear that the issue of fishery and aquaculture imports into the EU and the conditions under which such imports are produced is absolutely crucial to any analysis of EU policies on fisheries and aquaculture, and whereas particular consideration must be given to this issue in the light of the reforms under way,

O.  whereas all aspects of this issue must be addressed, including commercial, environmental, social, health and quality considerations,

P.  whereas unselective fishing and high levels of discards in some fisheries that export to the EU market mean that significant amounts of fish that would be suitable for human consumption is wasted,

Q.  whereas particular thought must be given to the common organisation of the market (COM) for fishery and aquaculture products, since the current rules are obsolete in a number of respects and must be revised as a matter of urgency,

R.  whereas this reflection also calls for a critical examination of the common commercial policy as applied to this sector in particular, and also of the consistency of the decisions taken in that framework with the need to preserve a viable and responsible European fisheries sector,

S.  whereas, although fishery and aquaculture products continue to receive a level of theoretical customs protection under the Common Customs Tariff (CCT) which is slightly above average for non-agricultural products, in practice this protection is significantly diminished by various exemptions and reductions, applied autonomously or on the basis of agreements, meaning that imports actually subject to MFN tariffs (applicable by default) account for about 5% of the total,

T.  whereas the policy to open up EU markets for fishery and aquaculture imports is likely to continue, both at multilateral level, in the context of WTO negotiations, especially the Doha Round talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA), and in the context of a raft of preferential talks currently under way with all kinds of trading partners in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Mediterranean basin and with various groups in the ACP countries,

U.  whereas the conclusion of the Doha Round NAMA talks on the basis of the ‘Swiss formula’ as currently envisaged (with a coefficient of 8) would reduce the maximum customs tariff applicable to fishery and aquaculture products in the EU from 26% to about 6% and the average tariff from 12% to about 5%,

V.  whereas such a decision, as well as almost completely negating the protective effect of the tariffs still in place, would seriously erode the preferences already granted to developing countries and those currently being negotiated, rendering them utterly meaningless, and whereas it would undermine the very foundations of the COM mechanisms allowing access to the EU market to be adjusted according to the needs of the European fishery and aquaculture processing industry (tariff suspensions and tariff quotas),

W.  whereas the EU's requirement for coherence between its development policy objectives (eliminating poverty, development of sustainable local fisheries) and its trade policy implies that developing countries should be encouraged to export fisheries products with a greater added value, provided that the fish comes from well-managed and sustainable fisheries and meets the necessary sanitary conditions,

X.  whereas, moreover, in recent years EU trade negotiators have tended to agree more easily to derogations from the rules on preferential origin traditionally applied to fishery and aquaculture products, including both raw products (criteria for determining vessels' nationality) and processed products (possibility to keep preferential status despite the use of non-originating raw materials),

Y.  whereas an FAO study has demonstrated that, even if international trade in fish products can lead to increased food security in developing countries, it has also led to increased fishing in order to supply the export market, which can exacerbate stock depletion, meaning that it is necessary to ensure that fisheries are properly managed and controlled to prevent depletion of stocks,

Z.  having regard to the partially divergent interests of European fishermen and fish farmers, processing industries, distributors, importers and consumers, which the policies pursued at European level should endeavour to reconcile in an effective and balanced manner,

AA.  having regard to the need to ensure acceptable outlets for Community producers (fishermen and aquaculture enterprises) on a basis of sufficiently remunerative prices, taking account of the costs, constraints and imponderables related to their activity,

AB.  having regard to the need to ensure that Community processors can benefit from raw materials of uniform quality, in sufficient quantities and at stable prices all year long,

AC.  having regard to the need to satisfy the demand from consumers in the Community for high-quality products at competitive prices and to take account of their increasing desire for information on those products' characteristics and origin and the conditions under which they were caught or produced,

AD.  having regard to the differentiated impact of imports on the EU market depending on the species concerned, the degree of processing and the distribution circuits used,

AE.  whereas, for example, a depressive effect on prices at the initial point of sale caused by competition from imports would appear to be a more sensitive issue for ‘industrial’ species (those destined for the processing industry) than for non-industrial species,

General considerations

1.  Deplores the fact that the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy devotes only a few lines to the issue of imports, and clearly underestimates the importance of addressing this issue properly for the credibility and success of the reform;

2.  Notes that the liberalisation of access to the EU market for fishery and aquaculture imports is already very advanced as a result of the commercial policy pursued by the EU over the last 20 years;

3.  Notes that EU fishery and aquaculture production falls well short of the needs of the processing industry and growing consumer demand, and will continue to do so; acknowledges, therefore, the need to promote responsible consumption, based upon quality and sustainability rather than quantity, the need to reinforce fisheries management to promote stock recovery and the fact that imports will continue to play an important role in supplying the EU market;

4.  Recognises that there is an upper limit on the amount of fish that can be caught on a sustainable basis, either for human consumption or for industrial purposes, which means that supplies of fish to the EU market cannot increase ad infinitum;

5.  Emphasises, however, the overriding need to ensure that the EU retains environmentally sustainable and economically viable fishery and aquaculture sectors – including small-scale operations – that are spread harmoniously along its coastline, help to preserve the cultural identity of the regions concerned, provide jobs at all stages of production, and supply safe, good-quality food, which implies that fishers receive a fair price for their product; stresses also that employees in the fishing industry should work under reasonable conditions and in accordance with the ILO's conventions on health and safety at work;

6.  Notes that the current openness of the Community market to exports of fishery and aquaculture products can - under certain circumstances - have a negative impact on the local economy in certain regions, especially the most remote regions in relation to selling their local products;

Specific considerations
Trade and customs policy

7.  Considers that the EU, as the world's largest importer of fisheries products, shares political responsibility with other major fish importing countries for ensuring that the WTO trade rules respect the highest possible global standards of fisheries management and conservation; to this end, calls on the Commission to ensure that fair, transparent and sustainable trade in fish is strengthened in the EU's bilateral and multilateral trade agreements;

8.  Takes the view that tariff protection is reasonable and should continue to be an important and legitimate instrument enabling the authorities to regulate imports; points out that erga omnes tariff protection is the key aspect of the preferences granted by the EU to certain countries, in particular developing countries; points out that abolishing that protection would deprive countries benefiting from preferences of all the advantages they currently have; also points out that this tariff protection is adjustable, which is useful, and can be suspended by the EU where commodity production in the Community is insufficient for properly supplying its processing industry;

9.  Cannot, therefore, accept the idea – promoted through the commercial policy currently being pursued – that all tariff protection in the fishery and aquaculture production sector must eventually be abolished, and that European producers (fishermen, fish farmers and processors) have no other choice than to resign themselves to this situation;

10.  Takes the view that, like agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture are strategic sectors with multiple functions, which depend on the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and include extremely vulnerable segments that do not lend themselves to a purely free-trade approach based on the free play of the comparative advantages;

11.  Deplores the fact that unlike trade talks on agricultural products, which are headed up by the Agriculture Commissioner, talks on fishery and aquaculture products are considered to be ‘non-agricultural’ negotiations and responsibility for them lies with the Trade Commissioner, to whom they are simply an adjustment variable within a wider body of issues;

12.  Calls for responsibility for heading up trade talks on fishery and aquaculture products to be transferred from the Trade Commissioner to the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries;

13.  Calls for the development, through a series of studies and consultations, of a clear and complete picture of the Community market in fishery and aquaculture products, species by species, as well as of likely trends in demand and production in the Community and of the outlets expected to be maintained for production in a context of fair competition;

14.  Calls also for the Commission to make efforts to assess more reliably and more accurately the impact of imports of fishery and aquaculture products on the Community market, in particular as regards prices, and work on introducing a data collection and exchange system so as to facilitate that assessment process;

15.  Demands that fishery and aquaculture products be treated as sensitive products for the purposes of applying the ‘Swiss formula’ in the WTO's Doha Round NAMA talks, to prevent the erosion of tariff protection which still applies to some products under the CCT, thereby preserving the value of the preferences granted to some partners and the effectiveness of COM mechanisms;

16.  Recalls that, in accordance with paragraph 47 of the Doha ministerial declaration of 14 November 2001, the current round of talks is based on the ‘single undertaking’ principle, and that until the entire round has been concluded the European Union is still entitled to review its position on particular chapters;

17.  Also encourages the Union's WTO negotiators to continue categorically to refuse to involve the EU in any initiative aimed at multilateral sectoral liberalisation of the fishery and aquaculture sector;

18.  Calls on the Commission to insist that any agreement now under negotiation at the WTO that is concluded on subsidies in the fisheries sector, in particular as regards market regulation measures, must not put European producers at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis third-country suppliers; is opposed on principle to any separate and early implementation (‘early harvest’) of such an agreement, which must remain inextricably linked to the other components of the Doha Round;

19.  Asks the EU representatives negotiating bilateral and regional agreements to require more systematically a real quid pro quo in exchange for trade concessions to non-EU countries on imports of fishery and aquaculture products, resolutely defending any offensive interests of the EU in this sector;

20.  Emphasises that the EU needs to retain control over the trade preferences that it grants to certain partners by insisting on the application of strict rules of origin based on the concept of ‘wholly obtained’ products; urges caution, in respect of raw products, with regard to granting any derogations from the traditional criteria for determining vessels' nationality, and demands that any new requests for derogations in respect of processed products be rejected; considers that the ‘no-drawback’ rule should be applied systematically and origin cumulation possibilities should be limited;

21.  Urges the Commission to improve, quantitatively and qualitatively, the analysis of the impact on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors of tariff preferences granted to certain countries, in particular as regards business profitability and employment, both in the EU and in the beneficiary countries, particularly the ACP countries; also stresses that those assessments must provide duly quantified results and take particular account of vulnerable fish species;

22.  Draws attention to the option for the Community industry of making use of the EU's commercial defence instruments in the event of dumping, subsidisation or increase on a large scale and without warning of imports for certain categories of fishery and aquaculture products;

Environmental, social, health and quality aspects

23.  Believes that it should be one of the key aims of EU policy on fishery and aquaculture imports to ensure that imported products meet the same requirements that apply to EU production in every respect; believes that this aim reflects basic concerns in relation to the fairness, consistency and effectiveness of the measures currently applied in the sector or envisaged as part of the reform; further notes that compliance by non-EU countries with EU requirements will help create more equal competition between production in the EU and production in non-EU countries as a result of the higher costs involved for non-EU countries in producing fish in accordance with EU standards;

24.  Is concerned that the massive influx of fishery and aquaculture products onto the Community market from third countries could influence consumers' buying habits;

25.  Considers that EU efforts to conserve fish stocks and make fishing sustainable, pursued through the CFP, are incompatible with importing fishery and aquaculture products from countries which are stepping up their fishing efforts without concern for sustainability and are only interested in short-term profitability;

26.  Stresses that, via the recovery and management plans in particular, Community policy on conserving resources is helping to encourage imports of fishery and aquaculture products from third countries and to make it possible for them to supplant Community production in what is in many instances an irreversible process; calls on the Commission to take that risk duly into account when drawing up those plans;

27.  Fears that – in the absence of an established policy in that regard – the powerful attraction of a very largely open and fast-growing EU market for fishery and aquaculture products constitutes a permanent incentive to over-fishing on the part of the countries concerned;

28.  Welcomes the recent entry into force of rules to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by requiring that all products placed on the EU market carry certification; encourages rigorous and effective application of those rules, while acknowledging the need of many developing countries for help with implementing the rules properly and combating illegal fishing; points out, however, that they constitute the bare minimum necessary and are insufficient to guarantee the sustainability of the fisheries from which the products in question come;

29.  Believes that, in addition to applying the Community rules on IUU fishing, it is necessary to exercise stricter downstream controls on the marketing of such fish, notably by means of more rigorous audits of the Member States and of enterprises suspected of supplying products originating in illegal fishing;

30.  Asks the Commission to use all the tools available to it to ensure that the main countries exporting fishery and aquaculture products to the EU fulfil the undertakings given in Johannesburg and apply rigorous policies to conserve stocks; encourages it to cooperate with these countries in all appropriate forums and especially in regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs);

31.  Takes the view that the Union must also enforce those undertakings in order to ensure that all products exported to the European Union, without exception, are from countries that have ratified the main international agreements in the field of maritime law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, and, where exports are from waters managed by an RFMO, that they are contracting parties to the relevant RFMO agreement;

32.  Highlights the serious disadvantages suffered by EU fishermen, fish farmers and fish processors in competing with certain non-EU countries, as a result of the much lower labour costs in those countries and the less stringent social standards applied there;

33.  Believes that the problem of social dumping, although not confined to the fishery and aquaculture sector, is particularly acute there and especially in processing activities, which are highly labour-intensive;

34.  Asks the Commission to use all the tools available to it to ensure, at least, that the main countries exporting fishery and aquaculture products to the EU comply with the eight ILO conventions on basic workers' rights;

35.  Demands that all the trade preferences granted by the EU in respect of fishery and aquaculture products be made strictly conditional upon the fulfilment of stringent environmental and social requirements; further demands that provisions to this effect in agreements concluded should include credible mechanisms for monitoring compliance with the undertakings given and for suspending the preferences, or simply withdrawing them, if the undertakings are breached; calls, in the case of developing countries, for the implementation of programmes specifically designed to grant technical support, and financial support if necessary, in order to help the affected States to respect their social and environmental commitments;

36.  Emphasises the importance of rigorously applying all aspects of EU law in relation to health standards and inspections (including food safety, traceability and prevention), which are crucial aspects for consumer protection, to fishery and aquaculture imports, including feedstuffs and feed materials; urges the Commission, in this respect, to enhance its programme of third country inspections by fine-tuning Food and Veterinary Office missions, primarily by increasing the number of establishments inspected on each mission, in order to obtain results that better reflect the real situation in third countries;

37.  Urges the utmost caution with regard to recognising the requirements in force in certain non-EU countries as equivalent to those of the EU for the purposes of applying the above-mentioned legislation and in relation to approving lists of countries and establishments authorised to export fishery and aquaculture products to the EU; considers that DG SANCO should be able to remove individual vessels or processing plants from such approved lists where they fail to meet minimum standards;

38.  Advocates an extremely vigilant approach to products from new, particularly intensive, types of aquaculture practised in certain regions of the world and calls for a critical study of the productivity-boosting techniques and procedures used in the plants in question and of their possible health implications as well as their local social and environmental impact;

39.  Demands that the checks carried out at all levels – and especially in the context of effectively harmonised and transparent border controls – should be of a thoroughness and regularity commensurate with the risks inherent in the products concerned, particularly with regard to their nature and provenance; asks the Member States to make available all the financial and human resources required for that purpose;

Revision of the COM

40.  Draws attention to the various resolutions that it adopted during the 6thth parliamentary term asking the Commission, as a matter of urgency, to carry out a far-reaching revision of the COM in fishery products to enable it to contribute better to guaranteeing earnings in the sector, ensuring market stability, improving the marketing of fishery products and increasing the added value generated; deplores the fact that this work has been delayed; points to the resolutions as a reference for determining the main aims of such revision;

41.  Emphasises that it is absolutely essential for the new mechanisms introduced under the revision to address the reality of fierce competition from low-cost imports resulting from practices that are damaging to the environment or equivalent to a form of social dumping, and to endeavour, nonetheless, to ensure that EU production can be marketed normally and sufficiently profitably;

Consumer information

42.  Expresses its conviction that European consumers would often make different choices if they were better informed about the true nature of products on sale, their geographical origins, the conditions under which they were produced or caught and their quality;

43.  Emphasises the urgent need to introduce stringent and transparent criteria for certifying and labelling in respect of the quality and traceability of European fishery and aquaculture products and to promote the introduction, as soon as possible, of specific EU ecolabelling for such products in order to put an end to the uncontrolled proliferation of private certification systems;

44.  Believes that the ecocertification and ecolabelling of fishery and aquaculture products should be a process that is transparent and easily understandable by the consumer, and should be available to the whole sector without exception, subject to strict compliance with the basic award criteria;

Aquaculture

45.  Highlights the fact that aquaculture products account for a growing proportion of fishery and aquaculture imports into the EU;

46.  Attributes this phenomenon to the marked expansion of fish farming in certain regions of the world over the past 10 years – a period of stagnation for EU aquaculture, which accounts for just 2% of the sector's global output;

47.  Notes the existence of significant substitution effects, in terms of consumer habits and demand on the part of distributors in the EU, as between fresh products of Community origin and certain types of imported aquaculture products;

48.  Sees a determined policy of supporting and developing sustainable aquaculture, with a reduced environmental impact, in the EU as one of the key aspects of a strategy to reduce dependence on fishery and aquaculture imports, stimulate economic activity in the EU and offer a more plentiful and varied supply in response to the rapidly rising demand; stresses, in this connection, the need to aggressively pursue R&D concerning European aquaculture products;

49.  Points, in this regard, to its resolution of 17 June 2010 on a new impetus for the Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture;

50.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take due account of the main recommendations contained in this report in their proposals and decisions related to the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy;

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o   o

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

(1) OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 59. (2) OJ L 17, 21.1.2000, p. 22. (3) OJ C 323 E, 18.12.2008, p. 271. (4) OJ L 286, 29.10.2008, p. 1. (5) OJ L 27, 30.1.2010, p. 1. (6) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0039. (7) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0243. (8) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2009)0373.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on Zimbabwe, notably the case of Farai Maguwu

P7_TA(2010)0288 RC-B7-0415/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its numerous previous resolutions on Zimbabwe, most recently that of 17 December 2008(1),

–  having regard to Council Common Position 2010/92/CFSP of 15 February 2010(2) renewing until 20 February 2011 the restrictive measures against Zimbabwe imposed under Common Position 2004/161/CFSP(3), and to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1226/2008 of 8 December 2008(4), amending the Common Position,

–  having regard to the Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 22 February 2010 on Zimbabwe, and to the conclusions of the 10th EU-South Africa Ministerial Political Dialogue of 11 May 2010 on Zimbabwe,

–  having regard to previous UN resolutions on blood diamonds, and in particular to UN Security Council resolution 1459 (2003) on the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme,

–  having regard to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), which requires its members to certify that rough diamonds are not used to finance armed conflicts,

–  having regard to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which Zimbabwe has ratified,

–  having regard to the communiqué of the Seventh Plenary Session of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), held at Swakopmund, Namibia, on 5 November 2009, in particular paragraphs 13,14 and 22 thereof,

–  having regard to the Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 21-24 June 2010,

–  having regard to the EU-ACP Cotonou Partnership Agreement, signed on 23 June 2000,

–  having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas Zimbabwe is a voluntary member of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which enables members to sell rough diamonds on the legitimate international market provided that their trade does not finance armed conflicts,

B.  whereas the Kimberley Process does not currently address human rights abuses,

C.  whereas it is estimated that Zimbabwe could become one of the largest diamond producers in the world within the next few years should the Marange (Chiadzwa) diamond field in Manicaland province be fully developed, potentially generating billions of euros in revenue,

D.  whereas in November 2009, in Swakopmund (Namibia), Zimbabwe undertook to carry out a series of actions to bring diamond mining in Marange into compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification System,

E.  whereas the Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process held in Tel Aviv from 21 to 23 June 2010 was not able to reach consensus regarding possible inclusion of human rights considerations in the Kimberley Process,

F.  whereas numerous international NGOs (including Human Rights Watch, Global Witness and Partnership for Africa-Canada) have raised serious concerns about the human rights situation in Chiadzwa, particularly in relation to human rights abuses by members of the Zimbabwean security forces,

G.  whereas Farai Maguwu, a Zimbabwean citizen and founder/director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), a human rights NGO based in Manicaland, has identified serious human rights violations by the Zimbabwean state security forces in several Zimbabwean diamond fields, most notably in Chiadzwa,

H.  whereas Farai Maguwu was arrested by the Zimbabwean authorities on 3 June 2010 on charges of publishing information prejudicial to the Zimbabwean State and has since been detained in poor conditions and denied his essential medication, the right to have his case heard by a judge within 48 hours of arrest and the right to bail,

1.  Demands the immediate and unconditional release of Farai Maguwu and condemns the conditions of his arrest and detention;

2.  Insists that the Zimbabwean authorities honour their Kimberley Process commitments made at the Swakopmund meeting, fully demilitarise the Marange diamond fields, and institute proper measures to maintain law and order in a way which is respectful of the rights of the local people;

3.  Calls for the revision of the Kimberley Process to take proper account of human rights principles;

4.  Insists that the Zimbabwe Government use the substantial revenue that diamond mining in Chiadzwa is likely to generate as the basis for the regeneration of the Zimbabwean economy as a whole, and as a means of providing the health, education and social funding currently provided by international donors, and to that end urges the government to establish a sovereign Diamond Trust Fund that would be placed at the service of the people of Zimbabwe;

5.  Calls on the Zimbabwean Government to guarantee and uphold the unrestricted right to free speech in Zimbabwe, so that NGOs (such as Farai Maguwu's Centre for Research and Development) can freely express opinions without fear of persecution or imprisonment;

6.  Calls for the Kimberley Process to ensure that the Monitor for Zimbabwe acts with complete independence, integrity and regard for human rights;

7.  Calls on South Africa and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), in their own interests as well as those of Zimbabwe and the wider southern African region, to take active steps to encourage a return to full democracy in Zimbabwe and respect for the rule of law and the human rights of the people of Zimbabwe; recognises that Mugabe and his close supporters remain a continuing stumbling block in the process of political and economic reconstruction and reconciliation in Zimbabwe, plundering as they do its economic resources for their own benefit;

8.  Welcomes the recent renewal (February 2010) of the EU's list of banned individuals and entities with links to the Mugabe regime; emphasises that these restrictive measures are aimed solely at elements of the Zimbabwean regime and will in no way impact on the Zimbabwean people as a whole;

9.  Emphasises the importance of dialogue between the European Union and Zimbabwe and welcomes the progress that has been made in this direction;

10.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and candidate countries, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission, the Governments and Parliaments of Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Co-Presidents of the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the African Union institutions including the Pan-African Parliament, the UN Secretary-General, the Secretary General of the SADC, the rotating Chairman of the Kimberley Process (Israel) and the Commonwealth Secretary-General.

(1) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2008)0640. (2) OJ L 41, 16.2.2010, p. 6. (3) OJ L 50, 20.2.2004, p. 66. (4) OJ L 331, 10.12.2008, p. 11.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on Venezuela, in particular the case of Maria Lourdes Afiuni

P7_TA(2010)0289 RC-B7-0414/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Venezuela, in particular those of 11 February 2010, 7 May 2009, 23 October 2008 and 24 May 2007,

–  having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the separation and independence of powers form the basis of any democratic and constitutional State,

B.  whereas, on 10 December 2009, Maria Lourdes Afiuni, ‘Judge of Control’ of Caracas, acting under Venezuelan laws and following an opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, granted parole (under severe restrictions, including passport withdrawal) to Eligio Cedeño, who had been in pre-trial detention since February 2007,

C.  whereas the pre-trial detention period is limited to two years under Venezuelan law, and whereas Judge Afiuni, in issuing the decision, upheld fundamental rights protected under Venezuelan and international law,

D.  whereas Judge Afiuni was immediately arrested without charge at the court by officials of the DISIP (Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention) and was transferred on 12 December 2009 to the INOF (Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina), a maximum security prison, where she is still being held more than six months later, under conditions which continue to endanger her physical and mental well-being as up to 24 inmates were convicted by her for crimes such as homicide, drug trafficking and kidnapping; whereas, during her detention, she has been subjected to insults, threats, verbal and physical attacks and attempts on her life,

E.  whereas on 11 December 2009, President Hugo Chávez, in a speech broadcast on TV, called her a bandit, asking the Attorney General to apply the maximum penalty and even urging the National Assembly to pass a new law to aggravate sentences for this type of behaviour, to be enforced retroactively,

F.  whereas Article 26 of the Venezuelan Constitution states that the judiciary should be autonomous and independent and that the President of the Republic of Venezuela is responsible for guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary,

G.  whereas, following the President's statements against Judge Afiuni, she was charged with abuse of authority, corruption, conspiracy and being accessory to an escape, and whereas, although the prosecutor has shown that she had not received money and that there was therefore no evidence of corruption, she is still in prison,

H.  whereas Judge Afiuni's case has prompted a string of reports, resolutions and statements condemning the Venezuelan authorities and voicing solidarity with her, as lawyers and magistrates from around the world, NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have expressed their concern regarding her situation, stating that she is jailed because of her integrity and fight for the independence of the judiciary, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has requested precautionary measures to ensure her personal safety,

I.  whereas Judge Afiuni's case is not an isolated attack by the political authorities on the judiciary, with some judges having been dismissed and others having chosen to go into exile,

J.  whereas the deterioration of democracy in Venezuela is manifest in other areas as well, particularly with regard to freedom of press, including on the internet, which has been constantly attacked by the government and against which a wide range of measures have been taken, including the shutting down of newspapers, radio stations, websites and television channels,

K.  whereas freedom of the media is of vital importance to democracy and respect for basic freedoms, given the media's fundamental role in guaranteeing the freedom to express one's opinions and ideas, duly respecting the rights of minorities, including political opposition groups, and contributing to effectively involving individuals in the democratic processes, thereby enabling free and fair elections to take place,

L.  whereas, with a view to the parliamentary elections due to be held on 26 September 2010, the National Electoral Council has, at the request of the government, modified the constituency boundaries for the election of the 167 Members of the National Assembly, changes that affect up to 80% of the states governed by the opposition,

M.  whereas measures such as arbitrary confiscation and expropriation, involving more than 760 enterprises since 2005, some of them affecting EU interests, undermine the basic social and economic rights of citizens,

N.  having regard to the tense political situation in Venezuela, reflected in the harassment, threats, intimidation and political and criminal persecution directed at the democratic opposition, its representatives, its democratically elected mayors and governors, the student movement, members of the army and the judiciary, opponents of Chavez official policy, journalists and the media, which has led to the imprisonment of many of them for political reasons,

1.  Deplores the attacks on the independence of the judiciary; voices its concern at the arrest of Judge Afiuni and considers it a violation of her basic personal rights and a very serious threat to the independence of the judiciary, which is the basic pillar of the rule of law;

2.  Calls for her release and calls on the Venezuelan Government to be committed to the values of the rule of law, facilitating a fair and rapid trial, with all the necessary legal guarantees;

3.  Expresses its concern at the conditions of detention of Judge Afiuni, which pose a threat to her physical and psychological integrity, and calls on the prison authorities strictly and immediately to apply the measures and recommendations advocated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 11 January 2010 regarding Ms Afiuni's conditions of detention;

4.  Condemns the public statements made by the President of the Republic of Venezuela, insulting and denigrating the judge, demanding a maximum sentence and requesting a modification of the law to enable a more severe penalty to be imposed; considers that these statements are aggravating the circumstances of her detention and constitute an attack on the independence of the judiciary by the President of a nation, who should be its first guarantor;

5.  Reminds the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of its obligation to respect freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of the press and to respect the independence of the judiciary as it is bound to do under its own Constitution and under the different international and regional conventions and charters to which Venezuela is a signatory; believes that the Venezuelan media should guarantee pluralistic coverage of Venezuelan political and social life;

6.  Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to make representations to the Venezuelan authorities with a view to expressing the EU's concern regarding respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in this South American country and to firmly upholding the interests and property of citizens and companies from EU Member States;

7.  Points out that, under the Organisation of American States' Inter-American Democratic Charter, in a democracy, in addition to clear and necessary legitimacy of origin, grounded in and obtained at the polls, legitimacy of exercise must also be complied with, and this must be founded on respect for pluralism, the established rules, the constitution in force, the laws and the rule of law as a guarantee of a fully functioning democracy, and this must of necessity include respect for peaceful and democratic political opposition, especially where that opposition has been elected in the polls and enjoys a popular mandate;

8.  Calls on the Venezuelan Government, with a view to the parliamentary elections on 26 September 2010, to respect the rules of democracy and the principles of freedom of expression, assembly, association and election, as well as to invite the European Union and international bodies to observe these elections;

9.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Government and National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States.

European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2010 on North Korea

P7_TA(2010)0290 RC-B7-0416/2010

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on the Korean Peninsula,

–  having regard to the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other human rights instruments,

–  having regard to the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution ‘Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’ adopted on 25 March 2010 and supported by the EU Member States, which condemned the ‘systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights’ and ‘grave, widespread and systematic human rights abuses’ by the DPRK,

–  having regard to United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006) and 1874 (2009),

–  having regard to the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee Resolution on the ‘Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’ adopted at the 64th Session on 19 November 2009,

–  having regard to Council Decision 2009/1002/CFSP of 22 December 2009,

–  having regard to the Universal Peer Report on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea of 7 November 2009, and to the agreement on the part of the DPRK to examine 117 recommendations contained in the Report of the Working Group on Universal Periodic Review, Human Rights Council, adopted on 18 March 2010,

–  having regard to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, of 17 February 2010,

–  having regard to the 29th round of the EU-China Dialogue on Human Rights of 29 June 2010 in Madrid, where the issue of North Korean refugees was discussed,

–  having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas the human rights situation in the DPRK remains deeply preoccupying, while the humanitarian situation gives serious reasons for concern,

B.  whereas the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution of 25 March 2010 on the ‘Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’ expressed deep concern about the continuing reports of systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in the DPRK,

C.  whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK described the human rights situation as ‘abysmal’ in his annual report to the UN Human Rights Council,

D.  whereas the Government of the DPRK rejects the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, has refused him access to the country and resists cooperation with the UN human rights mechanisms,

E.  whereas the report of the UN Special Rapporteur stated that the resumption of Six-Party Talks on denuclearisation would also be an opportunity to provide space for an improved human rights environment,

F.  whereas the UN Special Rapporteur has suggested that the Security Council consider the human rights violations in the DPRK and that a Commission of Inquiry should be established to investigate alleged crimes against humanity by the DPRK Government,

G.  whereas numerous international nongovernmental human rights organisations have called on the European Union to concern itself more with North Korean human rights issues,

H.  whereas the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution deplores the grave, widespread and systematic human rights abuses in the DPRK, in particular the use of torture and labour camps against political prisoners and repatriated citizens of the DPRK,

I.  whereas the DPRK state authorities systematically carry out extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and disappearances,

J.  whereas the justice system is subservient to the State and the death penalty is applied for a broad range of crimes against the State and is extended periodically by the Criminal Code, while citizens, including children, are forced to attend public executions,

K.  whereas the DPRK Government does not allow organised political opposition, free and fair elections, free media, religious freedom, freedom of association or collective bargaining,

L.  whereas the kidnapping and abduction of third-country citizens from Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries, allegedly including EU citizens, remains unresolved and requires decisive action by the international community,

M.  whereas a significant number of North Koreans flee to the People's Republic of China, where many women are reportedly subjected to human trafficking and forced marriages, whereas the PRC reportedly forcibly returns North Korean refugees to the DPRK in violation of international norms on the prohibition on refoulement and allegedly also prohibits DPRK citizens from accessing UNHCR asylum procedures, in violation of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to which the PRC has acceded, and whereas there are disturbing reports as to the fate of those citizens forcibly returned,

N.  whereas the state practice of guilt by association results in entire families being imprisoned, including children and grandparents; whereas these prisoners are exposed to gross human rights violations, torture, starvation, slave labour and, according to reports, an estimated 100 000 may have already have perished, often of exhaustion or untreated diseases,

O.  whereas satellite images and various accounts by North Korean defectors substantiate allegations that the DPRK operates at least six concentration camps, with over 150 000 political prisoners, and that, if the figures for all the other categories of prisoners are added, such as those forcibly repatriated from the PRC, an estimated 200 000 people are incarcerated in detention centres,

P.  whereas large parts of the population are suffering from starvation and are to a large extent dependent on international food aid, and whereas the World Food Program reported in September 2009 that a third of North Korean women and children were malnourished,

Q.  whereas the society is governed by a ‘military first’ policy and the juche ideology, which requires veneration of the country's leader,

R.  whereas according to credible reports by defectors, the population is subjected to forced labour mobilisation campaigns, while people's access to education and employment opportunities are based on their songbun (social class status), which is determined by their or their family's loyalty to the regime,

S.  whereas the ‘currency reform’ of 30 November 2009 has resulted in severe damage to the already failing economy and has led to the further impoverishment of non-privileged sections of society, resulting in serious social discontent,

T.  whereas no foreign journalist is allowed unrestricted access to the DPRK and whereas the Korean Central News Agency is the only source of information for all media outlets in North Korea, while radios and TVs can only receive signals from government stations and the reception of foreign broadcasts is strictly prohibited, with severe sanctions applied; whereas the general population of the country has no access to the internet,

1.  Calls on the DPRK to put an immediate end to the ongoing grave, widespread and systematic human rights violations perpetrated against its own people, which may amount to crimes against humanity and thus be subject to international criminal jurisdiction;

2.  Calls on the DPRK to immediately and permanently stop public executions and abolish the death penalty in the DPRK;

3.  Calls on the DPRK to put an end to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to stop the use of torture and forced labour, to release political prisoners and to allow its citizens freedom of travel;

4.  Calls on the DPRK authorities to ensure access to food and humanitarian assistance for all citizens on the basis of need;

5.  Calls on the DPRK to allow free expression and press freedom, as well as uncensored access to the internet for its citizens;

6.  Calls on the EU to support the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to assess past and current human rights violations in the DPRK in order to determine to what extent such violations and impunity associated with the abuses may constitute crimes against humanity, and calls on EU Member States to sponsor a UN resolution at the General Assembly to that end;

7.  In view of the gravity of the situation, calls on the EU to appoint an EU special representative on the DPRK to ensure persistent attention and coordination both within the European Union and with key partners such as the United States and the RoK;

8.  Calls on the DPRK authorities to follow the recommendations of the Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council, and, as a first step, to allow inspection of all types of detention facilities by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other independent international experts, and to allow UN Special Rapporteurs to visit the country;

9.  Calls on the Government of the DPRK to ensure a comprehensive investigation with a transparent and satisfactory outcome, to hand over finally and completely all information on the EU citizens and third-country nationals who are suspected to have been abducted by North Korean state agents during past decades, and to release immediately those abductees still being held in the country;

10.  Urges EU Member States to continue granting North Korean refugees asylum and to adopt a more systematic approach to organising European and international protection for North Koreans fleeing the desperate situation at home, and calls on the Commission to continue to support civil-society organisations helping North Korean refugees;

11.  Calls on the PRC to stop arresting and returning North Korean refugees to the DPRK, to fulfil its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, to allow the UNHCR access to North Korean refugees to determine their status and assist their safe resettlement, and to grant North Korean women married to PRC citizens legal resident status;

12.  Calls on the PRC to use its close relations with the DPRK to promote economic and social reform in the country, with a view to improving the living conditions and social rights of the North Korean population;

13.  Calls on the Commission to raise the human rights situation in the DPRK and the issue of North Korean refugees in the PRC in all EU-China high-level talks and in the EU-China Dialogue on Human Rights;

14.  Calls on the Commission to maintain existing humanitarian aid programmes and channels of communication with the DPRK, and to rigorously monitor the distribution of food aid and humanitarian assistance in North Korea to meet international standards of transparency and accountability;

15.  Calls on the Commission and EU Member States to continue active dialogue and support for NGOs and civil-society actors working to establish contacts within the DPRK, with a view to encouraging changes leading to a better environment for human rights;

16.  Calls on the Commission to include a clause on monitoring of the rights of workers working in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the DPRK in the EU-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement;

17.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Member States and candidate countries, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the Governments of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the United Nations Secretary-General.