17 Amendments of Margrete AUKEN related to 2017/2125(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that the freedom of movement and residence of EU citizens and their families is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Treaties, the Citizens’ Rights Directive (Directive 2004/38/EC) and explicitly in article 45 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; notes that petitioners from different countries are concerned about the risk of losing their EU citizenship and afraid of not being able to benefit from the rights associated with this freedom;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that freedom of expression, information and the media are key to safeguarding democracy and the rule of law, and that independence of media, particularly the public ones, must be preserved; recalls that freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion or belief, are also among the EU’s core values;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recognises that all citizens living in a Member State other than their own, as a result of having exercised their right to free movement, have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in EU and local elections, in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and articles 40 and 45 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Member States to promote the protection of the rights of the child, in line with the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and article 24 of the EU charter of Fundamental Rights, namely by ensuring that children’s views are taken into account in matters that concern them and that their best interests are athe primary consideration in any decisions that affect them; recalls the consistently high number of petitions on discrimination based on nationality, gender or financial status when granting custody righpoints to the larger cross-border dimension of children matters as a result of the increasing amount of EU citizens exercising their right to free movement; recalls the consistently high number of petitions on discrimination based on nationality, gender or financial status when granting custody rights; reminds that every child shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis a personal relationship and direct contact with both parents, unless that is contrary to his or her best interests; calls on the Commission to move forward with the recasting of the Brussels II Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003) announced in June 2016;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. PReminds that Article 35 on health care calls for a high level of human health protection to be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities; points out that all EU residents are entitled to benefits and assistance under the social security systems of their Member State of residence and have the right to healthcare and medical treatment; notes, in this connection, that the price and accessibility of medicines in the Member States are among the major issues affecting patients;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Member States to incorporate article 23 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on equality between men and women and ensure gender equality in the areas that require improvement and in which women’s fundamental rights are being violated, and to prevent gender-based violence;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Recalls Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on the right to asylum, and the obligation therein to respect the rules of the Geneva Convention; calls to all the involved EU stakeholders, and particularly all national governments, to step up the insufficient existing efforts to host and integrate refugees and asylum-seekers that keep on arriving to EU territory; expresses its disagreement with policies aimed at holding those outside the EU borders;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Underlines Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights on Non- discrimination prohibiting discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation; regrets the delay of a decade in the final adoption of the horizontal anti-discrimination directive, that would allow this article to become a tangible reality in the daily life of EU citizens, for instance in protecting LGTBI rights and fighting homophobia across the Union; urges the Council to terminate the blocking of the legislative procedure of the mentioned directive;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Recalls Article 26 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on integration of persons with disabilities, emphasizing the need to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the community life; stresses the need for the EU to fully comply with the requirements of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, avoiding any conflict of interests within the EU Framework for the convention, and calls for a quick conclusion of the legislative work aimed at the adoption of an ambitious European Accessibility Act; welcomes the recent steps aimed at securing the EU ratification of the Marrakech Treaty on the access to published works for the visually impaired people, yet calls for all the derived actions still pending to be finally carried with the highest possible celerity;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7d. Considers that further legislation and concrete measures have to be put into place in order to fully guarantee article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on the Right to good administration; calls for the current Code of Good Administrative Behaviour to be included into the acquis communautaire by means of a Regulation, which should include among other aspects concrete provisions to prevent conflicts of interest at all level within EU institutions, agencies and bodies;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 e (new)
Paragraph 7 e (new)
7e. Reminds that Article 42 on the right of access to documents of the European Parliament, Council and Commission, yet considers that this right is not fully respected at present; asks all concerned institutions, particularly the Council, to act accordingly; regrets the increasing existence of exclusive reading- rooms with limited access to Members of the European Parliament; suggests that the EU Ombudsman statute could be updated in order to give this institution the role to ultimately determine whether the right to access to a document prevails;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 f (new)
Paragraph 7 f (new)
7f. Emphasises that the right to petition to the European Parliament is grounded in Article 44 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, whereby any citizen of the Union and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State has the right to petition the European Parliament;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Strongly supports a strict interpretation of Article 37 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, namely the need for effective environmental protection in line with the principle of sustainable development, this being by as well as concrete measures in application of the precautionary principle; points to article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, aimed at ensuring a higher level of environmental protection through preventative decision-taking in the case of risk, and suggests the setting of injunction measures more frequently in this sense; underlines that concerns over environmental protection and all its implications in terms of human health and biodiversity is far the most recurrent issue in petitions;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recalls the need to guarantee a high level of consumer protection, in accordance with Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; calls, therefore, for this right to be safeguarded in the banking, insurance and credit sectors. ; notes that many petitions concerning several Member States point out to the need to better protect citizens of abusive clauses and conditions in mortgages, with due regard of Directive 93/13/EEC of on unfair terms in consumer contracts and its related case-law, and beyond;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Reminds that in order to combat social exclusion and poverty, by virtue of Article 34 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on social security and social assistance, the Union recognises and respects the right to social and housing assistance so as to ensure a decent existence for all those who lack sufficient resources; calls on the Member States to take resolute steps to adopt legislation and enforce related measures guaranteeing a universal right to housing in conditions of dignity, as enshrined also in many of their national constitutions;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Deeply regrets that the current existence within the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights of its Article 51 completely narrows its effective scope of application; is of the opinion that the end result of this does not meet the expectations that the Charter has among the EU citizens and that this is a serious threat to the overall credibility of the Union; considers that the new institutional scenario post-Brexit opens the door to revisit the wording of this article and even to challenge its existence as such;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Considers that the Copenhagen criteria for accession to the EU are the closest approximation and summary of the concrete application of the EU values within article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union; believes that beyond them being simply a prerequisite for accession, compliance with these criteria must remain a permanent obligation along EU membership; suggests to link those more tangibly with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, also in regard to the application of Articles 258 and 260 of the Treaty of Functioning of the EU concerning infringements procedures before the Court of Justice of the EU, or any further measures such as ultimately the provisions of Article 7 of the Treaty of the EU;