Activities of Aloyzas SAKALAS related to 2008/2236(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The review of the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (debate)
Amendments (16)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4
Citation 4
– having regard to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement establishing a partnership between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Russian Federation, of the other part, which entered into force on 1 December 1997 and expired in 2007, and to the resumption of the negotiations on a renewed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in December 2008,
Amendment 2 #
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
Dc. whereas the ENP remains one of the principal priorities of the European Union's foreign policy and the ENP offers all the States concerned the possibility of closer integration with the EU,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the rapid demographic growth of the countries neighbouring the EU, resulting in their populations becoming increasingly urbanised, represents a new challenge for the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that, overall, the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 are adequate and valid for the purposes of cooperation with neighbouring countries and other multilateral organisations; underlines, however, the need to clearly specify objectives in all areas as these are a precondition for assessing effectiveness;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Takes the view that the visibility of the Community assistance should be increased through targeted communication with stakeholders and the general public and recommends that contacts be developed to this end with civil society and local authorities, as they are closer to the citizens and therefore represent a competent and effective level at which to act;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the annual action programmes in the fields of democracy, the rule of law and human rights to be pursued more ambitiously, in order to avoid a significant allocations gap between the Eastern and the Mediterranean partners; believes that more should be done to persuade the partner governments to commit themselves to action in those fields;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Finds that, despite the increased flexibility and simplicity of the Community assistance instruments, as evidenced in particular by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, the procedures and timeframes under the ENPI remain burdensome for civil society organisations and local authorities; calls on the Commission to conduct a comparative analysis of the procedures applied by other major donors and to present the results thereof to Parliament;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that sectoral and general budget support under the ENPI should be made available only to countries which are able to implement it in a transparent, effective and accountable manner and where it constitutes a real incentive; calls on the Commission to review the appropriateness of budget support in countries which have problems with budgetary management and control procedures and high levels of corruption;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the importance of enhancclarifying the coordination and complementarity of therelationship between the ENP as a framework policy and the regional ENP initiatives, such as the Black Sea Synergy, the UfM and the future Eastern Partnership, and of enhancing the coordination and complementarity of these initiatives and of the different Community assistance instruments; calls for improved synchronisation between ENPI programmes and the financial cooperation provided by the Member States;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. stresses the need for payments under the ENP to be transparent as regards country, region and priority field;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Takes the view that the recent geopolitical developments in the EU's Eastern neighbourhood underscore the importance of developing the ENP further by adapting it better to the needs of the partners, including an enhanced EU involvement in the Black Sea region and an ambitious Eastern Partnership, this partnership being one that should aim to achieve concrete results in certain top priority fields such as energy, transport, immigration and combating organised crime; stresses the need to speed up, in relation to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova in particular, the establishment of a free trade zone as soon as partner countries are ready and the need to finalise as soon as possible steps towards visa freedom with the EU;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Welcomes the new Eastern Partnership taking into account that effectiveness of the ENPI depends on the attractiveness of incentives and that the Eastern Partnership offers a more considerable incentive to ambitious partner countries like Ukraine; welcomes in particular the new Comprehensive Institution-Building programme for improving administrative capacity in the relevant sectors of cooperation;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Stresses that the financial envelope for Belarus needs to be increased and cooperation broadened to cover areas beyond energy, the environment and migration, with a view to pursuing the policy of re-engagement initiated by the Council in September 2008; underlines the need for effective political conditionality and for guarantees that the assistance will have an immediatestresses that the EU should give civil society and poslitive impact on citizens and will not be misused by the authorities against their political opponentscal parties defending democracy more effective support;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19, indent 2
Paragraph 19, indent 2
– guarantees that any financial assistance granted to the Russian authorities takes into considerationcontributes to the strengthening of democratic standards in the Russian Federation;