27 Amendments of Franziska Katharina BRANTNER related to 2011/2157(INI)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 a (new)
Citation 13 a (new)
– having regard to its Written Declaration No 15/2011 of 27 September 2011 on the establishment of Euro-Mediterranean Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci programmes,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas respect for and promotion of democracy and human rights – particularly women’s rights – justice and the rule of law, fundamental freedoms – including freedom of speech, conscience, religion, association and the media –, strengthening of security - including peaceful conflict resolution and good neighbourly relations -, democratic stability, prosperity, the fair distribution of income, wealth and opportunities, the fight against corruption and the promotion of good governance and sustainable development are founding principles and aims of the EU which must constitute common values at the core of the ENP review,
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas it is in the highest interest of the EU to be economically ambitious and politically focused in its support to democratic transitions learning from the failures and the mistakes of previous policies with regard, in particular, to the complacent approach towards the authoritarian regimes of the Southern neighbourhood,
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. having regard to the European Parliament’s support for the establishment of Euro-Mediterranean Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci programmes through Written Declaration 15/2011 of 27 September 2011,
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Strongly wWelcomes the Joint Communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on A new response to a changing Neighbourhood and the approach presented therein, in particular regarding the principles of mutual accountability and shared commitment to universal values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as well as conditionality and, a tailor- made approach towards the partner countries and the principle of further involving societies within the ENP policy;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that differentiation based on performance and achievements should be predicated on clearly defined criteria and assessable benchmarks and calls in this regard on the Commission and the EEAS to consider the benchmarks laid down in the Joint Communication as objectives to be achieved and that, for assessing the progress made, these objectives require more specific, measurable, achievable, time bound benchmarks; Is of the opinion that a result-oriented policy needs a clearer methodology of benchmarking; Stresses that this approach has to be reflected in the structure of the ENP Action Plans and in the relating annual progress reports;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the proposal for a European Endowment for Democracy, which is a timely response to the clamour for democracy by the populations of our neighbouring countries; underlines that it should be based on the principles of transparency and flexibility and should complement already-existing EU Instruments and the exemplary work of longstanding European political or non- political foundations; stresses that its scope and organisation should be clearly defined and that its structures and procedures should be light and straightforward; calls for a truly political steering committee to be established with the participation of the European Parliament, which should also be involveQuestions the added value of establishing a European Endowment for Democracy and regrets the Commission’s lack of clarity on this subject; recognises the need to respond better to the clamour for democracy by the populations of our neighbouring countries, but points out that the European Union has varied and effective instruments at its disposal which could be improved and strengthened, in particular the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument; stresses the need to avoid any excessive growth in instruments and to guard against the risk of establishing an endowment partly funded from the Community budget which would not be subject to European Parliament budgetary control; insists on a right of scrutiny for the European Parliament in the process of setting up the possible future EED, in the determination of annual objectives, priorities, expected results and financial allocations in broad terms, and in the implementation and monitoring of activities; highlights the contradictory statements concerning the possibility of the EED financing foreign political parties, and sin the ex-post control mechanisms; cerely hopes that clarification on this subject will be forthcoming;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the importance of building a partnership with societies and,s direct reply of Arab spring’s expectations, which must guarantee the active participation of civil society actors in the process of good governance; Insists in this regard on the necessity to set up a civil society monitoring mechanism in order to ensure its systematic participation in the definition and evaluation process of the implementation of agreements and programs; Emphasises that these partnerships with civil society must be inclusive, including in particular representatives of women’s organisations and minority groups; in that context, takes note of the proposal for a Civil Society Facility (CSF) as a way to target resources more effectively and efficiently towards civil society; calls for a greater clarification of the CSF in terms of complementarities with the EIDHR and the ENPI;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the EEAS and the Commission to provide a clear methodology and detailed benchmarks to assess the democracy and human rights record of these countries and to deliver regular sufficiently detailed reports, which should be the basis for the allocation of funds under the new performance-based approach ‘more for more’; asks for these evaluations to be included in the ENP progress reports and to be presented annually to its Committee on Foreign Affairs; insists on the need to systematically include civil- society organisations at all stages of the review process, for instance through consultation mechanisms similar to those used for accession countries, where local and international civil society are invited to provide written input and share analysis;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers that human rights situations should be continuously monitored and that an annual assessment of the situation couldhuman rights dialogues conducted with all partner countries and that an annual assessment of the situation as well as the outcomes of the dialogues must be included in the annex toin the annual progress report of each partner country with a clear mechanism to reconsider and progressively limit bilateral cooperation if human rights violations are confirmed;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Stresses, in particular, the importance of promoting the rights of the child and ensuring child protection, as enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that sustainable democracy, functioning and de-bureaucratised institutions and the rule of law not only promote political stability and social welfare but also stimulate economic growth by improving the business environment and attracting investment, allowing new SMEs to emerge and fostering trade, green economy and tourism, all of which generate new jobs and new opportunities;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Strongly supports the promotion of sub-regional cooperation and cross-border projects and stresses the importance of developing partner-to- partner bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation, which would bring tangible benefits for citizens and improve the political climate in the region;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. States that differentiation should be applied to trade, invites ENP partner countries to move forward on creating the conditions that will allow the establishment of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) and calls on the EU to assist them in their reform efforts and to open its internal market accordingly; underlines that the EU should alsopreviously assess the political, social and environmental circumstances of each country with reference to their participation in the future DCFTA; and eventually define gradual steps in its implementation;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the reference to Article 49 of the TEU and believes that all partner countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) have a legitimate right to strive for EU membership; believes that the conclusion of association agreements does not exclude this perspective but can, on the contrary, be an important step towards further European integration;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Reaffirms that, for the Southern partnership, the aim should be mutually beneficial and ambitious trade arrangements which can lead to DCFTAs, which will surely represent the first step towards a big ‘Euro-Mediterranean Economic Space’, which willcould also help to solvalleviate the economic problems of our neighbouring partners in the South;
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that the EU should foster synergies between European external and internal policies, particularly through the approximation of legislation aimed at job creation, poverty reduction, energy efficiency, development of renewable sources and environmental security and improvement of social protection;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Underlines the importance of paying particular attention to the younger generation; stresses that the EU should increase cooperation in the field of education and vocational training, immediately broadening and increasing scholarship programmes and mobility of students by promoting university and high-school exchanges andin order to further the mobility of students, teachers and lecturers, researchers and apprentices by promoting exchanges between higher education and training institutions, along with public-private partnerships in the fields of research and vocational training; considers it essential to develop more flexible, accelerated procedures for issuing visas to participants in such programmes; stresses the strong need for a structured information policy towards the citizens of the ENP partners concerning the possibility of participation in EU programmes;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Commission to take over Parliament’s proposal, produced in the wake of the Arab Spring, to establish a Euro-Mediterranean Erasmus programme, an initiative which – assuming that it were successful – would be suitable to extend to the neighbourhood as a whole; at this stage deplores the inadequacy of the Commission proposals, which, notwithstanding the Commission’s statements on 27 September 2011, in reality provide only for a very modest increase in the number of Erasmus Mundus scholarships;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Calls on the Commission to take over Parliament’s proposal, produced in the wake of the Arab Spring, to establish a Euro-Mediterranean Leonardo da Vinci programme aimed at encouraging the mobility of young people wishing to acquire vocational training abroad, the object being to help combat the youth unemployment endemic to the southern Mediterranean;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Believes that the EU should advance its work on visa facilitation and readmission agreements, with a view to moving – once all conditions are met – to a visa-free regime; underlines that the provisions on asylum must be fully in line with international obligations and commitments and EU standards, especially in the human rights field;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Calls on the EU Member States to make greater use of the opportunities offered by the EU Visa Code while improving and harmonizing its application in order to guarantee equal and fair conditions for applicants in all Member States;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Believes that the multilateral dimension of the EaP is a key element for a successful neighbourhood policy and should be further strengthened and developed, including the Civil Society Forum; welcomes the proposal to use the multilateral framework more strategically to advance bilateral relations between the partners and expects concrete measures aimed at putting this proposal into practicehose capacity and participation should be reinforced and enhanced, inter alia by a permanent independent secretariat;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Welcomes the proposal to use the multilateral framework more strategically in order to advance bilateral relations between the partners and expects concrete measures aimed at putting this proposal into practice; expects in this regard with high interest the roadmap with objectives, instruments and actions announced by the HR/VP and the Commission by the end of the year;
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Recalls that the EU should get more involved and play a more active, coherent and constructive role in resolution of regional conflicts inter alia via the EEAS by developing more confidence- building measures, considering new pragmatic and innovative approaches, launching public communication strategies, supporting civic culture and community dialogue andpromoting a European civilian peace corps and local mediation actions, supporting civic culture, people-to-people exchanges and community dialogue, involving civil society organisations, developing cross- border projects, strengthening good- neighbourly relations;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. EUnderlines that the reallocation of appropriations needed for the increased funding for the ENP should be based on clear priorities and should therefore not be to the detriment of the Union’s only crisis response and peace-building tool, the Instrument for Stability, as proposed by the Commission; emphasises that the funding of the ENP should not be affected by the current sovereign debt crisis;
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Regrets that a high percentage of the ENP funds available are spent on consultancy instead of going to projects and programmes and calls, in this respect, for a quick rebalance in the new instrument in their use;