Translation of "Exposé des questions convenues de droit et de fait " (French → English) :

(2) The Governor in Council may refer to the Court for hearing and consideration important questions of law or fact concerning any matter, whether or not in the opinion of the Court ejusdem generis with the enumerations contained in subsection (1), with reference to which the Governor in Council sees fit to submit any such question (3) Any question concerning any of the matters mentioned in subsections (1) and ...[+++](2), and referred to the Court by the Governor in Council, shall be conclusively deemed to be an important question (4) Where a reference is made to the Court under subsection (1) or (2), it is the duty of the Court to hear and consider it and to answer each question so referred, and the Court shall certify to the Governor in Council, for his information, its opinion on each question, with the reasons for each answer, and the opinion shall be pronounced in like manner as in the case of a judgment on an appeal to the Court, and any judges who differ from the opinion of the majority shall in like manner certify their opinions and their reasons (5) Where the question relates to the constitutional validity of any Act passed by the legislature of any province, or of any provision in any such Act, or in case, for any reason, the government of any province has any special interest in any such question, the attorney general of the province shall be notified of the hearing in order that the attorney general may be heard if he thinks fit (6) The Court has power to direct that any person interested or, where there is a class of persons interested, any one or more persons as representatives of that class shall be notified of the hearing on any reference under this section, and those persons are entitled to be heard thereon.

35. Considers regrettable, as regards the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, the continuing lack of any substantial progress and the failure to produce concrete and visible results; recalls that, on the adoption of a new EU human rights strategy, EU foreign ministers pledged in June 2012 that the EU would now ‘raise human rights issues vigorously in all appropriate forms of bilateral dialogue, including at the highest level’; calls on the newly appointed EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the EEAS, the Council and the Commission to step up their efforts in order to give this process new impetus and make this dialogue more effective and result-oriented, including through preparatory meetings with both international and local civil so ...[+++]ciety organisations and NGOs in the presence of the authorities of both sides; takes the view that such dialogue should be included in all contacts with officials from strategic partners such as China; stresses the importance of addressing thoroughly all the problems relating to human rights and the rule of law in China and in the EU; takes the view that EU-China summits and human rights talks should include a set of transparent issues to be discussed and concrete benchmarks; urges the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, to voice her concerns regarding human rights abuses in China and to refer publicly to the concrete cases and issues discussed with Chinese officials in all encounters; encourages Member States’ officials to follow the same lines in a coherent and coordinated manner; calls on EU companies with activities in China to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and urges the EU and its Member States to monitor such compliance closely;

35. Considers regrettable, as regards the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, the continuing lack of any substantial progress and the failure to produce concrete and visible results; recalls that, on the adoption of a new EU human rights strategy, EU foreign ministers pledged in June 2012 that the EU would now ‘raise human rights issues vigorously in all appropriate forms of bilateral dialogue, including at the highest level’; calls on the newly appointed EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the EEAS, the Council and the Commission to step up their efforts in order to give this process new impetus and make this dialogue more effective and result-oriented, including through preparatory meetings with both international and local civil so ...[+++]ciety organisations and NGOs in the presence of the authorities of both sides; takes the view that such dialogue should be included in all contacts with officials from strategic partners such as China; stresses the importance of addressing thoroughly all the problems relating to human rights and the rule of law in China and in the EU; takes the view that EU-China summits and human rights talks should include a set of transparent issues to be discussed and concrete benchmarks; urges the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, to voice her concerns regarding human rights abuses in China and to refer publicly to the concrete cases and issues discussed with Chinese officials in all encounters; encourages Member States’ officials to follow the same lines in a coherent and coordinated manner; calls on EU companies with activities in China to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and urges the EU and its Member States to monitor such compliance closely;

39. Welcomes the start of the EU human rights consultations with Russia; supports the Council in its aim of developing those consultations into a frank and genuine EU-Russia Human Rights Dialogue and calls for the involvement of the European Parliament in such a process; calls on the Council to continue urging Russia to agree that European and Russian NGOs be associated with the consultations, given the example of other dialogues on human rights issues; welcomes the Council's debriefing of NGOs on the consultations; however, regrets that there are no systematic consultations with the European Parliament; asks the Council to press Ru ...[+++]ssia to agree to have this dialogue also take place in Russia on an alternating basis and not only when the summits take place in the EU; is concerned that the new Russian NGO legislation will inhibit human rights organisations from carrying out their activities properly whenever respect for human rights is at stake or even from functioning at all; asks the Commission and the Council to raise this issue persistently with Russia, not least in international fora and, in particular, in the Council of Europe, of which Russia takes over the chair of the Committee of Ministers on 19 May 2006; asks the Commission and the Council to raise the issue of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture in custody in Chechnya, as well as attacks on human rights defenders engaged in investigating and speaking out about human rights violations in Chechnya;

Whereas a good many Members favour an amendment to Article 16, we have agreed to propose a framework directive on the basis of Article 95, the internal market article, which will allow all unresolved issues to be settled, and using the codecision procedure, this is not to be a Council regulation or a Commission instrument, but a directive under the codecision procedure, so that we will be able to fully participate in decision making on these marginal issues under competition law.

Mr President-in-Office, you have taken a stand here and I hear what you are saying but let me say quite clearly on behalf of the European People's Party that we expect an ambitious result from Nice – an ambitious result on the conditions for enlargement of the European Union and an ambitious result for the Charter, which is why I again call on the Presidency of the Council, on behalf of the members of the European People's Party, to ensure that a timetable is drawn up for transposing the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the EU Treaties.