Regrets that it is still difficult for citizens to gain access to information held by EU institutions, the reason being that there is no common approach among the institutions geared to facilitate access to documents for citizens and based on complete transparency, communication and direct democracy; urges the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to develop further a more proactive approach on transparency by proactively disclosing as many of their documents as possible, in the most simple, user-friendly and accessible way, by having documents translated upon request into other EU official languages, and by establishing proper, ...[+++] simple and inexpensive information access arrangements, including by digital and electronic means, allowing for the needs of people with disabilities; considers, in particular, that the accessibility of information should be improved on by means of easy-to-use interfaces and search systems; calls for the development of a common access point to the portals of the three institutions, building on the pilot project for the online platform for the proactive publication of EU institutions documents, and for harmonising search portals between departments of the same institution (including Directorates-General in the Commission); calls, as well, on the institutions to continue and strengthen the work of expanding knowledge of EU legislation and policies; believes that, to that end, the EU should make full use of the potential offered by new technologies (social networks, smartphone applications, etc.) in order to ensure complete and easy access to information.

Also, with a purely national approach it is unclear which Member State would be responsible for handling requests for searches from third countries, and the added benefit of an analysis of the search results at the European level would be lost.

This requires effective donor coordination, based on a search for complementarity, a non-exclusive approach and the promotion of donor-wide initiatives, aligned with and based on existing analyses, processes and strategies and country or region specific procedures and institutions.

The Commission considers that specialised training courses, including the exchange of personnel, should be organised by FRONTEX on relevant provisions of European and international rules on asylum, the law of the sea and fundamental rights, in order to contribute to the full respect of these norms and to a consistent approach to situations involving search and rescue coordination.

While it is only right and proper for states to raise their legitimate trade concerns through the appropriate channels, the Commission views the WTO challenge on GMOs as an obstacle to the search for common, trade-enhancing approaches to biotechnology.

This co-operation should extend to the search for greater international consensus thus helping to avoid trade conflicts and gain acceptance of an approach based on the precautionary principle where necessary.