4. Emphasises the need to strengthen integration of EU environmental, public health and climate legislation and objectives into sectoral policies (including the CAP, cohesion policy, consumer policy, the CFP and development policy); suggests, therefore, mainstreaming EU finances to ensure compliance with EU environmental and public health legislation and the active contribution of spending through the EU budget to its environmenta ...[+++]l policy objectives and, as suggested by the Commission’s budget review, include an obligation to identify in a transparent manner where sectoral programmes have promoted climate objectives specified in the Europe 2020 Strategy; underlines the importance of future research and innovation programmes in delivering the EU’s objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth;

The implementation of additional fiscal consolidation measures of around 5% of GDP on an annual basis (including a 25% cut in public wages, a 15% cut in social benefits excluding pensions and an increase in the VAT rate from 19% to 24%) has put Romania on track to achieve the 2010 government deficit target of 7.3% of GDP agreed in the context of the multilateral financial assistance programme.

81. Welcomes the Commission's achievement of its overall objectives in terms of recruitment of new-Member-State nationals as well as its commitment to close and regular monitoring of EU-12 recruitment in order to ensure compliance with recruitment targets as well as a balanced representation of EU-2 and EU-10 nationals in each function group;

Not only that, the report also indicates that the public service " did not meet the external recruitment benchmark set for 2003 and is only about half way to those set for 2005" .

Recalling the European Union Drugs Strategy 2000 - 2004 and the Action Plan on Drugs 2000 - 2004, as well as the Implementation paper on demand and supply reduction to deliver the EU Drugs Action Plan, in particular section 14.1; Conscious of the advances made in implementing the Strategy and Action Plan and also conscious of the fact that much work remains to be done in order to achieve the objectives; Noting that cannabis ranks first in terms of the quantity, the number of seizures and drug law offences reported within the European Union; Concerned about the role of organised crime in the large-scale trafficking of cannabis towards ...[+++]and within the European Union; Noting that cannabis continues to be the illegal substance most commonly used in all Member States and that its use is increasing in most countries across the European Union, especially among young people; Concerned about the changes in patterns of use, towards more frequent and regular use, and also concerned about the steady increase in cannabis-related demand for treatment; Concerned about very high THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content found in cannabis seized in Europe and noting the need for research on the health effects of this rise; Conscious of the advances in the science of cannabis during the last decade, there is still need for further research in order to obtain a better understanding of how cannabis affects the brain and concerned about the effects that the increased use of cannabis among the very young might have on vital social and cognitive functions, such as concentration and attention as well as the ability to learn and sort information and also concerned about any links between cannabis use and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression; Concerned that the perceived risk of harm from the use of cannabis might be falling among young people;

It calls on the Commission, in co-operation with its partners including civil society to use gender-differentiated data and verifiable indicators to monitor progress towards country specific targets in relation to international commitments.