Karamanou (PSE).
– (EL) Mr President, I wish to offer Mrs Kratsa my warmest
congratulations, both on her initiative in drafting this report and on the
report itself and the clear policy proposals contained in it.
This report will be a huge help to the
women of the Mediterranean who, despite some improvement in their situation
over recent years, still suffer sexual discrimination and inequality.
Illiteracy, poverty, domestic violence, inadequate medical care and little
involvement in professional and political life are the main aspects of life for
women on the southern shores of the Mediterranean basin. However, what is worse,
and here I agree completely with Mrs Bonino, is that women are the main victims
of religious and political fundamentalism, of ultra-conservatism and of
autocratic regimes who hang on to their power by controlling the sexual conduct
of women, their way of life, their reproductive functions and even their mode
of dress.
Without doubt, irrationalism and
fanaticism are the main obstacles both to the emancipation of women and to
social and economic progress in general in these countries. Obviously, the best
defence against the powers of irrationalism and fanaticism is to strengthen the
worldly aspects of the state and legal democratic order. We must send out a
clear message. No political system, religious movement, tradition or custom can
take precedence over respect for the fundamental freedoms of women, human
rights and the Rule of Law. As long as these basic aspects of a democratic
state are lacking in numerous countries around the Mediterranean, there will
only ever be a faint glimmer of hope of any improvement in the position of
women and the resolutions passed and conferences held within the context of the
Barcelona process will be meaningless.
That is why we are calling on the European
Commission to use every means at its disposal, especially when negotiating
association agreements, to include clear-cut clauses and commitments protecting
women's rights and the principles of the Rule of Law and recognising them as
the sine qua non to social development in the countries of the
Mediterranean and the promotion of the Mediterranean basin as an area of peace
and cooperation.