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| “BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC EUROPE – WOMEN’S CONVENTION” |
Brussels, 22 May 2002 |
Introductory
Speech by Mrs Anna Karamanou MEP, Chairperson, E.P. Committee on Women's Rights & Equal Opportunities |
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I am very happy to introduce this item on the agenda of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal
Opportunities of the European
Parliament. It is the first of our
meetings in which we specifically concentrate on the Convention, with the participation of women who have been chosen by their
government or by their parliament to represent them in the Convention, as well as with a number of important women
from other institutions and bodies dealing with gender equality, in order to have a large debate on how women
can build a democratic and transparent
Europe, a goal which is crucial
to all women in Europe – and to women in the whole world.
On behalf of our Committee, I
warmly welcome:
- women Members of the Convention, representing the European Parliament,
Governments and Parliaments of Member States and Candidate countries, as well
as women Observers in the Convention from the Committee of the Regions,
Economic and Social Committee, and Social Partners;
- representatives of our network of women responsible for gender
equality in national parliaments in the Union and in Candidate countries;
- Members of the Commission´s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities
for Women and Men – its Vice President Ms Maria Stratigaki and other Members;
- the European Lawyers Association, represented by Ms Elisabeth Muller,
its President;
- the Association of
Women of Southern Europe - its Vice President Ms Sophia Spiliotopoulos;
- other organisations from the
civil society.
- I am also happy to welcome
women journalists attending this important meeting.
European integration cannot be achieved unless the women, half of the
population, participate on an equal footing with men in the construction of the future of Europe. The European Union
and its Member States have on many occasions committed themselves to the achievement
of gender equality, on international, European and national level.
Consequently, an equal representation of women and men in discussions and
decisions in the Convention which is preparing the reforms should have been a natural consequence of
these commitments and of the democratic values projected by the European Union.
We all know, that this was not the case.
I have written to Mr Giscard d´Estaing and expressed our deep
disappointment with regard to the composition of the Convention, as the
principle of parity democracy has not been respected. This is a vivid example
of the fact that where the rules for a balanced representation of women and
men are not binding, the “natural”
selection procedures take over and “forget” about women. This is only one of
the many examples that illustrate the need to strengthen existing legally binding commitments to
reach equality, including decision making positions.
Women and women values cannot be marginalised from the process of
building the future of Europe. Gender awareness has to be built into the work
on the Convention.
Equality
between women and men – gender equality - is a fundamental pre-condition for
achieving real democracy. This basic principle must be enshrined in the future
Treaty.
I would like to indicate some ideas
where further amendments of the Treaty are necessary – my list is of
course not exhaustive. My intention is
to provoke discussion and see to what extent we agree on these ideas.
> It is necessary to constitutionalise the gender equality
policy by granting the Community a specific title which gives it the competence to achieve in practice a true
equality between women and men. First,
a policy for gender equality should
provide the legal instruments, actions and programmes to accomplish the aims of the Community laid down in article 2
(to promote…equality between men and women…)
Secondly, a specific chapter on gender equality should
be introduced in the Treaty. Such an
inclusion would constitute an important step forward, as today, no
Treaty provision establishes means to promote gender equality fully, besides
the part which refers to employment and occupation.
>
Discrimination owing to one´s sex should be prohibited and eliminated
immediately, in the same way as discrimination on the basis of
nationality is prohibited today (article 12 of the Treaty).
>
The Charter of Fundamental Rights must be incorporated into the future Treaty
and must be legally binding. The Charter should be strengthened
by the introduction of specific measures, particularly concerning prohibition
of all sorts of violence against women – including domestic violence, trafficking in women, sexual exploitation
etc – respect for women´s rights with regard to health, sexuality and
procreation, and the rights of both women and men to combine family and
professional life.
> The introduction of a new
measure in the Treaty stating that a balanced
participation of women and men in decision-taking at all levels should be
obligator, as concerns the composition of the assemblies, bodies and
institutions of the Union. Companies should be encouraged to apply the same
equality principle in their decision-making process.
> The inclusion of the gender
dimension in article 3.2 TEC aims at incorporating gender equality into all
policies. This provision on “gender
mainstreaming” must include the obligation for the Union and its Member States
to analyse the sex-specific consequences of all policy measures, at all
stages of the decision-making process, in order that necessary modifications of
the policies can be undertaken. Furthermore, gender mainstreaming should not remain as limited in scope as is the
case today, but should be extended to cover all areas for which the Union is competent (including Common
Foreign and Security Policy, police and judicial cooperation).
> The anti-discrimination clause should be strengthened and decisions
taken in the framework of this clause should be taken by qualified majority in
the Council of Ministers, in co-decision with the European Parliament.
> Budgets and budgetary decisions have a different impact on lives
of women and men. It is necessary to
include a gender perspective in the budgetary procedure so that budgets may be
adapted and contribute to equality
between women and men. This would necessitate a political commitment.
> Gender equality must be
a driving force in defining the external policies of the Union. The role
and visibility of women in the Union´s external relations must be
reinforced. Equality objectives must be fully integrated into the definition, implementation
and evaluation of the external policies of the Union, including macro-economic
and external trade policies, development aid policies, programmes fighting
poverty, as well as foreign and security policy.
> The principle of a balanced representation of sexes should be applied
to the members of the Youth Convention scheduled for next July.
> Care must be taken to use a
gender neutral language in all texts of the Convention and of the new Treaty. I regret that not even the European
Parliament´s own Rules of Procedure have such a gender neutral language.
An amendment to this effect was unfortunately voted down by our colleagues
members of the Constitutional Affairs Committee.
> In order to facilitate the inclusion of the gender dimension in the
Convention, I would like to suggest that among
the working groups under creation by the Convention should be foreseen one on
gender maisntreaming.
Our aim and our strategy is to maximise our input into the Convention. I
see our discussion today as a first important step in the direction to reach
this common goal. I hope that after todays
“listening phase” or “kick-off event”,
we will work together – EU
Institutions, national Parliaments from EU and Candidate countries (that is our
own network), other national and local bodies, civil society where the EWL will
play a focal role, social partners organisations and ECOSOC. Circles of academics must also be able to
communicate and feed the process on a continuous basis. Briefly, all parties
interested in including women´s views in the work of the Convention
should be mobilised in our efforts to
formulate concrete recommendations,
to be taken on board by the Convention.
I hope we can share views and agree
on how to create a platform of minimal demands on gender issues, as a common
basis for further debate. It will not be the last of our meeting
of this sort. We see it as our role to harness the expertise of the largest variety of groups
of women on the work of the Convenion, to compensate for our lack of representation
in the main instances of the convention.