Full Minutes of the Meetings

SESSION OF WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2003

Gender Dimension in the European Parliament

Karamanou (PSE). – Mr. President, I am particularly pleased that the presence of the Commissioner has disproved the very insulting comment you made earlier about the committee I have the honor to chair. I hope you are now convinced that the topic we are discussing is important enough to justify the presence of the relevant Commissioner in this discussion.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is only natural that when we talk about integrating gender equality into all policies and all areas, we must first take care of our own house. As Mrs. Kratsa mentioned earlier, the functioning of European institutions should serve as a model and an example to be followed by the member states and the rest of the world. The European Parliament is a valuable framework for policymaking and drawing useful conclusions for the practical implementation of gender equality, through the promotion of balanced gender representation, both in parliamentary offices and in the elevation of women to positions of responsibility within the Parliament, as well as in the career and salary advancement of female staff at all levels of the European Parliament’s administrative hierarchy.

Unfortunately, six years after the incorporation of gender mainstreaming into the Amsterdam Treaty, this important strategy for achieving equality has not been fully implemented either in the Parliament’s administration or in its political work. While we do not disregard any efforts, we nevertheless find that in the European Parliament, we are behind the European Commission.

The important report by Mrs. Gröner outlines and brings to the forefront all the critical issues, proposing specific measures and methods to address the existing weaknesses. Our committee has the ambition to make the European Parliament a model in terms of implementing gender mainstreaming, and we hope that the excellent report by Mrs. Gröner will serve as both a milestone and a starting point for achieving this goal. However, we need support and commitment at the highest possible level to achieve this goal, and at the same time, we require the provision of resources to ensure the consistent implementation of the measures proposed in the report.

The principle of gender mainstreaming should be clearly enshrined in the new Constitutional Treaty, and this is one of the main demands of my committee in our efforts to make future Europe – and we hope, Mr. President, even the male members of the European Parliament – more sensitive to gender issues. In any case, I believe that the decision taken at the recent informal Council by the Greek Presidency, Madam Commissioner, and following your own proposal, for the European Commission to submit an annual report on the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Union, is very important.