Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-31-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20010531.1.4-017"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to comment on the extent to which we in this House are still, even today, not entirely in agreement, which is quite a positive point. To answer the question from the honourable Member of the TDI Group, however, it really is a shame that he can imagine that equality between the sexes should not be subject to legislation. How can we achieve equality without laws? I have never known that to happen throughout the entire history of the human race. I do not see why women should be outside the scope of legislation on equality. Laws are therefore necessary, and I should like to thank Mrs Hautala most warmly for the work that she has done, by herself and with us, consistently over several weeks, if not months. I have to say that this work has produced some important results. Why are they important? Because in the history of Europe this directive is the most well-known of all the directives on equality between the sexes. It is the most well-known in all our Member States. It is therefore extremely important, and I believe that its revision is equally important.
This is why I should have liked to vote in favour of the Amendment No 42 proposed by Mrs Hautala, asking the Commission to make plans for an overall legislative system on the subject of women. It is time that the various directives were combined, and restructured together. Besides, there has been a lot of talk about the Treaty of Amsterdam, but one could also mention the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 23 of which stipulates equality between the sexes in all areas, which is a major advance on equality in professional and economic spheres alone.
However, to come back to the subject, as far as this overall approach is concerned, I was anxious that it should include a reference to equal pay, as in the 1975 Directive, and I am pleased to see that it does in fact do so, because it seems to me to be extremely important in the context of equal treatment. Why is this directive so important? It is also important for those countries which are candidates for EU enlargement. We know that working conditions for women in some of the candidate countries have, if anything, become worse since the Berlin Wall came down. I should like, if possible, to see the revision that we are currently undertaking serve as the basis for discussions with candidate countries from the point of view of enlargement. However, we can also spread the word in our own Member States as well. In France we have just adopted a law on equality at work which falls well short of what we are proposing here today.
I hope that our Member States will also be equal to the task that we are proposing here today."@en1
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