Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-053"
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"en.20060314.7.2-053"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to add my voice to that of my fellow Member, Mrs Gröner, in support of a vote on this Commission proposal that meets a need felt in all the countries of Europe, and not just by women.
In reality, as has already been explained by both the Commissioner and Mrs Gröner, this issue has been under debate for a long time: the idea of setting up a gender institute goes back to more than ten years ago, at the suggestion of the then Swedish minister for equal opportunities. The work continued for five years, and debate was thorough; in 2000 the European Council of Nice acknowledged the need for a tool to promote the exchange of experience and for sharing information on equality between men and women.
The European Commission prepared a feasibility study and presented it, and one year ago, on 8 March, this decision was taken. It has already been said that this study was a joint and very significant effort by our Parliamentary committee, which took action to ensure that the institute becomes what we all wanted to see: a very flexible technical instrument, with the task of collating all the data supplied by statistical bodies and of disseminating this information in order to give all operators and all those responsible for legislating and taking action the opportunity to make choices that take into account the gender viewpoint.
Some people will wonder whether a gender institute is really necessary. I definitely believe that it is, and this is confirmed by data available to all. As an example, the European directive on equal pay was adopted thirty years ago, in 1975, but today in Europe we still have an average inequality of 15%, while in some countries the figure is very close to 30%.
Employment data also tell a story: Lisbon will only become a reality if increasing numbers of women have access to the employment market, not to mention the problems of a fall in the birth-rate and violence.
In my view there is a need for this institute; we still require an institute of gender for women, aimed at women. The structure will be highly consolidated: there will be nine members of the governing board, plus a representative from the Commission and a representative for every country in the consultative committee.
I would like to end by saying that the opposing positions are of two kinds: some people want to merge everything into an institute for human rights, and there are already plans to set this up in Vienna. If I wished to assist Commissioner Frattini I would agree, but I believe that this is not what women need. Others believe that it would cost too much, but my reply to that is that in Europe we have four bodies working on employment and they cost EUR 66 million a year; this body, on the other hand, will only cost EUR 8 million."@en1
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