Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-31-Speech-4-029"
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". – Mr President, I would like to congratulate Mrs Hautala and all the members of the committee involved in this very complicated operation.
The Commission cannot accept part of Amendments Nos 11, 27 nor Amendment No 55 insofar as they introduce a definition of positive action into the text of the directive itself. This definition of positive action is already contained in the text of treaty and therefore should not be part of the directive. However, the Commission could agree to a reference to Declaration 28 of the Treaty, which provides for priority for women in positive action measures in the recitals and in the text of the directive. The Commission can accept part of the rest of Amendments Nos 11 and 27, the establishment of reports on positive action every two years but not annual reports and not linked to the employment process. This would be unrealistic and over-complicated.
I cannot accept Amendment No 1 and parts of various other amendments, which replace "equal treatment between women and men" with "equality for women and men". This would be incompatible with the wording of the Treaty. This is the major issue; it is not a question of political differences or an ideological problem. We must use the wording of the Treaty and the wording of the Treaty is "equality of treatment for men and women". The Commission can accept the latter wording.
Other amendments that the Commission rejects are part of Amendments No 9 and 59 as a matter of principle since they refer to the need to amend another Community directive on equal treatment relating to maternity. A directive cannot provide for future modification of another directive which concerns health and safety at the workplace. Nor can it accept Amendment No 4, which refers to the necessity for the Commission to make proposals on the basis of Article 13 to cover areas beyond employment, occupational and vocational training. Such a provision cannot be contained in a directive, which does not go beyond these fields. But as I have already said, we are going to propose measures in 2002.
The Commission cannot accept Amendments Nos 36 and 61 which extend judicial protection to all cases where discrimination takes place after termination of the employment relationship. This goes beyond the scope of the directive. Amendment No 44 which provides for contractual compliance with respect to equal treatment, particularly in the public procurement context, goes beyond the scope of the directive, but we have discussed it with the committee in the past and I have explained to you that there is cooperation between me and Mr Bolkestein. We are going to issue a communication and support and encourage Member States to take this into account.
Finally, as you can see, the Commission can accept most of Parliament's amendments. I would highlight our acceptance of Amendments Nos 7 and 21, definitions of direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment and Amendment No 39 in part, scope of powers of independent bodies. I accept in spirit Amendments Nos 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 51 and 60 and partially Amendments Nos 5 and 9, first part in spirit, Amendment No 11, first part, Amendment Nos 12, 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, 30, 39, 40, 43 (second part), 46 (second part), 50 (second part) and 69 (second part). Many amendments could be accepted in full such as Amendments Nos 13, 14, 18, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 41, 42, 45, 47, 60, 66 and 68. However, I reject Amendments Nos 1, 4, 36, 43 (first part) and Amendments Nos 44, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 and 67.
This was the first time that the Women's Committee had participated in the codecision procedure. It was a first experience and a very successful one, because such complicated work has had excellent results. I would like to congratulate you. I would like to thank you for your cooperation so that we can have this directive in place as soon as possible.
First, the European Union has proposed a combination of political tools to add value in line with the policy of equal opportunities, such as its legislation, the Fifth Programme, employment strategy, the guidelines, the mainstreaming policies, the social funds, and so on.
Legislation is one of the most important and effective political tools and there is no need to continually propose new legislation. We must modernise the existing legislation and adapt and adjust it to a world of change. This is what we have attempted to do, taking into account new models of production, the family and society. We have taken into account the new treaty and the new legal basis and, of course, we have taken into account the case law of the Court of Justice.
I would like to briefly answer some of the questions put. First, on codification: Yes, we are going to present our work on codification of legislation on the same legal basis. Second, there is an expert group which meets three times per year and they examine the problems of compatibility between European and national legislation. Thirdly, I was asked whether we are going to continue with new directives going beyond the employment field. We are committed to doing that and proposals will be made next year. As far as sexual harassment is concerned, we have accepted as many of the proposals as possible.
There was excellent cooperation between the committee and the Commission and I really believe that agreement can be reached on this proposal at the Employment and Social Affairs Council on 11 June. It is very important to reach this agreement at this Council so that we can move to final adoption during the Belgian presidency.
I am obliged to refer to each amendment and to explain why they are rejected or accepted, so allow me to read out exactly what the Commission's position is. It is very important to say that the Commission can accept 49 of the 69 amendments, although we would prefer a different wording for 17 of them and can only accept 17 of these amendments in part.
I support Amendments Nos 7 and 21, which provide for definitions of direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment in one article. The Commission can also accept, in principle, part of Amendments Nos 39 and 68, which extend the powers of independent bodies to cover all directives in the area of equality of treatment between women and men. However, the Commission cannot accept the part of Amendment No 39, which provides for funding and human resources for these bodies. Furthermore, the Commission cannot accept that these bodies could examine and pursue complaints for individuals and organisations without the consent of these individuals or groups.
Amendments Nos 15 and 40 in part would allow law organisations and associations to take cases on behalf of a complainant. The Commission can only accept this in cases of approval or consent of the complainant. The spirit of Amendment No 10 and part of Amendments Nos 25, 46 and 69 stress the importance of the reconciliation of family and working life and call for complementary action on paternity leave. We can accept Amendments Nos 12 and 38 on the protection of victims of discrimination, including employees and trade union delegates against any adverse treatment. Amendment No 33 clarifies that the application of the principle of equal treatment concerning membership of, and involvement in, an organisation should not ban organisations of a single sex. The Commission never intended such a ban.
We also accept: Amendments Nos 14 and 42 urging Member States to encourage employers to establish annual equality plans in order to promote equal treatment; Amendment No 41, encouragement of dialogue with non-governmental organisations having an interest in promoting equality of opportunity."@en1
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