Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-13-Speech-1-058"
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"en.20030113.5.1-058"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the regions are the very foundation of the European Union, and it is not without reason that we increasingly speak in terms of a Europe of the Regions. Recent years have seen an increased awareness of what the Member States' various regional and local authorities do, and of their autonomous nature. These authorities have an important part to play in bringing the European Union closer to its citizens, and it is the regional authorities in particular that make a decisive contribution to the success of cross-border cooperation and of the ever closer union of the individual Member States.
As it is in the regions that the EU's grass-roots democracy does its work, it is obvious that the regions have to be involved in European policies. In its opinion on the Napolitano report, ‘The role of regional and local authorities in European integration’, the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities devoted special attention to gender mainstreaming. Democracy works only when everyone is involved, and that means women and men equally.
We point out the democratic deficit arising from the under-representation of women in decision-making bodies and administrations in all areas of political, economic, social and – not least – professional life. The European Union's regions are significantly handicapped in their cohesion and in their development as democracies by the continuing under-representation of women in decision-making processes. Regional and local bodies play an important part in the labour market, among other areas, in that their superior grasp of local needs and obstacles gives them better proximity to jobseekers, and it is through them that the best ways of removing these obstacles may be found.
It is vital to work towards the development of new social policies, and this includes, in particular, assessing support for equal treatment and its implementation. According to a Chinese proverb, women carry half of heaven on their shoulders; we are striving to open up the whole horizon as a means of shaping a Europe belonging to the regions' citizens. We are well aware, Commissioner, of this Parliament's inability to act in this area, but constant dripping wears the rock away, and the highlighting of deficits is for us both a task and an obligation."@en1
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