Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-073"
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"en.20060314.7.2-073"2
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Ladies and gentlemen, I have listened with great interest to your discussion and I hope you will allow me to touch on several of the issues that have been raised. First of all I would like to express my appreciation for the exceptional quality of the report by the rapporteurs, which can only be described as brilliant, in view of the complexity of the subject matter. Ladies and gentlemen, in the debate a number of arguments and opinions have been put forward, which in my view require a response.
The first opinion to be expressed was the view that this institution should become part of the human rights agenda. A series of speakers in the discussion have taken the view, which I fully support, that the question of equal opportunities goes far beyond the simple issue of human rights, albeit that human rights are of fundamental importance. The issue of equal opportunities is a broader issue.
There was a question as to whether it was right for the European Union to promote equal opportunities even in its international relations. I must state my firm conviction that there is a need for this. The EU is involved in countless international connections, both with the Member States and in the context of development aid and at a multilateral level, and each of these offers the opportunity of effectively reinforcing gender equality.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that gender equality, promoted and backed on a global scale, will provide a major source of global stability and is capable of pacifying many of our current conflicts. I also feel that the argument put forward in the debate that the institute will provide greater visibility and political transparency for the issues of equal rights and equal opportunities is correct. I fully support this argument. It is also right to remind ourselves, as was frequently stated in the debate, that we have much work still to do. Clearly, we are trying to define policies on the basis of argument, and that is one of the civilised outcomes of life in today’s Europe. I might add that these are policies based on practical proofs and practical opinions. Even from this perspective the institute can enhance quality.
It is, in my view, apparent that there is a wealth of important information that is not being used effectively in political decision-making. Which of you, for example, knows that in Spain men spend 52 million hours a year taking care of others while for women the figure is 200 million hours. This is certainly an important indicator of how unequally we share some of the duties and responsibilities that we have as human beings – men and women. And yet none of this information feeds into political decision-making. I am convinced that the institute will make many things possible.
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the sound principles of European parliamentary life is multi-lingualism and we often discover that a given matter can be expressed more elegantly and accurately in some other European language. I hope you will therefore allow me to quote the German expression ‘
. I am fully convinced that to stay where you are means in reality to retreat. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to express an opinion on the amendments that are defined in the report, or which form part of your upcoming vote. The committee’s attitude regarding the nature of the institute allows us to be flexible and to accept most of the amendments that strengthen the role and working methods of the institute, including the creation of the network for the institute. These amendments are acceptable in their original form, either in part or after reworking. The second category includes the amendments that increase the readability of the text and which the Commission equally can accept in their original form or after a small amount of reworking. The third group are the amendments that relate to the legal presentation techniques, which, although they are constructive, mark a departure from the original provisions of the existing instruments and therefore cannot be adopted, for reasons of maintaining cohesion. Finally there are the amendments that relate to horizontal questions, in other words to all agencies and organisations, in respect of procedures for selecting directors, extending their contracts and assessing organisations. These amendments cannot be accepted, because it is necessary to maintain a certain principle of cohesion in relation to all agencies.
I have left to the end the question of the composition of the governing council. We are delighted that the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality has come out in favour of limiting the number of members on the governing council and that it has followed the European Parliament resolution from December last year on an operational framework for future regulatory agencies. We can now be guided by this proposal, although the number of Commission representatives is not the same as in the case of the Council. The equilibrium between the two organisations and between the two levels of interest, which is to say the national level and the Community level, may be further secured if, in accordance with the proposal and where the Commission has responsibility, the voice of its representative carries the same weight as the voices of all of the Council representatives together, in the very limited number of cases involving the approval of budgets and programmes of work. We therefore accept Amendments 66, 82 and 85 relating to the composition of the governing council and voting regulations. In the same spirit we agree that the number of members can be reduced to a mere 25 representatives of the Member States, as stated in Amendments 67 and 83, and we consider it sufficient that participating parties are present at meetings of the governing council without voting rights. We hope that the Council will be able to adopt your proposal for the governing council, which, together with the rotating system, will allow representatives from all Member States to alternate over a period of three mandates.
In conclusion, I would like to say that we took pains to adopt as many of your amendments as possible. The Commission can now adopt Amendments 2 to 10, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 35, 36, 38 to 42, 44, 45, 48, 53, 55, 59 to 69, 74 and 76 to 85. The Commission cannot adopt Amendments 1, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21 to 23, 27, 30 to 34, 37, 43, 46, 47, 49 to 52, 54, 56 to 58, 70 to 73 and part of 75. We should also pay regard to the discussions in the Council, and we must take every effort to ensure that an acceptable compromise is achieved by the end of the year. The Commission is counting on the support of the European Parliament to set up this much needed European institute, and it is important to ensure that the organisation begins work in 2007, in the interests of progress and to raise the profile of the gender equality policy. I will of course be submitting an opinion on individual amendments in writing later."@en1
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"Stillstand ist Rückschritt’"1
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