Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-21-Speech-1-146"
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"en.20070521.19.1-146"2
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".
Madam President, standing as I do, not in a full Chamber, but in more of a family atmosphere, I rejoice that this is a good day for the millions of women, children and young people who are on the receiving end of violence, for we have adopted, in an accelerated procedure, the Daphne programme for the prevention and combating of violence and for the protection of its victims, for the 2007-2013 period as a part in its own right of the framework programme for fundamental rights and justice. At the very outset, it did not look as if we would manage it, and I want to thank Commissioner Frattini for having taken on board this House’s arguments and rejecting the original plan, according to which Daphne would be run in tandem with the anti-drugs programme.
By means of intensive negotiations with, among others, the Council and the Commission, we have succeeded in putting together a clearly-defined programme, Daphne III, as an important element in managing the rising tide of violence in an enlarged European Union.
Parliament having achieved a policy agreement with the Finnish Presidency of the Council as long ago as November 2006, the Council then, in its Common Position of March 2007, adopted most of the amendments from first reading – not, admittedly, word for word, but the principles contained in them.
I would remind the House that, for many women, their own homes are the most dangerous of places; for many of them, from every Member State, abuse meted out to them by husband, partner, father or brother is a fact of daily life. One out of every three to four women has already experienced some sort of physical or sexual abuse; what they have gone through in their minds cannot be measured in figures. The things we are talking about here know no borders: trafficking in women, with the women getting younger and younger; genital mutilation among immigrant communities; violent crimes committed for the sake of honour; the online trade in child pornography; homophobic violence – the list of areas in which action under the new Daphne III programme is needed is long, and the one I have given is far from complete.
Having, as rapporteur, fought for Daphne for years on end, I rejoice that the increased budget of EUR 116 million makes it possible for us to reach far more NGOs; the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality insisted on more transparency, on the removal of bureaucratic obstacles and on easier access with the smaller organisations in mind.
We have also managed to retain the helpdesk service and to bring together the expertise available in all the Member States and among our partners outside the EU, drawing on it in a multidisciplinary think-tank with the aim of keeping it better in step with our political efforts. My expectation is that the Gender Institute, which is soon to be established, will continue to devote itself to this priority of combating violence.
It has to be said, though, Commissioner, that there are two other aspects that have to be addressed without delay, for you promised us, in the debate on the Daphne programme’s first reading, that you would endeavour to establish a legal basis for the campaign against violence, yet, now, in 2007, we find ourselves in the position – which I, for one, find intolerable – that Daphne III has to be founded on Article 152, which has to do with health. This is where it would be appropriate to take another step forward. Secondly, it was planned – as recorded in the Council’s additional statement on the Daphne programme, and as promised by Mr Barroso, the President of the Commission, on 8 March – that an initiative would be set in motion for a European Year against the violence suffered by children, young people and women, which occurs in very many different ways. Having gained experience from getting Daphne I and II really up and running in every Member State, many of which have benefited by having adopted for themselves the Austrian exclusion law, we will continue to fight for the benefits of shared experience at European level, and for the introduction of national plans of action and legislation in areas that were formerly taboo, by which I mean the private battlefields onto which we hope to shed some light where that was formerly unthinkable.
I therefore recommend that this honourable House extend Daphne III without further amendment, thus enabling us to proceed speedily with its implementation and bring private terror to an end."@en1
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