It is time for the European Commission to live up to its ambitions on gender mainstreaming in the EU budget, says the European Court of Auditors. On Wednesday 26 May, the institution published a report on the subject, which it says is “timely” in view of the large sum of money that the Commission is preparing to disburse under the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Next Generation EU instrument.
Gender mainstreaming is the promotion of gender equality at all stages of policy development and implementation by including indicators and data and requiring gender analysis to identify gender-specific needs and the consequences of a policy or programme on women and men.
European commitments in this area are not new. However, overall, gender mainstreaming has not yet been realised in the EU budget, concludes the report - which covers a period from 2014 to February 2021.
With regard to the previous Commission, it is clear that it did not put in place the necessary mechanisms for gender mainstreaming. There was no binding document, no strategy, no implementation or monitoring plan” [to this end], summarises Eva Lindström, who coordinated the report.
The new Commission has adopted a strategy (see EUROPE 12440/7) in which it commits to “examining the impact of its activities on gender equality and how to measure gender equality expenditure in the MFF 2021-2027 programmes”.
“But the basic preconditions and specific actions are still missing today”, notes Eva Lindström.
Among the shortcomings detailed by the Court are the lack of attention paid to gender analysis, the absence of gender-related targets and indicators and the serious lack of use of sex-disaggregated data.
In fact, even when such data exists, “it is not used”, says Eva Lindström. For the Erasmus+ programme, for example, the total number of participants in the reports is not disaggregated by gender, although the Commission has the data necessary for such an analysis.
The Court also criticises the lack of monitoring and information on the overall impact of the programmes for male and female citizens.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is no exception to this, despite the commitments made (see EUROPE 12599/2): “National plans should explain how the proposed measures are expected to contribute to gender equality and equal opportunities for all and to the mainstreaming of these objectives. However, the lack of common indicators will make it difficult to monitor and follow up on results”, the auditors warn.
To consult the report: https://bit.ly/3fJXlaF (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)