The European Parliament is calling for the regional and cohesion policy 2021-2027 to be enhanced and strengthened with regard to gender equality, in an own-initiative report by the Austrian MEP Monika Vana (Greens/EFA), adopted by 390 votes to 82 with 212 abstentions.
MEPs want national gender equality strategies to be put in place with binding ex-ante criteria to take gender equality into account in all actions funded by EU cohesion policy.
In addition to the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), they particularly insist on the respect of the gender dimension through the actions supported under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), notably to support start-ups created by women.
The European Parliament is asking for the collection of gender-specific data. Finally, on a controversial issue, it proposes to reduce EU funding to regional or local authorities that discriminate against the LGBTQI community (the so-called ‘LGBTI-free zones’ in Poland).
Unsurprisingly, the sovereignist ECR group, with a strong Polish delegation, and the far-right Identity and Democracy group opposed the report. It should be noted that a very large contingent of the EPP group abstained. This is the case, for example, with the Christian Democrat delegations from Western Europe, notably France and Italy.
At the end of April, the text met with similar resistance in the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (see EUROPE 12705/11).
To consult the report: https://bit.ly/3g3yrnQ (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)