Elected as the first woman Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) just over a year ago, Greek MEP Déspina Despina Chatzivasilíou has decided to support the creation of an “informal group” of women MPs, a decision she told EUROPE on Monday 7 March, on the eve of International Women’s Day.
“This initiative comes from women elected from different parties” she explains, and “The group will therefore be transparent and will also include women sitting in the hemicycle among the non-attached members. It will be autonomous and as unbureaucratic as possible. My role will be to facilitate the work of its members in terms of logistics, for example in terms of translation”.
“This need to bring together the forces of women MPs already existed, but the war in Ukraine has made it urgent”, said Ms Chatzivasilíou, adding that on 14 and 15 March, at the extraordinary meeting devoted to this crisis, only Ukrainian women MPs will be present in Strasbourg. As their male counterparts are subject to the same provisions as their compatriots, they will have to remain in the country.
The first exchange could take place with these elected representatives to see, for example, how to organise transnational humanitarian aid. Discussions could even be held with Stella Kyriakides, former President of the Assembly and now the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.
Another initiative announced is the creation of “The Women’s PACE” group which will allow coordinating and tagging actions on social networks.
“There are currently 247 women members of PACE, and this group will give them the opportunity to build momentum”, concluded the Assembly’s Secretary General. “It will be particularly useful and I am proud to support them”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)