The European Parliament’s Committee on Gender Equality (FEMM) heard from the Belgian, French, Finnish and Swedish Equality Bodies and the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet), on Wednesday 24 May, to start work on the two proposals for directives that concern them (see EUROPE 13079/21).
In the European Parliament, the rapporteurs on the dossier will be Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finnish) for FEMM and Marc Angel (S&D, Luxembourger) for the Committee on Employment (EMPL).
Independence, resources and mandate
All the associations invited stressed the importance of guaranteeing independence as well as stable and sufficient resources for their various tasks. While Equality Bodies are independent public institutions, it is important that their functioning is not trapped in political games, they said, in turn.
In addition, the organisations called for the continued recognition of multiple discrimination (‘intersectionality’) within the directives.
Legal powers
Another central point of the directives, they explained, is that they guarantee that they have legal powers. At present, however, this competence depends on the country in which they are located. “Some can represent victims in court, others can issue legally binding opinions, a third set can’t do either of the two, which is a problem”, summarised Tamás Kádár, co-director of Equinet.
He said that the guidelines should ensure that organisations have at least one of these two powers. Similarly, Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, French) and Valérie Fontaine, Advisor for Partnerships - Defender of Rights, defended the room for manoeuvre left to the Member States and suggested by the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 13157/21) to ensure respect for national legal traditions.
The Belgian, Finnish and Swedish organisations, on the other hand, have emphasised the value of an organisation being able to act in court on behalf of a victim, even without consent, especially in cases where consent cannot be obtained, and to provide relevant information and advice to the courts (“amicus curiae”).
What about the EU Council?
Regarding the upcoming interinstitutional negotiations, Kira Peter-Hansen (Greens/EFA, Danish) asked whether the European Parliament should focus on ambition or coherence between directives, considering that one of them requires unanimity in the EU Council. “I'm never going to tell you not to be ambitious”, Mr Kádár retorted, but calling for ensuring that legislation does not contain contradictory provisions.
Finally, while welcoming the work of the Swedish Presidency, Mr Kádár regretted “quite some watering down of provisions particularly on Independence investigation and litigation powers“ (see EUROPE 13127/15). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)