Brussels, 19/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - The women's rights and gender equality committee (FEMM) of the European Parliament should continue to be a neutralised committee. The request is unanimous. That is the message of a letter sent to European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering on Wednesday 18 February, by chairwoman of the FEMM committee Anna Zaborska (EPP-ED, Slovakia) and the coordinators of the political groups on the said committee. The letter discusses the future of the FEMM committee and follows on from proposals made by the working group on the reform of the Parliament, Zaborska told press in Brussels, adding that the same request had been made several times last year in letters to the President of the EP and the Chair of the Conference of the Committees Chairs.
The status of neutralised committee means that a full member of the FEMM committee can also be a full member of another Parliamentary committee and a substitute member of a third, Zaborska pointed out in presenting the FEMM committee's arguments for retention of this status: (1) this situation allows FEMM committee members to work on concrete issues and to promote the same gender mainstreaming objective in the work of other committees where they are full or substitute members; this “multiplicator effect” is an important advantage of the neutralised status; (2) the women's rights committee also has a role as coordinator of Parliament's work on gender mainstreaming in the work of committees and delegations, in accordance with EP resolutions; this role should be maintained and enhanced; (3) the FEMM committee should maintain its responsibilities for equality between men and women in employment and social affairs; the areas of responsibility of the FEMM and employment committees must be more clearly defined; (4) the FEMM committee has core tasks ranging from combating violence against women and children and human trafficking to the promotion of women in the decision-making process: these tasks must be maintained.
“We put these arguments to Mr Pöttering, asking him to take them into consideration as part of the discussions on the future organisation of the European Parliament,” Zaborska said in conclusion.
“It would be a pity to lose our legislative powers because we still have a lot to do in this committee,” continued Slovakian MEP Edith Bauer, coordinator for the EPP-ED Group. “It would be a pity, too, to lose the experience of the people who want to work on the FEMM committee. If this committee was de-neutralised, it would no longer be possible to attend meetings. We are part way towards implementing the Lisbon Strategy, so it would not be good for our committee to be de-neutralised,” she commented. German MEP Lissy Gröner, coordinator of the PES Group, warned against any “weakening of the FEMM committee ahead of the European elections”. “The FEMM committee has existed since 1984. It has always been the standard-bearer for European citizens. De-neutralising our committee would be a step backwards. We all want the same thing: we want this committee to remain as it is with its current status. We call on the working group on the reform of the EP to withdraw its proposals,” she cried. French MEP Marie-Claire Gibault, coordinator for the ALDE Group, said that, “in the middle of a financial crisis, it would be disastrous to reduce the powers of this committee”. “Women,” she went on, “are the first ones to be affected by unemployment” and the FEMM committee “also fought for women's reproductive and sexual rights”. Spanish MEP Raul Romeva i Rueda, Greens/EFA coordinator, stressed that the work of the committee had to have high visibility: “This committee has to exist, for equal opportunities and the gender dimension which must always be there”. Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson, coordinator for the GUE/NGL group, also warned that “removing the powers of the FEMM committee would affect the turn-out of women in the European elections”. Lastly, Italian MEP Cristiana Muscardini, UEN group coordinator, asked for “more attention to be given in future to issues regarding women and society”. (G.B./transl.rt)