Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, five years after Beijing, the implementation of the action platform is to be subjected to detailed analysis. We in the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities have formed a critical appraisal of the twelve critical areas of concern, which are: poverty; education and training; health; violence; armed conflict; the economy; power and decision making; institutional mechanisms; human rights; media; the environment and the girl child. It now all depends on how we use the political will to bring about improvement in these areas. I would emphasise that the cooperation between the two co-rapporteurs has been highly constructive and we have focused on the measures taken by the EU and its Member States in this report. We endeavour to highlight any shortcomings and to make a series of recommendations that will help to speed up implementation of the action platform. I also see this report as an action plan for the EU delegation that is to take up an excellent negotiating position in New York, in June, and that is to strengthen women’s rights, in close cooperation with the representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the President-in-Office of the Council, Mrs Belém, and the Commissioner, for the fact that we worked so well together during the preparation process for the conference held in Brussels in February, and I hope that things will run as smoothly in future preparation processes. We can go to New York with a whole string of achievements to our credit. The incorporation of equal opportunities into all policy areas, i.e. gender mainstreaming, has now been adopted as the guiding principle in a wide cross-section of EU policy areas. The accompanying positive action measures will be followed up in the fourth action platform, and no doubt in the fifth platform as well. Notwithstanding the considerable progress we have made, one of our main tasks will be to turn rights into practice at long last. The Treaty of Amsterdam will help us there; specifically Articles 2 and 3, in which equality is defined as a goal and task of the Community, or Article 141, relating as it does to employment policy, where there is room for improvement. However, we still need a completely secure legal basis. The Treaty must include a single, coherent legal basis for equality between men and women in all policy areas, and another directive on the implementation of the positive action measures in Article 141. The fifth action platform is of prime importance and is ultimately also a decision-making Women’s and Equal Opportunities’ Council. I believe – and my co-rapporteur has already highlighted this – that the European Union should step up cooperation and emphasise the gender perspective principle in its foreign relations, in the context of the enlargement process and with developing countries. If the empowerment of women proves to play a major part in the Fourth World Conference on Women, it will also take precedence where the development of the information society is concerned. It is all about jobs – we have taken careful note of this – about future tasks, so as to ensure that women are not the losers in the globalisation competition. We have also developed an impressive repertory of measures designed to boost employment. However, the situation with regard to equal pay still leaves a lot to be desired. For people to be able to combine family life with careers, consideration must be given to both fathers and mothers, and the image of the new man, who takes on domestic tasks, must be reinforced. The situation is looking brighter for women as far as equality in political life is concerned. Women account for an average of 20% of members of the parliaments of the European Union. The figure for this Parliament is 30%. But there is still plenty of room for improvement in this regard as well, so as to reach the critical mass, as it were. I believe I can say, with the full support of my Group, that there is no getting away from the fact that we must introduce quotas. We must fix quotas at long last, if we do not want it to take another one hundred years before women achieve equal representation, and I mean in every single walk of life, in the economy, at social partner level, in universities and in science. We must also achieve a more gender-balanced participation within the mass media industry. Violence against women is another major issue. Here in the European Parliament, we have called for there to be a European year against violence, and are supported by 350 delegates in this. Much still remains to be done, however. The important thing to come out of New York will be a decision on Beijing + 10, another World Conference on Women for the 21st Century. (Applause)

Political group: PSE