Mr President, I am particularly honoured on International Women’s Day to intervene in plenary within the framework of the procedure for oral questions. Mr President, today is International Women’s Day, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the existence and achievements of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities of our Parliament, which provides a very good opportunity to take stock of and evaluate our policy on gender equality. Without doubt, important progress has been made over the last twenty years in all sectors, thanks to the political initiatives taken at parliamentary and national level and the initiatives taken by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament, and I should like to take this opportunity to thank President Cox for his support. The participation of women in the European Parliament rose from 6% of the appointed Parliament to 16% in 1979, when the first elections were held, and to 31% in 1999. We are aiming for and hoping that this percentage will increase still further in the forthcoming elections in the enlarged Europe of the 25. Gender equality and the full realisation of the productive potential of women are now recognised by all as the sine qua non to achieving the Lisbon strategy and to strengthening our participative democracy. Without doubt over the last 20 years, the greatest progress has been made in the participation and performances of women at all levels of education, given that today they account for 55% of graduates in the European Union. Nonetheless, despite the undisputed achievements, significant differences and discrepancies continue to exist between the two sexes in all sectors, as stated in the Commission’s first annual report, which will be discussed at the spring European Council in a few days’ time. Violence against women, trafficking in human beings, unemployment, incompatibility between professional and private life, inadequate care facilities for children and the elderly, inequalities in pay and promotion are burning issues which urgently need to be resolved, in that they relate directly both to the infringement of rights and to the sustainability and competitiveness of the economy. Unfortunately, it is with concern and sadness that we note that numerous Member States, despite having incorporated all the Community directives into their national legislation, do not show willing to promote flanking measures which would result in the abolition of inequalities. It is disappointing that numerous Member States hardly even follow the Council’s recommendations. Looking back over the last five years, the review of the directive on equal treatment in the workplace and the promotion of gender mainstreaming were an important milestone in promoting equal opportunities. Nonetheless, because we cannot talk of equality of the sexes only in the workplace, we welcome the initiative by Mrs Diamantopoulou for a new directive based on Article 13 of the Treaty, which will ban any discrimination in access to goods and services. It is a fact that, with our joint efforts and within the framework of the future European constitution, we can slowly but surely bridge the gender gap in the Union and act as a shining example to the rest of the world, to areas of the planet in which women are still fighting for their fundamental human rights. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the UN World Conference in Beijing in 1995, where 180 governments agreed on a joint action platform in order to promote women’s rights, we find that those commitments have not been honoured. Women still account for 70% of the poor in the world, girls in sub-Saharan Africa are six times more at risk than boys of infection with the HIV virus, four million women and children are victims of violence and sexual exploitation; at the same time, women only hold 15.2% of parliamentary seats. That is why, including within the framework of the new challenges being created by the development of technology and the globalisation of the economy, we need to renew and step up action on women’s rights in the aim of achieving democratic and participative global intergovernmentalism which will safeguard the fair distribution of the resources of the planet, sexual equality and sustainable development for everyone. We can discuss this at a new conference, which we shall call ‘Beijing +10’ and for which we await the relevant initiative by the Commission. Commissioner, I should like to ask you to reply to the topical questions which I shall put to you. First, what are the specific results of the work by the team of Commissioners for the promotion of equality? Secondly, does the Commission agree to the appointment of a Commissioner, the main item in whose portfolio will be gender equality? Also, although the Council representatives are not here, we have asked the Council to request that the Member States submit a list of three candidate Commissioners who represent both sexes, in order to achieve a balanced composition of the new Commission from the gender point of view. This proposal has already been submitted by the Convention. IN THE CHAIR: MR VIDAL-QUADRAS ROCAVice-President

Political group: PSE