Mr President, the Group of the welcomes the Commission's mid-term review of the Daphne programme. This programme has proven to be highly effective in combating violence against children, young people and women, even though it has had very little funding. Daphne was born of an initiative by Commissioner Anita Gradin and the European Parliament and it is a perfect example of how, with huge personal commitment on the part of everyone involved in the programme and in implementing the project and clear political will, results can be achieved and new policies developed. Because violence is such a massive phenomenon, it has been hard to narrow the Daphne programme down. This is a taboo subject in the twilight zone. There is a lack of unequivocal data. But we know from studies that every third woman has experience of some form of gender-related violence. One in five women suffers violence at the hands of their spouse or partner. According to IOM estimates, 500 000 people are caught up in trafficking in the European Union every year, mainly women and children, while other women are at risk of genital mutilation. We were only able to support 73 projects under Daphne in 2000 and 2001, just 12% of the projects proposed, causing some frustration among NGOs. Four million euros a year – hardly enough to move mountains – but enough to raise expectations and then dash them. But what is important is that Daphne was a multi-disciplinary tool and the Commission should continue to demonstrate flexibility here. For example, the violence monitoring centre in Dublin overseen by the European women's lobby provides excellent data. It also has managed to draft a good overview of the measures introduced and the legal instruments in the Member States. It brings synergies between players and projects at national, European and international level together. Unfortunately, the central and eastern European countries are still not involved enough. Only 6% of organisations even have any resources to put into projects. We found out during our delegations' trips to the candidate countries that there is a tremendous need here; they are hugely willing but financially unable and these two factors need to be reconciled in the NGOs. It is important not to stop at the external borders of the European Union. Russia, the Ukraine, Belorussia, nowhere is safe from this phenomenon, which also affects us here in the European Union. We need to open up more and include other Community programmes in the Daphne programme. I and my group think it is important that we build on our experience from the first half of the programme to strengthen synergies in the second half of Daphne. This is stated in item 12 of the resolution. We must continue with the campaign against violence and with preventive measures. There are excellent examples of this on the external borders in the form of warnings to young women. We have achieved good results with our networks, with the NGOs, and these now need to be implemented in the Member States. What we really need – and this has been pointed out and called for on several occasions – is a European Year against Violence. Commissioner Reding, who is responsible for communications, has already given the go-ahead. Now we must push in the Convention for a clear statement to the effect that, from the point of view of the legal basis, this is not just a public health issue; internal security is also at risk if violence against women continues.

Political group: PSE