EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/314

(2004/C 78 E/0315)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3696/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(3 December 2003)

Subject: Balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process

Council recommendation 96/694/EC (1) of 2 December 1996 calls on the Commission to submit to the Parliament (inter alia) a report on its implementation ‘on the basis of the information provided by the Member States and the institutions, subsidiary bodies and decentralised bodies of the European Communities’, for the first time three years after adoption of the recommendation and thereafter annually. Only the first of these reports has so far been transmitted to the European Parliament in 2000.

When is the Commission intending to transmit the annual reports which should have followed? Have the questionnaires been sent to the Member States (and those states and institutions concerned by the recommendation) in order to gather and assimilate information on progress achieved in the implementation of the recommendation? Why has the Commission not yet complied with its obligation under the Council recommendation?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2004)

A balanced participation between women and men in decision-making is a subject to which the Commission attaches much importance.

Council recommendation 96/694/EC on the balanced participation of women and men in decision making was followed up by a report by the Commission in 2000. The report concluded that the policies implemented since 1996 have had a positive effect overall. However, original expectations had not been met and further follow up has taken place.

The Commission has been following the situation in regard to gender equality in decision- making in its annual reports on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The reports produced from 2000 onwards have provided selected figures in the field and also described trends in the development of legislation in Member States concerning gender balanced political participation.

Since 1999 the Council of Ministers has adopted conclusions on indicators for monitoring progress in policy areas related to the Beijing Platform for Action. A set of indicators and statistics focusing on women in economic decision-making was adopted at the meeting of the Council on 1 December 2003.

Under the framework of the 4th Union Action Programme on Equal Opportunities, the Commission funded the ‘European Database Women in Decision-Making’. The balanced participation of women and men in decision making in all spheres of life was the central theme of programme activities for grants in 2003 within the 5th Action Programme. The Commission will fund some 20 transnational projects which will contribute to the promotion of women in decision-making.

Based on an analysis of these different initiatives, the Commission has decided to establish the database ‘Women and men in decision-making’ which is forward looking in its approach and scope. With information gathered from a broad range of actors the database will be a continuous source of information on progress achieved for the balanced participation of women and men in decision-making in the political, public, judicial, social and economical domains.

(1) OJ L 319, 10.12.1996, p. 11.