The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) party in the EU have called for greater gender equality in the EU budget.
The political party noted that only 21.7 per cent of EU programmes had gender-related indicators in the period 2014-2020.
“This means equality was only written into about €236 billion out of the total €1087 billion in the EU budget,” MEP Maragrida Marques said. S&D Parliamentarians said that they will monitor how the €1.8 trillion of the EU budget and the Next Generation EU recovery package are spent on policies that promote gender equality during the new period 2021-2027.
“The EU’s resources must be allocated to promote gender equality and equal opportunities for all women and girls to enjoy their human rights,” Swedish S&D Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Heléne Fritzon said.
“Despite being a fundamental value of the EU, enshrined in the treaties, gender equality has not yet been achieved in practice. We, the Socialists and Democrats, will continue to fight for an EU that fully commits to this cause and translates all commitments into concrete policies and allocation of resources,” she said.
“The budget is not only an important tool for gender equality. It is necessary that we use gender budgeting if we want to realise our objectives and build a strong and sustainable Europe. Gender equality is not just a women’s issue – it benefits everyone and our society,” Fritzon added.
“Gender equality is declared a key policy in the European Union. The European budget is the most effective instrument for turning words into actions. The S&D Group wants to see gender equality enshrined not only as a horizontal principle but as a practice in all European policies,” Portugese S&D MEP Margarida Marques said.
Austrian S&D MEP Evelyn Regner noted that gender mainstreaming has to be lived every single day and in every single policy.
“And although the European Union has been spearheading much-needed steps forward on this, its own finances do not yet reflect this enough,” she said.
This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
