On Tuesday 14 July 2015, Minister for Equal Opportunities, Lydia Mutsch, and Minister for Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen, presented the priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency in the fields of equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion, at the 'Committee of Women's Rights and Gender Equality' (FEMM) of the European Parliament.
In her speech, Lydia Mutsch claimed that women were more affected by the consequences of the financial crisis, including austerity measures, due to their exposure to precarious employment, dismissal, poverty and social distress. The Minister stated that this was "particularly true for single mothes, young people, the elderly, immigrants and ethnic minorities." She therefore called for the assessment of the effects on women of each strategy developed to combat the crisis and emphasised the importance of 'Gender Budgeting' in "demonstrating the varying impacts of fiscal policies on men and women".
Lydia Mutsch further stressed the need to maintain the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men of the European Commission which will expire this year. "In the eyes of the Luxembourg Presidency, the possibility of wanting to integrate policy of equality between women and men in other strategies would be a wrong signal and against the current path already paved, especially in the context of the post-crisis era. Equal opportunities should remain a separate subject, "she said. This strategy, which she defined as "indispensable", would aim to clearly identify the causes of inequalities between women and men in all policy area. For the Minister, it is a question of visibility, but "also and above all" a question of "Priority and political credibility."
The Minister then presented the four priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency, emphasising that equality between women and men as a main concern for Luxembourg, constituting the "guiding principle" of its government programme. The first priority is the balanced participation of women and men in economic and political decisions, explained Lydia Mutsch who said that men held in 2012 more than three quarters of ministerial positions in the EU and that the average amount of women on Boards of Directors is 16%, a rate she deemed "poor". She also announced that the Luxembourg Presidency would support the proposed EU Directive on a better gender balance among the non-executive directors of listed companies, which sets a target of 40% by 2020.
The second priority is the job market and particularly the increase in female employment rates. The Minister announced that the issue of shared responsibilities between men and women in working and private life is to be discussed at the informal meeting of the EPSCO Council (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers) on 16 and 17 July 2015.
As a third priority, the Luxembourg Presidency wished to promote the principle of "gender mainstreaming" in the various policies and institutions of the EU, for whom it is important that the other formations in the Council also each integrate the gender perspective in their respective sectors. The Luxembourg Presidency also highlighted the role the EU can play in promoting equal opportunities and women's rights around the world, according to the recommendations of the Beijing Platform for Action, which is the fourth priority.
The minister also touched on prostitution and violence against women. In this context, it announced the commitment of the Presidency to accelerate the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe on the prevention and fight against violence against women and domestic violence, signed by 36 European states.
In conclusion, the Minister emphasised the wage gap between women and men which stood at 16.4% in March 2015, against 17.3% in 2008, commenting that if the wage gap has decreased in the majority of EU Member States EU, it has increased in ten others.
The Minister for Integration and the Family, Corinne Cahen, presented an update on initiatives at European level for the integration of Roma, including the European Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020. She claimed that despite these initiatives too many Roma still found themselves victims of prejudice, discrimination, social exclusion and, at worst, hatred and persecution. Social integration policies and anti-discrimination were therefore cited as insufficent.
"I fear that all these efforts will not be successful if we are not able to teach societies to treat Roma communities with dignity and respect, like any other community," she said.
She declared integration as a "two-way process" and that it was "essential to raise public awareness of cultures, lifestyles and realities of all Roma and the related populations of Europe, whether they are sedentary or not." According to the Minister, a host society must also make an effort towards people who wish to integrate "We can not limit ourselves to approaching it from the standpoint of social policy, we also need to work on the mindset of the general population," she concluded.
During the debate, MEPs reportedly congratulated both Ministers for their very "complete" interventions. Several MEPs asked Lydia Mutsch on her intention to take forward the 2008 proposal for a directive on maternity leave, which has been blocked for several years and under threat of being withdrawn by the European Commission as part of its "Better Regulation". An MEP voiced concern that the proposed Directive for the legal quotas for listed companies could suffer the same fate. Others stressed the importance of combatting violence against women and called for reducing the gender gap between pensions.
In response, Lydia Mutsch reiterated that the issue of quotas for listed companies was a "priority" of the Presidency which hopes to conclude the matter in December. "Although few women will be concerned, this is a very important political message that will have enormous visibility", she estimated. She added that "this is not the time to make concessions on the 40% target" because it would call into question a compromise agreement which was difficult to find. As for the draft directive on maternity leave, she said reaffirmed its position on the list of priorities of the Presidency.
Corinne Cahen took the opportunity to add that discussions should also speak of paternity leave, which she claimed very few men take advantage of, stating that it should be presented as a more attractive option.
Photo by Ministry of Equal Opportunities (L-R: Minister for Equal Opportunities, Lydia Mutsch ; Minister for Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen)
