Activities of Ernest URTASUN related to 2020/2040(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the gender dimension in Cohesion Policy
Amendments (18)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas gender equality between women and men is a core value of the EU enshrined in Articles 8 and 19 2 of the Treaty on European Union; whereas Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; whereas establishes the principle of gender mainstreaming is thereforewhich is an important tool in the horizontal integration of this principlegender equality into EU policies, measures and actions, including Cohesion Policy;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Cohesion Policy addresses disparities between various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a view to achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which are subject to the principles of non-discrimination and gender equality between women and men;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the full economic, employment and social consequences of the pandemic are still unknown; whereas preliminary studies suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, having a disproportionate impact on women and girls and in particular women and girls from marginalised groups, which Cohesion Policy should take into account;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the provision of care is of the utmost importance in enabling women to remain active in the labour market by promoting work-life balance; whereas investment in the care sector will also provide working opportunities in the formal economy for informal carers;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Stresses the important role that Cohesion Funds should play in promoting gender equality and implementing the EU Gender Equality Strategy; recalls that all policy goals need appropriate resources dedicated to their implementation and, therefore, stresses the importance of aligning EU’s gender equality goals with its programmes, in particular in the area of Cohesion Policy;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Points at the relevant role of Cohesion Funds in securing investment in care services; requests the Commission to propose a Care Deal for Europe aimed at supporting a transition towards a care economy in which Cohesion Policy should play a fundamental role;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1 b. Emphasises that one essential aspect of Cohesion Policy is to ensure social, territorial and economic cohesion through, among other measures, combating disparities with job creation; stresses that it is essential that, in this process, no one is left behind and that investments in job creation are gender- responsive and therefore include measures such as combating precarious contracts, informal work, the gender pay gap and ensuring women’s participation in the sectors that receive funds;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1 c. Recalls that in supporting the green and digital transitions, Cohesion Policy should pay special attention in ensuring access to training for women in order to bridge the gender digital gap;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1 d. Stresses that intersecting disadvantages create additional barriers and negative socio-economic impacts for specific groups of women; urges therefore to include targeted measures in Cohesion Policy to tackle multiple discriminations that women from marginalised groups suffer, in particular measures to combat poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 e (new)
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1 e. Underlines the crucial role of Cohesion Policy in investing in high quality public services which has a positive effect on combating gender inequalities, as women are more dependent on such services;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 f (new)
Paragraph -1 f (new)
-1 f. Calls on the Commission to address health related priorities as defined in the Gender Equality Strategy 2020- 2025 in Cohesion Policy, in particular SRHR as a fundamental human right and an essential aspect to peoples’ well-being and the advancement of gender equality;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 g (new)
Paragraph -1 g (new)
-1 g. Regrets that for the new programming period, the Commission did not put forward new measures to improve gender equality and instead remove the gender equality conditionality from the Common Provisions Regulation and removed the sub-programme ‘Women in rural areas’; stresses the importance of including binding conditionalities to advance gender equality and the need for targeted measures in Cohesion Policy,
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up their efforts to promote gender equality and non- discrimination in Cohesion Policy through effective gender mainstreaming in all phases of the policy cycle, showing strong political commitment at EU, national and regional level; encourages close cooperation with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in that regard, providing high-quality research and data to support better-informed and evidence- based decision-making by policymakers and other key stakeholders working to enhance gender equality between women and men; stresses that knowledge sharing by the EU institutions and agencies and support for capacity building is key to preventing high administrative costs and an unnecessary increase in bureaucracy;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Stresses that in order to ensure gender mainstreaming, the Commission should implement a gender impact assessment for each policy and legislative proposal in the area of Cohesion Policy, define gender-responsive indicators, collect data disaggregated by gender and carry gender responsive evaluations; stresses in addition that all bodies created in the area of Cohesion Policy should be gender balanced and include gender equality experts and women’s rights and women’s organisations;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Recalls that gender mainstreaming must be applied also in all the stages of the budgetary process, in particular, stresses the need to track spending on gender equality not only for targeted measures but also in all budget lines; requests the Commission, in cooperation with the European Court of Auditors, to propose a methodology for that purpose;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Applauds the decision of the Commission to reject 6 town twinning applications involving Polish authorities that adopted 'LGBTI free zones' or 'family rights' resolutions; urges to broaden the discussion on the rule of law conditionality in order to include fundamental rights and avoid creating a hierarchy of EU values;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to raise awareness of the need for gender equality and to develop and provide specific tools and guidelines to help the Member States integrate a gender perspective at the implementation and monitoring stage making use of the existing tools developed by EIGE such as its toolkit for gender budgeting in the EU Funds; stresses the importance of gender mainstreaming training for the officials managing the Cohesion Policy funds at European, national, regional and local levels;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Points at the need to improve synergies between cohesion, recovery funds and other existing programmes with the aim of improving working conditions for women -including by combating the gender pay gap and precarious employment-, investing in care facilities, combating and preventing gender-based violence and ensuring access to SRHR services among others;