2023/2152(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Recital A

~~A. whereas gender equality is a value of the Union enshrined in Article 2 TEU;~~deleted

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

~~B. whereas gender equality has been characterised by a regressive ideology, which prioritises abortions, allows anyone to choose from an unlimited list of genders, and denigrates traditional roles;~~deleted

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

Amendment 13 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Recital B

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas gender equality ~~has been characterised by a regressive ideology, which prioritises abortions, allows anyone to choose from an unlimited list of genders, and denigrates traditional roles;~~is far from a reality in the Union, with the 2023 Gender Equality Index having made a modest increase of only 1.6 points to reach 70.2, and with some domains showing signs of regression, in particular in economic and income metrics1a; _________________ 1a https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality- index/2023

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) was established in order to contribute to and strengthen the promotion of gender equality in the Union, including gender mainstreaming in all Union policies and the resulting national policies, the fight against discrimination based on gender, and raising Union citizens’ awareness of gender equality;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas the rising cost of living have impacted both men and women; whereas a permanent victim mentality is counter-productive to gender equality; whereas equality of opportunity should be the EU’s goal;deleted

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas the rising cost of living have impacted both men and women; ~~whereas a permanent victim mentality is counter-productive to gender equality; whereas equality of opportunity should be the EU’s goal;~~

Amendment 2 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas gender equality is a value of the Union enshrined in Article 2 TEU; whereas Article 8 TFEU states that in all its activities the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities, establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas the ~~rising cost of living have impacted both men and women; whereas a permanent victim mentality is counter-productive to gender equality; whereas equality of opportunity should be the EU’s goal~~re is an ever-growing urgency for the Union to advance on its Gender Equality Strategy, in the light of ongoing crises such as wars, the climate crisis, inflation, and the backlash against women’s rights, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the Union and world-wide;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas prices have risen, in general, 11.5 % in the European Union since October 2021 and food has been particularly affected, with inflation climbing to 17.8 % in October 2022; whereas, in line with the ECB's September 2023 macroeconomic projections for the euro area, average inflation for 2023 is estimated at 5.6 %, which is an upward revision of previous projections;

Amendment 22 #

Margarita DE LA PISA CARRIÓN

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

C a. whereas the current subsequent crises bear the risk of slowing down efforts to achieve gender equality and the risk of hindering the full enjoyment of women’s rights;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas any budget aimed at promoting ideologies such as gender should have no place in the EU legislative framework;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)

Cb. whereas women in the EU are more severely affected by poverty or social exclusion than men, being systematically placed at a disadvantage by structural and cultural factors; whereas their role as primary carers in the family puts a disproportionate amount of unpaid care and domestic work on women, who play an essential role in this regard;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)

Cc. whereas the EU gender pay gap is 16 %, with variations between the Member States; whereas the gender pay gap has a number of implications, including a 37 % gap in pension entitlements, which places elderly women at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion; whereas the right to equal pay for equal work is not always upheld and remains one of the biggest challenges in efforts to overcome pay discrimination;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Recital C d (new)

Cd. whereas the importance of combating discrimination between men and women in access to employment and work, and promoting equality in careers and professional categories, in vocational training and in salaries is essential, at the same time as strengthening work with rights and protecting collective bargaining and union rights;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Recital C e (new)

Ce. whereas the Member States should increase public investment in policies that, directly or indirectly, aim to counteract the negative effects of the cost of living crisis on women in all their diversity, to guarantee access to high- quality, free public services for care, education, health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and housing, and to protect victims of gender- based violence;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Recital D

~~D. whereas the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality (“EIGE”) for the financial year 2022 was EUR xxx.xx, representing an increase of xxx % compared to 2021;~~deleted

Amendment 29 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality (“EIGE”) for the financial year 2022 was EUR ~~xxx.xx~~8,432,920, representing an increasea decrease of ~~xxx~~3 % compared to 2021 (EUR 8,693,358);

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas gender equality is a core value of the Union enshrined in Article 2 ~~TEU~~of the Treaty on European Union; whereas Article 8 TFEU commits the Union to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality between men and women;

Amendment 30 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality (“EIGE”) for the financial year 2022 was EUR ~~xxx.xx~~8,432,920, representing a~~n in~~ decrease of ~~xxx~~3 % compared to 2021 (EUR 8,693,358);

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. Points out that cuts in public budgets ensuing from the European Union’s macro-structural economic policies, in particular the implementation of ‘economic governance’ measures, are increasing and will continue to increase gender inequalities and female unemployment, women being in the majority in the public sector and the principal beneficiaries of social policies, and furthering yet more the feminisation of poverty, and therefore a change in policy is required;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

D a. whereas, according to its statement of revenue and expenditure, the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality (“EIGE”) for the financial year 2022 was EUR 8.432.920, representing a reduction of 3 % compared to 2021; whereas the entire budget of the Institute derives from the Union budget;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls that EIGE was established to develop tools on gender equality; notes that this is not a requirement in our turbulent times; notes therefore that the EIGE’s allocated budgets should be reduced;deleted

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

Amendment 36 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls that EIGE was established ~~to develop tools on gender equality; no~~in order to contributes t~~hat this is not a requirement in our turbulent times; notes therefore that the EIGE’s allocated budgets should be reduced~~o and strengthen the promotion of gender equality in the Union;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Re~~calls that EIGE was established to develop tools on gender equality; notes that this is not a requirement in our turbulent times; notes therefore that the EIGE’s allocated budgets should be redu~~iterates its repeated calls for further staffing resources to be allocated to EIGE in the light of increasing urgency and requests for its serviceds;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Recalls that the European Institute for Gender Equality was set up to help the European institutions and the Member States to mainstream gender equality in all their policies and combat gender-based discrimination by supplying up-to-date studies, and thus makes an important contribution to efforts to achieve genuine gender equality; calls, therefore, in light of the rising inequalities seen in recent years, for greater amounts to be allocated in the budget so that the Institute can fully achieve the goal for which it was set up;

Amendment 39 #

Margarita DE LA PISA CARRIÓN

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Stresses therefore EIGE’s crucial role in collecting, analysing, processing and disseminating data and necessary information for policy makers, the polices of the European Union and its respective Member States; reiterates its call on the Commission to provide EIGE with an adequate budget to enhance their recruitment and research capabilities to further enhance their work and output in view of subsequent crisis and backlash against gender equality and LGBTIQ+ which affects women disproportionately;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas ~~gender~~ equality between men and women is a value of the Union enshrined in Article 2 TEU;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Recalls that EIGE was established in order to contribute to and strengthen the promotion of gender equality in the Union, through providing quality research and comparable data;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Emphasises the need for stronger and more efficient integration of gender equality policies and gender mainstreaming tools;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Welcomes the ongoing cooperation between the EIGE and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM); stresses the valuable contribution that the EIGE makes to ensuring the European Parliament objectives, values and priorities;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Stresses the need for increased funding for gender equality actions in terms of employment and growth in order to tackle horizontal and vertical gender segregation, to combat the pay gap between men and women, the pension pay gap between men and women and the increasing poverty rate among women, as well as in terms of rights and democracy;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Recommends the adequate allocation of resources, for the recrtuitment of staff and support to EIGE in order to cope with a sharp rise of requests for technical assistance on gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1d. Stresses the importance of combating inequalities and injustices against women; calls on the Commission and Member States to take urgent action to address poverty and increasing inequalities among women, especially among vulnerable groups, including single mothers, women with disabilities, Roma women, LGBTQI+ women, migrant women and refugees, elderly women, women in rural or depopulated areas;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

~~2. Notes EIGE’s continuous high level of budget execution, with commitment appropriations of up to 9x,92 % in 2022 (compared to 97,75 % in 2020);~~deleted

Amendment 47 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes EIGE’s continuous high level of budget execution, despite the persistent understaffing of the agency, with commitment appropriations of up to 9~~x,92~~8.4 % in 2022 (compared to 9~~7,75~~ 8.92% in 20201);

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Notes EIGE’s continuous high level of budget execution, with commitment appropriations of up to 9~~x,92~~7.91 % in 2022 (compared to 9~~7,75~~8,92 % in 20201);

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Welcomes the ongoing cooperation between the EIGE and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), in particular the Institute’s contribution to the ongoing efforts of the Committee concerning gender-based violence, work-life balance, the gender pay and pension gap, impact of crises on women, gender mainstreaming and budgeting; Strongly supports the work of the Institute, which, by means of studies, research and high- quality data enables the Committee to properly do its work; notes the importance of availability of reliable gender-disaggregated data in order allow for evidence-based policy making; notes the valuable contribution the EIGE can make to all the European Parliaments’ Committees and other EU agencies in order to better integrate gender mainstreaming in all EU policies;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas the European Union's neoliberal policies are contributing to inequality between men and women, with women disproportionately affected by increasing unemployment, deregulation of the labour market and working hours, increasing precariousness and low salaries, as well as the many forms of inequality and discrimination arising from funding cuts to public services, including health, education and social benefits;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Notes EIGE’s continuous high level of budget execution, despite the persistent understaffing of the agency, with commitment appropriations of up to 98,4 % in 2022(compared to 98,92 % in 2021), and a payment appropriations rate of 81,10 % (72,16 % in 2021);

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2 b. Acknowledges the herculean effort and contribution of EIGE to the Parliamentary work of the European Parliament and its Members; as well as the increase in the workload and requests submitted to EIGE despite the persistent understaffing of the Agency;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

~~3. Acknowledges an increase in the EIGE’s carry-over operating expenditure to xxx % in 2023 (54.79 % in 2022);~~deleted

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Acknowledges ~~an in~~the decrease in the EIGE’s carry-over operating expenditure to ~~xxx~~42,28 % in 2023 (54.,79 % in 2022);

Amendment 54 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Acknowledges an indecrease in the EIGE’s carry-over operating expenditure to ~~xxx~~ 42.28% in 2023 (54.79 % in 2022);

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Acknowledges a~~n in~~ decrease in the EIGE’s carry-over operating expenditure to ~~xxx~~ 42.28% in 2023 (54.79 % in 2022);

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Welcomes the ongoing cooperation between the EIGE and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality; stresses the valuable contribution that the EIGE can make to all Parliament committees; recommends the allocation of more staff to EIGE in order to cope with a sharp rise of requests for technical assistance on gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Welcomes in particular the Institute’s continuous work on the Gender Equality Index and its low-threshold access to information for citizens;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Calls for additional funding to be allocated to EIGE to increase the number and the quality of statutory workers and provide the Agency with adequate resources;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes that the European Court of Auditors confirmed EIGE’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position on 31 December 2022 and the results of its operations, its cash flows and the changes in net assets for the year then ended;deleted

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas, according to Article 8 TFEU, the Union is to aim to eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality between men and women, thereby establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming, which stipulates that gender equality must be incorporated into all EU policies, including via gender budgeting at all levels of the budgetary process;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Notes that the European Court of Auditors confirmed EIGE’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position onas at 31 December 2022 and the results of its operations, its cash flows and the changes in net assets for the year ~~the~~subsequently came to an ended;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

~~5. Is of the opinion that discharge shall not be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.~~deleted

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Is of the opinion, on the basis of the data currently available, that discharge ~~shall not~~can be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Is of the opinion on the basis of the data currently available that discharge ~~shall not~~can be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

Amendment 64 #

María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Karen MELCHIOR, Susana SOLÍS PÉREZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Is of the opinion that discharge shall ~~not~~ be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

Amendment 65 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Is of the opinion that discharge ~~shall not~~can be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

Amendment 66 #

Annika BRUNA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Considers it regrettable that the EIGE does not measure the serious danger posed by Islamist ideologies to women’s rights and gender equality;

Amendment 67 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Is of the opinion that discharge shall be granted;

Amendment 68 #

Annika BRUNA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Considers that the EIGE should step up its work on the needs of women in rural areas and the outermost regions;

Amendment 69 #

Annika BRUNA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5c. Considers that the EIGE should step up its work on the needs of women with disabilities;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas Article 8 TFEU states that in all its activities the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities, establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas EIGE's staff are actively engaging in the exchange of best practices and the activities of the EU Agencies Network (EUAN) and its subnetworks, such as: Performance Development Network, Procurement Officers Network, Legal Network, ICT Advisory Committee etc, in order to develop its synergies such as human resources, building management, IT services and security, cooperation and exchange of good practices with other Union agencies with a view to improving efficiency;

Amendment 9 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Joachim Stanisław BRUDZIŃSKI, Cristian TERHEŞ, Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA, Elżbieta RAFALSKA, Pirkko RUOHONEN-LERNER

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

A c. whereas EIGE has taken pro- active steps to apply ongoing measures for improving gender balance among its staff;

source: 755.968

2024/02/12 CONT 10 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute’s budget for the financial year 2022 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality discharge in respect of the implementation of the Institute’s budget for the financial year 2022;

Amendment 10 #

Ilana CICUREL, Olivier CHASTEL, Jozef MIHÁL, Michal WIEZIK, Alin MITUȚA, Ramona STRUGARIU

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)

23 a. Insists on the importance of its report on feminicide published in 2022 (Feminicide indicators: pilot study of data availability and feasibility assessment) and encourages the Institute to continue its campaign to raise the visibility of feminicide in national policies and highlight the potential benefits of recognising as a separate criminal offence;

Amendment 2 #

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)

– having regard to Caitlin B. Schmid et al, "Why Call It Equality?" Revisited: An Extended Critique of the EIGE Gender Equality Index, Social Indicators Research (2023);

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Not~~Welcomes that in 2022 the Institute supported the Union policymaking by monitoring gaps and trends in gender equality through the launch of the Gender Equality Index, and organized its first Gender Equality Forum where various panel discussions, workshops and experience sessions were featured by high- level political decision-makers and members of civil society; notes further that the Institute produced a policy brief regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on young women and men providing recommendations to engage and empower the youth; notes in addition that the Institute published the ‘Artificial Intelligence, platform work and gender equality’ report showing that artificial intelligence and platform work have the potential to improve gender equality in the economy;

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights a recent study showing that the EIGE Gender Equality Index results in an unjustified penalization of lower-GDP countries and reinforces biased assumptions about gender equality progress1a; urges EIGE to provide greater transparency around theory, method, and the relationship between the two, and to provide methodological improvements; _________________ 1a Caitlin B. Schmid et al, "Why Call It Equality?" Revisited: An Extended Critique of the EIGE Gender Equality Index, Social Indicators Research (2023)

Amendment 5 #

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Recalls that according to official estimates by the Commission, 190 000 girls in 17 European countries alone are at risk of being mutilated while 600 000 women are living with the consequences of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Europe; regrets that EIGE did not publish any research on FGM in 2023; calls on EIGE to publish annual figures on FGM in the European Union, including research regarding its cultural and religious context;

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Notes that the Institute completed the annual performance appraisal exercise for all 62 staff and ensured that staff members were offered appropriate training opportunities aimed at improving their skills and competencies; welcomes that in order to promote and facilitate professional development in the Institute, 19 different group training programmes were organised in 2022 with 414 participants, while 20 statutory staff members undertook 42 individual training courses; notes that the Institute continued to promote language training for its TAs, CAs, SNEs and trainees, reimbursing up to EUR 500 per staff member; encourages the Institute to keep focusing on career development by developing a long-term HR policy on offering specific training possibilities for career development;

Amendment 7 #

Sándor RÓNAI, Hannes HEIDE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. ~~Notes~~Welcomes that the balanced gender distribution which was achieved in 2021 in senior and middle management (2 men (50 %) and 2 women (50 %))~~, and~~ was maintained in 2022, and notes the recurrent unbalanced gender distribution on the management board (8 men (21,62 %) and 29 women (78,38 %)) and among staff overall (14 men (29,17 %) and 34 women (70,83 %)); reiterates its call on the Institute to ensure gender balance in the future; acknowledges, nevertheless, from the Institute’s written replies that, in order to improve gender balance among its staff, it has taken concrete pro-active steps and measures such as, among others, increasing the reach of vacancy notices to attract more diverse talent pool or the use of gender sensitive wording in vacancy announcements to attract the attention of both women and men; asks the Commission and the Member States to take into account the importance of ensuring gender balance when nominating their members to the Institute’s management board;

Amendment 8 #