European Parliament
A6-0043/2006
Anneli Jäätteenmäki (ALDE ).
(FI)
Mr President, I am in favour of establishing a separate, active and independent European Institute for Gender Equality. The EU’s firm policy on equality would be a resource. Women are participating more and more in the labour market, and men less and less. In the future we cannot afford to neglect or ignore existing human resources. The Gender Equality Institute could, however, have an influence on this situation. Within the context of the Lisbon Strategy, the equality standpoint carried a lot of weight at first, but it has been forgotten about. The issue of equality should be made far more prominent, and in respect of that an active Institute could work to make the EU stronger and more competitive than ever.

