Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Ordinary meeting Joint meeting Committee on Development
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FEMM European Parliament
Follow its sittingsRobert Biedroń
I would like to congratulate both co-rapporteurs for their draft report, and I'm looking forward to hearing their presentation, one of them I will present, and the contributions of the shadow rapporteurs. Thank you very much.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you very much, Robert.
And now, yes, I would like to give the floor to the FEMM rapporteur, Paulo do Nascimento Cabral, that will be joining us online. And let me say once more, congratulations, and I hope everything is going well. And so, please, the floor is yours.
Paulo do Nascimento Cabral
Thank you so much, Chair, for your kind words and wishes. Fortunately, everything went very well. It was even easier than the first son that was born. Now it's a daughter, so now it's quite good, I have to say. But I'm fortunate because I have a boy and a girl right now.
But thank you so much for your kind words and also for accepting my participation remotely. So, also to say hello to our DEVE Chair and thank you for your recognition of the good work that me and also our co-rapporteur Abir Al-Sahlani have been doing, and it's quite important for us. So, dear colleagues, I would like to start by thanking my colleague and co-rapporteur on the DEVE side for this file, Abir, with whom I've had a very fruitful cooperation and with whom I look forward to continuing the good work.
On the EU Gender Action Plan IV, the keyword is deliver, and I believe that DEVE chair also referred that. We must ensure that we are able to follow through with our commitments, the ones that are putting into practice what we are deciding. The women's organizations, civil society organizations, but above all, the communities of these third countries are waiting for us to empower them to promote gender equality and women's and girls' rights. Because gender equality is a fundamental right, and building on the success of GAP III, which has shown many successful projects and achievements, our ambition must remain high, but our approach must also be pragmatic and flexible to ensure real impact. Furthermore, we must take into account the new geopolitical context.
Despite many successes, data also shows setbacks on gender equality and rights. Things as simple as ensuring security and safety for women and girls remains a challenge. Different places in the world are at different stages, but the goal must remain the same. I believe actions must be adapted to local realities and that community-based programs with local actors, especially civil society and women's rights organizations, are crucial to ensuring the best outcomes. We must unite and not divide.
While under GAP III, the Commission made progress towards the target of 85% of new external actions addressing gender equality, this ambition must be maintained under GAP IV.
We should also aim for more projects where gender equality is a main objective, ensuring adequate funding. Among the key priorities, I would like to highlight eliminating all forms of gender-based violence as non-negotiable, ensuring access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, promoting women's economic empowerment, including entrepreneurship, access to finances and resources, as well as girls' access to education and training, and strengthening women's participation and leadership, including in political and public life, and protecting a safe civic space for women and women's rights organizations. Additionally, in the current context, we must also advance the women, peace, and security agenda in humanitarian aid, including women's meaningful participation in peace processes and action against conflict-related sexual violence. It has been proven that peace is 20% more successful and long-lasting with women at the negotiation table. Furthermore, we need Global Gateway that makes sure that women and girls are not left behind in the digital and green transitions.
And let's be clear: closing the various existing gender gaps, such as pay, employment, and others, is not only an equality and fairness argument, but is also good for global competitiveness and development. For instance, it could increase EU GDP by 10% and world GDP by 20%.
However, to maximize opportunities, policy coherence and institutional coordination are essential. Coordination between Member States' actions, the EU and other organizations is crucial, and we can build on experience and impact of the Team Europe approach. I would like to add that we face a significant challenge in visibility. Communities in partner countries often fail to know about the opportunities provided under the umbrella of GAP III and IV, and EU citizens are also often not aware of the achievements under GAP III. Therefore, we must also strengthen the evaluation component and give it broad visibility.
Nonetheless, this must not result in more bureaucratic complications and administrative burden for the ones that are working on the field. Finally, let me say: we live in one connected world. There is no difference of there and here anymore. What happens there could take time, but will also affect us here. Investing in gender equality, democracy and our values beyond our borders is also an investment in our own security and safety, helping to prevent instability, reduce pressures, even migratory ones, and build more resilient societies.
The main points I've been defending are already covered in the first draft, which I am now looking forward to further developing and improving in the next phase with amendments of my colleagues and further negotiations. Let's work to improve this and deliver on this great EU instrument, a gender action plan that is truly meaningful for women and girls worldwide. Thank you so much, chair.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you, thank you so much. Congratulations again. So we hope you are even more committed than you are. You are very committed. It's very good that we have men in the committee that are very committed with gender equality.
That now that you have a daughter, I'm sure you will be more committed. So that is very good for you and obviously for all of us as well. So now I give the floor to the DEVE chair.
Robert Biedroń
Thank you very much, Lina. And indeed, I want to also praise Paulo for his engagement. It's good to have men fighting for women's rights and equality. It's not always obvious that men understand that it's a common fight. So thank you, Paulo.
Now I will change my gender because I will speak in favor of Abir Al-Sahlani, our co-rapporteur, who asked me to take the floor in her name as a co-rapporteur.
So I will read what she states. Thank you, chairs, and thank you to my co-rapporteur and to our technical teams for their hard work on producing a well-balanced draft report replacing the success of the GAP III while still looking at room for improvement forward. The upcoming GAP IV has an importance which cannot be underestimated. It is the best tool at our disposal for ensuring our external action has a gender component not on the sidelines, but at its core. It's also a strong recommitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG 5.
In our draft report, we have replicated the targets of GAP III, where 85% of all the external actions with gender as a significant or principal objective and 5% having it as a principal objective. We have also added a new target of 5% ODA to strengthening meaningful partnerships with local women's organizations.
In a world where progress made by the EU and by this Parliament is constantly threatened by the global backlash on women's rights, gender equality, SRHR, and LGBTQI rights, strengthened by the shrinking civic space and threatened in the attack on human rights defenders. It is our opportunity to renew our commitment to the GAP, to look ahead and to put forward an ambitious set of key asks for the Commission to implement. In our external action, as in our internal policy, success can only be ensured when the entirety of the population is included in the policy-making and the problem-solving, not by excluding one half. I look greatly forward to working with my co-rapporteur and our shadows. Let us be ambitious together and produce a tangible, clear, forward-thinking report.
Thank you very much. And this was Abir.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you, Robert Abir. Thank you very much. And now we go to the shadow rapporteurs. I don't see PPE shadow rapporteur von Deber, Rosa Estaràs, not S&D shadow rapporteur von Deber, Mart...
Robert Biedroń
Yes, thank you very much. That's my third hat today, and I'm now Maddy Mai, who asked me to read her position on this important file. She could not make it to be here, so I will read her statement. How much time do I have, because there's a lot of text?
Robert Biedroń
I want to thank the co-rapporteurs for this draft report for the fourth Gender Action Plan, which shows the continued commitment of our committees to advancing gender equality through our external action. That commitment, as well as strong policies and sufficient funding for gender equality, are more necessary than ever. Globally, we see an enormous backlash on gender equality, also within this Parliament. Commitments we might have taken for granted, a shared understanding we might have taken for granted, they have come under pressure.
Slashed development budgets, deprioritisation of social and gender equality, and the challenging of fundamental human rights threaten to further derail sustainable development. I'm very happy that in this report, the rapporteurs commit their support to sexual and reproductive health and rights, because access to healthcare and free and informed decision-making over your body and health is a fundamental human right, and we cannot take it away. But commitment needs backing. It needs strong institutional language, oversight and ambitious targets. The past years have seen that concrete spending targets protect long-term priorities.
This Parliament and civil society need to be able to exert scrutiny on the way European money is being spent, also when it's combined with private investments. This means also our support and commitment to the protection of civic space and the role in scrutinising us and advocating for those who need their voices amplified the most. And the business case for gender equality is the easiest. SDG 5 advances all other sustainable development goals. When you improve the situation of girls and women, you transform, strengthen and emancipate entire communities.
Those matters will be reflected in our amendments to further strengthen the advancement of gender equality and the protection of girls and women globally. Thank you very much, and this was Marit Mai.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you very much, and it was on time. So now you are lucky because the next speaker, S&D shadow from FEMM, is here, Heléne Fritzon, the floor is yours for two minutes.
Heléne Fritzon
Thank you, Chair, thank you so much. And first of all, I would like to thank the rapporteurs for their work on this draft report. I believe it's a strong basis for an ambitious Gender Action Plan IV. And I welcome especially a clear focus on women's rights and gender equality in EU external action. But at the same time, of course, I believe there are areas where we need to be even more ambitious.
So, first, we must be very clear that sexual and reproductive health is also about sexual and reproductive rights. Women must have the right to decide over their own bodies and over their own lives. This must include access to safe and legal abortion.
This is particularly important in a world where conflict-related sexual violence is increasing. We can see it in Ukraine, we can see it in other places in the world, and where women and girls are, they are affected by war in a higher level. So, second point from my side is that we need to recognize the gendered impact of climate change. Women and girls are often among those most affected by climate-related poverty, displacement, and insecurity, while at the same time being important agents of climate adaptation and resilience. So we need to increase women's competence in leadership, for example.
And finally, we must continue to work for women's economic independence. Economic independence means more than entrepreneurship. It means access to decent, well-paid jobs, equal opportunities, social protection, and financial independence. And we can see it here, even in the EU, roughly one in three women are still outside paid employment. They have no salary.
They have not the right to decide over their own lives.
And this is not acceptable. Gender equality is not only about opportunities, it's about results and real change for girls and women around the world. So that is the ambition I believe GAP IV must deliver, and I really look forward to our common work on this file. So fruitful cooperation, I look forward.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you, thank you very much, Heléne. And now we move to Patriots, starting by the shadow rapporteur, Marieke Ehlers. The floor is yours for two minutes. Thank you.
Marieke Ehlers
Dank u wel, voorzitter. Ook dank aan de co-rapporteurs voor het opstellen van dit rapport. Als het u niet verrassen dat ik het met het overgrote deel volstrekt oneens ben. Persoonlijk heb ik namelijk geen quota nodig om gelijkwaardig te zijn, geen betuttelend beleid en geen systeem dat mij aanpraat dat ik hulpbehoevend ben enkel en alleen omdat ik vrouw ben. Quota zijn voor vis en staal en niet voor vrouwen.
En terwijl dit rapport overloopt van de gender mainstreaming en oproepen tot miljardeninvesteringen, staan onze grenzen wagenwijd open.
We importeren op grote schaal jonge mannen uit culturen waarin vrouwen op zijn best tweederangsburger zijn. En ja, dat heeft enorme gevolgen voor vrouwen op straat. Kijk naar Scheveningen. Kijk naar de kermissen. Kijk naar onze zwembaden.
Vrouwen worden nagefloten, geïntimideerd, uitgescholden, bespuugd. Maar in plaats van dit te benoemen in uw rapport zitten we in deze zaal te neuzelen over een papieren werkelijkheid. Want het echte probleem in Europa is dat links de keuzes van vrouwen niet respecteert. Ze eisen koste wat het kost gelijke uitkomst. Maar als een vrouw er bewust voor kiest om thuis voor haar kind te zorgen dan is die uitkomst anders.
En de keuze voor vrouwen moet worden gerespecteerd. Of ze nu kiezen voor het thuisfront of voor de frontlinie. Geef vrouwen gelijke kansen maar laat ze wel zelf kiezen welk beroep ze willen uitoefenen, welke studie ze gaan doen en of ze voltijd of deeltijd gaan werken. Reduceer ze niet tot targets en cijfers in een tabel.
Dank u wel.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you. And now from rapporteur from Patriotas Margarita de la Pisa. Two minutes.
Margarita de la Pisa Carrión
Muchas gracias. Hablo en el nombre de qué tal Robert encantado de verte por aquí. Hemos estado muchas horas juntos verdad en el mandato pasado. En esta ocasión hablo en nombre de Margarita de la Pisa no como ponente. Nos encontramos hoy ante un borrador que bajo la idea de proteger a las mujeres esconde un conflicto un conflicto por lo menos para mí.
Hay una incoherencia en mezclar de manera deliberada el apoyo real a la maternidad con la promoción del aborto. Pretender equiparar la protección de la vida y de la madre con la promoción del aborto es una contradicción. No podemos aceptar que ambas cuestiones se presenten como inseparable. Existe una diferencia fundamental entre garantizar una verdadera protección de las madres que hace mucha falta en tantos lugares del mundo y utilizar las instituciones europeas para promover una visión de la mujer en contradicción con su naturaleza bajo el paraguas de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos.
Muchas veces en esta casa, en esta comisión, se ponen el ejemplo de casos dolorosos de mujeres cuya vida estaba en riesgo durante el embarazo. Saben bien que evitar estas situaciones no es el objetivo. Realmente se quiere promocionar una visión donde se promocione o se permita la práctica del aborto en todo momento. Como se ha dicho aquí muchas veces, quitar todas las barreras: supuestos, plazos, periodos de reflexión o supervisión. Esta forma deja a la mujer, a la más vulnerable además, al desamparo de la sociedad, también desamparo de los hombres y susceptibles de sufrir una presión cuando tienen una mala situación económica o laboral.
La orientación de este informe pretende ser una herramienta para excluir fondos de la Unión Europea a asociaciones y proyectos que son a favor de la familia o de la vida. Porque cuando se condicionan las ayudas, los programas europeos y la financiación pública a la aceptación de una determinada visión ideológica, sabemos quiénes se quedan fuera. Se quedan fuera entidades que muchas veces hacen una gran labor en muchos sitios del mundo, que muchas veces son cristianas, que atienden la salud, que educan, que dan ayuda humanitaria y que son imprescindibles muchas veces para que esto se pueda seguir viviendo de manera digna en estos lugares del mundo.
Vemos que se quieren asfixiar económicamente a entidades que defienden la vida o que no aceptan de todas las maneras una agenda que está promocionada por las instituciones europeas. Los fondos europeos deben estar al servicio de las personas, de las madres y de las familias, no convertirse en un instrumento para premiar determinadas posiciones y castigar a quienes legítimamente puedan discrepar. Muchas gracias.
Lina Gálvez
Gracias Margarita. From ECR I don't see the DEVE rapporteur. For FEMM, Laurence, you have the floor, so Laurence, the floor is yours.
Laurence Trochu
Merci Présidente. Moi je voudrais attirer votre attention sur l'article 10, invite la Commission et le Service extérieur de l'action européenne à s'attaquer à la violence sexiste facilitée par les technologies. Alors c'est un sujet dont on parle souvent en commission FEMM et ce matin encore, et c'est vrai que j'aimerais qu'on précise davantage le terme de technology-facilitated gender-based violence parce que bien évidemment il est tout à fait légitime de combattre des pratiques qui portent atteinte aux femmes, aux filles, on l'a vu, la traite des êtres humains, l'exploitation sexuelle, les deepfakes pornographiques, la diffusion non consentie d'images intimes ou bien même le cyberharcèlement.
Il faut évidemment être intransigeant là-dessus, mais il faut aussi qu'on soit clair sur les notions qu'on utilise parce que qu'est-ce qui relève précisément de la violence, qu'est-ce qui relève du discours, qu'est-ce qui relève de l'opinion, du débat public ? Et je voudrais attirer là l'attention sur un exemple bien précis. Présidente, vous savez que dans cette commission, je remets en cause le mot gender précisément parce que moi je suis attachée à la réalité biologique homme et femme. J'entends les préoccupations LGBTQI+, mais vous voyez bien qu'on se retrouve dans un paradoxe parce que précisément, dénier une distinction biologique entre l'homme et la femme ne sert pas la cause féminine. On le voit par exemple dans des compétitions sportives où des hommes se déclarant femmes sont mis en compétition avec des femmes biologiques et évidemment la force physique n'est pas la même.
Et je ne voudrais pas que parce qu'on n'aura pas défini clairement ce dont nous parlons, des personnes, par exemple moi, mais je ne suis évidemment pas la seule, quand on se contente de dire ça, on soit pris en défaut.
On nous reproche par exemple dans ces cas-là de tenir des propos discriminatoires alors qu'on le dit précisément pour protéger les femmes. Voilà. Donc j'aimerais bien qu'on soit plus précis sur la définition de ce qu'on entend par technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Merci.
Lina Gálvez
Et merci. I don't see the rapporteur obviously has already from Renew. DEVE, but the co-rapporteur, I, the shadow rapporteur from FEMM, I don't see her. Greens, I don't see them either. So we move to the Left and Carolina Morace is the rapporteur both for DEVE and FEMM, so you have four minutes if you want to use it.
I will take it also longer, don't worry. I mean, you have the right, I mean, because you are rapporteur in both committees.
Carolina Morace
Grazie presidente e grazie ai relatori per il lavoro svolto. Questo progetto di relazione rappresenta una buona base di partenza e contiene già molti elementi che noi condividiamo. Presenteremo alcuni emendamenti con l'obiettivo di rafforzare ulteriormente il testo. Un primo punto riguarda l'attuazione.
Gli obiettivi ambiziosi sono indispensabili, ma devono anche essere verificabili. Servono indicatori chiari, responsabilità ben definite tra Commissione, European External Action Service e delegazioni dell'Unione Europea e un monitoraggio che permetta al Parlamento di valutare se gli impegni assunti si traducono davvero in risultati oppure no. Ma credo che ci sia una questione ancora più politica. Nel quadro del Global Gateway e più in generale dell'azione esterna dell'Unione, dobbiamo evitare che la parità di genere venga subordinata alle nuove priorità geopolitiche dell'Unione Europea. Mi riferisco a sicurezza energetica, materie prime critiche, catene di approvvigionamento e grandi investimenti strategici.
Non basta aggiungere una componente di genere a progetti concepiti principalmente per rispondere a questi interessi. Dobbiamo chiederci fin dall'inizio chi beneficia di quell'investimento, chi partecipa alle decisioni e se contribuisce davvero a ridurre le disuguaglianze nei paesi partner. La tutela dei diritti delle donne deve orientare la nostra politica esterna e di sviluppo, non essere adattata a posteriori alle nostre priorità geopolitiche. Lo stesso vale per il crescente arretramento dei diritti delle donne in molte parti del mondo.
Il testo riconosce giustamente questo fenomeno, ma credo che GAP IV debba andare oltre una dichiarazione di principio. Quando in un paese partner vengono limitati i diritti delle donne, vengono colpite le organizzazioni che li difendono e viene ristretto lo spazio civico, l'Unione deve sapere come reagire. Servono strumenti di risposta rapida, sostegno concreto alle organizzazioni locali e un ruolo chiaro delle delegazioni europee. Infine, sull'agenda donne, pace e sicurezza, dobbiamo evitare di ridurre il successo alla sola presenza numerica delle donne ai tavoli negoziali. La vera domanda è se possano incidere realmente sulle decisioni e sulla costruzione della pace.
E credo che qui sia necessaria anche una riflessione più ampia sulla direzione che sta prendendo l'Unione Europea. Noi ci opponiamo con forza alla crescente politica di riarmo e alla risposta sempre più militarizzata che la Commissione propone di fronte alle crisi internazionali. Se vogliamo prendere sul serio l'agenda donne, pace e sicurezza, dobbiamo investire molto di più nella prevenzione dei conflitti, nella diplomazia, nella mediazione e nella costruzione della pace.
Credo che con questi rafforzamenti possiamo arrivare a una relazione molto ambiziosa e soprattutto a un GAP IV capace di trasformare gli impegni politici in risultati concreti. E, Presidente, permettimi anche di dire qualcosa sulle quote rosa, perché le quote rosa non sono un contentino o un privilegio, ma sono uno strumento per rendere effettivo un diritto che troppo spesso lo è solo sulla carta. E mi sembra pure strano dover spiegare queste cose in una commissione del genere. Comunque, grazie.
Lina Gálvez
Grazie. Unfortunately, you know, it's sometimes it's necessary. So the floor goes to the shadow rapporteur from DEVE, ID, Marc Jongen. The floor is yours for two minutes. Thank you.
Marc Jongen
Thank you, Chair. I'm going to speak in German. Frauen und ihre Rechte in Entwicklungsländern zu stärken, kann in bestimmten Kontexten zweifellos wichtig und richtig sein, aber dieser Plan geht ja weit darüber hinaus. Und der Teufel steckt auch unter anderem in der Gender-Ideologie, aber auch im Detail.
Zum Beispiel: Wie wirkt sich der Bau einer Umgehungsstraße in Nairobi oder eines Elektrizitätswerks in Bangladesch auf die Gleichberechtigung der Frau aus? Wenn es nach dem künftigen Gender Action Plan 4 geht, dann muss die EU bei 85 % ihrer Entwicklungsprojekte jedes Mal einen solchen, ja, absurden Nachweis führen. Unabhängig davon, um welche Art Projekt es geht, soll die Geschlechtergleichheit ein signifikantes Ziel sein. 20 % sollen dies sogar als Hauptziel haben. Während also China sich begehrte Rohstoffe sichert, neue Absatzmärkte für seine boomende Industrie erschließt und politische Verbindungen mit Staaten weltweit ausbaut, will Europa offenbar seine Gender-Ideologie in alle Welt exportieren.
Mit solchen Schwerpunkten werden Global Gateway und Global Europe als wirtschaftlich rentable Investitionsrahmen sich nicht überzeugend präsentieren können. Bei Budgethilfen für ausländische Staaten kann die EU sogar im Rahmen des Gender Budgeting verlangen, dass die nationalen Haushalte des Partnerlands nach Gender-Kriterien analysiert und gestaltet werden. Also gegen Konditionalität in der Migrationsfrage stemmen sich hier in diesem Haus alle Fraktionen von Links bis EVP mit Händen und Füßen. Beim Gender-Thema, von dem die europäischen Bürger nichts davon haben, ist diese Konditionalität dann aber doch offenbar möglich.
Kritisch sehen wir auch, dass unter dem Gummibegriff sexuelle und reproduktive Gesundheit neben einigen sicher sinnvollen Maßnahmen wieder einmal auch die globale Förderung von Abtreibungen etabliert werden soll. Und daher sagen wir hier: gezielte Hilfe für Frauen in Entwicklungsländern ja, aber neokolonialer Export von Genderideologie nein. Vielen Dank.
Robert Biedroń
Thank you very much, colleague. With this, we finished the presentations of the shadow rapporteurs' positions and we go to other colleagues, MEPs wishing to take the floor. It's not the case, as I see, so I give the floor to representative of the Commission who is today with us, Brigitte Luggin, team leader, gender equality and non-discrimination, DG INTPA, for three minutes. The floor is yours.
Brigitte LUGGIN
Yes, thank you Chair, honorable members and rapporteurs for this opportunity to contribute to this first exchange on the draft report on GAP III and also thank you very much for the continued engagement of the committees on gender equality and women's rights in EU external action. We note that the draft report reflects the gravity of the global context. In many parts of the world, women's rights are under pressure and this includes sexual and reproductive health and rights, the rights of LGBTQI persons and also the civic space in which many organizations operate. And these negative trends underline the importance of maintaining a strong and consistent EU engagement. The report also rightly highlights the scale of gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, remains one of the gravest and most widespread human rights violations globally and is increasing. At the same time, structural inequalities persist in health, in education, in economic participation, in access to digital connectivity and use and skills, and in political participation.
So overall, progress on the SDG 5 remains far too slow. From the Commission's perspective, GAP III, the current Gender Action Plan, has provided an important basis for advancing gender equality in EU external action. And it has helped to reinforce institutional attention, engagement in a Team Europe approach, and gender-responsive programming across a broad range of different contexts. So as we look ahead, the objective is to build on that basis and ensure that our approach remains relevant and effective in an increasingly fragile and contested global environment. And we therefore welcome the report's strong emphasis on ambition and also on improved implementation.
It will be important to ensure a framework that supports evidence-based programming and monitoring based on sex-disaggregated data and gender-specific indicators that capture transformative outcomes, and also based on clear responsibilities while remaining workable across different operational settings.
On the targets, we note Parliament's clear ambition on setting benchmarks that ensure gender equality continues to hold its central place in EU external action across all sectors and financing instruments. And on that, we also want to note that without prejudging the outcome of the negotiations on the next MFF, the Global Europe proposal includes a reference to GAP IV as well as to gender mainstreaming as a principle. We further note the report's focus on partnerships with women's rights organisations. They are indeed indispensable partners, especially at local level and in crisis settings. The EU has increased support to women's rights organisations under the current GAP III, but it will remain important to ensure that funding is easier to access and better adapted to local women's rights organisations.
On women, peace and security, this remains an important dimension of the EU's broader engagement in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and my colleague from the EEAS will speak on this point. With Global Gateway, we already support gender equality goals, for instance in the green and digital transitions, where there are significant opportunities to promote more inclusive outcomes.
This is also because there is a strong economic case for gender equality, and we are working to make the most of it. When women and girls have equal access to education, jobs, finance, and leadership, economies grow stronger and more resilient, as proven by many studies and, yeah. So gender equality is therefore not only a matter of rights, but also a driver of prosperity, innovation, and sustainable development, and we will continue our efforts in this direction. Thanks a lot.
Robert Biedroń
Thank you very much, and with this we go to EEAS, mentioned by Ms. Lugen, Ms. Sandra Gringards, Women, Peace and Security and Gender Equality Expert. You have three minutes for your intervention.
Sandra Gringras
Thank you so much, and Chair, honorable members of the European Parliament and rapporteurs. Thank you also for this opportunity to exchange on your draft report, and thank you for your leadership and guidance on this matter. And we warmly welcome and echo your call for an ambitious GAP IV. The geopolitical and security environment has changed profoundly since GAP III was adopted, and so has the political space for gender equality. As many has noted here today, we see a growing and well-funded coordinated pushback towards women's rights and gender equality.
And this pushback is particularly targeting sexual and reproductive health and rights and LGBTQI+ rights. So we see that the GAP IV must be an ambitious and forward-looking political response to this new reality. EU will remain steadfast in our commitment to advancing gender equality and women's rights as part of our foreign and security policies. GAP IV must help us not only defend progress made but continue advancing gender equality in this increasingly difficult environment. GAP III has successfully demonstrated that progress can be achieved when we have a robust policy framework that are matched with resources and implementation across the EU's external action.
And critical to the progress achieved has been this three-pronged approach of combining gender mainstreaming, targeted actions and political dialogue, but also the gender-transformative, human rights-based and intersectional approach. And this is what sets the ambition. For example, in the EEAS side, we have structurally then embedded gender equality in statements and political dialogues and key commitments, also in the environment of pushback in multilateral settings and succeeding in safeguarding important global norms. So it shows the importance of this policy dialogue objective.
We echo the co-rapporteurs' call for the full implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda and for the adoption of a new WPS action plan. At the EEAS, we will be launching consultations for the new action plan this autumn with a view to have a new action plan adopted before the end of next year. And the revised WPS action plan and GAP IV will remain closely interlinked as it has been under GAP III. They are complementary instruments with distinct but mutually reinforcing objectives. WPS is of particular importance in the current geopolitical and security context.
It is a very comprehensive agenda that is relevant to all aspects of peace and security, from conflict prevention, resolution, mediation to peacebuilding. To conclude, one of the key strengths of GAP III has been its joint nature, bringing together the EEAS and the Commission. And we are building on this for GAP IV by working very closely with DG INTPA and other Commission services to ensure coherence and maximize synergies. And this partnership will be key to deliver results across external action. Thank you.
Lina Gálvez
So thank you, thank you very much both of you. And now I would like to give the floor back to the FEMM rapporteur Paulo do Nascimento Cabral and if the DEVE rapporteur would like to take the floor later on, obviously you have the right to in the name of DEVE. If not, Paulo do Nascimento, you have normally three minutes but since the DEVE side is not taking the floor, if you can, if you want to take a bit more, it's still possible. Thank you. So the floor is yours.
Paulo do Nascimento Cabral
Thank you so much, chairs. Abir is not here. I'll not use all the time. I just want to thank all the comments from our colleagues. I believe that the general view is that we have a very strong basis to work, a very good basis to work.
You know that we have a limit of characters, there is some things that we didn't included because it's, we have this limitation, but we are ready to include it as an amendment and I hope that you can all contribute with your positive and constructive approaches. I have to answer one question, I believe MEP Troszczynski asked what is technology-facilitated GBV. Basically it's a term that is referred to online violence.
So technology-facilitated gender-based violence is online violence. Also, I'd like to highlight two or three issues that we just heard from also EEAS and from the Commission, is that we have the tools, and I believe that we should use the tools that the European Union has at their own disposal. For instance, when we talk about the Global Gateway, when we talk about the free trade agreements, I believe that we should use this leverage, this possibility with third countries to guarantee that our values, democratic values, the gender-based violence abolition, also the women's rights are protected on these agreements, because we have this leverage and I think we should use it. The access to the internal market is very, very important for the third countries, so it's important for us to use this possibility. At the same time, I believe that one of our proposals that we are going to submit is also when the ambassadors meet in Brussels, they do it once a year, I believe that one of the points of the agenda should be to speak about the state of play of the GAP III and the gender-based violence and the women's rights on their countries.
So I think it's important to put this on the agenda also at a diplomatic level. So I think that we have still some space to improve.
Another thing that I want to to refer is the importance of cooperation. I believe that we have EU institutions on the ground, but we also have some bilateral from from member states, organizations from member states that also work on this on these third countries. And I believe that they should work together, they should complement and not contradict themselves. So this is important to guarantee that all the resources are being well used and aligned with the European Union's priorities. And one other thing that I truly defend is what when we speak about subsidiarity.
It's not it cannot be a question of top-down, it has to be a bottom-up, a community-based developed project to involve, to gather all the people from that community to guarantee that they are empowered and to guarantee they are safe. So for me it's quite important that our organizations and the local organizations can work together in order to empower and to capacitate these local communities. For me that's crucial for the success of the program. One other thing that I believe is also important is to see globally what we are facing right now, the geopolitical tensions and what we are seeing about the backlash that you referred on women's rights and gender-based violence.
Even inside the EU we have this problem although we spent a lot of money, a lot of financing in trying to improve the situation. We need to see where it comes and some studies says it comes from the social media, the algorithm, and we need to guarantee that we have also a presence on these media and these vehicles because if not we will lose this fight. And I believe that it's quite important to guarantee also that we need to stop this backlash. We need to continue the protection of our women, of our girls, and also to make visible the support of the EU and to see for these third countries that the EU is the best partner possible because we know that we invest money in a win-win situation and other great powers of the world, I will not mention but you know all, they don't care about what is happening with the human rights. They just want to take the resources, they just want to put money there, buy some authorities, local governments, and then they do whatever they want.
This is not our way of doing things.
We want to promote democratic values, women's rights, girls' rights, create of course local value chains, guarantee that they can also develop and not having this predator behavior. So, a lot of things that we can also do in this report. We were limited by the number of characters, but I hope that you can all help us to improve it, although I believe it's a very good basis. But we are open to work with you all in order to get the best result possible and have a strong position of the European Parliament, the strong voice of the European Parliament on this goal. Thank you so much, chairs, for your attention.
Robert Biedroń
Thank you very much, Paulo, and thank you very much, colleagues. I will have no concluding statement by Abir because I don't want to say anything which will destroy her position or put her in very uncomfortable situation. So let me skip this point and go to concluding remarks. I think we know where we are, we know the positions of our co-rapporteurs, we know the shadow rapporteurs' positions. We have, as I remember, two studies on that.
We heard different stakeholders, so we have tools to work.
We have good atmosphere in this committee. I've seen, I think it shifted towards more backlash, I think. But we can always fight back against this pushback. So good luck. And thank you very much once again, co-chair and all the colleagues for participating in this exchange of views.
And it was an honor for DEVE to be here together with FEMM. Thank you very much.
Lina Gálvez
Thank you very much, chair. Thank you very much, Robert. It was an honor for us, the FEMM committee, to have you here and to have you back here, even if you noticed the committee a bit changed. We are managing still to really to defend what we believe are the best we can do in order to defend women's and girls' rights and to move on on gender equality on a fairer world. And just to thank you all of you, all obviously the rapporteurs for their excellent work and also the rest of you for this very constructive discussion today.
Obviously we will continue this work with amendments. The report will be available in all languages by the 22nd of September and the deadline for amendments is the 30th of September. So having said that, thank you, thank you once more for your work. Thank you also to the interpreters for their work. And well, we are finishing four minutes in advance, so that's even good news too.
So have a nice evening and also a nice weekend if you are going back home.
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