What changed

G. whereas gender budgeting is a prerequisite to achieve gender equality and gender equality is in itself a condition for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including within the Union, where the EIGE has shown through a robust econometric model applied to the specific context of the Union that improving gender equality would result in a series of macroeconomic benefits in several areas such as education, labour market activity and wages; whereas the EIGE has also shown that gender equality has in general a strong, positive impact on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and that improving gender equality would lead to an increase in the EU’s GDP per capita of at least 6.1 % and up to 9.6 % by 2050, which amounts to EUR 1.95 trillion and EUR 3.15 trillion respectively;

G. whereas gender mainstreaming in the EU budget is reinforced under the Interinstitutional Agreement accompanying the 2021-2027 MFF, including through requirements to strengthen the assessment of gender impact in impact assessments and evaluations under the Better Law-Making framework, and to develop a pilot methodology to measure expenditure relevant to the promotion of gender equality at programme level as of 2023;

H. whereas there has been a concerning decline in Member States’ efforts to implement gender mainstreaming since 2021, which should not be mirrored at Union level;

H. whereas the pursuit of gender equality requires an intersectional approach to gender budgeting that takes into account the compounded discrimination faced by women belonging to racialised groups, persons with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people and migrants, to ensure that EU spending promotes equality across all dimensions;

I. whereas the systematic integration of ex ante gender equality impact assessments and mitigation measures into the Union’s policymaking processes is necessary to ensure that future initiatives do not unintentionally worsen gender equality;

I. whereas the family is the fundamental unit of society and plays a critical role in fostering the well-being, stability and development of individuals, communities and nations; whereas it is essential, therefore, that EU horizontal policies actively promote and support it;

J. whereas gender budgeting is a prerequisite for achieving gender equality, and gender equality is in itself a condition for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including within the EU, where the EIGE has shown through a robust econometric model applied to the specific context of the EU that improving gender equality would result in a series of macroeconomic benefits in several areas, such as education, labour market activity and wages; whereas the EIGE has also shown that gender equality generally has a strong positive impact on GDP per capita, and that improving gender equality would lead to an increase in the EU’s GDP per capita of at least 6.1 % and up to 9.6 % by 2050, which amounts to EUR 1.95 trillion and EUR 3.15 trillion respectively;

K. whereas the EIGE has reported that there has been a concerning decline in Member States’ efforts to implement gender mainstreaming since 2021, a trend that should not be mirrored at EU level;

L. whereas the systematic integration of ex ante gender equality impact assessments and mitigation measures into the EU’s policymaking processes is necessary to ensure that future initiatives promote gender equality and do not worsen it;

3. Notes that the methodology is based on the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is a qualitative statistical tool used to monitor and record development activities that target gender equality as a policy objective and is applied by the Commission to all EU budget spending programmes under shared, direct and indirect management;

4. Stresses that the Commission’s methodology differs from the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as it does not include a score that would allow for tracking the negative effects of EU spending on gender mainstreaming objectives and introduces the category of 0* for interventions with a likely but as yet unclear positive impact on gender equality;

4. Notes that the methodology is built on the basis of the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is a qualitative statistical tool to monitor and record development activities that target gender equality as a policy objective and is applied by the Commission to all Union budget spending programmes under shared, direct and indirect management;

6. Notes that, for the financial year 2021, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 352 billion in commitments, 1 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 3 % had received a score of 1, 1 % had received a score of 0 and 95 % had received a score of 0*;

5.7. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2021,2022, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 352321 billion in commitments, 12 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 39 % had received a score of 1, 116 % had received a score of 0 and 9573 % had received a score of 0*;

6.8. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2022,2023, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 321427 billion in commitments, 2 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 9 % had received a score of 1, 1669 % had received a score of 0 and 7320 % had received a score of 0*;

7.9. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2023,2024, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 427195 billion in commitments, 23 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 917 % had received a score of 1, 6965 % had received a score of 0 and 2016 % had received a score of 0*;0*, these scores being rounded up;

8. Notes that for the financial year 2024, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 195 billion in commitments, 3 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 17 % had received a score of 1, 65 % had received a score of 0 and 16 % had received a score of 0*, these scores being rounded-up;

10. Understands that the decreasing share of commitments with a score of 0* over the years is the result of an improvement in the collection and availability of data, and the Commission’s reporting capacity, allowing its directorates-general to better measure the contribution of their programmes to gender equality at a more granular level;

9. Understands that the decreasing share of commitments with a score of 0* over the years is the result of an improvement in the Commission’s reporting capacity, allowing its directorates-general to better measure the contribution of their programmes to gender equality at a more granular level;

11. Further understands that, due to the limited availability of data and capacity for reporting during the first financial years to which this methodology was applied, there is little added value in comparing numbers from one financial year to another based on the yearly results or in drawing insights from such comparisons;

10. Further understands that due to the limited capacity for reporting during the first financial years to which this methodology was applied, there is little added value in comparing numbers from one financial year to another based on the yearly results or in drawing insights from such comparisons;

16.17. RegretsNotes that the methodologymethodology’s scope is alimited, limitedas toolit thatdoes cannotnot properlyadequately accountcapture forsecondary programmes’or secondaryindirect effects of programmes on gender equality, programmes’ potential negative impacts on gender equality, or otherthe societalintersectional factorsdimensions needednecessary for ana intersectionalcomprehensive analysisassessment of policy impacts;

21.22. SharesTakes note of the Commission’s assessment of the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the EU budget and shares the view that for the remaining years of the 2021-2027 MFF, the priority should be to continue to evaluate programmes at the most granular level possible to better assess their contribution to gender equality and draw lessons on their implementation, making good use of the enhanced gender disaggregatedgender-disaggregated data reporting in place since 2023; stresses the need for enhanced cooperation with all the Members States to harmonise methodologies and avoid any fragmentation in their approaches, and to improve data collection, aggregation and reporting;

22.23. RegretsAcknowledges that despitewhile beingthe amethodology usefuldeveloped toolby tothe reflectCommission onis thea contributionuseful oftool for assessing the UnionEU budgetbudget’s contribution to gender equality, theit methodologyfaces developedlimitations bythat constrain its capacity for a transformative effect; stresses the Commissionimportance facesof structuralensuring limitationsdata thatavailability reduceand itsthe capacityuse toof havespecific, ameasurable, transformativeachievable, effect,relevant aand situationtime-bound which(SMART) cannotperformance beindicators leftin unchanged;this regard;

25.26. InsistsStresses, that in addition to the MFF, any instrument adopted under Article 122 ofTFEU theshould Treatyalso onapply thegender Functioningmainstreaming ofand thebudgeting Europeanprovisions Unionas shouldappropriate, alsowithout ensurealtering solidprogramme genderobjectives, mainstreamingeligibility andor budgetingaward provisions,criteria whereasalready set in thesector-specific pastlegislation, thiswith hasa notview alwaysto beentracking the case,EU’s whichcontribution mayto leadthe topromotion deficienciesof ingender theequality implementationacross ofall programmesfunding underinstruments indirectin management;a comprehensive and consistent manner;

26.27. Calls on the Commission to conduct systematic ex ante impact assessments that also analyse the specific impacts of UnionEU policies and fiscal policy measures – including tax schemes and State aid programmes – on gender equality, in line with the Better Regulation Guidelines;Guidelines, with the aim of identifying and mitigating gender disparities; stresses that careful consideration should also be given to the social and economic impacts of improved gender equality while taking into account administrative costs to small and medium-sized enterprises;

32. Calls33. onInvites the Commission to considerexplore includingthe apossibility legallyof bindingsetting a quantitative target in the next programming period for a share of the EU budget that is to contributecontributes to promoting gender equality (corresponding either to a score of 2 or 1 in the current methodology), asnoting suchthat similar targets have provedproven useful for the mainstreamingin ofadvancing the Union’sEU’s climate and biodiversity objectives;

34. Calls on35. theConsiders Commission,it alsocrucial, in line with the revised Financial Regulation, to ensure that the next generation of programmes be negotiated onincludes theobjectives basisthat ofallow, proposalswhere whichappropriate, includefor objectivesthe thatcollection areof specific,data measurable,disaggregated attainable,by relevantgender and time-bound,for asthe wellaggregation asof indicatorssuch thatdata areacross relevant,all accepted,relevant credible,programmes; easy,calls robuston andthe basedCommission onto widelyfurther recogniseddevelop scientificand evidence,improve notingits thatmethodology whereto appropriate,track the data collectedEU inbudget’s relationcontribution to such indicators should begender brokenequality, downincluding bythrough genderthe andsystematic collecteduse inof adigital waytools, thatsuch allowsas forartificial aggregationintelligence, ofto suchimprove data acrosscollection, allaggregation relevantand programmes;cross-programme analysis;

36.37. Calls on the Commission to dedicate atallocate leastan 90increased %share of all EU external actions budget to interventions that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment and further dedicate 25 % of the EU’s external financing instruments in the upcoming MFF to promoting gender equality as a principal objective; further calls on the Commission to establish a dedicated fund to promote gender equality globally and to ensure that the actions it supports focus on access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, increasing women’s participation in decision-making, supporting local women-led non-governmental organisations,organisations and assisting local women human rights defenders;

38. Recognises that the gender pay gap continues to be a significant issue in the EU institutions; urges the Commission to conduct a thorough investigation to identify areas within these institutions where the gap is particularly wide and calls on the Commission to implement measures to ensure that the institutions uphold the principles they advocate and to set the goal of eliminating the gender pay gap within the institutions by 2030;

39. Calls on the Commission to ensure that EU-funded programmes protect and promote women’s rights, with particular attention to access to public healthcare, childcare and sexual and reproductive health and rights;

39. Recognises the persistent gender disparities in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as nuclear energy, defence, and energy-intensive industries; calls on the Commission to ensure that gender budgeting be applied as a corrective and transformative instrument in order to ensure that resource allocation in these industries actively contributes to gender equality;

40. Calls on EU institutions, in line with the principles of the Directive on Pay Transparency, to analyse and report on their possible gender pay gaps and to take appropriate measures where needed; reiterates its call on the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to improve gender balance, especially at senior management level; invites the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to conduct an analysis to identify areas within the HR cycle – from recruitment to access to promotions – where such improvements are most needed, and to explore the possibility of implementing further measures to achieve gender balance as soon as possible;

41. Recognises the persistent gender disparities in several sectors that are traditionally dominated by a single gender; calls on the Commission to apply gender budgeting to ensure and monitor non-discriminatory conditions to access necessary skills and education programmes for all genders, and to improve gender equality in these specific sectors with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the industry; calls for particular attention to women entrepreneurs, especially in small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups, including through specific monitoring within programmes, such as InvestEU and Horizon Europe; calls for stronger monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure funds genuinely benefit women and marginalised groups;