On the 2022 discharge: European Institute for Gender Equality

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SUGGESTIONS

The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

A. whereas Article 8 TFEU states that in all its activities the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities, establishing the principle of gender mainstreaming and to promote gender equality between men and women; whereas gender equality must be incorporated into all EU policies, including via gender budgeting at all levels of the budgetary process;

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

C. whereas the 2023 Gender Equality Index demonstrates that Member States have 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 metrics; 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;

D. whereas there 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; 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; whereas women in the EU are more severely affected by poverty or social exclusion than men; 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; whereas the EU gender pay gap is 13 %, with variations between the Member States; whereas the gender pay gap has a number of implications, including a 29 % 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; 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 is essential; 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, affordable public services for care, education, health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and housing, and to protect victims of gender-based violence;

E. whereas the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality (“EIGE”) for the financial year 2022 was EUR 8,432,920, representing a decrease of 3 % compared to 2021 (EUR 8,693,358); whereas the entire budget of the Institute derives from the Union budget;

1. 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, to help the European institutions and the Member States to mainstream gender equality in all their policies and combat gender-based discrimination; 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; welcomes in particular the Institute’s continuous work on the Gender Equality Index and its low-threshold access to information for citizens; emphasises the need for stronger and more efficient integration of gender equality policies and gender mainstreaming tools; reiterates its repeated calls for further staffing resources, including statutory staff to be allocated to EIGE in the light of increasing urgent demands, technical assistance and requests for its services; calls, therefore for greater amounts to be allocated in the budget of the Institution in order to be able to enhance their recruitment and research capabilities to further enhance their work and output in view of subsequent crises and backlashes against gender equality and LGBTIQ+ persons which affect women disproportionately;

2. 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 groups in vulnerable situations, including single mothers, women with disabilities, racialized women, LGBTIQ+ women, migrant women and refugees, elderly women, women in rural or scarcely populated areas; notes that this could be achieved by meeting the need for increased funding for gender equality actions in terms of employment and growth, as well as to combat gender-based violence and the pay gap between men and women, the pension pay gap between men and women, the impact of crises on women, gender mainstreaming and budgeting the increasing poverty rate among women, as well as in terms of rights and democracy and the rule of law; welcomes to that end the ongoing cooperation between the EIGE and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM); stresses the herculean efforts and the valuable contribution that the EIGE makes to ensuring the European Parliament’s objectives, values and priorities; 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 EIGE can make to all the European Parliaments’ Committees and other EU agencies in order to better integrate gender mainstreaming in all EU policies;

3. Notes EIGE’s continuous high level of budget execution, despite the persistent understaffing of the agency, with commitment appropriations of up to 97,91 % in 2022(compared to 98,92 % in 2021), and a payment appropriations rate of 81,10 % (72,16 % in 2021);

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

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

6. Is of the opinion on the basis of the data currently available that discharge shall be granted to the Director of the EIGE in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2022.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The Chair in his capacity as rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Date adopted

24.1.2024

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

23

4

2

Members present for the final vote

Christine Anderson, Robert Biedroń, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Annika Bruna, Maria da Graça Carvalho, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Frances Fitzgerald, Lívia Járóka, Arba Kokalari, Alice Kuhnke, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Johan Nissinen, Carina Ohlsson, Samira Rafaela, Evelyn Regner, Diana Riba i Giner, Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Maria Veronica Rossi, Sylwia Spurek, Marco Zullo

Substitutes present for the final vote

Laura Ballarín Cereza, Sylvie Brunet, Marina Kaljurand, Eleni Stavrou

Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote

Milan Brglez, Rainer Wieland

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

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