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The European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities organised a Public Hearing on 10 September entitled "Is Enlargement Also For Women". The Hearing was opened by Anna Karamanou MEP, chairperson of the Committee, and Lone Dybkjaer MEP who is currently responsible for drafting the Committees' Opinion on the state of the enlargement negotiations. Discussions then took place around three key themes:
(i) How will EU legislation on equality determine the situation of women in the candidate countries?
(ii) Social and economic situation of women in the candidate countries - what impact of accession?
(iii) Women's participation in the decision-making process - the case of the EP 2004 elections.
In her opening remarks, Anna Karamanou said that the enlargement process meant that women could play a new role, without any form of exclusion, in the reunification of Europe. Women's rights cannot be dissociated from social progress, she added. It was therefore essential that women in the candidate countries should be able to enjoy the benefits of existing Community legislation on gender equality. The future European constitution must institutionalise equality between men and women, she concluded. Lone Dybkjaer said that the main question was how to approach the European project in a way which enabled women to be involved. Referring to Denmark's experience, she called on the candidate countries not to make the same mistake by addressing women "as if they were incapable of taking political decisions". The Union, she said, should organise information campaigns to persuade women to take part in the project. Guest speakers at the hearing spoke about equality of opportunity in Lithuania, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia and the countries of central and eastern Europe in general. These countries have made important progress in implementing Community legislation, in particular by adopting new laws on equality and non-discrimination as well as provisions against sexual harassment, by rewriting their labour legislation.
The European Parliament News Report
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