Still confusion on “rights”

Gender equality, “intelligent borders”, the FIFA scandal that hit European and World football. And also Russia, Turkey, Hungary. The EU Parliament plenary meeting held June 8-11 in Strasbourg addressed a wide range of themes while adjourning one of the most expected issues, namely the TTIP, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, on which the positions of the hemicycle and those among EU institutions are fare from reaching an agreement. Stop discrimination against women. A hot issue that sparked off an evident political divide in the EU Parliament – which European media evidently underestimated – is a non-binding resolution regarding and “EU Strategy on gender equality after 2015” presented by the rapporteur, Maria Noichl (Germany). The he resolution was adopted by 341votes to 281, with 81 abstentions. The document, over 20 pages long, states that the European Parliament “invites the Commission to draw up and adopt a new specific strategy for women’s rights and gender equality in Europe, aimed at creating equal opportunities”, with the purpose of “putting an end to all forms of discrimination to which women are exposed in the labor market with regard to pay, pensions, decision-making, access to goods and services and the reconciliation of family and professional life, as well as to all forms of violence against women, and to eliminate discriminatory practices and structures related to genre”. Parliament also calls for “specific actions to strengthen the rights of different groups of women, including women with disabilities, migrant women and those members of ethnic minority groups, Roma women, older women, single mothers and the LGBTI”. Maria Noichl said: “Despite the internal differences, MEPs have focused on our main objective” which is “to finally reach authentic gender equality in Europe”. The “right to abortion” returns… Along with numerous, constructive remarks on the defense of women’s rights, the document underlines several controversial aspects. The document justly underlines “that the feminization of poverty can result in an increase in trafficking of women, sexual exploitation and forced prostitution, as well as greater financial dependence of women. It “calls on the Commission and Member States to take action in this area. Various forms of discrimination and violence are denounced in the domestic environment, at work, on the Internet and in public spaces; among them stalking and cyber bullying. But the chapter on health it states that Parliament “asks the Commission to support Member States in ensuring high-quality services” in the fields “of sexual and reproductive health and rights, pregnancy interruption and safe and legal contraception”; still, it “calls on the Commission, recognizing the importance of sexual and reproductive rights, to create excellent models of best practices on sexual education for young people across Europe”. Voices of protest were heard during the debate prior to the vote denouncing the undue introduction of abortion (which is not the responsibility of the EU but of its Member States) in a resolution that should instead ensure equal rights and opportunities between women and men. Paragraph 24 states that even the Parliament “calls on the Commission to ensure that Member States allow the full legal recognition of the preferred gender of a person, including the change of name, the social security number and similar other indicators of gender on identity documents”. On Paragraph 31 it is “recommended, since the composition and the definition of family evolves over time, that regulations in the field of the family and work should be more comprehensive with regard to single-parent families and LGBT parenting”. Lay organizations and bishops in several Countries have voiced their criticism of these aspects of the resolution. Kremlin at a crossroads: Ankara must do the reforms. MEPs adopted articulate positions in terms of foreign affairs (while the situation in Greece, the migrant emergency, and the future referendum on the presence of England in the EU were being discussed in Strasbourg corridors with great concern). It was said that as for Russia, the EU should “reexamine in a critical way” its relations with Moscow. Gabrielius Landsbergis (MEP from Lithuania, rapporteur of a resolution), said: “With its aggression against Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, Russian leadership placed our relations before a crossroads. Now it’s up to the Kremlin to indicate the direction: cooperation or greater isolation”. TO Turkey, also in the light of the vote of June 7, are asked real reforms on the road of democracy and the respect of rights: but the doors towards Ankara and towards the Turkish people are not closed.