mr president it is almost a year since our new european parliament was elected
it is almost half a year since commissioner reding was appointed
so we have four years left together to really make a difference for women and men
how we as a parliament and ms reding as commissioner are judged at the end of those four years will depend on the action that we take and on the support that we can muster in society
no one will be impressed by mere words
i do not want to have to say in four years time look this is a piece of paper from ms reding and here is a huge stack of parliament resolutions
i want to be able to say yes we have secured two weeks paternity leave for all european fathers
yes we have adapted our equality laws to include all terrains to include transgender people
yes we have a system in place that ensures gender parity for the next european commission
i want to say yes the gender pay gap is closing with more women with decent jobs and decent pay
and yes the gender care gap is closing with more men who take their share of unpaid care
i hope that all groups in this parliament are united to deliver two strong reports tomorrow the figueiredo and the romeva i rueda reports and i hope that ms reding will have the courage to turn these reports into action even when there is not an easy majority in council beforehand
we cannot do this alone
we need to involve those to whom this is important
i am not too happy with how the women's charter up to now has been drafted with no involvement of parliament or of civil society but i will accept that this is the way that the european commission has made an opening statement to lay down its commitment to gender equality
it is more important what happens next
in answer to our questions i would very much like to hear from ms reding how she will draft an ambitious strategy for our coming four years
