14/07/2010 Equality and Non-Discrimination
Evoking the drafting of the future EU directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, today expressed his concern “regarding duplication of Council of Europe and the European Union’s work, and a possible proliferation of monitoring processes”, while addressing the EP Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality in Brussels.
“Duplication of monitoring mechanisms is costly, and this is likely to be unaffordable for our States in times of financial restrictions,” he pointed out. “We must also avoid that the new legal instruments that may be developed by the European Union […] result in less demanding standards,” he added.
Mr Mendes Bota also underlined that the Lisbon Treaty in force since December 2009, raises a number of legal challenges for the conventional system of the Council of Europe and offers new opportunities for co-operation between the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly. “I believe this is a political momentum we have to use to join our forces,” he said. “Gender equality is obviously an issue of common interest; our respective political assemblies seek the same objectives, namely providing women with more rights, more equality and equal opportunities,” he added.