12th EFGP Council Meeting, Budapest

SATURDAY, 1ST DECEMBER 2001

Catherine Grèze, EFGP Committee, opened the meeting at 9:15 and welcomed delegates.

Approval of the 'Den Haag' Council minutes.

Catherine asked if there were any comments on the minutes.

Kees Kalkman, GroenLinks, said that in the report of Mr. Rosenmöller's speech, it should be corrected to read that he wanted to abolish the Council and replace it with a European Senate - he didn't want to abolish the Commission. This correction was noted.

Catherine then asked for a vote on the amended minutes. The minutes were passed unanimously.

Presentation and discussion - "Gender Politics"

Catherine introduced the discussion on Gender Politics.

Marie Schaffer, EFGP committee, gave the results of the gender survey amongst member parties. She said that the first gender survey, 1 year ago, showed that the situation among member parties was not, on the whole, good. She said that the gender fringe meeting at Den Haag had also discussed the issue. Part of the problem, she said, is that while 2-person delegations had to be gender balanced, 1-person delegations were frequently men.
The response to the survey itself was not very good, she said. While 10 parties responded to last year's survey and 12 parties responded to this year's survey, in total 17 parties responded. This still only represents a little more than half of the member parties. Why did so few parties respond? In terms of the results, women constitute between 30% and 55% of the membership of parties. Switzerland and Finland are two parties that have high percentages of women. However, women are still under-represented in the majority of parties. The exceptions are Austria, where 40 to 44% of those in party structures are women, but 50 to 66% of those in elected functions. Finland also has relatively good representation of women, with 58% of those in regional or local parliaments. In general, Marie noted that representation of women is better in parties that have quotas or other structures to promote women. Quotas are not an aim in themselves, Marie said, but merely a means to an end. Other action being taken by parties includes training for women, childcare, no votes after 11pm and other measures.
Marie concluded by stating that gender balancing is not only a women's problem

Catherine then introduced the next speaker in the discussion - Peter Krastzev, visiting Professor at the CEU Dept. of Gender and Culture at the University of Budapest, Hungary.

Peter Krastzev opened by saying that he didn't agree with Joschka Fischer that war is sometimes necessary, but he said that in Hungary, "We're always fighting". One of the big fights, he said, was against patriarchal society and the conservative forces in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Greens themselves had a long way to go before being gender balanced.
In terms of gender, the communist inheritance was overwhelmingly positive, said Peter. Women's rights were promoted. The present Christian Conservative government was also making positive steps, with a new law against domestic violence, for example. This is a big problem in Hungary - according to some opinion polls, every fifth family suffers from domestic violence.
However, there are currently no laws against sexual harassment or sexist language, both of which are also big problems in Hungary. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian rights are very important in Hungary. Homophobia is rife, and there is an urgent need to address this, said Peter.

Catherine Grèze thanked the speakers, and opened the debate to the delegates.

Yiannis Tsironis, Greece, said that his was one of the parties that didn't reply to the survey. There is a big problem in the Greek Greens, he said. While around 40% of members are women, only 5% of activists are women. They are trying to promote women in the party, but are finding it very difficult. We have to change our politics, he said, in order to be more acceptable to women.

Marije Cornelissen, GroenLinks, said that a lot still needs to be done in women's rights and in non-discrimination. Greens must be active in this, she said. She asked if we could use the Statutes Working Group to achieve better gender balancing in the council? She also mentioned that the Green Gender Equality working group will organise a workshop in Berlin, and she hoped to see many delegates there.

Ane Aadland, Norway, said that globally, 1 in 4 women is abused at some time in their life. This is a big threat to democracy, she argued. Even in Norway, problems such as rape and domestic violence were still far too common. She said that there is a problem with the style of politics if the decision is made outside the meeting, in the corridors. Even if a woman gets to a meeting, she may often find that the decision has already been taken.

Françoise Duthu, Les Verts, said that we need more precise questions about what Green parties are doing about Gender. She also said that discrimination in employment is also a very important issue.

Antoinette Brouyaux, Ecolo, reminded delegates that gender is also a man's responsibility.

David Hammerstein, Spain, reported that over half of the regional representatives and 100% of the regional MPs in Spain are women. (There is only 1 regional MP, he added.) He stressed the importance of gender in broadening a Green political platform.

Niki Kortvelyessy, Hungary, said that there was a huge lack of awareness of the problem in Hungary. It was a big struggle to get as far as we have, she said.

Claes Roxbergh, Sweden, argued that Stockholm was just the start of a process that must be ongoing.

In answering some of the points made, Marie Schaffer, EFGP Committee, said that each individual party should take the issue forward. In addition, the council should address the issue every two years. Finally, she urged each member party to encourage and push their women into positions within the party.

In concluding the debate, Catherine Grèze recommended to Green East-West dialogue that the topic should be put on their agenda in the future.

At 10:10am, Frithjof Schmidt, EFGP Committee, introduced the committee's proposal on the membership of the Global Green Co-ordination. He stressed that the Greens were a global political family now, and that we should therefore be prepared to think about co-ordination structures at a global level. He stressed that the committee had specifically rejected a proposal for a strong formal international structure because, he said, it was important to start these things slowly and steadily. The need for dialogue at a global level was clear, however. It was, he said, the task of the committee to co-ordinate this work. The three people plus a political advisor were proposed as a list, he said - not as individuals.

Xandra Asselbergs, De Groenen, introduced her amendment to the committee's proposal. She said her proposal was based on the idea that small parties should also be represented in the structures of the federation. She also did not see why all three members should also be committee members.

Chas Booth, Scotland, spoke against the De Groenen amendment. He pointed out that Marian Coyne, who would be removed from the co-ordination if the amendment passed, was also a member of a small party. He also thought it important that all members of the co-ordination were also members of the committee, for reasons of accountability.

Paolo Bergamaschi, Italy, said that the process of dialogue should be further developed.

Reinhard Bütikofer, Germany, said that democratic integration was an important principle.

Johanna Sumuvuori, Finland, asked what the proposed term of office for the members of the co-ordination group was? She proposed two years as a reasonable term.

Frithjof Schmidt confirmed that the proposed term of office was 2 years.

Catherine Grèze called for a vote on the two proposals. The committee proposal was passed by a large majority.

At 10.25am, Arnold Cassola, EFGP Secretary-General, took the chair for the presentation of the Action Plan 2002.

Arnold started with a brief recap on the main achievements of 2001. He thanked Ann Verheyen, Cecile Lauwers and James Mackenzie for all their hard work, which has resulted in relaunched federation website. Please let the office know your comments on the new look.
Arnold noted that 2001 was the first year that the Federation had a written agreement with the Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament on funding. This is a major achievement, which we hope to repeat next year. Arnold then gave an overview of the support that had been provided to member parties over the year, and turned to prospects for the year ahead.
Enlargement remains a strong priority for the future, Arnold said. Meanwhile, work has already started on preparing a joint electoral manifesto for 2004. The first draft of this should be available at the Brussels council meeting in 2002. Arnold mentioned that, in the light of the crackdowns on civil liberties since September 11th in many countries around the world, the federation was setting up a working group on the subject.
In looking to the future, Arnold also mentioned the proposals for statutes for European Political Parties. Although we don't know exactly what these will look like, they are part of the Nice treaty, and therefore have to be finalised by the end of 2003.
Arnold also mentioned the 10th anniversary of the federation in 2003, and that some celebrations should be arranged then. In concluding, he mentioned the need of strengthening of Greens in other continents, and particularly in Africa, where donors are required to support the forthcoming African Greens conference.

Ernst Gülcher, advisor to Green/EFA group, asked for clarification of the new security working group - surely there is already a security working group?

Pierre Jonckheer MEP, Ecolo, congratulated Arnold and the rest of the committee on the Action Plan. We need to discuss how we can offer deeper support to parties in accession countries, he argued.

Arnold replied to these two points that the new working group would look at the civil liberties implications of the new security crackdowns, and the remit would be distinct from the existing working group, which looks at peace and security. Arnold also agreed that a debate on electoral strategy was needed.