International Women’s Day 2023: EPP wants a Europe that truly empowers women

On Wednesday 8 March at 12:45, the EPP Group will gather on the Konstantinos Karamanlis passerelle between the Spaak and Spinelli buildings on the third floor of the European Parliament to celebrate International Women’s Day.

"Even if the European Union leads in the global quest for gender equality and advancing the role of women in society, we are not there yet", regrets the EPP Group’s Dolors Montserrat MEP. Montserrat calls for building a Europe that truly empowers women.

"I demand that Member States promote rigorous laws that protect women and not the other way around, as happened in Spain with a law from the Socialist government that has already led to more than 720 reductions in sentences for sexual offenders", she stated, adding that the fight for equality requires the involvement of all institutions, national and European. "There can be no step back in the protection of women."

At this public event, the EPP Group will announce a Declaration, proposing measures for more gender equality and advancing the role of women in society.

Across the world, we see women’s voices being silenced, drowned out as they are subjected to persecution and denied their basic rights. The EPP Group stands with the women of Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Ukraine and insists that Europe never seizes to be a champion for women’s rights.

In the Declaration, the EPP Group highlights that equality between women and men and gender equality are “at the very heart of our European values - the essence of who we are as Europeans”.

"Achieving a Europe that works for women is a commitment that we make not just today as we mark International Women’s Day, but every day as we seek to better our European Union", the Declaration stipulates.