[FEMM Committee, European Parliament, Brussels, 17 June 2011] To learn in detail about gender equality policies and legislation in Croatia, a delegation from the EP Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality visited Zagreb on 16-17 June, in view of Croatia’s forthcoming accession to the EU.
At the conclusion of the visit, the Chair of the Committee, Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) made the following statement:
“We were positively impressed by the progress made by Croatia in the adoption of legislation in the area of antidiscrimination, gender equality and family violence. We face in Croatia and in EU Member States the same challenges as regards breaking gender stereotypes, promoting civil society capacity-building and the concrete implementation of the legislation.”
“Our visit was very interesting and gave us the possibility to get a better understanding of Croatia and of the debates on issues related to gender equality but also on the broader issue of Croatia’s accession to the EU. We congratulate Croatia for the positive conclusion of the technical part of accession negotiations and we hope to soon welcome Croatia among the EU Member States.”
Over the course of the two days visit, members of the delegation met Mr Luka Bebi?, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Ms Gordana Sobol, Chair of the Gender Equality Committee, Ms Vesna Pusi?, Chair of the National Committee on the supervision of the accession negotiations, as well as other parliamentarians.
The delegation also met Mr Stjepan Adani?, State Secretary for Family, Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity, Mr Andrej Plenkovi?, State Secretary for European Affairs and Ms Tatijana Vu?eti?, State Secretary of the Minister of Justice and senior staff from the competent Ministries. MEPs also met Ms Gordana Luka?-Koritnik, Ombudsman for Gender Equality and Ms Helena Štimac Radin, Director of the Government’s Office for Gender Equality as well as representatives from NGOs and civil society.
Members of the EP delegation:
- Eva-Britt SVENSSON, (GUE/NGL, Sweden), Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
- Anna ZABORSKA (EPP, Slovakia).
- Siiri OVIIR (ALDE, Estonia)
- Marije CORNELISSEN (GREENS/EFA, The Netherlands)
