European Women's Lobby and other NGOs meet with Candidate for the European Commission, Martin Schulz

[Brussels, 7 April 2014] On 3 April 2014, several civil society organisations were invited to meet with Martin Schulz, Candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, to discuss the Manifesto of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and present their own demands. Pierrette Pape, Acting Coordinator of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), represented the EWL and expressed the main demands of women’s organisations in Europe by presenting the EWL Manifesto “Act now for her future, commit to gender equality!“. Martin Schulz insisted on the values of ‘mutual respect and dignity’ and called for more justice, more transparency and more democracy in Europe. Representatives of the main social NGOs in Europe presented their demands: Social Platform, Concord, European Network against Racism (ENAR), ILGA Europe, Rainbow Rose, Eurochild, European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), European Environment Bureau, Youth Forum, Fair Trade Advocacy, as well as UNICEF.

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EWL Acting Coordinator Pierrette Pape and Martin Schulz The EWL is also a member of Social Platform; Heather Roy, President of Social Platform, insisted on the need for the new Commission and Parliament to address poverty and social exclusion, and to put people and rights before growth. Martin Schulz expressed its support to a social Europe, that does not discriminate its people. The PES Manifesto “Towards a new Europe” wants a “Union of equality and women’s rights”. The EWL will now ask Mr Schulz to endorse EWL Manifesto, to materialise his commitment to gender equality. You can find here the manifestos of the main European civil society organisations. For more pictures click here pictures of the meeting. Pictures by PES.

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