Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

▸4 unchanged paragraphs

a) 2 to interventions of which the principal objective is to improve gender equality;

b) 1 to interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;

c) 0 to non-targeted interventions, in other words, interventions that are expected to have no significant bearing on gender equality;

d) 0* to interventions with a likely but as yet unclear positive impact on gender equality;

Change 9

Added3. Notes that the methodology is based on the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is a qualitative statistical tool used to monitor and record development activities that target gender equality as a policy objective and is applied by the Commission to all EU budget spending programmes under shared, direct and indirect management;

Added4. Stresses that the Commission’s methodology differs from the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as it does not include a score that would allow for tracking the negative effects of EU spending on gender mainstreaming objectives and introduces the category of 0* for interventions with a likely but as yet unclear positive impact on gender equality;

On the implementation of the methodology developed by the Commission

5. Notes that the methodology was used for the first time in the process of drafting the estimates for the EU budget for the financial year 2023, accompanied by a retroactive application to the budgets of the financial years 2021 and 2022;

Change 10

Removed4. Notes that the methodology is built on the basis of the gender equality policy marker developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is a qualitative statistical tool to monitor and record development activities that target gender equality as a policy objective and is applied by the Commission to all Union budget spending programmes under shared, direct and indirect management;

Added6. Notes that, for the financial year 2021, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 352 billion in commitments, 1 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 3 % had received a score of 1, 1 % had received a score of 0 and 95 % had received a score of 0*;

Change 11

Changed5.7. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2021,2022, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 352321 billion in commitments, 12 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 39 % had received a score of 1, 116 % had received a score of 0 and 9573 % had received a score of 0*;

Change 12

Changed6.8. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2022,2023, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 321427 billion in commitments, 2 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 9 % had received a score of 1, 1669 % had received a score of 0 and 7320 % had received a score of 0*;

Change 13

Changed7.9. Notes thatthat, for the financial year 2023,2024, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 427195 billion in commitments, 23 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 917 % had received a score of 1, 6965 % had received a score of 0 and 2016 % had received a score of 0*;0*, these scores being rounded up;

Change 14

Removed8. Notes that for the financial year 2024, at the time of the publication of the related Annual Management Performance Report and out of EUR 195 billion in commitments, 3 % of commitments had received a score of 2, 17 % had received a score of 1, 65 % had received a score of 0 and 16 % had received a score of 0*, these scores being rounded-up;

Added10. Understands that the decreasing share of commitments with a score of 0* over the years is the result of an improvement in the collection and availability of data, and the Commission’s reporting capacity, allowing its directorates-general to better measure the contribution of their programmes to gender equality at a more granular level;

Removed9. Understands that the decreasing share of commitments with a score of 0* over the years is the result of an improvement in the Commission’s reporting capacity, allowing its directorates-general to better measure the contribution of their programmes to gender equality at a more granular level;

Added11. Further understands that, due to the limited availability of data and capacity for reporting during the first financial years to which this methodology was applied, there is little added value in comparing numbers from one financial year to another based on the yearly results or in drawing insights from such comparisons;

Removed10. Further understands that due to the limited capacity for reporting during the first financial years to which this methodology was applied, there is little added value in comparing numbers from one financial year to another based on the yearly results or in drawing insights from such comparisons;

12. Notes that the Commission considers that interventions with an attributed score of 2 or 1 can be considered as promoting gender equality and that considering this, interventions worth EUR 37.99 billion promoted gender equality in 2024, whereas that figure stood at EUR 10.76 billion in 2021, EUR 37.83 billion in 2022 and EUR 47.99 billion in 2023;

13. Notes that the decrease in absolute value between 2023 and 2024 of interventions considered to promote gender equality is a direct result of the decrease in the total amount of commitments between those two financial years, largely explained by the phase-out of commitments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility;

Change 15

Changed13.14. Notes that in addition to the results provided for each financial year, in the 2024 Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget the Commission published a reassessment of all the previous results based on more recent and comprehensive assessments of its programmes, which resulted in aggregate trends indicating that for interventions over the period 2021 to 2024, 2 % were given a score of 2, 10 % were given a score of 1, 83 % were given a score of 0 and 5 % were given a score of 0*; further notes thatthat, according to the Commission’s reassessment, in total, in the financial years 2021-2024, 12 % of EU budget expenditure contributed to the promotion of gender (with scores of 1 and 2), amounting to EUR 158.4 billion;

Change 16

Changed14.15. Stresses that not all UnionEU budget programmes perform equally in terms of the integration of gender as a horizontal priority, with some programmes performing much better due to their policy design, such as programmes under Heading 6 ‘Neighbourhood and the World’ where gender has been established as a cross-cutting priority with clear targets and criteria, and specific programmes under other headingsheadings, such as Horizon Europe, which, thanks to its requirement to implement gender budgeting, not only fosters gender equality but also positively impacts the practices of the Member States through cross-contamination during the implementation stage at national level;

Change 17

Changed15.16. Regrets thatthat, as the methodology used is a tracking tool designed specifically for operational budgets, it cannot assess the administrative budgets of the UnionEU institutions and bodies adequately;

Change 18

Changed16.17. RegretsNotes that the methodologymethodology’s scope is alimited, limitedas toolit thatdoes cannotnot properlyadequately accountcapture forsecondary programmes’or secondaryindirect effects of programmes on gender equality, programmes’ potential negative impacts on gender equality, or otherthe societalintersectional factorsdimensions needednecessary for ana intersectionalcomprehensive analysisassessment of policy impacts;

18. Further regrets that the potential negative impacts of programmes on gender equality are not taken into account, especially given the poor contributions to gender equality reported for programmes in sectors such as competitiveness, defence and preparedness;

Change 19

Changed18.19. Regrets that the ex post nature of the methodology renders it incapable of structurally influencing the design of policies at an ex-anteex ante stage or the collection and allocation of financial resources, which is essential to mainstreaming gender equality properly in UnionEU programmes;

Change 20

ChangedOn the broader approach to gender mainstreaming in UnionEU financial programmes

Change 21

Changed19.20. Notes thatthat, beyond the gender mainstreaming methodology applied to the UnionEU budget, certain UnionEU programmes have gender equality mainstreamed in their legal bases while others do not;

Change 22

Changed20.21. Notes that while the Commission’s dual approach to gender mainstreaming, which is split between tracking the UnionEU budget and establishing the objectives set out in the programmes’ legal bases, is a useful framework, this approach is fragmented and does not impact all programmes to the same extent, therefore reducing the coherence of the Union’sEU’s approach to gender equality;

Concluding remarks

Change 23

Changed21.22. SharesTakes note of the Commission’s assessment of the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the EU budget and shares the view that for the remaining years of the 2021-2027 MFF, the priority should be to continue to evaluate programmes at the most granular level possible to better assess their contribution to gender equality and draw lessons on their implementation, making good use of the enhanced gender disaggregatedgender-disaggregated data reporting in place since 2023; stresses the need for enhanced cooperation with all the Members States to harmonise methodologies and avoid any fragmentation in their approaches, and to improve data collection, aggregation and reporting;

Change 24

Changed22.23. RegretsAcknowledges that despitewhile beingthe amethodology usefuldeveloped toolby tothe reflectCommission onis thea contributionuseful oftool for assessing the UnionEU budgetbudget’s contribution to gender equality, theit methodologyfaces developedlimitations bythat constrain its capacity for a transformative effect; stresses the Commissionimportance facesof structuralensuring limitationsdata thatavailability reduceand itsthe capacityuse toof havespecific, ameasurable, transformativeachievable, effect,relevant aand situationtime-bound which(SMART) cannotperformance beindicators leftin unchanged;this regard;

Change 25

Changed23.24. Underlines thatthat, as the Union’sEU budget is being affected by multiple crises and shifts in political priorities, it is essential for gender budgeting to be proportionately built into the core of the budgetary cycle of programmes ex ante, including in new priority areasareas, such as competitiveness, defence and preparedness;

Change 26

Changed24.25. Calls on the Commission to develop a fully fledged and comprehensive approach to gender budgeting and a specific and comprehensive methodology for the UnionEU budget, to be fully operationalised as early as the start of the next programming period with a transformative potential enabled by its capacity to influence the entirety of the budgetary cycle and by tackling the issues identified in this resolution, so as to ensure the sound financial management of UnionEU funds;

Change 27

Changed25.26. InsistsStresses, that in addition to the MFF, any instrument adopted under Article 122 ofTFEU theshould Treatyalso onapply thegender Functioningmainstreaming ofand thebudgeting Europeanprovisions Unionas shouldappropriate, alsowithout ensurealtering solidprogramme genderobjectives, mainstreamingeligibility andor budgetingaward provisions,criteria whereasalready set in thesector-specific pastlegislation, thiswith hasa notview alwaysto beentracking the case,EU’s whichcontribution mayto leadthe topromotion deficienciesof ingender theequality implementationacross ofall programmesfunding underinstruments indirectin management;a comprehensive and consistent manner;

Change 28

Changed26.27. Calls on the Commission to conduct systematic ex ante impact assessments that also analyse the specific impacts of UnionEU policies and fiscal policy measures – including tax schemes and State aid programmes – on gender equality, in line with the Better Regulation Guidelines;Guidelines, with the aim of identifying and mitigating gender disparities; stresses that careful consideration should also be given to the social and economic impacts of improved gender equality while taking into account administrative costs to small and medium-sized enterprises;

Change 29

Changed27.28. Calls on the Commission to ensure that no legislative proposals should be adopted if their ex ante impact assessments demonstrably indicate that they would contribute to a decrease in gender equality within the Union;EU;

Change 30

Changed28.29. Urges the Commission to establish a ‘gender equality safeguard mechanism’ as a standard part of the Union’sEU’s legislative procedures, which would require the mandatory suspension or revision of any proposal that, through clear indicators or through the analysis of the Court of Auditors, is shown to undermine the Union’sEU’s gender equality strategy and objectives;

Change 31

Changed29.30. Regrets the imbalance of gender representation among officials and political representationrepresentatives at both UnionEU and Member State levels, which in turn undermines the principle of gender equality in representation;

Change 32

Changed30.31. Calls on the Commission to assess the feasibility of introducing further gender equality parity measures at management level, as well as thelevel feasibilityand of creating quotas forto ensure that all genders to beare sufficiently involved in policymaking through targeted support schemes;

32. Calls on the Commission to ensure that a legally binding minimum share of the EU budget is dedicated to gender equality as a principal objective (corresponding to score 2 in the current methodology);

Change 33

Changed32. Calls33. onInvites the Commission to considerexplore includingthe apossibility legallyof bindingsetting a quantitative target in the next programming period for a share of the EU budget that is to contributecontributes to promoting gender equality (corresponding either to a score of 2 or 1 in the current methodology), asnoting suchthat similar targets have provedproven useful for the mainstreamingin ofadvancing the Union’sEU’s climate and biodiversity objectives;

Change 34

Changed33.34. Calls on the Commission and the Council to respect the provisions set out in the revised Financial Regulation during the negotiations on the next generation of programmes, namely that programmes and activities should, where feasible and appropriateappropriate, be implemented in accordance with the relevant sector-specific rules, be implemented taking into account the principle of gender equality and in accordance with an appropriate gender mainstreaming methodology;

Change 35

Changed34. Calls on35. theConsiders Commission,it alsocrucial, in line with the revised Financial Regulation, to ensure that the next generation of programmes be negotiated onincludes theobjectives basisthat ofallow, proposalswhere whichappropriate, includefor objectivesthe thatcollection areof specific,data measurable,disaggregated attainable,by relevantgender and time-bound,for asthe wellaggregation asof indicatorssuch thatdata areacross relevant,all accepted,relevant credible,programmes; easy,calls robuston andthe basedCommission onto widelyfurther recogniseddevelop scientificand evidence,improve notingits thatmethodology whereto appropriate,track the data collectedEU inbudget’s relationcontribution to such indicators should begender brokenequality, downincluding bythrough genderthe andsystematic collecteduse inof adigital waytools, thatsuch allowsas forartificial aggregationintelligence, ofto suchimprove data acrosscollection, allaggregation relevantand programmes;cross-programme analysis;

36. Calls on all relevant actors, including the Council, the Commission, civil society organisations and other relevant partners, to strive to make gender budgeting a reality in the next programming period;

Change 36

Changed36.37. Calls on the Commission to dedicate atallocate leastan 90increased %share of all EU external actions budget to interventions that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment and further dedicate 25 % of the EU’s external financing instruments in the upcoming MFF to promoting gender equality as a principal objective; further calls on the Commission to establish a dedicated fund to promote gender equality globally and to ensure that the actions it supports focus on access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, increasing women’s participation in decision-making, supporting local women-led non-governmental organisations,organisations and assisting local women human rights defenders;

38. Calls on the Commission to set clear objectives for the next MFF in terms of contributing to narrowing the gender pay and pension gaps, and addressing the issue of women’s poverty, including through improved childcare services;

Change 37

Removed38. Recognises that the gender pay gap continues to be a significant issue in the EU institutions; urges the Commission to conduct a thorough investigation to identify areas within these institutions where the gap is particularly wide and calls on the Commission to implement measures to ensure that the institutions uphold the principles they advocate and to set the goal of eliminating the gender pay gap within the institutions by 2030;

Added39. Calls on the Commission to ensure that EU-funded programmes protect and promote women’s rights, with particular attention to access to public healthcare, childcare and sexual and reproductive health and rights;

Removed39. Recognises the persistent gender disparities in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as nuclear energy, defence, and energy-intensive industries; calls on the Commission to ensure that gender budgeting be applied as a corrective and transformative instrument in order to ensure that resource allocation in these industries actively contributes to gender equality;

Added40. Calls on EU institutions, in line with the principles of the Directive on Pay Transparency, to analyse and report on their possible gender pay gaps and to take appropriate measures where needed; reiterates its call on the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to improve gender balance, especially at senior management level; invites the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to conduct an analysis to identify areas within the HR cycle – from recruitment to access to promotions – where such improvements are most needed, and to explore the possibility of implementing further measures to achieve gender balance as soon as possible;

Added41. Recognises the persistent gender disparities in several sectors that are traditionally dominated by a single gender; calls on the Commission to apply gender budgeting to ensure and monitor non-discriminatory conditions to access necessary skills and education programmes for all genders, and to improve gender equality in these specific sectors with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the industry; calls for particular attention to women entrepreneurs, especially in small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups, including through specific monitoring within programmes, such as InvestEU and Horizon Europe; calls for stronger monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure funds genuinely benefit women and marginalised groups;

42. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.