This sentence is from a Commission that rushed to produce an empty, so-called Women’s Charter in March, and that neglected the
Parliament when it came to negotiating the new gender equality strategy, which, I might add, is no more concrete than the Commission work programme here. We knew in March that Reding’s Charter was only a façade with no substance. We asked repeatedly for a strong legislative text, but Red
ing did not want to hear about it. Why can we accept a Europe that sanctions Member States when they are financially not in l
...[+++]ine with EU rules and agreements but we cannot accept a Europe that sanctions Member States that neglect gender equality and compose governments with few or no women ministers?