EU must salute equality, says official

Strasbourg Report: Announcing details of the festivities being planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome next…

Strasbourg Report: Announcing details of the festivities being planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome next year, European Commission vice-president Margot Wallström on Wednesday homed in on one of the founding text's exalted themes.

The anniversary must be used to show its people that the union was more than a market, Ms Wallström told her audience in Strasbourg, but was a project driven largely by an abiding belief in equality.

In the parliamentary chamber, the week's theme might have been the divergence between the actual and the ideal. Fifty-four per cent of immigrants into the EU are women, and a report by Greek European People's Party member Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou on Tuesday found that many suffer a "double discrimination" due to sexism and racism. Priority access to language and education, and access to medical care and legal aid, would help, the report suggested.

In 14 of the EU 25 member states, imbalanced breast cancer services mean that a disease that claims 88,000 women in the bloc each year is significantly less likely to be detected than in the 11 states that offer nationwide screening. A resolution passed on Wednesday called on those 14 states - including Ireland - to follow suit, noting the World Health Organisation's estimate that this could reduce deaths from breast cancer in the 50-69 age group by up to 35 per cent.

READ MORE

In a week in which external relations and human rights commanded daily attention, MEPs adopted a strongly worded joint resolution on relations between the EU and Russia after the recent assassination of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. They condemned her killing and expressed concern "over the increasing intimidation, harassment and murder of independent journalists and other persons critical of the current government".

The EU and Russia will start negotiations for a new partnership and co-operation agreement next month, to cover a series of key areas, including trade and energy. Many MEPs have accused the commission of being too soft on Moscow's human rights record because of the EU's energy dependence on Russia, and took the chance to insist that one of the main requirements for renewing the partnership deal would be freedom of the press.

Seeking to allay parliament's doubts, the current president of the council, Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen, told members on Wednesday that the EU's "concerns" about Ms Politkovskaya's "shocking" murder, the situation in Chechnya and human rights observance had been conveyed to Russian president Vladimir Putin in strong terms at last week's informal working dinner between EU heads of state and Mr Putin in Lahti, Finland.

The parliament's nearconsensus on the issue contrasted with its division on the peace process in Spain, with Wednesday's vote on a motion in support of the Spanish government's plan for peace talks with the Basque separatist group Eta being passed by only 10 votes after a divisive debate.