Swedish GUE/NGL MEP Eva-Britt Svensson has been appointed chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights. Speaking after the vote, MEP Svensson declared "This is a strategic post for the left, where we can finally have a role in defining the agenda and working towards stronger commitments for gender equality at EU level".

Listing her priorities as Committee chair, Eva-Britt Svensson said she would work towards the appointment of an EU Commissioner responsible for gender equality, the development of a new EU action plan on gender equality aimed at achieving the objectives set out in the UN Beijing Platform for Action designed to improve the lives of women across the world, EU policies to combat violence against women, and protecting women's sexual and reproductive rights.

MEP Svensson stressed that agenda on gender equality is not a separate one but is a central element of any sustainable solution to some of the most important problems we are facing and responds to concerns raised by citizens across Europe. "We are confronted with lots of challenges, and our feminist perspectives will be important in finding and defining the political answers to the economic and financial crisis, to the climate crisis, and to build a more social Europe".

GUE/NGL Press

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