Spaans voorzitterschap viert officiele opening van het Europees Instituut voor Gendergelijkheid (en)

The Spanish Government's delegate for Gender Violence, Miguel Lorente, representing the Spanish Presidency of the EU, together with the President of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Eva-Britt Svenssom, took part in the official inauguration of the European Institute of Gender Equality, which will have its headquarters in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

The objective of the institute is to contribute to the promotion of equality of men and women, including the integration of the gender perspective in community policies and in resulting national policies. Moreover, it is home to the European Observatory against Gender Violence, which is entrusted with compiling data for performing shared diagnostics, using common indicators and research on applicable legislation in every member State.

During the event, the Spanish Government's delegate for Gender Violence stressed the importance of setting up this European institute, “because applying common policies in matters such as gender violence is of paramount importance in tackling the problem as a whole.”

“This explains our satisfaction in the work that the European Observatory against Gender Violence is already doing. "Gender violence is a global phenomenon that requires global solutions,” said Lorente.

The Observatory is one of the Spanish Presidency's proposals, which the Spanish Minister for Equality, Bibiana Aído, proposed at the EPSSCO Council in March, where setting up a European strategy for fighting against gender violence was unanimously approved.

This strategy also means, adopting other measures from the Spanish model, such as setting up a sole European telephone to give victims information and advice, and providing comprehensive social assistance to both mistreated women and minors who live in violent environments. .

The work done by the Spanish Presidency on matters concerning gender violence has received recognition from the European representatives present at the event, who showed their support for the policies carried out by the Spanish Government in this area and the need to form them to a common European policy.