Gender equality is now more than ever a milestone for the liberals and therefore ELDR undertakes the issue to a European level with the participation of 600 delegates at the annual Congress in Barcelona for the two-day of meetings, seminars and the adoption of the theme resolution “Kick-start Europe! For a new prosperity”.

We welcome the two last nominations as European commissioner of Cecilia Malmstrom, Swedish Minister of European Affairs as well as the nomination of Geoghegan-Quinn, the Irish member of the European Court of Auditors. Compared to Socialists and Conservatives, European liberals lead the way with regard to the proportion of men and women. In our parliamentary group ALDE 45.2% of MEPs are women. Furthermore, both our EP Vice Presidents are women (Diane Wallis and Silvana Koch Mehrin) and we feature a fair gender equality in the current Commission with key Liberal Commissioners such as Neelie Kroes, Mariann Fischer-Boel, Meglena Kuneva and Androulla Vassiliou.

Just like liberals demand more successful women in business for guaranteeing a strong economy, we demand that the European Union is also committed to a representative democracy, with women participation at its highest levels.