friends, we are going to hear from our men members. And this is the chairman of the Social Committee, Mr Simon Moutquin. You have the floor, Mr Moutquin.

Mr Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC) Thank you very much. And I am honoured to be the first man to take the floor. Now, I heard people talking about improving the conditions for women to be able to take power. Well, that depends on men as well. I think it is often quite striking to see how much more frequently men take the floor than women in our Assembly, for example. But let me ask a question to the President. What is being done within the Organisation on the staffing side to ensure that we have a better balance between men and women? And then secondly, I want to talk about the environment because my committee has looked into the link between breast cancer and environmental issues, and we have also looked at the high prevalence of breast cancer among women who work night shifts. We also know that there are other aspects here as well. Just one simple example. Women seem to learn to swim less frequently than men, therefore they are more likely to drown. So, all sorts of things that we need to look at and one thing I would like to point out is that in Belgium, and I don't always go around blowing my own country's trumpet, but we have set up some excellent centres for victims of domestic violence where women can go. They can go and bring their case because the police are there, they can get counselling and psychological assistance. We have the necessary professionals all in one place. And I think it is a really excellent model that ought to be spread out across Europe. I would invite you most warmly to come to Belgium and have a look at what we are trying to do for women who suffer such domestic violence. We have had 24 such murders of women just this year alone so far.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you for bringing up the issue of breast cancer. And by the way, this is not only women who have it is also men with a lower percentage, but still, it is very dangerous disease. I have two more brilliant colleagues on my list and the first one is Iulian Bulai, the President of ALDE. Please, Iulian, the floor is yours.

Mr Iulian Bulai (Romania, ALDE) Thank you so much, Mariia, thank you and congratulations for this great leadership on this initiative. And I would also welcome amongst us Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir and thank her and the government of Iceland for this great decision of this Prize. I was in that room six months ago and it was extraordinary to be there to see how history was written. And there are, of course, many things to be proud of within this Organisation when thinking of this extraordinary fight that we all have to fight, not only women, but also the partners for this cause, including men. And it is right to give credit to the women in the Assembly who are doing a great job and I think the first and the greatest credit should go to Despina. So, Despina, I want to thank you for what you are doing for this Assembly. You are doing really great. Now, look at this table. Yes. There are four women and three men. And I can guarantee that each of them is doing a fantastic job. And it is not just at random, because we don't believe in equality, but in equity. And just think of this. The only woman that we can recall in ages, being a chair of an Election Observation mission that took place this year to Poland was a woman from ALDE. So, it is possible to give the right amount of space and possibilities for those who can, including women, because they are equal to men in this. It is a matter of also men putting a bit ego down and to allow this happen. Now, if we should practice what we preach, we should look a bit in the retrospective of this Organisation’s 70 years of existence. Mariia, you said 29 male Presidents. I am sure they were all brilliant, but I am not that sure that men would have been always a better option than women. Just three women. Imagine this. That is too little. Now, in two months’ time, we have a great opportunity to practice what we preach. I will not go more into that. I will just say that if we mean what we are doing, if we really mean it, then we should look at the value of men and women, but also especially of women. And to be given the exact amount of attention, space, power, to be active and to demonstrate that they can be equal to men. And I hope we can do this together in January. But not only that, but also when going home, practice what we preach, both at PACE, but also in our national parliaments. And then we have got a woman Chair from the Liechtenstein delegation. We have got the present Chair from Ukraine within this group chairing the Culture Committee, we have got Fiona being the rapporteur on the Reykjavík Summit. So many women that have shown that they are doing a great job, even better than men. Why are we afraid to do more of this? That is an open question that I am looking forward to getting more answers on. Thank you.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you, dear Iulian, for being very straightforward and supportive to women leadership at PACE. We have chairman of the Migration Committee, SirTheodoros Rousopoulos, followed by Madame

15 DE MARÇO DE 2024 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

25