29 October 2013
Distinguished guests, participants of the forum, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honour for me to welcome so many of you at the first inaugural meeting of the COSAC Women‘s Forum which takes place during the 50th Jubilee Meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union. I am especially delighted to see a number of men attending the meeting. Thank you for joining us.
Allow me to stress that it is the first time in the history of COSAC meetings that women MPs gather to debate on topical EU matters. It is extremely important.
The COSAC Women’s Forum aims at promoting active cooperation of women MPs and their engagement in the EU decision-making.
Harmony is essential both in society and politics. Usually men tend to pay greater attention to finance, economy, security and defence while women take care of social affairs, education and culture. Therefore I believe that the idea to promote cooperation among women and their engagement in politics on a broader scale leads us to a more harmonious political and social life.
The idea to set up a forum of women MPs was tabled during our meeting with Bariza Khiari, Vice-President of the French Senate, in Paris, July this year, when together with Petras Auštrevičius, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, we visited the French Senate and presented the parliamentary dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Ms Bariza then said that she had read a lot about Lithuania when she had been preparing for the meeting. Therefore I am truly delighted to welcome her here, in Lithuania. Allow me to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Bariza for her interest shown to our COSAC Meeting, her consent to take part in the event and to implement this meaningful idea together.
Thank you, Ms Bariza.
Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues,
May I encourage you to actively debate on the goals and vision of the COSAC Women’s Forum. We would like to hear your opinion and proposals on the establishment of the Forum and its permanent activity which would be developed by the next Presidencies of the Council of the EU thereby continuing the work started in Vilnius.
May I wish you all a fruitful debate.
