Opinions with Workers' Group members as rapporteur/co-rapporteur/rapporteur-general

This opinion underlines that by creating a fertile ground for women entrepreneurship and the adequate financial and legislative instruments, such as gender budgeting, we can create an inclusive financial ecosystem in the EU and Member States and advance faster towards gender equality. It suggests that diversity of teams with a specific focus on women should be a criterion for receiving public funding. This Opinion also calls for an ambitious vision from the European Commission and the European institutions on gender budgeting and gender lens investing. It suggests that the EC publishes a gender impact assessment of the annual EU budget and creates a task force to include gender mainstreaming EU objectives in the next MFF and in the mid-term review of the current MFF.

This Opinion welcomes the Commission's ambition to reduce the incidence of cancer, and its specific efforts to minimise exposure to asbestos at work. It recommends that the technical limit value for asbestos exposure under the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work should ultimately be set at a lower level than the Commission is currently proposing. This Opinion also suggests that roadmap of complementary measures over and above the Commission's proposals should be drawn up in order to achieve that objective. It calls on the EU and its Member States to actively promote an international ban on the use of asbestos and protection for workers dealing with existing asbestos during activities such as renovation, demolition and waste management.