Translation of "Balkans " (French → English) :

6. Notes with concern that women’s employment rates in the Western Balkan countries remain very low; points out that supporting equal opportunities policies is important for the economic and social development of the Balkan accession countries; calls on the governments to introduce measures in order to reduce the gender pay gap and, consequently, the gender pension gap and to tackle high unemployment rates, focusing in particular on women, especially those in rural areas; invites the governments of the countries in the Balkans to establish a legal framework for equal pay for equal work for both sexes, to assist women in reconciling pr ...[+++]ivate and professional life, to secure better working conditions, lifelong learning, flexible work schedules and in addition to create an environment which stimulates female entrepreneurship;

12. Welcomes the inclusion of the Western Balkan countries in the Erasmus Mundus and Tempus programmes; calls on those countries to establish the national agencies necessary in order to take part in the Lifelong Learning Programmes (LLL), namely Comenius, Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci; calls on the Commission to use the IPA funds to waive the full fee paid by the Western Balkan states to participate in the LLL Programmes, as is already the case with Erasmus Mundus and Tempus; calls for increased cooperation and improved possibilities for cross-border exchanges for students, teachers and researchers from the Western Balkan states and the EU in order to familiarise the people and institutions of the Western Balkan states with the EU agenda ...[+++] and to strengthen educational skills; points out, however, the massive rate of brain drain among young people in Western Balkans and stresses the need to encourage return migration;

16. Notes with anxiety that the countries of the Balkans are transit countries in the process of trafficking in human beings and that generally women and children are the victims of the trafficking; stresses that gender equality, awareness-raising campaigns, measures against corruption and organised crime are essential in order to prevent negative phenomena in the Balkan countries such as prostitution and trafficking and to protect potential victims;

24. Calls on the candidate and potential candidate countries in the Balkans to guarantee the elimination of all forms of discrimination and prejudice against women who suffer from multiple discrimination, especially the Roma; calls on the Balkan countries to introduce an effective and practical antidiscrimination strategy to be implemented at all levels (national and local);

9. Considers that women in the Balkans, who have been victims of war, should no longer be seen only as war victims but rather as actors of stabilisation and conflict resolution; stresses that women in the Balkans in general can only fulfil this role once equally represented in political and economic decision-making; welcomes quotas and calls on the countries which have not done so already, to promote female representation and, where necessary, to apply quotas effectively in political parties and national assemblies, and encourages the countries which have already done so to continue this process in order to ensure that women can partic ...[+++]ipate in political life and overcome their under-representation, with a view to removing the "glass ceiling" once and for all and to implement positive action to ensure that women and men learn about and engage with citizenship from an early age;

The European Council of 19 and 20 June 2003 adopted the ‘Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans: Moving towards European integration’, which invited the Western Balkan countries to participate in Community programmes and agencies; therefore, the Western Balkans countries should be recognised as potential participants in Community programmes.