Quote of the week by Marc Angel, European Parliament vice-president:
“The fact that our sisters, mothers and daughters still don’t receive equal pay for equal work is a disgrace. Due to years of discrimination, the pension gap is even higher. Today, women over 65 receive a pension that is, on average, 30% lower than that of men. This is unfair. The pay transparency directive will accelerate the process towards pay and pension-gender equality.”
Celebrating 70 years of social progress
Next Tuesday, 11 April, our Group will get together to celebrate its 70th anniversary. To mark seven decades of social progress, we will be joined by former presidents, members and our current comrades.
Group Leader, Iratxe García, will give an opening speech on our history, highlights and achievements over the past 70 years, followed by speeches from former socialist and democrat presidents and our progressive family.
Join us online here to watch live, from 18.00 to 19.00 on Tuesday, 11 April.
Upcoming activities
On Thursday, 13 April, we will be joined by financial supervisors, as well as consumer and banking associations, to discuss how to better protect consumers against misleading financial advice. In times of soaring food and energy prices in Europe, it is more important than ever to ensure the trust and confidence of those who would like to invest to secure their life savings and the money for their retirement, or save for a rainy day.
MEPs Jonás Fernández and Eero Heinäluoma will lead the discussion about the upcoming Retail Investment Strategy that is expected to be presented by the European Commission in May. EU consumers need bias-free and trustworthy financial advice, delivered in their best interest.
Follow the event live here from 11:30 to 13:00 or register here to attend in person in European Parliament room ASP 3G3.
On the same day, our members in the committee on constitutional affairs will host a workshop on ‘treaty change: our progressive vision following the conference on the future of Europe'. S&D vice-president Gaby Bischoff and S&D spokesperson for constitutional affairs Domènec Ruiz Devesa will talk to specialists about the current proposals for institutional changes to the treaties – currently under debate in the committee.
Follow the event in-person in the European Parliament from 10:00 to 12:00 by registering here. You will be able to watch a recording of the debate on the S&D website later in the week.
We are also getting ready for the upcoming plenary session, scheduled to take place on 17 - 20 April in Strasbourg. On the agenda: the #FitFor55 package, crypto-assets and combatting discrimination in the EU – the long-awaited horizontal anti-discrimination directive.
Missions
Our MEPs Juan Fernando López Aguilar and Carlos Zorrinho are currently on mission in Kenya with the purpose of assisting the country to build resilience against devastating droughts, with the help of the, partially EU-funded, national drought management authority contract.
S&D members Javier Moreno and Karsten Lucke have been on mission to Uzbekistan, for the 15th meeting of the EU-Uzbekistan parliamentary cooperation committee. They met with parliamentarians, ministers and NGO representatives. A visit was also scheduled to the Aral Sea, the site of an environmental catastrophe.
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