Leo van Doesburg

As written in my previous post,  there are five main reasons to vote AGAINST the Noichl Initiative Report, EU Strategy for Equality between Women and Men post 2015 that you need to keep in mind while voting next Tuesday, 9th June.  Most important arguments are as follows   48% of the Noichl Report’s paragraphs are in clear contradiction to the EU Principle of Subsidiarity. 35% of paragraphs are «off topic» with regard to the subject of the report: Strategy on Equality between men and women post 2015. 17% of paragraphs entail serious risks of restrictions on freedom of speech of the media, freedom of education and freedom in the context of contractual agreements. Seven Considerations (from S to X) introduce non-scientific based elements , as well as unfounded allegations. (Source Europe for Family): (You can find the Noichl report here)

This week the European Parliament is going to vote on the  EU strategy for equality between women and men post 2015 , also known as the Noichl Report, so named after its rapporteur, Maria Noichl (S&D, Germany). This report, as it has been approved by the FEMM Committee, goes clearly beyond the Treaties and breaches the principle of Subsidiarity . By approving this text, the European Parliament would be asking the European Commission to act in fields where it has no legal authority, such as health policy and family law. We also believe that the use of the word "gender" is not precise enough and is not entirely appropriate when referring to non-discrimination between women and men, which is the exact wording used by the EU Treaties. This does not seem to be the case for the Draft Report, which tends to extend the notions of "gender" beyond the EU legal basis. In short (according to the Europe for Family organization): this controversial (but, fortun...

The European Parliament’s “Committee on Women’s Rights  and Gender Equality” (FEMM) is back at its favourite occupation: the drafting of legally non-binding “initiative reports” with ultra-radical content which, if adopted, will be touted as representing the will of 500 million EU citizens and as a yardstick for the political action of both the EU and its Member States. This claim is of course ludicrous – on the one hand because those reports are, as already mentioned, not legally binding, and on the other hand because many of the matters they deal with are clearly outside the EU’s competence. The upcoming FEMM meeting on 20 January will deal with a radical report on” the Progress on equality between women and men in the European Union in 2013”, named the “Tarabella Report”  after Marc Tarabella, the Belgian left-wing MEP who drafted it. Section 14 of the draft contains FEMM’s hundred-and-umpteenth attempt to give the appearance of legitimacy to the sad pr...

We want to have Human Rights for All, Not Special Rights for One Shortly after the Estrela report was defeated, a new initiative has been introduced, the “Lunacek Report” officially known as “EU Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity” (2013/2183). Adopted by the European Parliament Committee for Civil Liberties (LIBE), the European Parliament will vote on this report next week on 4 February. I agree when the Report asserts that LGBTI persons should have the same human rights as everyone else. This is an assertion that can be fully supported. The very purpose of Human Rights, the European Convention and other international human rights documents is to grant a minimum level of protection of the integrity of every person because everyone has equal worth and dignity. However, the Lunacek Report turns this fundamental equality upside down by claiming that specific LGBTI rights should now be considered as human...

On November 2nd I was invited to participate in the Latvian National Prayer Breakfast. This year's topic was “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”. It was an impressive and powerful event, in which politicians and Members of Parliament shared their thoughts about the importance of peace and reconciliation.  Following the Prayer Breakfast, an international discussion was organized on “Peace as a virtue and the process of forming peace in contemporary society”. Speakers included: Inese Libina-Egner, Deputy of the Saeima and Legal advisor to the President, Ilmars Latkovskis and Inga Bite, both Deputies of the Saeima, Pavil Brvers, Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, Miervaldis Krotovs: Chairman of Talsi Regional Municipality, Inga Berzina, Chairman of Kuldiga City Council and Joseph Dustin, founder of organization “Streams of Life” in Latvia and Lithuania. The discussion was moderated by Inese Libina, Deputy of the Saeima. I felt privi...