Socialists to target women voters in Euro elections

Date: 19/02/1998

By Leyla Linton

SOCIALIST MEPs are planning to launch a major campaign to combat widespread Euroscepticism among women voters ahead of next year's European Parliament elections.

Pauline Green, leader of the Parliament's Socialist Group, has warned that women could adversely affect the result of the election by voting for anti-European groups.

"It is vital that we actually touch the lives of the women of the European Union. They are tending to vote for the anti-Europeans or those who are on the fringes of the political world," she said.

The Socialist leader warned that as most Eurosceptic parties tended to be to the right of the political spectrum, her group faced a challenge to its position if it failed to win the support of women over Europe.

"For our wider political family, the election is crucial to us. We must get our women to come on board with us," she said, adding: "We have nine of the 15 prime ministers in the EU. To have a Christian Democrat leadership of the European Parliament could be very damaging to our leadership in the Council [of Ministers]. There is a lot to play for."

The campaign, which is likely to be launched at a conference in the autumn, will aim to convince women of the relevance of EU policies to their everyday lives. "We want to focus on special areas of interest to women, especially the workplace, economic and monetary union and child care," said German Socialist MEP Lissy Groener, coordinator on women rights in the Socialist Group.

Groener added that the voices of Euroscepticism were loudest in Scandinavian countries, but could also be heard in other member states. She said that women tended to be anti-European because most of the public debate on the EU was dominated by economic issues - and by men. Women were more powerful than they thought they were and had to be made more aware of their power, she insisted.

Green also pointed out that women were directly affected by many issues "with a European dimension", adding: "The question of women going back to work after having a family also involves Europe, for training funds are often provided by the EU."