Last Monday began once again with the programme ‘10 Minutes with Yana Toom’ on Radio Maximum (in Russian, listen here). This time, the topic was the war between the US and Israel and Iran, which I also talked about on Thursday in my Brussels Diary.
1
On Tuesday, I spoke at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) conference ‘Wage-up: raising wages and equality’. Of course, the conference was timed to coincide with International Women's Day. I spoke about the gender pay gap. Unfortunately, Estonia lags behind the rest of Europe in this regard, with the worst ranking/topping the inequalty rankings. Moreover, the situation is not improving but worsening: in other countries, the pay gap is smaller among younger people, but in Estonia it is larger!
Incidentally, on the usefulness of Brussels: there has long been a directive that obliges employers to make salaries transparent so that discrimination against women becomes impossible. But Estonia has been dragging its feet and is only implementing the directive at the last minute, this year. As you can imagine, Brussels is not to blame for this.
2
On Tuesday, my political group Renew Europe held a meeting where we discussed the MFF – that's the bureaucratic term for the seven-year EU budget – again. Things are not going very well with it. Usually, three committees in the European Parliament deal with the budget: the budget committee (obviously), the social committee (the budget includes a lot of funds for social purposes) and the agricultural committee (a third of the budget goes to compensation for farmers). However, as a result of some intrigue, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), of which I am a member, has been pushed out of the MFF discussion process. It will now be replaced by the Committee on Regional Affairs (REGI).
Meanwhile, there are huge questions about social spending in the new EU budget. The European Commission wants to say to countries: here is your money, 14% must go to social spending, and it is up to you to decide exactly what that spending will be. Firstly, the amount itself is much less than in the previous MFF due to inflation. Secondly, we in Estonia can easily imagine where this paltry 14% will go at the behest of the ruling Reform Party. It will certainly not go to social welfare. We insist that these funds must be earmarked, especially since the draft MFF does not include either a Just Transition Fund or a Globalisation Adjustment Fund.
This is what I said at the working group meeting: dear colleagues, when you go to the polls, you make mostly social promises. Your constituents are not interested in simplifying EU legislation and directives in the interests of business. You are elected by ordinary taxpayers who want us to make their lives easier. The European Pillar of Social Rights was adopted in 2017, but has not yet been implemented – how is that possible? It seems that my colleagues understood me.
We will ultimately make amendments to the MFF through the Committee on Agriculture, AGRI. But, of course, there is a conflict of interest: AGRI will primarily lobby for compensation for farmers. In short, the problem is there, and we will have to solve it somehow.
3
On Wednesday, my colleagues from the EMPL committee and I met with French senators. Most of them were conservatives – they are the majority in the French Senate. The senators asked us what exactly we were doing. We told them. They didn't like it very much and lectured us on what we should be doing. We had to explain that with the current composition of the Parliament, we cannot afford to produce reports that the European Commission will not read. We deal with practical matters: this, this and this. In general, the meeting took place, as they say, in a productive and friendly atmosphere.
4
On Wednesday, I took part in a conference panel organised by Parliament magazine in connection with the 8th of March/InternationalWomen's Day. The discussion focused on postnatal depression, the gender pay gap and the burden placed on young women. Other panellists concluded that this was leading to a demographic crisis. Yes, the economic situation and uncertainty about the future are the main factors affecting demographics. But I don't think it's right to say that women should have children – it's a voluntary choice. It's just that this kind of rhetoric has become ubiquitous recently.
5
On Wednesday evening, there was another discussion of the MFF in the Renew Europe working group, with a focus on fisheries and agriculture. These are not exactly my areas of expertise, but on the subject of agriculture, I can say that there is a big fight going on with a predictable outcome. Eastern European countries want their farmers to receive the same compensation as farmers in Western European countries. It is clear that under the current circumstances, no one will increase the amount. (Let me remind you that this is one third of the EU budget, even though farmers contribute just over 1% of European GDP.) The EU needs to develop its industry. This means that compensation can only be equalised by reducing it for farmers in Western Europe. But no one will do that either – otherwise farmers will come to the capital on tractors and spectacularly pelt government buildings with manure. In France and Belgium, they are very good at doing this.
6
On Friday, I had two meetings in Estonia: in Tallinn, with students in grades 10-12 at Pae Gymnasium, and in Paldiski, where a political surgery was held.
Next week, from Monday to Thursday, I will be on a business trip from the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) – I am flying to New York for the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.