European Gender Budgeting Network Presentation prepared with contributions from Priya Alvarez

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK How the EGBN started …  IAFFE-Conference in Budapest  2006 Networking Event in Vienna Organized at the occasion of the Austrian EU Presidency by the Austrian group  Manifesto: Gender Budgeting in Europe - NOW

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK Austria Albania Belgium Czech R. France Germany Hungary Ireland Israel Italy Lithuania Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Serbia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey UK EGBN MEMBERSHIP: 90 members

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK EGBN brings together GRB initiatives around Europe First Initiatives:  UK Women’s Budget Group  Switzerland  Scottish Women’s Budget Group  Basque Country (Spain) 2000  Nordic Council of Ministers pilot project Sweden Finland Norway …  Italian Local Governments  Germany: Berlin  Austria Federal level

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK EGBN brings together GRB initiatives around Europe (2) GRB is spreading around Europe  France  Belgium  The Netherlands  Spain (Andalusia, Basque country, …)  Poland  Southeast Europe (UNIFEM led initiative) Macedonia Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Albania  Estonia, Iceland (starting recently)

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK Objectives of the Network  Promote gender equality and GB – move it higher on the Political Agenda  Stimulate implementation of GB  Promote exchange of experience of those involved in GB research and/or initiatives  Disseminate information on GB  Enhance Civil Society Participation

EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK Meetings to stregthen the network  German EU Presidency: Frankfurt 2007  Caledonian University: Glasgow 2007  Nordic-Baltic Network on GRB: Vilnius 2008  International GRB Conference : Bilbao 2008  IAFFE MEETING: Torino 2008  Modena  Berlin Conference: Berlin 2010  WiSE Conference: Glasgow 2011

Activities of the Network  Meetings, exchange of experience  Joint resolutions Gender Budgeting in Europe – NOW!  Inputs to European policy consultations on EU Budget Reform on Europe 2020 on General Budget support  Participate in EC feasibility study  Disseminate information  Influencing national and European policy makers EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK

Current challenges At organizational level:  Formal vs. informal structure  Organization & funding  Establish links with EU institutions  Developing the network and its organization  Define priorities and key strategies

Current challenges At policy level  Ensure theoretical underpinning of GRB work inside government  Reinforced neoliberal and neoconservative model of Europcean economic governance  „debt-crisis“: attack on welfare state  Continued neglect for gender issues in European budget policies (and in current budget reform)  Declarations vs realities of EU in new aid modalities EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK

Possible future avenues of work  Strengthen demands to  Integrate GB in EU budgetary and macro- economic policies  To introduce systematic and continuous gender impact analyses  Develop strategic partnerships with EU institutions  Joint work on economic policy trends  Joint evaluation of state of the art of GRB and development of common standards (e.g. conference) EUROPEAN GENDER BUDGETING NETWORK