The issues on the agenda of the committees in which she participates and those that will dominate her own campaign ahead of the European elections to be held June 2024, were outlined by Cyprus MEP Eleni Stavrou during a lunch she hosted for members of the press on Friday.
Stavrou participates in the budgets, budgetary control, economic, women's rights and gender equality and regional development committees in which, as she mentioned, important issues are being discussed related to funds and good administration, recovery and resilience funds, especially after the pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis.
She said that they are always in the process of finding new resources because the European Union gives money not only for Ukraine but also for third countries, such as African countries.
'We are visiting various countries through the development committee to see how this EU-backed money is being spent, whether it's start-ups, companies' initiatives in Africa for market access, humanitarian aid due to extreme weather conditions and much more," she said.
Stavrou said that climate crisis is among the first priorities of the EU, because this crisis leads to others such as migration influxes. She said there is a huge problem of overpopulation and trafficking of children and women who come to the EU for a better life but are held hostage and are sexually exploited.
The Cypriot MEP referred to the recent ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which is the first protection tool against violence against women. She informed that on this occasion she is organising an event on June 16 in Limassol about the modern European woman of Cyprus and the challenges she is faced with. President of the Parliament and the Commissioners for Legislation and Gender Equality will attend the event.
She also referred to the initiative she undertook to recognize transnational adoptions and also to make adoption from one European country to another a possibility. Stavrou said that she submitted a question to the European Commission, which considers that this can only be achieved through international agreements, as family law is the responsibility of each member state.
According to Stavrou there are many parameters of this issue and it pushes couples to look for solutions from third countries and possibly fall victim to baby trafficking rings.
She said that in Cyprus there is the institution of foster care, but there are no children for adoption. She said couples go through a tremendous financial and psychological burden and stress.
Stavrou also said that sexual harassment of children on the Internet is also another significant issue discussed at the EP and that the Parliament is in consultation with platforms and other authorities, adding however that they are all faced with the issue of the protection of personal data and the difficulty of the police and other agencies to access to encrypted messages.
Source: Cyprus News Agency