Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, I would like to welcome the Commission’s Communication, but above all I would like to congratulate Mr van den Berg on his excellent report, which I believe contains elements and measures that are essential in this task.

Mr President, 65 million girls in the world are deprived of their right to education and we are doing very little to resolve this situation. The framework presented by the Commission, as stated by Mr van den Berg, contains very few proposals for action that specifically promote education for girls. This in itself is serious, but it is even more serious if we take into account the fact that babies whose mothers have not had access to education are twice as likely to suffer from malnutrition and die before the age of five than those whose mothers have completed primary education. Just one or two years of school for the mother reduce the infant death rate by 15%.

The education of mothers is far more effective in reducing malnutrition than any other measure, including the availability of food. We know that women are a determining factor in development: better-trained women mean a higher level of development for their societies. The strategy to combat poverty and, of course, the fight against AIDS can only be successful if specific emphasis is placed on education for girls. Therefore, and because it is their fundamental right, education must be our priority: high-quality, obligatory, general, public, primary education lasting at least six years.

Education – I repeat – must be our priority. That is the reason why I shall use my final seconds of speaking time to plead the case, as the rapporteur has done, against including education in the general agreement on trade and services at the next WTO negotiations. The right of boys and girls to education cannot be subject to market laws.