Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, I would like firstly to congratulate my colleague, Anna Karamanou, on the report she is presenting today, which contains an enormous amount of information and which will be very useful when trying to resolve some of the problems we are facing today.

We are fundamentally talking about democracy, Mr President, because we are talking about equality and freedom, the combination of which should result in democracy. Democracy has not reached the women of the Balkans. Trafficking in women, domestic violence, difficulties accessing reproductive rights, lack of political participation, unemployment, poverty and prostitution are the reality of thousands of women living in the region. Each country has its own distinctive reality.

In Albania we could emphasise the serious increase in the trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation. Bulgaria is entirely lacking in mechanisms for creating equal opportunities between men and women, which is a prerequisite for transposing our rules. Trafficking in women and girls in Bosnia Herzegovina is also increasing. In Croatia, violence against women goes unpunished. In Greece, we are faced with serious problems in terms of the political representation of women. In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the sexual abuse of Albanian and Roma girls takes place on an almost daily basis and the legislation does not include any law relating to the crime of trafficking. In Romania there are crimes on ethnic grounds, mainly against Roma women. These women have practically no access to contraception and forced marriages and poverty are also part of their reality.

In Serbia and Montenegro, there is a very clear increase in trafficking in women, also influenced by the arrival of Kafor troops. In Turkey, violence against women is widespread and sentences are still reduced for what are so wrongly termed ‘crimes of honour’.

We must open our eyes, Mr President. We must pay attention to the situation of women in this region and we must not move ahead without taking account of the daily reality of thousands of women and girls living in poverty, exploitation and hopelessness.

The European Union must serve as an essential lever, as the incentive for these countries to commit themselves seriously to human rights and freedom for their citizens. No cultural tradition can be placed above universal human rights. There cannot be first- and second-class citizens. Inequality for women in south-east Europe must be a priority for all of us, because we are talking about democracy and not about women's problems.

We therefore call for exhaustive monitoring of the accession agenda in relation to the candidate countries, and greater solidarity with women, for this is what they expect.