Britta Thomsen (PSE). – (DA) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Gröner, for her outstanding report on the Daphne III programme. Violence against women is a large and growing problem within the countries of the EU. Many women and their children have their lives ruined as a result of violence and, especially, threats of violence. Every year, hundreds of women die in Europe as a result of domestic violence, with a large number of attempted murder cases being reported on top of that. It is therefore of extraordinary significance that violence against women and children be made a distinct point on the EU agenda. Violence against women and children is a special problem that requires special initiatives and special solutions.

Parliament’s proposal focuses on the outrages that take place day in and day out in domestic settings and on changes that will force the national parliaments to take a stand on these serious issues. There is a need for a programme that focuses solely on violence and that can contribute to publicising this problem whilst at the same time helping to promote a public debate about violence. The taboo and silence around violence must be fought, and the Member States ought to be making a massive effort to inform people – both the victims and perpetrators of violence – of how to get help. The taboo is also a great obstacle in the way of preventative work, and we need to open the eyes of EU citizens to the many victims who live in daily fear of attack. Violence is not a private matter, irrespective of the area of life in which it occurs and of who perpetrates it and regardless of whether it takes place within a family or in public life or whether it be a case of violence by the state.

Violence against women takes many forms – physical, psychological and sexual violence, enforced prostitution and the trafficking of women. The principal objective of the EU’s activities to counter violence is to prevent and combat all forms of violence in order to completely eliminate this form of crime that is also a serious violation of human rights. The fight against violence should be recognised as being part of the protection of our basic rights and freedoms.