Pia Elda Locatelli (PSE). – (IT) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, five days ago the United Nations celebrated the 60th anniversary of the creation of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. On that occasion Kofi Annan stated that the world is finally starting to grasp that there is no more effective tool for promoting development than the empowerment of women and girls, empowerment, says Annan, that raises economic productivity, reduces infant and maternal mortality, improves nutrition and promotes health.

The concept of empowerment, first developed by the European Union, was launched with great impetus by the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, the Beijing Conference, eleven years ago. The time has come to revive the idea of empowerment by organising a new world conference. In this report we call on the United Nations once again to convene the Fifth World Conference, and we do so with one voice, the European voice, representing 25, soon to be 27, members of the United Nations out of a total of 191 members, a group carrying significant weight. This is one of the follow-up actions that we call for in voting for this thorough and balanced report, on which we congratulate the rapporteur.