European Commission promotes gender mainstreaming in the Structural Funds

The Commission has organised the third High Level Group on Gender mainstreaming on the 25th of May, 2005, following the two previous meetings in June and November 2004. The members of the Group are high-level officials from the Managing Authorities of the 25 Member States of the European Union, plus from Romania and Bulgaria as observers. The action of the High Level Group is based on the Commission Communication on the Implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Structural Funds programming documents 2000 2006 adopted on 20 December 2002 (COM (2002)748final). The High Level Group contributes to the development of tools and mechanisms to integrate the gender dimension at every stage of the regional and cohesion policy process. It acts as a network to give input on gender mainstreaming to the authorities managing the Structural Funds. Meeting on a bi-annual basis, it is geared to build a stronger partnership, to consult informally on related issues and to share best practices.