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Equality between men and women is one of the fundamental values enshrined in the EU Treaties. Its achievement is an objective for the EU. Improvements to gender equality will generate economic growth for the EU and benefit individuals and society.

The Parliament has taken a strong stance on advancing gender equality, calling for effective gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming to be incorporated and implemented in the next MFF. Our aim will be to provide critical input on gender equality issues and the EU budget, and highlight the lessons learned on the integration of the gender equality perspective during the 2014‐2020 programme period.

As the EU’s auditors, we also look ahead in order to help address key challenges facing the EU in future. While there seems to be a much better understanding of and more focus on gender equality, there is still a risk that gender equality issues might not be systematically embedded in the design and implementation of EU policies and programmes. Persisting gender gaps in educational attainment, pay, labour market activity rates and the provision of unpaid work will hamper a more equitable and innovative society.

We will keep all these factors in mind when selecting our audit tasks and formulating recommendations for the future.