What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Articles 2, 3(1) and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union,

– having regard to Articles 8, 9, 10, 119, 122, 127, 151, 153(2), 156, 157, 191 and 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) and, in particular, its provisions on social rights and equality between men and women,

– having regard to the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’, and, in particular, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 on ending poverty, SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and improving living conditions for women, and SDG 8 on achieving sustainable economic growth,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

– having regard to Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC,

– having regard to Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility,

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms,

– having regard to the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2023/2407 of 20 October 2023 on energy poverty,

– having regard to its resolution of 19 May 2022 on the social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine – reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act,

– having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2022 on women’s poverty in Europe,

– having regard to the European Court of Auditor’s Special Report of 26 May 2021 entitled ‘Gender mainstreaming in the EU budget: time to turn words into action’,

– having regard to Commission Recommendation (EU) 2020/1563 of 14 October 2020 on energy poverty,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 14 October 2020 on A Renovation Wave for Europe – greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives (COM(2020)0662),

– having regard to the International Energy Agency’s end-use energy prices and taxes data,

– having regard to the International Monetary Fund’s report of October 2022 entitled ‘The Fog of War Clouds the European Outlook’,

– having regard to Eurostat’s 2022 study entitled ‘Living conditions in Europe’,

– having regard to Eurostat’s briefing paper of 10 February 2022 entitled ‘Energy prices on the rise in the euro area in 2021’,

– having regard to Eurofound’s report of 28 October 2022 entitled ‘The cost-of-living crisis and energy poverty in the EU: Social impact and policy responses – Background paper’,

– having regard to the Eurofound’s last esurvey, Living and Working in Europe, of Spring 2023,

– having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality’s 2021 and 2022 Gender Equality Indexes,,

– having regard to its Autumn 2022 Eurobarometer survey,

– having regard the research from the World Economic Forum of 26 January 2023,

– having regard to the study entitled ‘Gender perspective on access to energy in the EU’, published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union on 18 December 2017,

– having regard to the briefing entitled ‘Gender Aspects of Energy Poverty’, published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union on 1 March 2023,

– having regard to the study entitled ‘The Gender Dimension and Impact of the Fit for 55 Package’, published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union on 6 December 2022,

– having regard to the briefing entitled ‘Energy poverty in the EU’, published by its Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services on 18 September 2023,

– having regard to its resolution of 17 September 2020 on maximising the energy efficiency potential of the EU building stock,

– having regard to the opinion of 12 May 2022 by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency,

– having regard to the report of 7 April 2021 by the Committee on Development on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries and the opinion by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of 2 October 2020,

– having regard to its resolution of 10 February 2021 on reducing inequalities with a special focus on in-work poverty,

– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on access to decent and affordable housing for all,

– having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2021 on the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive,

– having regard to its resolution of 3 October 2023 on ensuring European transportation works for women,

– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0430/2023),

A. whereas inflation has increased sharply since 2021, driven primarily by high energy and food costs, exacerbated by Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas wages are not projected to increase as fast as inflation, leading to a cost of living crisis; whereas this crisis acutely threatens women’s livelihoods, health, well-being, economic independence and access to housing, while limiting their purchasing power and their ability to purchase basic necessities such as food, preventing them from enjoying a decent standard of living;

E. whereas women are over-represented in precarious jobs, in flexible forms of work, atypical and flexible contracts (part-time work, temporary work, informal jobs) and over-represented among minimum wage workers; whereas women also tend to have lower incomes and wealth as a result of the pay and pension gaps, and are thus more likely to report difficulties in making ends meet and still bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, leaving them with fewer resources to protect themselves against the negative impact of the cost-of-living crisis; whereas women are also particularly impacted by time poverty, defined as the individual’s lack of sufficient time for rest and leisure after deducting the time necessary for paid employment and unpaid work, and thus not being able to reduce working hours without falling (deeper) into poverty;

F. whereas women tend to be the ‘shock absorbers of poverty carrying the main responsibility and mental burden for the planning, purchase and preparation of food for their families and the coordination of various other care and household tasks such as r the budget management of poor households and are thus much more impacted by the rising cost of living and energy crisis; whereas this role as primary carers in the family puts a disproportionate share of the burden of unpaid care and domestic work on women;

G. whereas successive crises have had negative impacts on women all over the world, hindering progress on gender equality; whereas women are particularly impacted by disinvestment and budget cuts in public services such as education, health and transport and welfare assistance as they are more likely to work in, rely on, and become the providers of these public services when they are withdrawn;

H. whereas the importance of combating discrimination between men and women in access to employment and work, and promoting equality in careers and professional categories, in vocational training and in salaries is essential, at the same time as strengthening work with rights and protecting collective bargaining and union rights;

I. whereas the energy crisis in Europe has highlighted the need to reform the European electricity market; whereas, by indexing electricity prices to gas prices, the market has created substantial opportunities for speculation, resulting in significant difficulties for companies, particularly SMEs, and for households, especially those comprising people in vulnerable situations or living in rural areas, including women, who are particularly at risk; whereas this economic speculation has contributed to increasing energy costs; whereas price regulation over the energy sector is one of the key tools to guarantee people’s economic and social rights, and ensure everyone has access to electricity, heating and cooling in the green energy transition;

J. whereas the Council reached an agreement in the electricity market reform that aims to make electricity prices less dependent on volatile fossil fuel prices, shield consumers from price spikes, accelerate the deployment of renewable sources of energy and improve consumer protection;

K. whereas climate change and climate-related disasters exacerbate the cost of living crisis and have a particular impact on women, since statistically women are at greater risk of poverty; whereas the groups already living on the margins are being hit the hardest by the volatility of the fossil fuel energy system, while major economic groups such as energy and food companies are making record profits;