Speech by Commissioner Lahbib for the 35th Anniversary of the European Women's Lobby

European Commission -Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib for the 35th Anniversary of the European Women's Lobby Brussels, 6 June 2025 I am delighted to be with you on this 35th anniversary of the European Women's Lobby. At the Commission, our support for the Lobby started right at the beginning in 1990, and our support continues to this day. 1990 feels like a long time ago. I was 20-years old and a student at the Université libre de Bruxelles. I was reading books by Simone de Beauvoir, reading newspapers made of real paper, and writing handwritten letters. Just five years after the Lobby was born, the world came together in Beijing. The 1995 Declaration and Platform for Action became a global turning point for women's rights. It had a simple, yet powerful message: women's rights are human rights. I know some of you in this room were there —including Mary Collins, now the Secretary-General of the Lobby. This year, we mark 30 years since this visionary plan took shape in Beijing and still today it stands as a progressive blueprint for women's rights around the world. This connection between the past and present is powerful because when I look back at the past 35 years of your work at the Lobby, I am struck by how far gender equality has come in the European Union. The fact that I stand here today as Commissioner for Equality, working alongside the first woman President of the European Commission. And we have a woman President of the...