Brussels, 19/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - European Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding has not laid aside her interest in the number of women on company boards. On Tuesday 19 June, she met European industry associations, European business schools and senior executive women to discuss progress being made on improving the gender balance in company boardrooms. Following the discussions, she said she did “not accept the argument that there aren't enough qualified women to fill supervisory boards - you just need to look at the list of 7,000 'board ready' women that European business schools published a few months ago to see that there are. The pool of talent is there - companies should now make use of it.” The list to which Reding referred was first drafted last September and has since had additions made to it. In another private initiative, 24 major companies pledged to increase the proportion of women on their boards to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020.
The Commission's public consultation closed in May and it is expected that legislative proposals will be brought forward this year. Reding has yet to decide on whether or not to bring in quotas. (MD/transl.rt)