Brussels, 18/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - French liberal MEP, Sylvie Goulard, has directly addressed the president of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, to again draw attention to the question of respecting equal opportunities for women when appointing the sixth member of the European Central Bank board of governors. The economic and financial committee, of which Goulard is a member, effectively suspended the hearing of Yves Mersch for a post on the board of governors, due to the lack of gender balance on the board.
23 leaders, no women. In a letter to Juncker, published by the newspaper Le Monde on Friday 14 September, the MEP summed up the facts, “the five members currently on the board of governors are men. The seventeen governors are men. Out of twenty three directors, there is no woman at all”. Nonetheless, she did emphasise the fact that the Central Bank had assumed greater importance in these times of crisis and that the independence of its bankers, “must imperatively be underpinned by the choice of competent individuals but also those that are representative of European society”.
ECB in Riyadh or the Vatican? As things currently stand, the board of governors at the ECB would remain an institution consisting entirely of men, except for resignation or death, until 2018. Goulard explained to Juncker that this gave the European Union “an archaic image”. She wanted to know how they could appeal for women's rights to be respected in third countries, “if we are violating our own principles? To be a little provocative, we may even consider transferring the ECB HQ to Riyadh or the Vatican for this period”.
Undermining the work undertaken by Reding. Another area of criticism voiced by Goulard to Junker involved the following, “You are undermining the work prepared by Ms Reding, the European Commissioner from Luxembourg who announced the imposition of quotas for women of 40 % on the board of private companies! Around ten or so women on the Board of Governors of the ECB could be added to this! Are there therefore two weights and two measures?” On this basis, the MEP asked why, “finance ministers who are so quick to demand 'structural reforms' from others, which is a good thing, could consider that increasing the number of women at work would be a deviation from these imperatives?”
She concluded her appeal by declaring to the president of Eurogroup that, “in Luxembourg, a renowned financial centre, there is surely a place for competent women to occupy this post”. (MD/trans/fl)