Brussels, 06/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - European ministers have adopted conclusions on the fight against violence towards women, and have held an initial constructive debate on women's quotas on boards presented by Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding. Their positions could be coming closer together.
The EU27 discussed a better gender balance among non-executive members on the boards of blue-chip companies during their lunch on the first day of their EPSCO Council (Employment, Social Policy and Consumer Affairs) on Thursday 6 December. It would seem that the amendments introduced by Reding herself in the proposal have convinced most member states to make the leap on the quota, according to a ministerial source. The exchange apparently enabled the member states to state their position more clearly. Many still need to hold discussions at the national level. The opposition is crystallising on the freedom of tackling this. France, Belgium and Austria, which have similar legislative mechanisms on a voluntary basis, demonstrated their opposition. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French minister for gender equality, said that in her country the legal arrangements have been proved - “Already we have gone over the 20% that we hoped for for 2014, with 22% in 2012. This well illustrates the fact that we don't have a problem - when we look for women we can easily find them!”
The ministers also adopted conclusions on the fight against violence towards women, emphasising aid for victims of domestic violence. The year 2015 could be the European Year for zero tolerance for violence towards women. They also suggest that a European telephone helpline could be created that is dedicated to victims. The EU27 support condemnation of all forms of violence towards women as a violation of human rights. Customs, tradition, culture, private life, religion or “honour” do not ever justify recourse to violence against women.
Finally, during this Council, Vallaud-Belkacem proposed on behalf of France to define a pillar for gender equality as part of the EU's economic governance. This would be composed of four indicators of which the European Commission would take account in its country recommendations - including the development of the rate of employment of women, the pay gap, and gender inequalities in retirement. (MD/transl.fl)