Brussels, 07/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The fact that the Ministers for Employment and Gender Equality attended the Council of the European Union on 7 December did not change things at all: the member states still did not manage to reach a general approach on the draft directive on quotas for women on the boards of directors of major enterprises. In response, the Luxembourg Minister for Health, Lydia Mutsch, explained “we have missed our chance on gender equality”.
The draft directive was presented three years ago and suggests a 40% quota of women for non-executive posts on the boards of directors in major European companies. It calls for companies quoted on the stock exchange to introduce transparent recruitment procedures by 2020, in an effort to guarantee, equal merit, given the fact that women are underrepresented. The Luxembourg compromise on the table of the Council introduces more flexibility: it stipulates, for example, a 33% target from member states that also choose to apply this target to their executive administrative posts (not just the non-executive positions). It would also introduce a flexibility clause that would enable member states to seek attaining the directive's objectives by the means they consider appropriate and suspends the procedural demands in the directive up until 2020. This version received the backing of the European Commission.
During the discussions, Germany, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Denmark, Croatia, Sweden, Estonia, Hungary and the Netherlands (a sufficient number of states to constitute a minority blockage), spoke against the draft compromise prepared by the Luxembourg presidency. These countries argued for proportionality and subsidiarity to justify their rejection. Spain expressed misgivings about scrutinising the text due to the forthcoming elections, whilst indicating that it would support the draft compromise, even though, “it would have preferred something less binding”. Portugal and the Czech Republic finally gave their support to the text. When France spoke on the matter, it denounced a “lack of cooperation” from the countries that had formulated demands and had achieved what they wanted. This criticism was specifically aimed at Germany, which called for more flexibility with regard to the member states that similarly to Germany itself already have national legislation in this respect.
Questioned by EUROPE about the chances of seeing this dossier being concluded by the next rotating presidency of the Council, Mutsch indicated: “I'm still optimistic that the Netherlands will continue discussions. This is despite the fact that we are aware that it was not in favour of the proposal or draft compromise. The Netherlands indicated that it would organise a high-level conference on gender equality and would present the results during the next Employment and Social Affairs Council”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)