The European Parliament should finally not block, on Thursday 14 March, three appointments to key positions in European institutions and authorities in the monetary or financial sectors, appointments that had been controversial because of the absence of women.
In a joint resolution, it is also preparing to promise to stop looking at lists composed exclusively of male candidates.
The controversy concerns the appointment of the Italian Sebastiano Laviola to the Single Resolution Council (SRB), the Spanish José Manuel Campa to the Presidency of the European Banking Authority (EBA), and the Irish Philip Lane to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) (see EUROPE 12202/14, 12202/15).
This situation had led Parliament's Conference of Presidents of Political Groups to call in early March for new guarantees from the EU Council that women would also participate in the selection procedure in the future. At the time, the political groups even threatened to block the three appointments in question, even though they have only a simple power of consultation.
The EU Council clears its name
On Wednesday, Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) adopted their response to parliamentary criticism in which they seek to clear the Council.
Their letter underlines that the Council attaches considerable importance to gender equality and that the current situation is not the result of its will. According to the Member States, the Council has no role in nominating eligible candidates for vacant posts in the SRB, or the EBA, while no female candidates have been submitted for the ECB.
In their reply, however, Member States undertake to take gender equality into account in similar future appointments "including in the next appointment procedure for the President of the ECB, as well as for another member of the ECB Executive Board".
In this letter, it is recalled that the Commission is competent to present a selection for vacant posts in the SRB and EBA, while for the ECB, the Council limits itself to recommending a candidate after consulting the ECB itself and Parliament.
On Tuesday 12 March, during a debate organised in a session of Parliament in Strasbourg, the Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, nevertheless defended the Commission's approach, referring to the limited role it plays in assisting in the appointment of the EBA President. She stated that no woman had met the merit, experience or expertise criteria for inclusion in the selection of the Single Resolution Council.
The European Parliament warns for the future
In the European Parliament, the ALDE and Greens/EFA groups should propose that MEPs postpone controversial appointments. But they should not get the support of the two main political groups, the EPP and the S&D, who believe that these appointments cannot be delayed any further.
Before the vote on the appointments, MEPs will be invited to take a position on a joint resolution requesting that in future at least one female and one male candidate be nominated by nomination procedure. The draft text, co-signed by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA groups, also states that Parliament undertakes in future to no longer take into account lists that do not respect the principle of gender parity, in parallel with the requirements of qualifications and experience.
However, an amendment has been tabled by the EPP Group proposing to replace the word "undertakes" with "reserves the right".
See the EU Council's response: https://bit.ly/2SZZC41. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)