The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, asked political groups on Thursday 11 March to review – in the interests of ensuring gender equality – the list of seven European Parliament representatives who will sit on the Executive Committee of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
The day before, when the interinstitutional declaration on the Conference was signed (see EUROPE 12675/6), a representative was submitted by each political family: Manfred Weber (EPP, Germany), Iratxe García Perez (S&D, Spain), Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium), Gerolf Annemans (Identity and Democracy, Belgium), Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, Germany), Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Poland) and Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany). In total, that is six men and one woman.
Since the list was not coordinated between the groups, the result does not match the gender equality objective that the European Parliament has set itself. Mr Sassoli told them exactly this in a blunt letter.
“I am deeply concerned that only days after the International Women’s Day, we are not able to live up to the very principles that we claim we defend, especially in the context of the future of Europe. Is this the signal we want to send to young generations, to our fellow citizens and to our counterparts in national parliaments and Member States?”, he said critically in his letter, a copy of which was first reported by Politico.
The political groups have until Thursday 18 March to review their proposals. The first meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled to be held on Monday 22 March.
With regard to the European Commission, European Commissioners Dubravka Šuica (Democracy and Demography), Věra Jourová (Values and Transparency) and Maroš Šefčovič (Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight) will sit on the Executive Committee. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)