Brussels, 01/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 28 April 2004, the European Commission adopted its Fourth Action Programme for equal opportunities for men and women, covering the period 2004-2008. The programme foresees the publication of an annual progress report based on reports from the European Commission's Directorate Generals (DGs) and departments to draw up a league table. On 23 November, the European Commission adopted its first 'annual monitoring report', showing that women were still generally under-represented in 2004 in management posts and there were far fewer women in the fast track in most grades. The report includes a league table showing progress in the DGs - only DG Environment and DG Regional Policy come close to the ideal. In terms of practical measures, several DGs have establishing coaching programmes and others recommend positive discrimination for women, explains a press release. A priority for 2004-2005 is reconciling personal and working life. The Equal Opportunities and Non-discrimination unit of the Directorate-General for Administration draws up and monitors the Commission's equal opportunities policy, but it is the DGs and services that have the chief responsibility for implementing the 4th Action Programme through an “equality correspondent”, an Action Plan and an Equal Opportunities Group. The main obstacles still faced by the Commission in this field include the slow change in mentalities; a larger workload and more generally a culture of longer working hours; and insufficient attention paid systematically to the gender dimension of all aspects of human resources management.