Sven Giegold
Member of the European Parliament – Greens/EFA Group

Speaker of the German Green Delegation

EU top positions in finance: High time for equal rights rather than red roses

The European Commission and the Council have again shortlisted only men for the most recent three nominations for top positions in EU financial authorities, despite earlier appeals by the European Parliament for more gender balance. Following last week’s votes in the ECON Committee on the appointment of José Manuel Campa as Chairperson of the European Banking Authority, Sebastiano Lafiola as a member of the Single Resolution Board and Philip Lane as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, our group has requested the postponement of the vote on these appointments in plenary. The vote should be delayed until we have received a binding commitment from the Council and the EU Commission on equal rights for women in top financial positions. At the level of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals had rejected our demand. Fortunately, however, the Liberals and some Social Democrats have now signalled their support.

The President of the European Parliament also wrote a letter to the Council and the Commission which was sent following a decision by the Conference of Presidents on 14 February. In this letter, the European Parliament expresses its concern about the gender imbalance in appointments to EU top positions.

The letter from the President of the Parliament to the Council and Commission is itself unsatisfactory, as it once again restates only the old general demands that the institutions should pay more attention to gender balance in appointments to top positions. Without a concrete threat to halt the appointment process, however, we learned in past attempts that such calls are unlikely to bring about any change.

MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:

“For more gender equality in the top positions of European financial institutions, the Council and the Commission must finally translate words into deeds. For long enough, the Commission and the Council have not taken seriously the European Parliament’s calls for more women in top positions. Parliament should now postpone the new men-only appointment in plenary until gender equality is credibly ensured in the nomination procedures. President Tajani’s letter to the Council and the Commission is just business as usual yet without any real leverage. On International Women’s Day, women deserve equal rights rather than red roses.”

 

Link to the letter from the Greens/EFA Group to President Tajani:

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/190304-letter-President-Tajani.pdf

Links to letters from President Tajani to Council and Commission:

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Letter-to-Commission.pdf

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Letter-to-Council.pdf

Link to the planned final report of the ECON Committee on the appointment of a member of the ECB’s Executive Board:

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ECB-executive-board-member.docx

Link to the planned final report of the ECON Committee on the appointment of the EBA Chair:

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/EBA-Chairperson.docx

Link to the planned final report by the ECON Committee on the appointment of a member of the Single Resolution Board:

https://sg.admk-dev.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SRB-member.docx

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