In the coming weeks and months, the top jobs of the EU will be decided. The negotiations between the European Parliament and the European Council are now in full swing.
But among the 11 negotiators of the Council and the European Parliament there is only one woman, our Green Spitzenkandidat and parliamentary group president Ska Keller. This blatant imbalance is ironic because the European Council has itself decided that two of the four top positions (Presidents of the Council, the Commission, the Parliament and the High Representative) should be filled by women. Even in the private sector there are already some quotas for women, even if they are still far too weak and non-binding.
When it comes to their own negotiators, Social Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals widely ignore this principle. Such behaviour damages the credibility of the negotiations. In 2019, negotiating teams with equal representation should be self-evident. We call on the parties in the Council and the Parliament to reconsider their choices. It is unbelievable that we have to mobilize for something trivial like this in the 21st century. Women are entitled to half of the power not only in our Green party, but everywhere, especially in top political and finance positions.
In concrete terms, we demand that all negotiating parties to ensure that women are equally represented among their negotiators.
Best regards from Brussels
Sven Giegold
BACKGROUND
Composition of negotiation teams:
European Parliament
Manfred Weber (EPP), Udo Bullmann (S&D), Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE) and Ska Keller (& Philippe Lamberts) (Greens/EFA)
European Council
Socialists: Pedro Sanchez (Spain) and Antonio Costa (Portugal)
Liberals: Mark Rutte (Netherlands) and Charles Michel (Belgium)
Christian Democrats: Krisjanis Karins (Latvia) and Andrej Plenkovic (Croatia)