EU: employment ministers can’t agree on how to dig the draft directive for female representation on company boards out of its hole

During the Employment Council on 07 December the Social Ministers could not manage to agree on a general approach for the draft directive over female representation in directors' positions in listed companies. Despite introducing more flexibility to enable governments, which had already voluntarily implemented provisions and which produced results, to dispense with actually implementing the intended candidate selection rules, the text is now going back to the negotiation table under the Dutch presidency that starts on 01 January 2016, and where the Dutch government actually opposes any binding text.
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No strict quotas, instead representation objectives. Modifications to the initial text put forward by the Luxemburg Presidency during the Employment Council meeting on 07 December were not insignificant. The proposal relating to a better male-female balance at director level in stock exchange listed companies (article No. 120668) requires the Member States to put procedural rules in place that aim to ensure selection for these positions are based on pre-established, clear, neutral and unambiguo

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