On Wednesday, November 20, the European Parliament adopted its version of the proposed directive introducing the obligation for businesses to come up with recruitment and selection procedures to achieve the objective of 40 percent of women with positions of non-executive directors by 2020 – 2018 for listed public companies. With an overwhelming majority – 459 votes for, 148 against and 81 abstentions –, it supports the European Commission’s project, both in terms of method and objectives. The future of this project is now in the hands of the 28 Ministers of Employment, who will discuss the text on December 9 and 10 in Brussels. There are still disagreements but lines between the camps are moving. (Ref. 130731)
Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, who initiated the proposal, said this was “historical.” Indeed, even though there are cracks in the glass ceiling, women still only account for 16.6 percent of board members in large European companies. The breakthrough is most remarkable in countries like France, Italy, Belgium or Denmark.
General spirit maintained. The European Commission’s initial draft (see article No. 120668) provides that the Member...
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