Euro MPs take gender stand

25 Oct 2012, 11:06 pm   -   Source: AAP

About 325 members of the European Parliament have voted against a leading candidate for a top banking post, with 300 in favour and 49 abstaining.

European MPs have snubbed the bloc's top leadership, voting down the appointment of Luxembourg's Yves Mersch to a key European Central Bank (ECB) post in protest against a lack of women candidates for the job.

The narrow vote on Thursday came after a series of exchanges over the representation of women at the top levels in European political and business institutions but it counts as a protest only because European Union leaders can override parliament in this case.

About 325 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted against Mersch, head of the Luxembourg central bank, with 300 in favour and 49 abstaining.

Socialist and Liberal groups in parliament complain that EU institutions are failing to set an example and argued that Mersch's appointment would mean the ECB's executive board would be all male until at least 2018.

The vote was as expected but it is embarrassing nonetheless for the EU leadership, which had pressed parliament to endorse Mersch after its economic affairs committee had turned him down on Monday.

European President Herman Van Rompuy said on Tuesday the committee vote was "an understandable expression of concern that a great deal remains to be achieved, notably regarding the European Central Bank".

Van Rompuy said that at last week's EU summit he had "made a strong appeal to (leaders) ... to identify and propose good female candidates for vacant posts (especially) ... in the economic and financial sectors, where the under-representation of women is blatant".

"I hope that, with such renewed commitment to gender balance, parliament will base its final decision on the current candidate ... on the sole criteria of professional qualification and experience," he said, adding that it was "urgent to fill that vacancy".

European governments have the ultimate power to decide the appointment after consultation with parliament, which has in the past forced the withdrawal of some candidates.

The most recent woman on the ECB board was Austria's Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell between 1998 and 2011 who was replaced by Peter Praet of Belgium in preference to Slovakia's Elena Kohutikova.

Eurozone finance ministers nominated Mersch in July to replace Spain's Manuel Gonzalez Paramo.

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