They’re meant to be thinking about the EU’s future but on gender equality, European Parliament leaders seem stuck in the past.
On the day a deal was signed to launch a Conference on the Future of Europe, Parliament President David Sassoli upbraided the assembly’s political groups for producing a male-dominated list of nominees for its executive board.
In a letter to political group leaders, seen by POLITICO, Sassoli noted that the list of names consisted of six men and one woman, which “regretfully does not reflect our commitment for gender-balance.”
“I am deeply concerned that only days after the International Women’s Day, we are not able to live up to the very principles that we claim we defend, especially in the context of the future of Europe,” Sassoli wrote in his letter, dated Wednesday, March 10.
“Is this the signal we want to send to young generations, to our fellow citizens and to our counterparts in national parliaments and Member States?” he asked.
Sassoli urged the group chiefs to “reconsider this issue by tomorrow.”
Iratxe Garcia, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats group, was the only woman on the list, according to several Parliament officials. The other names included Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party group, former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt of the centrist Renew Europe group, plus others slated to have observer status such as German Green MEP Daniel Freund.