EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding yesterday had to back down on plans to introduce obligatory gender quotas to increase the number of women sitting on non-executive corporate boards.

Self-regulation is not working

During their weekly meeting, the college of European Commissioners could not reach a compromise on the controversial proposals and asked Commissioner Reding to come up with a new plan next month.

The Luxembourg Commissioner was planning to give details of the proposals during a live televised press conference in the afternoon in Strasbourg.

However, since the proposal was blocked, the event was unceremoniously cancelled.

Sources said that only a minority of EU commissioners backed Ms Reding’s initiative, with nearly all the nine EU female Commissioners opposing it.

86.5%

of board members in the EU are men

Vice President Catherine Ashton and Climate Action boss Connie Hedegaard spoke publicly against the proposal, saying that quotas were not the best way forward.

The majority of EU member states, including Malta, had already expressed their dismay at this initiative and had written to the Commission stating that they would not support such a proposal.

However, Commissioner Reding argued that this was the only way to move forward as self-regulation was not working.

Commission findings show that currently, 86.5 per cent of board members and 97.5 per cent of chairpersons in the EU are men.

Currently, only France sets a 40 per cent gender quota for corporate boards and sets fines for violations.

Otherwise, policies vary across the EU, either through voluntary quotas or limited mandates.

Denmark, Finland, Greece, Austria and Slovenia have adopted rules on gender balance for the boards of state-owned companies.

Malta currently has no quotas although the Government normally appoints a number of women to its boards.