WOMEN ON TOP?

In July the French take over the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers. This means that for better or worse we'll be seeing a lot more of President Sarkozy over the next six months.

According to The European Voice, "France is planning a grand symbolic gesture to launch its presidency of the Council of Ministers." On 1st July women representatives of each Member State hope to climb Mont Blanc.

Rather than a "grand symbolic gesture", wouldn't it be more productive if President Sarkozy threw his weight behind a campaign, that I've signed up to, called Females in Front which hopes to promote more women into the top positions in the European Union. With women making up over half the population of the EU it is a disgrace that we are so under represented at the top.

How different things could have been had Segolene Royal been elected President.

Commissioner Margot Wallstrom has also blogged about this

http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/wallstrom/


Please sign the petition on the Females in Front website:

http://www.femalesinfront.eu/default.asp?lang=gb&view=about_uk

MONEY TRANSFERS

A number of you have raised EU cross-border money transfers with me. There have been cases where UK banks have levied additional charges without informing the customer.

I have raised this issue with the Commission, via a written question, to establish what obligation UK banks have in informing customers of all charges prior to the commencement of the transaction. I have also asked for clarification on the regulations governing UK banks on extra charges levied for EU transfers denominated in Euros, and what action the Commission is taking to ensure that banks adhere to such regulations.

This is also an issue for those who wish to trade within the EU market.

I am waiting to hear the Commission's response.

I recently raised a similar question on credit card charges applied within the EU. The answer from the Commission was helpful in that they agreed to take the matter up with the relevant authorities. I hope we get another good response this time.

MANDELSON TO GO

Following in the footsteps of Commissoner Marcus Kyprianou from Cyprus, five other European Commissioners will go on or before the end of the current mandate in June 2009. One of the casualties will be our very own Peter Mandelson. According to "European Voice", "Prime Minister Gordon Brown made it clear that he would not be inviting his Party colleague and adversary Peter Mandelson to stay on board".

The others on the move are Franco Frattini (Italy), Louis Michel (Belgium), Jan Figel (Slovakia) and the respected Swede, Margot Wallstrom who has already served her allotted two terms.

NO WOMEN FOR NEW TOP EU POSTS

After the European elections in June next year there will be some amendments to the way the European Union works. Yes, you've got it. I'm talking about the Lisbon Treaty. Two important posts need to be filled after June 2009, assuming all Member States ratify the Treaty. One is the President of the Council of Ministers who will serve for two and a half years as opposed to the current six-month rotating presidency. The other is a new leadership position in external affairs combining the roles of the present Council High Representative and the External Affairs Commissioner.

Both these reforms are highly sensible. It's not the reforms which are the problem. It's not even the candidates who are being put forward for the posts. The real issue is the lack of women. Despite the excellent representation of women in the European Parliament, currently standing at one third of the members, it seems impossible to get women into senior positions in the Commission and to a lesser extent the Council. There really is no excuse for such gender imbalance.