Ansip's Commissioner Seat Threatened by Gender Issue
The EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, has promised a more gender-balanced commission, but all current 12 candidates are men.
“Despite no quotas for how many women should there be (on the Commission), the fact that there should not be fewer women than in the previous makeup is being talked about loudly,” Matti Maasikas, the head of the permanent Estonian representation at the European Union, told Eesti Päevleht today.
Currently nine of the 28 commissioners are female.
If that figure is not met, the European Parliament could reject the candidates.
All member states have the right to propose a candidate for a commission job, but Juncker could ask for female candidates, promising a higher commission posting, the daily reported.
Estonia's candidate for the commission, Andrus Ansip, said he agrees that the Commission should have more women, but he is the only candidate from Estonia with prime minister experience, and he received his mandate by voters.