EU commission shake-up branded 'undemocratic'

A shock reshuffle of commission officials has been branded as “undemocratic” by a British MEP.

Socialist deputy Mary Honeyball said the shake-up did nothing to redress the “appalling” gender inbalance in the executive.

Her comments come after commission president José Manuel Barroso surprised even fellow commissioners with news of a reshuffle, the biggest since November 2006.

It affects some of the most senior commission officials, including the head of the legal service and the DGs of competition and environment.

A total of five DGs, seven deputy DGs and two heads of delegation have been transferred.

Several members of the commission, including vice president Margot Wallstrom and Cathy Ashton, the newly-appointed trade commissioner, were reportedly angered by news of the shake-up and the way it was announced at Wednesday’s weekly meeting of commissioners.

Their alleged concern is shared by Honeyball, the UK Labour group's representative on parliament’s women’s committee.

She said, “Yesterday's reshuffle was a perfect opportunity to put deserving women into the top director general posts in the commission to fix the disgraceful situation of women making up just 13 per cent of these posts.

“A mere four out of 31. But this was not done, and today the women remain out numbered by men in these official positions by almost eight to one.

"Maybe this is why Barroso felt he had to keep this move so quiet. If he had done it in the open he would have been far less able to push such a dreadful gender bias through."

“Cathy Ashton and Margot Wallström were among those who objected to the surprise reshuffle. And rightly so. As well as being an undemocratic move, this reshuffle does nothing to redress the appalling gender balance in the executive branch of the EU.

The reshuffle means there will now be just four female heads of the 31 administrative departments. This will reduce to three when Claire Durand, new head of the legal service, retires in July.”

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