Vestager denounces EU capitals' 'lack of efforts' in nominating women Commissioners

The European Union needs to "show boys and girls" that leadership means men and women "leading together," Vestager said.

Transcript

00:00McRyder-Vestager, who is one of the EU's outgoing commissioners, has strongly criticised

00:06EU member states for not sending enough female candidates to be considered for the new commission.

00:12Only 8 out of over 25 have done so, and it's undermining President Ursula von der Leyen's

00:17efforts to appoint a gender-balanced executive.

00:20Currently, 12 of the commissioners are women and 15 are men.

00:26Well, I think it's, unfortunately, it's a de-masking of the lack of efforts when it

00:33comes to equal opportunities and gender balance. Ursula von der Leyen, she asked a, I think,

00:39completely legitimate thing, give me two candidates, a man and a woman, then I will compose my

00:46commission so it's gender-balanced and so that people have the competences needed.

00:51And I think it's really a pity that member states do not follow through and gives her

00:58this opportunity to make the best possible commission and to make it gender-balanced

01:03because we were making progress. We were, you know, also visually showing that a commission

01:12that is gender-balanced is capable of doing, you know, unprecedented work as we did in

01:18this mandate under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen.

01:21Why is it important to have more women inside the Berlin Wall? You just answered this question,

01:25but why?

01:27When you are in such dire straits as we are, we have multiple crises, we have things to

01:33deal with, the cost of living crisis, you know, the geopolitics, economic security,

01:39of course you should tap into the talent of both half of the population and not focus

01:47on one part of the population only, the male part of the population. And you need to show

01:53boys and girls that this is what leadership looks like, men and women leading together.

02:00And you can see the full interview with Macrid Vestager this weekend in our show,

02:04The Global Conversation, where Euronews questions European and world leaders directly.