Speaking ahead of Saturday’s meeting of the European Council, PES President Sergei Stanishev said: “European citizens want change. We must ensure that the next European Commission is one where progressive voices are strong, and one in which female candidates are given a prominent role.
Gender balance and the appointment of women to Brussels’ top jobs is key to Europe’s future. EU leaders must represent all of Europe’s citizens, not just half of them. If Member States will not nominate a minimum number of women to be European Commissioners, then it is right that more top jobs go to women to ensure that their voice is strongly heard.”
Stanishev continued, “We are proud in the PES to have excellent candidates, with all the skills and experience to fulfil these roles. We demand a progressive approach which reflects the call of Europe’s citizens in May for an end to the status quo of the past five years. We need real change in Brussels.”
The PES has ten Heads of State or Government sitting in the European Council, and is in coalition Government in an additional nine Member States. It was the only party in the political centre to increase its share of the vote in the 2014 European Parliament elections, and secured the largest number of votes of any political family in Europe.
