National governments should appoint more women to the bloc"s executive arm in Brussels, dpa cited European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as saying today. About a third of the 27 commissioners in the outgoing executive are women, and Barroso has been pushing for an even stronger gender balance in his second administration. However, of the 20 nominations made so far by member states, only three are women: Androulla Vassiliou of Cyprus, Viviane Reding of Luxembourg and Rumiana Jeleva of Bulgaria. Two of these are already commissioners, while Jeleva would replace another woman, Meglena Kuneva. Denmark is tipped to nominate Connie Hedegaard, the country"s climate and energy minister. But she would replace another woman, Mariann Fischer Boel. Sweden is also thought to be considering another woman to replace Margot Wallstrom, the current institutional affairs commissioner who said goodbye to the Brussels media earlier this week. "I will try to have women in the commission," Barroso said, but "the reality is that there is no gender balance in the governments of Europe." The commission president noted that there is currently just one female prime minister in the EU, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and only two female heads of state, those of Finland and Lithuania, in Europe. "I certainly want the European Commission to look better than the European council (the body which represents EU governments)," Barroso said. While Barroso must approve all nominations, he cannot impose his choices on national governments. "The problem is that each government has the right to send the candidates they think are the best," said Barroso as he compared the composition of the new commission to Rubik"s Cube. "I cannot impose a (female) candidate on a country, and I cannot refuse a good, competent commissioner just because he is a man," Barroso added. Of the leading candidates for the top EU post being created by the incoming Lisbon Treaty, that of council president, only one is a woman - former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
