All eight remaining female European commissioners have signed a letter backing commission president elect Jean Claude Juncker's call for more women to be put forward for positions in his new team.
"You [Juncker] deserve a flying start - and with 10 or more female commissioners in your team, you will get it"
The letter, part of the current #TenOrMore campaign, argues for an increase in the number of female commissioners in the next Berlaymont line up and calls for Juncker to, "urge member states to nominate at least 10 female commissioners".
The letter ends, "You deserve a flying start – and with 10 or more female commissioners in your team, you will get it".
Note from the Parliament Magazine team: The twitter image of the letter posted by the commission is a bit difficult to read, so we've transposed it below.
Dear Jean Claude,
We wish to support your call for member states to support more women as new commissioners.
Over the past ten years, around one-third of European commissioners have been women, largely because José Manuel Barroso put his foot down and insisted on this.
It is also increasingly clear via research and anecdote that large organisations perform better with a diverse leadership; this corresponds with our experience in the Barroso I and Barroso II commissions.
The European Union is committed to making continual progress towards gender equality. Such progress demands an increase, not a decrease, in the number of female commissioners, particularly as we have grown to be a family of 28 member states.
We therefore urge member states to nominate at least 10 female commissioners, with your support.
You deserve a flying start – and with 10 or more female commissioners in your team, you will get it.
Kind regards
Signed by
Androulla Vassiliou
Catherine Ashton
Maria Damanaki
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
Kristalina Georgieva
Neelie Kroes
Cecilia Malmström
Connie Hedegaard