Following today's announcement by Viviane Reding that the European Commission will be "weighing options to break the ‛glass ceiling’ for women on company boards", ALDE MEPs are supporting the Commission to take bold actions to smash gender-based glass ceilings, whether on company boards or elsewhere, since one of the most glaring examples of gender imbalance is the ECB Governing Council where there are currently no women at all.

"The Commission are showing leadership today in pushing for change in corporate board rooms. They should be equally bold in their support for MEPs who are asking Member States to break the all-male dominance of ECB leadership", said Sharon Bowles (UK, Lib Dem), chairwoman of the economic and monetary affairs committee.

"EU Finance Ministers must soon decide on the replacement of Mr Gonzalez-Paramo on the Executive Board of the ECB. There is not a single woman on the Executive Board, nor on the Governing Council or the General Council. This is an opportunity to take stock of the glaring absence of women in the top positions of the Bank. There is still time for EU finance ministers to nominate a suitably qualified woman," said Sylvie Goulard.

Sophie In't Veld (D66, Netherlands) who sits on both the economic affairs committee and the committee on equal opportunities and women's rights will be presenting a report to plenary next Monday assessing progress over the past year on this issue of balanced representation on company boards as well as other issues affecting women.

Olle Schmidt (Folkpartiet, Sweden) last week tabled an Oral Question to the Commission on the total lack of female representation on the ECB Governing Council. He had raised the issue of unde female under-representation at the ECB with the new ECB President, Mario Draghi at the former's first discussions with the committee after taking office:

"We need to work much more proactively towards a more balanced representation in the EU institutions. In the specific case of the ECB Executive Board, we urge Member States to meet their commitment and agree a model for selecting candidates whereby each Member State nominates two candidates, one man and one woman ", concluded Schmidt.

The ALDE ECON members sent a letter to all EU finance ministers in January drawing their attention to this anomaly on the ECB's governing Council and calling for action to remedy it. See letter attached.