European politicians reject banking regulator candidate for a second time
A panel of European Union politicians has rejected the candidate for executive director of the bloc’s banking regulator for the second time, in a bid to attract more women to top EU jobs.
The European Parliament’s economic affairs committee voted by 24 to 23 to recommend that the full parliament rejects Francois-Louis Michaud as the next executive director of the European Banking Authority (EBA) when it meets next week.
Michaud, currently a senior official at the European Central Bank, last month told a parliament hearing that he was fully aware of the need for a better gender balance at the EBA, and was willing to commit to appointing more women to top positions at the watchdog.
The first candidate for the job, Irish central banker Gerry Cross, was also rejected by the committee in January.
Before joining the Central Bank of Ireland, Cross held a position at banking lobby group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, which had raised concerns for some EU lawmakers.
Sven Giegold, a member of the economic affairs committee said in a statement today that the vote, which took place late last night, was a step forward in the fight for gender equality in top positions at EU financial institutions.
If the full European Parliament rejects Michaud then EBA would have to present lawmakers with a shortlist of at least one male and one female candidate, Giegold said.
“We are disappointed about this outcome and we wait for the decision of the Parliament in its plenary session next week,” EBA said in a statement.