EU to amend its equality directive

THE European Commission yesterday agreed to amend its owe equality directive to remove legal uncertainty over positive discrimination in favour of women in the workforce.

Responding to the October judgment of the European Courts of Justice in the Kalanke case, the Commissioner for Social Affairs Mr Padraig Flynn, has persuaded the Commission to issue a communication clarifying the ruling and amending the 1976 directive on the equal treatment of women and men.

The court had found the German Land of Bremen had been wrong automatically to promote a woman to a post over an equally qualified man. Under local legislation it was obliged to do so if women were under represented in the workforce.

The Commission said yesterday its understanding of the ruling was that only the automatic element of the positive discrimination had been illegal. The employer must be allowed discretion.

The Commission will amend the directive to remove ambiguities to ensure that member states which wish to do so can legislate for the use of non mandatory positive discrimination and quotas or such measures as special targeting or training of women for particular jobs in order to reduce imbalances in the workforce. The move will safeguard existing legislation in some of the Nordic countries and Germany. (The directive applies equally to imbalances involving men.)

A member of Mr Flynn's cabinet, Ms Karen Banks, said that she was confident the amendment would be accepted in a unanimity vote of the member states as it was permissive rather than prescriptive.