GENDER EQUALITY: MEPS IN FAVOUR OF EUROPEAN INSTITUTE.

• Position: Brief article

MEPs said they would like to see the Institute up and running within 12 months of entry into force of the Regulation establishing it. EU governments have yet to decide on the Institute's head office, but Austrian Minister for Health and Women Maria Rauch-Kallat told MEPs she hoped the member states would agree on this point soon for it be to able to start up in 2007.

The Committee on Women's Rights said the Institute should be proactive and that its work, in addition to collecting data about gender equality, should include analysis of this data in order to "promote and implement gender equality efficiently". With reference to the Institute's governing board, whose members will be chosen by the European Commission, Council and Parliament, MEPs recommended an equal representation of men and women, suggesting that each gender have at least a 40% representation.

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