Equal opportunity knocks

Date: 05/09/1996

All European Parliament committees are created equal. But some are more equal than others.

The women's committee, for example, believes it should be overseeing current changes in EU equal opportunities legislation, and so does the social affairs committee.

Who will get the job? Entre Nous predicts fireworks when the Parliament's conference of presidents meets in the next few weeks to discuss the issue.

The Parliament's administrators were originally content to hand the task of preparing MEPs' views on the proposed equal opportunities changes to the women's committee.

“Under the rules of procedure, it is quite clear that the women's committee is responsible for directives on women,” explained one source.

Ah, but shouldn't equal opportunities be matters to do with men and women, equally? Enter British Socialist MEP Stephen Hughes, chairman of the social affairs committee, who insisted that his committee was better fitted for the job. But Nel van Dijk, the Dutch Green MEP who chairs the women's committee, was not going to stand for that.

Who better to act as referee than the chairman of parliamentary committee chairmen, Ken Collins?

Unfortunately, his efforts at mediation ended in disaster: a meeting between Hughes, van Dijk and Collins lasted a mere 60 seconds before van Dijk departed after explaining that she had no mandate to discuss the issue and that a rapporteur, Luxembourg Christian Democrat Astrid Lulling, had already been appointed.

Efforts by Hughes to seize the initiative also suffered a set-back before the summer recess when his choice as rapporteur on the social affairs committee declined the offer because of the ongoing dispute.

Collins was forced to write to President Klaus Hänsch admitting defeat, and the uneviable task of deciding between the rivals now falls to Hänsch and the council of presidents.