Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie criticizes EP proposal to introduce women’s quota for SMEs

“Out of touch, bureaucratic and harmful for medium-sized businesses”. The BDI criticizes the proposal by the European Parliament to introduce a women’s quota for small and medium-sized businesses.

17-7-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Holger Lösch, a member of the BDI General Directorate, commented on the proposal by the European Parliament for a fixed quota for the representation of women in small and medium-sized businesses.

“With its proposal to extend a 40 percent gender quota to small and medium-sized firms, the European Parliament has provided another example that regulations from Brussels are being perceived as out of touch with reality, bureaucratic and increasingly hostile to small and medium-sized enterprises as well. With this initiative the European Parliament is making a flagrant encroachment on personnel decisions made by private companies and is guilty of a blatant violation of the constitutionally protected rights of companies and their proprietors.

Not a single EU member state penalizes non-compliance with the gender quota by excluding firms from invitations to tender. In making these proposals, the European Parliament therefore not only ignores the real world within business enterprises but also disregards the legal provisions in those member states which it would actually depend on for support in the Council.”

###