From 2026, there will be a quota for more women at the top of listed companies in the EU. The EU Parliament adopted a corresponding law on Tuesday, as the institution announced.
Since the EU states have also already agreed to this, the way is now finally clear. EU countries have two years to transpose the provisions into national law, starting 20 days after the directive is published in the EU’s Official Journal.
Specifically, states should be able to choose between two models. Either at least 40 percent of the supervisory board members should be women by then. The second option is to apply the new rules to both executive and non-executive directors, in which case the target would be 33 percent of all directorships by 2026.
The project is gender neutral. If there were significantly more women than men in a corresponding committee, men would also benefit from the regulation. If companies do not comply with the requirements, the EU states should impose deterrent and proportionate penalties such as fines. Negotiators from Parliament and the EU countries had already agreed on the directive in June. The formal approval of the institutions that has now taken place was considered certain.
