IPSO : press release concerning ECB report for 2017
IPSO, the International and European Public Services Organisation, represents the interests of people working for the European Central Bank (ECB) and on the occasion of the publication of the ECB Annual report for the year 2017, we would like to add some information from a trade union perspective.
In the field of corporate governance and human resource developments, IPSO welcomes the ECB’s intentions and actions to foster diversity. Nevertheless, IPSO advocates for covering all diversity dimensions instead of setting the business priority on gender diversity only. We miss diversity at all levels and desperately on the top level. The leading European political class has unfortunately failed in 2017 to recognise the dimension and seriousness of this problem when preparing the list of candidates for the position of the ECB Vice President, while in contrast, the European Parliament has apparently understood this issue. Consequently, the recently nominated Vice President Luis de Guindos obtained only a very thin majority of votes in his favour in the European Parliament. IPSO supports the calls for an overhaul of the nomination process. An independent central bank needs diversity and merit based appointments in all its ranks.
While in the Annual Report the ECB is praising itself for the efforts for integrity, openness and good administration to gain the trust of stakeholders and the public at large, IPSO also misses diversity in the dialogue partners of the ECB. We note that there are no regular exchanges reported in the Annual Report with trade union representatives. And in fact, the labour and social dimension is severely underrepresented in the discussions and ECB’s view of the world, internally and externally.
Read the rest of the IPSO press release concerning ECB report of 2017 here.
