The Commission for Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament recently approved the first reading of the report on the setting up of a European Institute for Equal Opportunities. It could already open its doors by next year. In contrast to the initial proposal of the European Commission making provision for an administrative budget of 52.2 million euros for the period 2007-2013 the new text intends to place at the centre of the institute’s activity “the real capacity to analyse the data, with a view to promoting and realizing the policy for equal opportunities in an effective manner”. To “set a good example”, the report of the parliamentary Commission recommends that the representation of each sex ought not to be lower than 40% on the executive Council of the Institute, the location of which could be defined during the six months’ Austrian Presidency. http://www.europarl.eu.int/news/expert/infopress_page/
