Agenda highlights
Women on company boards
The Council will try to agree on a position on a directive improving the gender balance among non-executive board members.
Large companies in the EU are disproportionately led by men. In April 2015 women accounted for 21.2% of board members in the biggest publicly listed companies in EU countries.
The proposal aims to increase the share of women to 40% of non-executive posts in publicly listed companies by 2020. To achieve this binding objective, it does not provide for mandatory female quotas but instead introduces fairer selection mechanisms.
Ministers are also likely to adopt conclusions on equality between men and women in the field of decision-making.
They will also exchange views on the strategic commitment to gender equality 2016-2019.
Long-term unemployed
Ministers will try to reach a political agreement on making it easier for the long-term unemployed to get back on to the labour market.
European Semester
Ministers will hear a presentation by the Commission on its annual growth survey for 2016, the joint employment report, the alert mechanism report and a draft recommendation for the euro area on which they will exchange views.
The European Semester is a yearly cycle of economic policy coordination among member states.
Health issues
Health ministers are expected to adopt four sets of conclusions on:
- an EU strategy on reducing alcohol-related harm
- personalised medicine for patients
- better support for people living with dementia
- lessons learned for public health from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa - health security in the European Union