Updated 1pm with PL reaction

The EU directive that imposes gender quotas on company boards “is not comparable” to the corrective mechanism used during general elections, as it does not impact democratically elected representatives, European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said.

She was replying to questions put to her after members of the public questioned, on social media, why she opposed the gender-corrective mechanism used during the general election but backed the EU directive, when both essentially impose a quota on women’s representation.

The debate started when, speaking during a television programme earlier last week, Metsola said she believed that the gender quota system used during general elections has failed.

Metsola spoke about the need for a full-time parliament that would encourage more women to get involved and said that: “The biggest insult to a woman is when someone looks at you and tells you that you were elected because you were helped.”

The quota mechanism, introduced ahead of the 2022 general election, aimed to ensure that at least 40% of parliamentary seats were occupied by women. Through the mechanism, once this threshold was not met, an additional 12 seats were allocated to candidates from the underrepresented gender – women.

The EU directive establishes that 40% of non-executive directors and 33% of all directors in large-listed companies must belong to the underrepresented sex by June 30, 2026.

In the past, Metsola was quoted as saying she was proud to put her name to the EU directive and that it was a “potential trailblazer” that “puts a crack in the glass ceiling.”

“The Women on Boards Directive is not comparable [to the parliament quota mechanism] in that it does not impact democratically elected representatives or the composition of parliaments that create laws for everyone.

"Furthermore, the directive contains a number of safeguards that prevent and push back against tokenism and underlines that merit remains the key criterion in selection procedures – while small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 250 employees are excluded from the scope of the directive,” she said.

Metsola added that while the gender-corrective mechanism used during the elections “has very noble aims”, it had the opposite effect.

Instead of pushing women forward, the system actively incentivised a vote against women candidates in general elections, based on the assumption that women would get elected anyway.

“It is the wrong approach. It acts as a smokescreen simply to boost the statistical number of women in parliament. The way it operates has created distrust and damages legitimacy,” she said.

She added that a more effective system could be to mandate political parties to have gender-balanced ballot lists of candidates that ensure that there is balance in the choice of candidates.

These were recommendations made by the same committee that recommended the introduction of the gender-corrective mechanism ahead of the 2022 elections.

“It is not perfect either, but importantly, it leaves the choice of who represents them to the people who vote. Ultimately, our representatives must be chosen on the basis of the votes they receive from their constituents.

"That principle is what must matter and what will ultimately smash those glass ceilings. As we saw in 2014, with enough women on the ballot, people vote for them, without mechanisms or quotas,” she said.

A tool that strengthened democracy: PL

In a statement, the PL said it strongly believed that the mechanism for gender balance did not detract from the legitimacy and value of the women elected through it.

On the contrary, the increased presence of women in Parliament has helped to make parliamentary work more representative and with a broader vision for the benefit of the people.

"This was a necessary – and successful – step towards a fairer and more equal society. It is therefore regrettable to hear comments questioning the legitimacy or capacity of these women," the party said, referring to recent comments by Metsola and PN MP Claudette Buttigieg

"Metsola herself has always been opposed to any form of positive measures – a well-known position that she expressed long before the gender balance mechanism came into effect.

"The facts are clear: the representation of women in Parliament increased from 13% to 28% - a historic increase that would never have been achieved without this mechanism."

The PL said Malta had long been mentioned among the worst in the European Union in terms of gender balance in politics.

The party, it added, had fulfilled its mission to bring about concrete and structured changes by introducing a constitutional mechanism with broad consultation of all parties.

"Malta is not alone on this path – more than a dozen countries in the European Union use similar mechanisms. This is the path that many countries have started to achieve equality.

"However, the mechanism remains temporary and should therefore be accompanied by other complementary measures, including structures such as a parliamentary caucus, a policy of mainstreaming into legislation, and facilities for families."