Because I have doubts about the “gender certification” included in the budget law
Speech by Alessandra Servidori, professor of labor policies, member of the Steering Council for programmatic activity in the field of economic policy coordination at the presidency of the Council
The female question is always very much to the attention of the commitment, especially when we find ourselves in embarrassing situations (to put it mildly) on the occasion of the use in general for the names used unnecessarily for the election of the President of the Republic, and in particular for the "two women" agitated as an innovative target and then disowned during the painful last week.
A question I would like to deepen and is referred to the 2022 budget law and closely linked to the projects of the NRP as regards the financed instruments to increase female employment. This is the "Gender Certification" as virtuous employers, i.e. certified, will be able to obtain, starting from 2022, a contribution relief equal to 1% of the sums to be paid, with a maximum limit of 50 thousand euros per year , with an expected budget of 50 million euros in total if they adopt the "certification tool" of good practices that ensure equal opportunities and fight against discrimination. A "parity prize" will also be recognized consisting in the attribution, to certified companies, of an additional score for participation in tenders and tenders announced by public administrations and for European, national and regional funding.
Of gender certifications, as I have recalled several times in the past years we have carried out two, one in 2008 (which gave birth to a pseudo pink stamp) and one in 2014, both carried out with large sums that did not give the expected results and above all "Awarded" to the usual large companies. Now try again, but I still remain highly doubtful about the realization and above all about the usefulness for small companies that already today suffer from evident difficulties. In fact, the issue is linked to the resources committed since, except in some cases, state aid is prohibited by European legislation and by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which governs the matter in Articles 107 and 108 .
The Department of European Policies, through the Office for Coordination on State Aid, takes care of the relationship between all central and regional administrations to ensure compliance with European standards. State aid (granted by administrative means or by law) can lead to distortions of competition, favoring certain companies or productions. They can only be compatible with the Lisbon Treaty if they achieve clearly defined objectives of common interest. With the COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Modernization of EU state aid / * COM / 2012/0209 the matter has been further investigated. Stronger and better targeted state aid control can encourage the development of growth-enhancing policies and ensure that distortions of competition remain limited, so that the internal market remains open and competitive. Such control can also help improve the quality of public finances. A more focused framework will allow Member States to make a better contribution both to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy for sustainable growth and to fiscal consolidation. The modernization of state aid control is necessary to improve the quality of the Commission's analysis and to make this instrument a means of promoting an adequate use of public resources and the implementation of growth-oriented policies, limiting distortions of the competition that would jeopardize the level playing field in the internal market.
The current complexity of the substantive rules and procedural framework, which apply equally to both smaller and larger cases, poses a challenge to the state aid control system. There are also other elements which corroborate the need for a broad package of measures to modernize the whole EU state aid policy including the preparation of the EU multiannual financial framework and EU structural funds rules for the period 2014-2020; and, last but not least, the strengthening of the economic and budgetary surveillance system, within the framework of the European Semester. The Member State's task is to try to reconcile the national need to increase the efficiency of the market from an economic point of view with the need for a competitive balance of the markets. Each draft regulation providing for the granting of a new benefit must be promptly notified, together with all the necessary information, by the Member State concerned to the EU Commission which adopts a decision on the matter by which it establishes whether the facility in question is compatible with the rules of the Treaty.
A control room is envisaged for the so-called "gender certification" for which, however, the interministerial implementing decrees are awaited, which will establish the minimum parameters for obtaining the certification as well as the methods for acquiring and monitoring data and involvement of the company union representatives and of the councilors and councilors of equality.
The minimum criteria and requirements for certification are not known, nor which bodies will be responsible for certification. It is to be expected that a new business consulting branch will develop perhaps aligned with ISO 30415: 2021 HR Management – Diversity and Inclusion.
We wonder if the instrument under discussion is a further unnecessary bureaucratic fulfillment or actually allows us to take a step forward on the path towards effective gender equality. In order not to distract energies, I remind you that in May 2021, the ISO (International Standard Organization) published the first International Certification on Diversity & Inclusion, ISO 30415: 2021 Human Resource Management – Diversity and Inclusion.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/certificazione-genere-legge-bilancio/ on Tue, 01 Feb 2022 08:51:10 +0000.