Baroness Ashton 'at odds' with colleague over women quotas The number of female heads and deputy heads of delegation has increased in the past two years from 10 to 31 but only 87, or 12 per cent, of the 717 applications for 18 recently-advertised senior posts in the EEAS came from women. Just three women were appointed. According to a recent answer to a question in the House of Lords the EEAS budget for 2011 requested funding for 3,720 staff 'slots.' This included 1,643 policy and operational officers plus a further 2, 077 extra staff including seconded national experts and contract agents. In her reply to the MEP, Baroness Ashton encouraged "good female candidates" to apply but ruled out quotas, saying, "The basic principle of EEAS selection procedures is merit." Ms Yannakoudakis responded by saying the Commission was "clearly divided on quotas." According to a senior Tory Party source in Brussels, Baroness Ashton's stance puts her "at odds" with Mrs Reding, who is expected to submit a draft directive in October which would make it mandatory for listed companies to ensure that women fill at least 40 per cent of positions on their boards by 2020. In March, Mrs Reding, also a Commisison vice president, started a three-month consultation on imposed quotas, a year after she called on companies to take voluntary steps to increase the number of women on their boards. The Tory source said: "The fact that Reding wants to legislate to put women in the top positions and Ashton and her service are saying that quotas are wrong because you need the best person for the job puts two of the three female Commission vice presidents on opposite sides of the same argument." However, support for Baroness Ashton's position came from UK Tory MEP Charles Tannock, who said: "The top posts in the EEAS must be allocated on merit and merit alone. Only when two candidates of equal professional merit present for the same post would it be reasonable to consider other factors such as gender balance and geographical provenance. EU taxpayers expect the very best to work for the institutions given the large and generous salary packages. Otherwise the service will not be taken seriously.