In that regard, the fact that an official requested to be appointed to a post of head of unit and that the appointing authority did not accede to that request, but reassigned the official from a post of advisor to another advisor post, is not in itself enough to classify the contested decision as a retaliatory measure against the official concerned.

17. Welcomes the fact that since 2011 the number of women in Head of Delegation posts have more than doubled from 10 to 24 (17 % of the total) and that in Headquarters there are 22 women in management positions of head of divisions and above representing 18 % of the total; encourages the EEAS to continue improving the gender balance both in the Delegations and at the Headquarters;

10. Recognises the essential role of the EEAS (including its Delegations and EU Special Representatives) in assisting the VP/HR in pursuing a more strategic, coherent and consistent political approach to the Union‘s external action; affirms its intention to continue monitoring the geographic and gender balance of staff in the EEAS, including in senior positions, and to assess whether the appointment of Member State diplomats as Heads of Delegation and other key positions is in the interests of the Union, not solely of their Member States; stresses the importance of having a fully functional and efficient EEAS and of strengthening relat ...[+++]ions between the EEAS, the Commission and the Member States with a view to achieving synergies in the effective implementation of external action and in delivering a single EU message on key political issues;

G. whereas the EU development aid to Guinea-Bissau has been suspended since the military mutiny of1st April 2010 and the subsequent appointment of its main instigators as the chief of staff for defence and chief of staff for the navy; and whereas humanitarian aid and direct support to the population have not been affected by this freeze;

2. Welcomes the results of recent elections that brought women to the highest functions as Heads of State in Finland, Liberia and Chile, and the appointment of women as Heads of Government in Germany, Jamaica and South Korea;

21. Regrets that, in spite of the political importance of the region for the European Union, from mid-1999 to mid-2000, in the absence of the Head of Delegation, the Commission office to the West Bank and Gaza was represented by one administrator; calls on the Commission to improve its organisation of staffing so as to avoid the post of Head of Delegation being left vacant for more than one month;