I disagree that "there is little concern for gender equality". However, "gender equality" doesn't trump all. Barroso and Zapatero would have huffed and puffed but in the end ZP would not have vetoed a candidate on the basis that they were not a woman. So you can actually have "Miliband would have been chosen had he made himself available, because the concern for gender equality is not overriding. Which is not the same thing as "there is no concern for gender equality".

The overriding concern here was, apparently, "no Blairism" (and that means no Blair, no Mandelson and no Hoon).

So "no to Blair" overrides "gender equality". Go figure.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma