German court rejects bid for gender-sensitive bank forms EU’s Juncker urging UK to speed up Brexit negotiations

A German federal court has rejected a customer’s demand for her bank to include the feminine form of words such as “account holder” on official forms. The Federal Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that plaintiff Marlies Kraemer hadn’t suffered any discrimination under German law from her bank’s use of the “generic masculine” on forms, a common practice. The German language adds a suffix to turn nouns into feminine form. In the case of account holder, “Kontoinhaber” becomes “Kontoinhaberin.” In the 1990s, Kraemer did without a passport until the feminine form of “holder” was added to the application form. She later gathered signatures to push for high-pressure areas in weather reports to be given feminine as well as masculine names. But courts have been unimpressed by her campaign for gender-sensitive bank forms. The European Union’s executive branch is calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to speed up negotiations on how to leave the bloc and define its future relationship with the 27 remaining member states. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told EU legislators Tuesday that “there is increasing urgency to negotiate this orderly withdrawal,” showing frustration May had yet to clearly outline what she wanted once Britain leaves the bloc in March next year. Juncker said the EU needs “further clarity“on such issues like a trading relationship and the EU’s only land border with the U.K. on the island of Ireland. The European Parliament’s chief Brexit official, Guy Verhofstadt said that in three keynote addresses, May “is mainly repeating the red lines that we know already for two years.”