EU lawmakers to overhaul internal rules on harassment complaints

MEPs are set to toughen their internal rules on harassment of their staff and parliamentary officials following a series of complaints that its existing regime discourages victims from coming forward with complaints.

At a meeting of the European Parliament’s bureau, leading MEPs proposed to establish a new mediation service in Parliament, led by a Head Mediator. The service is to be independent, neutral and impartial. MEPs would also be required to attend a training course on “how to create a good and well-functioning team”.

The Parliament’s bureau, which includes the President and 14 Vice-Presidents, manages the internal workings of the institution.

The Bureau also supported the principle of introducing an ‘amicable termination of contract’ between a Member and their parliamentary assistant, as a means to avoid reputational damage to the MEP and assistant.

However, a letter by 8 Vice-Presidents of the Parliament representing the liberal Renew Europe, Socialists, Greens and Left groups, seen by EURACTIV, demanded “additional points on improving the policies and procedures to truly ensure zero-harassment”.

These should include mandatory anti-harassment training for all MEPs, said the Vice-Presidents, adding that “we also would like to insist on the need for consequences as well as incentives”.

“This proposal should be the new starting point of the EP [European Parliament] anti-harassment policy,” they said.

The names of MEPs, who participated in the training, should be published on the Parliament’s website, while MEPs who refuse to follow the training should be sanctioned, they added.

The letter also proposes yearly monitoring and regular participatory screening to get data and adds that a plenary decision should be made on this before the end of 2023.

“This reform has the potential to deliver. It pays special attention to measures that will better protect victims, it speeds up the processes and it focuses on prevention, through training and mediation,” said Parliament President Roberta Metsola in a statement on Monday (10 July).

In April, the Parliament’s women’s rights committee found that the institution’s internal procedures for dealing with cases of psychological and physical harassment to be inadequate, pointing to research which found that only 260 out of 705 MEPs had attended anti-harassment training, which is currently voluntary.

Officials have confirmed that five MEPs have been penalised for harassment since 2016, while Mónica Silvana González and Monica Semedo were both sanctioned for psychologically harassing staff earlier this year. However, there have long been complaints that the sanctions regime against MEPs is very weak and that harassment cases can take years to be processed, causing unnecessary harm to the victims.

Meanwhile, a lack of awareness of the internal procedures on harassment, and a perception that the system is biased in favour of MEPs, have also discouraged parliamentary staff from coming forward with complaints.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]