Anyone who has worked in the European Parliament has horror stories about the small but significant number of MEPs and officials who are abusive, bullies, or sexual predators.
The proof lies in the data collected by the MeTooEP campaign, which surveyed 1,001 respondents earlier this year and found that 48.4% of Parliament staff say they have experienced psychological harassment in their workplace.
Another 15.9% have experienced sexual harassment, and 6.7% have experienced physical violence.
That some lawmakers are also terrible employers should not surprise anyone.
Politics is a tough and ruthless business which attracts people and working practices that operate at the limits of acceptability.
The European Parliament, like other political institutions and, often, the media, has tended to embrace that sense that they are ‘special workplaces’ to which normal rules do not apply.
That creates a culture of impunity which means that the bad apples are never rooted out and goes some way towards explaining why, in the wake of the MeToo campaigns, the Parliament has been slow to reform its working practices.
MEPs say that they are in the process of overhauling their internal structures on how they tackle abuse and harassment, agreeing earlier this week to create 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”.
That’s all well and good, though MeTooEP complains that the new regime will not, as it currently stands, establish an external and independent audit or sanction MEPs who fail to follow the mandatory training.
Trade unions and staff committees have been representing their members in the EU institutions for several decades. But the lack of independent mediation, the slow pace of processing claims, and the inherent bias of the system in favour of MEPs and the Parliament have always limited their effectiveness.
“As long as the internal decision-making power of the European Parliament lacks transparency, true change will continue to be challenging to achieve,” says MeTooEP.
That, along with mandatory anti-harassment training for all MEPs and a sanctions regime with teeth, is vital to root out abuse and malpractice.
The nature of the relationship between MEPs and their staff is such a personal one that if that relationship breaks down, for whatever reason, the logical outcome is for the official to leave.
While creating a statute for parliamentary assistants treats them as EU civil servants, these political appointments are in a different category to permanent officials.
That being said, the politicians who legislate for over 400 million Europeans are not above the law. Instead of officials comparing horror stories, it’s time the parliamentary dinosaurs with reputations for bullying and harassment were made extinct.
The Roundup
Lawmakers in the European Parliament voted in favour of the EU Nature Restoration Law on Wednesday (12 July), defeating a right-wing attempt to reject it and paving the way for discussions with EU countries to finalise the contested legislation.
On Tuesday, the European Parliament passed new rules to standardise construction products in the EU amid criticism from the Greens, who say the law does nothing to transform the industry.
G7 countries are expected to announce an ‘international framework for Ukraine’s long-term security arrangements’ on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Vilnius on Wednesday (12 July).
A vessel belonging to the militia of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar illegally returned about 250 migrants onboard a fishing boat in distress in international waters near Malta to Benghazi, in an operation at the weekend.
Hackers suspected of working for Russia’s foreign intelligence agency targeted dozens of diplomats at embassies in Ukraine with a fake used car advert in a bid to break into their computers, according to a cybersecurity firm report published on Wednesday (12 July).
Lawmakers in the European Parliament adopted their position ahead of negotiations with the EU ministers on Commission’s new rules to curb pollution in the industrial sector proposing to exclude cattle farming from the count.
Brussels must put nuclear and renewable energies on an equal footing regarding funding, research, and project development, the 14 members of the “nuclear alliance” who met in Spain said on Tuesday.
As inter-institutional negotiations kick off on the Platform Workers Directive, EURACTIV has learnt that the European Commission will endeavour to get the final text closer to its initial proposal, expecting most of the pushback to come from EU countries.
The EU competition department green-lighted the US semiconductor company Broadcom’s proposed $61 billion acquisition of the cloud computing and visualisation company VMware on Wednesday under certain conditions.
The negotiators of the European Parliament and member states agreed on some points about corporate accountability rules this week, and the Spanish EU Council Presidency is expected to push on the talks starting in September to strike a deal before the end of the current term.
Negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and Australia are stalling as Australia wants to leverage its wealth in critical raw materials to get more market access for its meat and sugar industry.
The agriculture ministers of Germany and Austria oppose the Commission’s plans to deregulate new genetic techniques EU-wide, though whether they can form a united front against Brussels’ proposal to protect their large organic sectors remains to be seen.
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank announced on Wednesday (12 July) the creation of the HERA Invest initiative, offering €100 million for innovative solutions to future health threats.
The European Parliament’s stance on the Industrial Emissions Directive has failed to meet the expectations of environmental organisations, though some also pointed to a few silver linings.
Look out for…
- European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg Monday-Thursday.
- Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans participates in ceremony to establish EU Day to Commemorate Victims of Global Climate Crisis on Thursday.
- Commissioner Helena Dalli, in Strasbourg, participates in trilogue on Proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence on Thursday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
