MEPs give teeth to Parliament’s anti-harassment training

The European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee on Wednesday (3 April) adopted new changes to its rules of procedure to prevent harassment and promote good office management — despite some pushback from both centre-right and far-right MEPs, according to the German lead rapporteur.

“The European People’s Party in particular resorted to delaying tactics, prolonging negotiations in committee and casting doubt on the need to change the rules of procedure,” said lead MEP Gaby Bischoff (S&D) after the vote.

With 15 votes in favour, nine against and no abstentions, MEPs agreed to introduce concrete sanctions for MEPs who fail to complete mandatory anti-harassment training within the first six months of their mandate.

In short, completion of the training will be a prerequisite for holding office or acting as rapporteur in the next mandate.

“As a public institution as well as an employer, the European parliament has a duty to set the gold standard in tackling harassment in the workplace,” stressed Bischoff (S&D).

The training consists of five different modules, ranging from successful team management to harassment prevention.

During this mandate, 317 current MEPs have taken part in such a course, which the parliament called for in a resolution on “MeToo and harassment” in December 2021, according to the institution’s press service.