EU institutions must review the way they treat staff who claim they have been sexually harassed, a senior commission official has said during a debate held in the wake of the revelations about the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Cecilia Malmström, a Swedish commissioner with responsibility for human resources, told the debate in Strasbourg that more must be done to address allegations of sexual abuse within the European parliament and commission. Her comments come after at least two staff members claimed they had been raped and other claims of sexual harassment emerged this week.
“Workplaces all over the world, including in the European Union and the institutions must look at how we address this,” she said. “Do we do enough?”
The debate about sexual violence heard claims that the parliamentary authorities had sought to play down allegations of sexual abuse in the past. These claims were swiftly denied.
Anonymous victims of sexual harassment within the European commission and the parliament have suggested through the media in recent days that they have struggled to have their voices heard. The Politico website claims to have heard more than 30 unverified allegations of rape, assault and harassment connected to the parliament in the past week, after it set up a confidential whistleblowing portal.
One of the complainants, an MEP’s assistant who requested anonymity, told Politico she had informed senior parliamentary officers that a member of staff had raped her in 2016, only to be discouraged from approaching the police.
“If there are formal procedures, I don’t know what they are. I felt completely lost,” she said.
Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP who sits on the committee that investigates harrassment complaints involving colleagues in the parliament, told the debate that the body regularly had cases to deal with, but none of the 10 reported to it since 2014 had been of a sexual nature. She added, however, that she believed women were fearful of coming forward with the most serious accusations.
“All forms of harassment are wrong and must be stopped but sexual harassment is particularly pernicious,” she said. “Coming forward is very distressing for the victims. Disclosure is a professional and financial risk for the victims.
“They often don’t come forward and their cases go unreported. So we don’t see the full extent of the problem. This isn’t acceptable.
“We must get better. Better at preventing harassment in the first place by introducing mandatory MEP training. Better at encouraging the victims to come forward by providing guarantees they will not lose their job. And better at acting swiftly once the investigation has been completed. With sanctions imposed against accused MEPs.”
The fact that MEPs have immunity from prosecution up until the chamber votes to lift it represents a further complication for alleged victims of sexual harassment.
The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, said earlier this week that no formal allegations of sexual harassment had been made against those who work in the chamber, only for contradictory details to emerge and clarifications to follow.
A spokesman said on Wednesday that while no formal allegations of sexual abuse had been made to the two advisory committees formed to deal with accusations, “cases of rape or sexual harassment have been reported” to senior personnel and “sanctions and disciplinary measures taken”.
MEPs, who are due to vote on a resolution on the subject on Thursday, debated ways to put an end to all forms of sexual harassment. Some shared their own experiences.
“I was 19 years old at university, he was a like-minded professor about 70 years old, an intellectual comrade,” the Italian MEP Eleonora Forenza said.
Terry Reintke, a Green MEP, said: “Me too, I have been sexually harassed just like millions of other women in the European Union … I think it is about time that we very clearly say that we should not be ashamed but that the perpetrators should be ashamed.”
The leader of the Tory MEPs, Ashley Fox, has fallen foul of a group of five female MEPs who are demanding an external investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in the parliament.
He was accused of “mansplaining” when he said those responding to an email from the group seeking support for their initiative earlier this week need not reply to everyone on the distribution list, suggesting their responses amounted to spam.
Soroya Post, a Swedish MEP, wrote back: “It is amazing that in 2017 we can still see such examples of mansplaining. Times have changed and we will not be dictated by your demands Mr Fox.
“The power of visibility that the issue of sexual harassment and assault is gaining right now cannot be underestimated or diminished. We will make our voices louder on this issue which has been silenced for too long to the detriment of all of us.
“Martin Luther King Jr said: ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort or convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.’ You Mr Fox could clearly heed his advice.”
