“By modernizing our rules, we are standing up for fairness, equality and a Parliament that truly reflects the people it serves,” says Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
EU countries on Tuesday agreed to amend European law to allow MEPs to cast proxy votes in the last stage of pregnancy, and six months after giving birth.
“No elected representative should have to choose between serving her voters and having children,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told POLITICO in a statement. “By modernizing our rules, we are standing up for fairness, equality and a Parliament that truly reflects the people it serves.”
MEPs have been campaigning for years to change rules which state that they must be physically present to cast a ballot in the European Parliament, regardless of their stage of pregnancy or how soon it is after the birth of their child. In an interview with POLITICO in 2023, Dutch MEP Lara Wolters said the rules sent a “bad signal, especially for young women.”
European affairs ministers meeting in the General Affairs Council on Tuesday voted in favor of a plan to allow MEPs to cast proxy ballots in the final three months of pregnancy and the first six months after childbirth.
A senior EU diplomat told POLITICO that the Council will now need to forward the text to the European Parliament for its official green light, before it returns to the Council for final approval. The proposal will then have to be ratified by EU member countries before it can enter into force.
The plan “represents a positive step for democratic representation,” the diplomat said, and will help MEPs “reconcile private life and work and ensure inclusive representation.”
The EU aims to implement the proposal by the next European Parliament election in 2029, as reported in Tuesday’s POLITICO Brussels Playbook.
Metsola said on social media: “We’re not there yet, but we are turning this commitment into reality.”