At midday on Thursday (29 February), just as the plenary week in Strasbourg was coming to an end, the chamber witnessed an unusual scene when a Portuguese MEP was denied access to the session because he was bringing his young child with him.
“This is not just a fight for me, it’s a fight for equality, because not recognising this right disproportionately affects women,” Socialist MEP João Albuquerque said on his Instagram account later that day.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Portuguese MEP had to take his kid to the session, where he was initially refused entry by parliament staff, despite the fact that in a similar incident earlier in February, president Roberta Metsola herself told him that there was no impediment to the entry of members with their children.
“We should have a parliament that allows people to be parents and politicians at the same time,” MEP Karen Melchior (Renew Europe) told the chamber on Thursday, which applauded as Albuquerque stood at the entrance to the chamber holding his son.
The Portuguese socialist was later allowed to enter the plenary after solidarity calls from several MEPs and a further review of the case and the rules of entry.
“Our parliament must evolve. It must embody what it demands from businesses and citizens,” Left MEP Leïla Chaibi, who recently had a baby, told EUobserver of the episode.
According to parliament’s rule 166.1 on access to the chamber, only MEPs, members of the Commission or Council, the institution’s secretary-general, required staff or persons invited by the president can enter.
MEP Melchior described the situation as “unacceptable” and stressed the need to change the rules on access to the plenary at short notice.
What MEPs’ and staff’s children are allowed to do is enter the parliament’s premises, where MEPs have the option of enrolling their children between the ages of three months and four years for day care in the EU institution’s nurseries, according to the EP’s press services.
“Not allowing an elected MEP carrying his child to access the plenary and duly fulfil his duties is unacceptable and I am sure European citizens view it as such,” liberal Romanian MEP Vlad Gheorghe told EUobserver.
Shocked by the situation, Gheorghe decided to send an email to his fellow MEPs later in the day to “send a powerful message”.
“May I propose that for the following plenary in Brussels [10-11 April] we make it a ‘Bring your child to the plenary’ day?” reads the email, seen by EUobserver.
“We need to send a strong firm message to Europeans and the parliament must set an example of support and inclusion for parents and children,” Gheorge added.
This is not the first time that MEPs have called for parliament’s rules to be better adapted to the needs of its members as parents.
Just last year, a number of MEPs raised their voices to highlight the lack of parental leave for MEPs, who are not recognised in the same way as the citizens they represent.
Maternity or paternity leave is not mentioned in the parliament’s election act or rules of procedure, EUobserver previously reported.
What MEPs can do is take an excused absence before and/or after giving birth without being penalised, but at the cost of losing their right to vote in plenary, as MEPs cannot send a temporary replacement to vote in plenary or vote from home.
“As with the absence of maternal leave policies, the parliament is showing its old-fashioned, outdated character,” said Chaibi.
“The president must take action and lead the way in Europe for more modern, more inclusive, more representative and more feminist parliaments,” the French leftwing MEP said.