Compte rendu in extenso des débats

Jeudi 16 décembre 2021 - Strasbourg

4. MeToo et le harcèlement: conséquences pour les institutions de l'UE (suite du débat)

  Πρόεδρος. – Επαναλαμβάνεται τώρα η συζήτηση επί της προφορικής ερώτησης της κ. Evelyn Regner, εξ ονόματος της Επιτροπής Δικαιωμάτων των Γυναικών και Ισότητας των Φύλων, με θέμα «MeToo και παρενόχληση – οι συνέπειες για τα θεσμικά όργανα της ΕΕ» (O-000074/2021 - B9-0045/21) (2021/2986(RSP)).

  Pina Picierno (S&D). – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, ormai quattro anni fa il movimento MeToo si diffondeva in tutto il mondo grazie alla forza, grazie alla determinazione di alcune donne che decisero di denunciare molestie e abusi ricevuti da uomini di potere.

Allora, io lo voglio dire chiaramente, ancora una volta, in quest'Aula, ancora una volta ai colleghi che lo negano: è vero, non tutti gli uomini sono molestatori, ovviamente, ma tutte le molestie che le donne ricevono sono causate da uomini. Questa è la verità e da questa verità dobbiamo partire.

Poi è arrivato il tempo in cui si è provato a sminuire il valore di questa denuncia collettiva al grido di "se la sono cercata", "non esagerate con le denunce, non esagerate con il MeToo", "se hanno ricevuto molestie alcune donne è perché hanno dato l'idea di essere disponibili".

Ancora abbiamo dovuto ascoltare discussioni sul perché, addirittura, si era trovato il coraggio di denunciare, magari dopo qualche anno, e anche questo, care colleghe e cari colleghi, evidenzia, per l'ennesima volta, quanto le donne siano ancora tragicamente due volte vittime. Vittime la prima volta, quando vengono abusate, quando vengono molestate, quando vengono annichilite, quando vengono violentate e vittime anche una seconda volta, quando vengono giudicate per come si vestono, per quello che dicono, per come si divertono e perfino se non hanno trovato la forza di denunciare un trauma immediatamente.

Ma qui, nella casa della democrazia, abbiamo voluto aggiungere la nostra voce a quella delle migliaia di donne che hanno denunciato casi di violenza e abusi. È importante, colleghi, far sentire la voce forte e chiara delle istituzioni europee a sostegno di tutte coloro che, con le loro denunce, hanno aperto un dibattito che è assolutamente necessario.

Allora diciamolo insieme, forte e chiaro, MeToo!

  Sylwia Spurek (Verts/ALE). – Panie Przewodniczący! Parlament Europejski powinien być wzorem, jeśli chodzi o ochronę swoich pracowników i pracowniczek przed molestowaniem. Niestety tak nie jest. Nadal, po trzech latach od MeToo, ofiary nie zgłaszają się po pomoc. Nie wierzą w skuteczność procedur. Boją się wtórnej wiktymizacji, boją się utraty pracy.

Od ponad 20 lat, jako prawniczka w NGO-ach, legislatorka w administracji publicznej, jako zastępczyni rzecznika praw obywatelskich trzymam stronę ofiar dyskryminacji, przemocy, molestowania. Wiem, że nie jestem tu jedyna i wiele moich koleżanek z prawie wszystkich frakcji politycznych domaga się koniecznych zmian, żeby skutecznie chronić pracowników i pracowniczki.

Ale jeśli wszyscy nie potraktujecie molestowania poważnie, nie jako drugorzędnego problemu, jako sprawy prywatnej, ofiary będą pozostawiane same sobie. Jeśli nie potraktujecie molestowania poważnie, będziecie trzymać stronę sprawców.

  Maria Walsh (PPE). – Mr President, the #MeToo movement isn’t just for the celebrity circles of Hollywood. Unfortunately, most of us know a victim of sexual harassment; perhaps some of us are a victim of sexual harassment. While this is the broader societal issue both found online and offline, the discussion today has highlighted how we, as political leaders, want and need to break the trauma of the unspoken word and the secret of harassment.

To eliminate the barriers that facilitate or shield sexual harassment, we must establish a basic understanding of such a thing. Too often, we focus on resolving individual allegations without tracing the root of the problem: the workplace environment in which it arose. The importance of educating ourselves to be the best ally to ourselves, to our teams, to our younger citizens who will join and work in this institution has evolved, and we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines knowing there are issues, knowing there is opportunity to change, and then do nothing.

As I prepared this speech, I thought of someone in their first job as a trainee, who has worked tirelessly for years studying and working to be successful in achieving a permanent job within this institution. And then I thought of the moment or moments they felt their career could be in serious jeopardy if they report their harassment, their achievement taken away. And can we really say this isn’t the reality? We cannot.

The signposting and what we do when sexual harassment happens in our workplace needs to be clear for victims, for employees, for our co—workers. We all need to know how we should support and be the very best ally. Our collective goal here needs to be eliminating the harm and trauma caused.

I’m grateful that we were able to use this resolution to better ourselves and that, although we usually focus on sending strong messages as a Parliament externally, today we can send one internally. I will vote ‘yes’ to this resolution, to eradicate #MeToo from this institution.

  Josianne Cutajar (S&D). – Mr President, sexual harassment exists, as colleagues have stated, everywhere. When I came to this Parliament, the MeToo movement had already named the elephant in the room. Yes, harassment is also present in this house. It’s present on the streets, at workplaces, on public transportation, day and night alike, everywhere, and everyone could be affected, including politicians and workers across the board.

Why is it present? Because some abuse their position of power and feel entitled to, because they have not been punished for their acts, or have not been addressed in a way that helps them, via training, to avoid this in the future. Victims are often too afraid and uncomfortable to speak up and proceed. Yes, even in this house to this day. Thank you to the Socialists, Evelyn Regner and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) for promoting this. It’s not enough to raise awareness; we need concrete measures and actions. Compulsory training for MEPs is not a violation of their freedom, as some have claimed. Being abused and made to fear for one’s integrity or job security, and having one’s mental health at stake is.

I do welcome the progress made thanks to the MeToo movement advocacy. However, there are institutional changes which need to be effected: an independent, timely and fair process to ensure victims of harassment will be given adequate and effective protection, uprooting sexism and gender stereotypes. We need a radical change of mentality to confine sexual harassment to the pages of history books, pages that we do not want to open again. Here we need education.

As the European Parliament, we should lead by example, raising awareness and promoting a truly zero—harassment policy to make sure victims are protected, not victimised. Let us effectively unite and act against any form of harassment and discrimination.

  Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE). – Mr President, turning to my dear colleagues, especially those to my right, let me say I know it’s hard to be a man these days with all this uncertainty about what you can do, what you can say, where old school manners stop and harassment starts – but no need to panic; I’m going to womensplain a few things to you.

One. Welcome to the club! Women have grown up policing their own behaviour for centuries – can I sit like this? Is my skirt too short? So what may feel like discrimination to you is actually just losing some privilege. Two. Sexual harassment, even if done unintentionally, is an abuse of power, so the powerful that we clearly are, we have to ask ourselves the question: do we want to use the power to intimidate and degrade, or to encourage and uplift those who do not have the privilege that we do? And three, as with all things in life, non-offensive behaviour can be learned. This is why this House offers anti-harassment training courses. This is why we should all do them mandatorily, including us as MEPs. I hope this was of some help.

  Λουκάς Φουρλάς (PPE). – Κύριε Πρόεδρε, Κύριε Επίτροπε, μιλώ τελευταίος και θα είμαι πάρα πολύ σύντομος. Κάποτε, μια κοπέλα, θύμα συστηματικής παρενόχλησης από τον προϊστάμενό της, τον ρώτησε: «Γιατί το κάνεις αυτό;». Η απάντησή του ήταν πάρα πολύ απλή. Της απάντησε: «Επειδή μπορώ». Ποιός δίνει το δικαίωμα σε έναν άνθρωπο να επιτίθεται λεκτικά ή σωματικά σε κάποιον άλλον άνθρωπο επειδή τον θεωρεί ευάλωτο; Ποιός δίνει το δικαίωμα σε κάποιον άνθρωπο να θεωρεί έναν άλλο συνάνθρωπό του αντικείμενο του σεξ χωρίς βούληση; Επειδή απλά θεωρεί ότι μπορεί να το κάνει;

Αγαπητοί συνάδελφοι, ο δικός μας ρόλος είναι να τον σταματήσουμε, να τον κάνουμε να μην μπορεί, να του κάνουμε τις επιπτώσεις τόσο σκληρές για να σταματήσει να μπορεί να το κάνει. Me too! Και εγώ λοιπόν και ο καθένας από εμάς ας ενώσουμε φωνές και δυνάμεις και ας προστατεύσουμε με τον πιο δραστικό τρόπο όσους αγαπάμε και όσους φαντάζουν ευάλωτοι στα μάτια κάποιων ανθρώπων. Me too θα πει νοιάζομαι, θα πει αντιδρώ, θα πει προστατεύω τα θύματα. Θα πει ότι δεν ανέχομαι καμία μορφή παρενόχλησης. Όλοι οι άντρες δεν είμαστε το ίδιο. Όμως, αν ξέρουμε και δεν αντιδρούμε, είμαστε συνένοχοι.

(χειροκροτήματα)

  Janez Lenarčič, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, I would like to thank honourable Members for this debate and for the opportunity to listen to various viewpoints and perspectives because preventing and fighting harassment is a very serious and very important aspect for us as employers.

We also need to adapt constantly. Especially during the pandemic, we realised how the ways in which we work change, and this is why we have to adapt our toolbox that we have in place to tackle the phenomenon of harassment.

The Commission has the Staff Regulations that clearly prohibit harassment, but that’s not enough. On this basis, we need to build, develop and adapt our policy on how to deal with this phenomenon. As you know, we’re engaged in the review, and that’s why this discussion is especially timely for us because the Commission will review its policy and its toolbox in this area. We will take the views expressed in this debate well into account when we proceed with this review. We look forward to working with the European Parliament further on this issue.

  Πρόεδρος. – Η συζήτηση έληξε.

Η ψηφοφορία θα διεξαχθεί σήμερα, Πέμπτη 16 Δεκεμβρίου 2021.