The European Parliament is a “hotbed of sexual harassment,” complained a left-wing MP when the Me Too movement reached the European Union in 2017. The notebook of a French parliamentary employee became a document of shame for the House: Over the years, the woman had written down the male attacks she had experienced. Under public pressure, Parliament introduced reforms intended to provide better protection for MPs and employees. But it doesn’t look as if the problem has gone away.
The MeTooEP group, founded in 2018 by parliament employees to protect themselves, recently published the results of an anonymous survey. Of more than a thousand respondents, half said they had experienced “psychological harassment” at work. 15 percent suffered “sexual harassment” and eight percent even suffered “physical violence”. At the same time, a prominent case of alleged sexual harassment became known – in the faction that, politically, advocates better protection for employees more than any other: the Greens.
The case of MP Malte Gallée, 30, who resigned from office on March 10 on suspicion of sexual harassment, weighs heavily on the party, especially on Terry Reintke, the group leader and leading candidate for the European elections. In recent years she has been the voice of the Green Party when it comes to combating sexual harassment in the European Parliament.
The ombudsman’s office was already dealing with allegations against Gallée in 2022
From the beginning, many found Gallée’s behavior, who came into parliament as a replacement at the beginning of 2022, to be at least invasive. The Greens’ internal ombudsman’s office was apparently already dealing with this in the summer of 2022. But over all these months, the parliamentary group leadership has not managed to get the affair under control. The affected women who star Those who reported on the case apparently accused Reintke of not having taken care to protect them. Malte Gallée, in turn, rejects the suspicion of sexual harassment.
Malte Gallée (Alliance 90 / The Greens) last year in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.
(Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth/picture alliance/dpa)
The French Greens initially expressed clear criticism of Reintke, although no one called for her resignation. It is reported that Reintke was met with disappointment and anger in meetings with employees. There was even talk of a “cover-up” at first, for which there is no evidence. Reintke now seems to have regained trust. It is said that she admitted her own mistakes and made it clear how painful the affair was for her personally. And Reintke represents “the best chance” that something will actually change for the better.
Terry Reintke and her co-chair Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian, have now presented an “immediate program” to better protect employees. It should be adopted at the group meeting this Wednesday. A “task force” was also set up. Its task is to use external experts to improve the procedure that the Greens have adopted for cases of sexual harassment.
Reintke had repeatedly praised this system, which was unique in parliament. Anyone who feels harassed can turn to ombudsmen in the parliamentary group at a very low threshold. In order to avoid any hint of cheating, those affected were also given the opportunity to have the case examined by external experts. However, the prerequisite for this is an “official complaint”. In the Gallée case, however, there were allegedly only anonymous allegations. And that is why the parliamentary group leadership had no means of taking disciplinary action against MP Gallée.
Criticism of Terry Reintke also comes from parliamentary competition
It is obviously not easy to bring sexual harassment cases out of anonymity. On the other hand, letting a case drag on for months is no sign of leadership. Criticism of Terry Reintke also comes from parliamentary competition.
“It’s not enough to repeatedly and publicly demand mandatory training and tougher action against sexual harassment in parliament; words must then be followed by actions.” This is what it says in a letter from 14 women from the European People’s Party (EPP), which is available to the SZ. They point out that the European Parliament as an institution has its own contact points for such cases and want to know whether these have been contacted. They also demand clarification about the Greens’ internal processes in the Gallée case. The classic questions: Who knew what and when?
The Greens are still not commenting publicly on details of the case – to protect those affected, they say. The case also has a political dimension. Why was Malte Gallée declared the top candidate of the Bavarian Greens for the 2024 European elections in May 2023, despite the internal allegations? Why then did he withdraw his candidacy immediately before the Greens filled their lists for the European elections at the end of November last year? Was pressure put on him, perhaps even by rivals in the fight for the best list positions? So why did he resign from office in March, just three months before the end of the legislative session? Many Greens are asking themselves these questions right now.