On a draft regulation of the European Parliament amending Decision 2005/684/EC, Euratom adopting the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, as regards proxy voting

draft

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

amending Decision 2005/684/EC, Euratom adopting the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, as regards proxy voting

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 223(2) thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 106a(1) thereof,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the consent of the Council,

Having regard to the opinion of the Commission,

Acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1) Ensuring that Members of the European Parliament can take maternity leave should facilitate the participation of mothers in politics, contributing both to gender equality in the European Parliament and effective democratic representation.

(2)The introduction of a system of proxy voting in plenary sessions of the European Parliament will allow Members to fully exercise their mandates in the periods immediately before and after they give birth, if they so wish.

(3)Article 6(1) of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, annexed to Council Decision 76/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom (‘the European Electoral Act’), provides that Members vote on an individual and personal basis. A Decision amending the European Electoral Act was adopted in May 2026 to provide for a derogation from the vote on an individual and personal basis, that allows certain Members to have their vote cast by another Member, acting as proxy, under certain strict circumstances.

(4) Since Article 3(1) of Decision 2005/684/EC, Euratom of the European Parliament (the ‘Statute for Members’) reproduces in full Article 6(1) of the European Electoral Act, Article 3 of the Statute for Members should be amended to reproduce the same derogation as in Article 6 of the European Electoral Act (delegation of vote). It should also lay down general conditions under which that derogation should be implemented through detailed arrangements in the Rules of Procedure and ensure compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability, traceability, legal certainty and integrity of the vote.

(5) In the interest of legal certainty, it should be clarified that proxy voting should be used exclusively in plenary sessions, and that votes cast by proxy should count towards quorums, majorities and thresholds.

(6) To guarantee legal certainty and integrity of the vote, the delegation of the vote should be made on a voluntary and revokable basis.

(7) In order to guarantee traceability and accountability of the vote, Members should be prohibited from holding more than one delegation of vote simultaneously.

(8) In order to fulfil the requirements for transparency, the identity of both the absent Member and the Member acting as a proxy should be clearly identifiable in the minutes, and those minutes should clearly indicate votes cast by proxy.

(9) In order to deliver on accountability, integrity, traceability and legal certainty, all votes cast by proxy should be verifiable and correctable, as is already the case with other votes. No dispute regarding a vote cast by proxy should affect its validity or that of the voting results.

(10) The Statute for Members should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 3 of the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, the following paragraph is added:

“3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, a Member who is pregnant or has given birth may have her vote cast by another Member acting as proxy, for a maximum period of three months before the estimated date of birth of the child and for a maximum period of six months after giving birth.

The detailed arrangements for the derogation shall be laid down in the Rules of Procedure and shall be subject to the following general conditions:

(a) the delegation of vote shall apply exclusively to plenary sessions;

(b) the delegation of vote shall be entirely voluntary and may always be revoked;

(c) no Member shall hold more than one delegation of vote at any given time;

(d) both the identity of the Member delegating her vote and the identity of the Member exercising the vote by delegation shall be recorded in the minutes of the sitting and the published voting results shall clearly indicate votes cast by proxy;

(e) the Member delegating her vote shall be counted for the purpose of establishing any quorums, thresholds and majorities required for the votes in Parliament;

(f) no disagreement of the delegating Member over a vote cast by delegation shall affect the validity of the vote and the voting result;

(g) corrections to votes cast by delegation shall be possible under the same conditions and in the same manner as votes cast without delegation, but they shall not affect the validity of the vote and the voting result.”

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

The President

The proposed amendments to the Statute for Members of the European Parliament are an important step in establishing long-overdue provisions to guarantee the continued representation of citizens during the temporary absence of expectant and new mothers.

The targeted amendments fulfil the requirements of the newly amended Article 6, paragraph 1b, of the European Electoral Act, namely that the aforementioned Statute “shall ensure compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability, traceability, legal certainty and integrity of the vote.”

The clarification that this mechanism is for use exclusively in plenary sittings, and that votes cast by proxy shall count towards quorums, majorities and thresholds, shall satisfy the condition of ‘legal certainty’.

Likewise, ensuring that this delegation is made on a voluntary and revokable basis shall guarantee ‘legal certainty’ and ‘integrity of the vote’. By prohibiting Members from exercising more than one proxy vote simultaneously, ‘traceability’ and ‘accountability’ can be guaranteed.

The requirement for ‘transparency’ is equally fulfilled by ensuring the identity of both the absent Member, and the Member acting as a proxy are clearly identifiable in all official minutes, as well as each voting result.

Ensuring all votes cast through the proxy voting system are verifiable and correctable, as is the case already with other votes, and that any dispute shall not render the voting results invalid, will deliver accountability, integrity, traceability and legal certainty.

The detailed arrangements of how these principles will operate in practice should be laid out in the Rules of Procedure.

It is important to note that the proposed amendments fully respect the political compromise between the European Parliament and the Council, namely that this provision shall only be made available to mothers for a maximum of three months before, and six months after the birth of a child. It is therefore the Rapporteur’s expectation that the Council will consent to the proposed amendments at the earliest opportunity.

The Rapporteur wishes to commit to the public record, that whilst she respects this agreement, she would personally have supported a more ambitious approach and believes more should be done in the future, both in terms of who should be able to access certain leave provisions and in which circumstances, as well as making further options available so that Members facing a temporary absence can determine the best way to ensure the continued representation of their constituents.

Most workplaces take a more inclusive view of parental leave, including paternity leave, flexibility to divide the leave between parents, and for adoptive parents. The European Parliament itself has provisions in place for a wide range of parental leave options for staff, including for adoptions, and for other circumstances, such as caring for a seriously ill or disabled relative, yet it is not proposed to extend this progressive approach to its Members.

Secondly, the agreed of timeframe of three months before birth and six months afterwards, does not account for medical issues that may arise, requiring the Member to leave earlier or return later.

Thirdly, Members of the European Parliament can find themselves in a serious medical situation during their mandates, potentially being forced to leave constituents without democratic representation whilst they undergo treatment.

Finally, whilst a proxy vote is a welcome and convenient option for many pregnant Members, it may not be ideal for everyone, particularly Members who may be the sole representative of their political party in the European Parliament. In the future, temporary replacement or remote voting could be explored to address such issues.

Overall, this current reform is not intended to impose the proxy vote on anyone, but rather to give expectant and new mothers that are Members of the European Parliament the option, in case they wish to make use of it. Indeed, given that every pregnancy and childbirth is different, it is important for the European Parliament to offer sufficient options to account for the particularities of these situations, so as to best accommodate the challenges of combining family life and European political office.

This report delivers on a long-held promise, yet more can still be done. It should therefore be viewed as an important step on the road, rather than the final destination.