The European Parliament has taken an important step towards allowing maternity proxy voting, enabling MEPs to delegate their vote to a colleague for up to three months before and six months after childbirth.
The European Democratic Party (EDP) welcomes this progress as a victory for gender equality and democratic representation. But it must also mark the beginning of a broader reform of European democracy.
Lukas Sieper, EDP-affiliated MEP and Renew Europe shadow rapporteur in the Committee on Legal Affairs, said: “Motherhood must never come at the expense of democratic representation. When an elected representative cannot vote because of pregnancy or childbirth, the citizens she represents also lose their voice. That is unacceptable. Democracy must adapt to the realities of modern life, not force women to choose between motherhood and their mandate. I am proud to have helped secure this progress. If we want more women and young people in politics, our institutions must lead by example.”
Sandro Gozi, EDP Secretary General and Renew Europe MEP, declared: “This is an important victory, but it is only a first step. The European Parliament has already proposed a far-reaching reform of the European electoral law, including the introduction of transnational lists to give citizens a genuinely European political choice.
“The Council cannot continue to ignore Parliament’s proposals. It is time to open serious negotiations on the entire reform, starting with transnational lists. We cannot claim to build a European democracy while continuing to organise European elections almost exclusively along national lines.
“European elections must become truly European. We need European political choices, European political debates and a stronger European democratic mandate. The Parliament has done its job. Now the Council must do its own.”
For the EDP, maternity proxy voting is both a necessary advance in gender equality and a first step towards a more ambitious transformation of European democracy. The party calls on the Council to engage without further delay in substantive negotiations on Parliament’s electoral reform proposals, including transnational lists.
Europe needs more than common elections. It needs a genuine European democracy.
