The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, convening in Barcelona, Catalonia on 19^th and 20^th November 2009:

Whereas:

-         There are an increasing number of cases of temporary absence of a Member, notably owing to maternity, which is causing disruptions in parliamentary work and is particularly detrimental to smaller political forces;

-         The principle of longer term leave for maternity or paternity, illness and other incapacity should be established in the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure in a way which would leave untouched the existing powers of the Bureau and provide the necessary flexibility at the moment when the Members’ Statute will come into force;

-         In several Member States there are rules allowing for the temporary substitution of an elected Member of the national Parliament (notably in Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and Latvia). In other Member States (notably Austria, Finland, Hungary and Poland) Members of the national Parliament are excused from the sitting during maternity leave;

-         As it is today, it is possible for a Member of the European Parliament to have parental leave. But there is no system of substitutes; if a MEP wants to take parental leave, the seat will remain vacant and the group will lose one member, and therefore one vote, for the duration of the parental leave. This again puts pressure on the parent concerned to take as short a leave as possible and certainly does not encourage fathers to take parental leave, as is otherwise one of the core equality objectives of the EU;

-         The perceived democratic deficit stems from the fact that the European Parliament does not “look like Europe”, i.e. only one out of three MEPs is female;

Concluding that:

-         Convince the ALDE group to have a common stand on this issue and to put forward a resolution that asks for the establishment of a substitution system in the European Parliament i.e. Such as parental leave.

-         Furthermore, in order to strengthen European democracy, the European Parliament should investigate the possibilities for establishing modern meeting procedures using IT-technology, such as videoconferencing and distant voting.