The Code of Appropriate Behaviour was adopted by Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee last year but some members are unhappy that failure to sign up could see them overlooked for key political appointments. Hans-Olaf Henkel, a member of the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in Strasbourg, was enraged by the EU’s answer to the global #MeToo campaign, saying they did not need a code of conduct to know what was acceptable behaviour.
In a sarcastic group email to all MEPs he said: “Have you all become crazy?
“How about preventing stealing, cheating and killing by signing a ‘code of appropriate behaviour’ and taking part in a specialised training course to make sure no MEP steals, cheats and kills?
“Are you ready to participate?
“If one ever looked for examples of incredibly stupid initiatives by this Parliament: here is one!”
Mr Henkel’s angry response highlighted how divisive the introduction of the voluntary code has been.
Some MEPs are furious at the stance taken by Angela Merkel’s Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) which is resisting calls to bar MEPs from key posts if they fail to sign up to anti-harassment commitments and training.
But supporters of the code insist it is essential as MEPs prepare for European Parliament elections in May with the impact of the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment still being felt.
Elisabeth Morin-Chartier, a French member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) group who drafted one of the measures, said: “This amendment is an excellent signal of moral rectitude and a guarantee given to European citizens. We must break any resistance to that.”
A controversial amendment to the code states: “Members shall refrain from any type of psychological or sexual harassment and shall respect the code of appropriate behaviour for Members of the European Parliament.
“Members may not be elected as office-holders of Parliament or one of its bodies, be appointed as rapporteur or participate in an official delegation or institutional negotiations, if they have not signed the declaration relating to that Code.”
But CDU MEP Werner Langen said: “Wanting to force MEPs to sign a piece of paper so that they behave appropriately in Parliament is biggest load of nonsense I’ve ever experienced in Parliament.
“This is a clear restriction on the freedom of a parliamentarian’s mandate. I’m not at all surprised that this proposal has come from a French MEP.
“The French don’t know what the freedom of the parliamentarian’s mandate is — in France, the president gives the marching orders.”
Daniel Caspary, the leader of the CDU’s MEPs, said the party backed the principles behind the amendments and have already signed up to them but he said one amendment is unnecessary while another could be used unfairly.
He said: “We oppose the amendment that demands MEPs to sign a paper, which would oblige them to stick to rules of behaviour that are already binding on any member in the European Parliament — with or without this signed paper.”