On Tuesday 14 March, the European Parliament announced the decision of its president, Antonia Tajani, to hand down unprecedented sanctions to MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke (unaffiliated, Poland) for his attack on gender equality.
The sanctions imposed are as follows: the MEP will forfeit his daily subsistence allowance for 30 days, be suspended from all parliamentary activities for ten days and prohibited from representing the Parliament for one year. The European institution stresses that the decision is “commensurate with the gravity of the offence”, which occurred during a plenary debate on gender equality.
“I will not tolerate such behaviour, in particular when it comes from someone who is expected to discharge his duties as a representative of the peoples of Europe with due dignity. By offending all women, the MEP displayed contempt for our most fundamental values”, said Tajani, who apologised on behalf of the Parliament to all those who had taken offence at the comments, according to a press statement. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)