The European Parliament’s plenary session, which opened on Monday 23 November, will be marked by the vote on a particularly divisive resolution on the right to abortion in Poland.
The MEPs intend to react to the recent decision of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to sign an almost total ban on abortion in the country (see EUROPE 12588/9).
Three motions for resolutions have so far been tabled. The first, which brings together S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL, “strongly condemns” the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal as well as the decision of the Polish government to officially start the country’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
The four groups say they are “deeply concerned that thousands of women have to travel to access a health service as essential as abortion” and urge the Polish authorities to refrain from any further attempts to restrict sexual and reproductive rights.
In a second, brief motion for a resolution, the ECR group, for its part, claims to support “the legitimate Polish authorities in finding a solution which respects everyone’s life”.
It further stresses that the implementation of policies on sexual and reproductive rights falls within the competence of the Member States.
Lastly, doubts persist as to the position to be adopted by the EPP, which had also tabled a motion for a resolution, recalling its attachment to the fundamental values of the EU.
According to the information obtained by EUROPE, the group are expected to eventually co-sign the text proposed by S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL.
Uncertainty remains, however, about how the group will vote afterwards, according to an institutional source that mentions “reservations”. Some in the party fear that the words used in the joint resolution “will fuel the Eurosceptic arguments of Mr Kaczyński”, leader of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in power in Poland.
See the motion for a resolution of the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL: https://bit.ly/3755aTM; the proposal of the ECR: https://bit.ly/3pT5GNq; and that of the EPP: https://bit.ly/3mbJThX (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)