MEPs sitting on the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) have approved the own-initiative report by Adrián Vázquez Lázara (Renew Europe, Spain) by 19 votes in favour to 2 against and 2 abstentions. The text makes recommendations to the European Commission and Member States on the protection of children in civil, administrative and family law proceedings.
More specifically, MEPs are calling for greater safeguards to ensure that children are properly represented and protected in court proceedings.
This can be achieved through: - the presence of qualified professionals, such as doctors and psychologists; - support from the European Commission to train judges and other legal professionals about the specific needs of the child; - access to justice without discrimination; - and the facilitation of mediation procedures.
The European Parliament is calling on the Commission to present “a set of common guidelines or similar non-legislative tool, which should include recommendations and best practices for the Member States to follow in order to ensure that the hearing of the child is conducted by a judge or trained expert and that no pressure is applied”.
MEPs have also demanded that the European Commission assess the need for EU legislation to harmonise transnational procedures.
“This ambitious report is a very important step towards a child-friendly justice, common European standards for cross-border mediation and mutual recognition of parenthood, particularly for children with same-sex parents”, said rapporteur Adrián Vázquez Lázara, who is also the President of the JURI Committee.
See the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/b2
See the compromise amendments, which were all adopted: https://aeur.eu/f/b3 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)