The European Parliament is often empty – here's how it wants to change that
20 January 2025
People who regularly watch debates in the European Parliament (EP) – if they even exist outside the EU bubble – know that the chamber is often mostly empty.
But that's about to change. This week, during the plenary session in Strasbourg, the EP will experiment by forcing lawmakers to attend. The schedules of two debates next week won't be published. This means that members have to wait in the chamber for the entire debate to make sure they can take the floor.
EP president Roberta Metsola and the chairs of each political family agreed on the pilot last week after 60 young members pushed them, trying to shake up the slow workings of the EP. If the experiment goes well, Metsola plans to roll out the approach.
 | Luc de Klerk To be fair, every member can't make it to every debate. Committee sessions and other parliamentary work can get in the way. But that's not what this is about. The way debates are conducted in the EP is fundamentally flawed. For instance, it is not possible to interrupt a speaker at will, something that's common in many national parliaments. This often results in debates where members deliver monologues and then leave, as they cannot truly engage with one another. To make debates in the European Parliament truly more dynamic, much more needs to be done. For a European democracy to function properly, there must be a parliamentary debate that every citizen can follow. This cannot be achieved if members aren't even present during public debates. |
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