EU Parliament's aid rep, González, shifted over harassment

The European Parliament’s standing rapporteur for humanitarian aid will be replaced by someone in her own political group, after her appeal against a one-month ban imposed for harassing her staff was dismissed. Mónica Silvana González, a Spanish MEP from the center-left Socialists & Democrats Group, was sanctioned last month by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who cited González’s “psychological harassment” towards her three accredited parliamentary assistants. The penalty included withdrawing the MEP’s €338 ($362) daily allowance and suspending her participation in parliamentary activities for one month. González denied the claims and appealed, during which time the sanctions were suspended. The original decision was upheld on Monday, however, prompting Devex to ask the S&D whether González would remain as the parliament’s rapporteur for humanitarian aid. On Thursday afternoon, Utta Tuttlies, spokesperson for the Socialists & Democrats Group, answered that they would renominate a new candidate for the position in light of the decision. “We thank Mónica Silvana González for her passionate commitment and will welcome her as a full member of our working group after her suspension period,” Tuttlies wrote to Devex via email. “She will be asked to take over a new important portfolio in our group.” The parliament describes the aid rapporteur role as designed to “strengthen Parliament’s oversight of humanitarian aid” including “defending humanitarian aid budget interests, monitoring humanitarian aid programmes and maintaining close contacts with the humanitarian aid community.” González had begun work on a report on “How to build an innovative humanitarian aid strategy: spotlight on current and forgotten crises," which Tuttlies said would be finalized by the new nominee. A letter from Metsola to one of the assistants, dated Jan. 26, and tweeted by a reporter from Spanish media outlet EFE, describes González subjecting one staffer to “personal and professional humiliation,” swearing at them, showing little consideration for their health concerns, asking them to deal with personal matters such as installing the Wi-Fi in González’s apartment, and ignoring COVID-19 restrictions to meet in person. Having lost her appeal to the parliament, but prior to the decision to strip her of the rapporteur position, González’s office told Devex on Thursday morning that she intended to take her case to the General Court of the EU, based in Luxembourg. Her office said the parliament process was unfair because it did not take into account the testimony of witnesses. Her office said Thursday morning that the case would have no bearing on her position as rapporteur for humanitarian issues and that it had led to a purely “administrative sanction.” González’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon after the decision to permanently remove her from the post was announced. Most organizations in Brussels working on humanitarian or development issues — from Oxfam to CARE to ONE to CONCORD to Amnesty International to VOICE to Transparency International to Human Rights Watch to World Food Programme to International Rescue Committee to CNCD 11.11.11 to ACT Alliance — either did not respond or declined requests for comment on the case this week. Maria Nyman, secretary general of Caritas Europa, declined to comment on González’s case specifically, but emailed Devex on Wednesday that “The institutions of the EU need to show zero tolerance for harassment. All complaints should be dealt with through timely and transparent processes. Our Members of the European Parliament should champion respect for colleagues and for mental and physical health in the workplace by ensuring a work environment that is safe and dignified. Europe’s public institutions should be role models by providing mandatory anti-harassment and safeguarding training for all parliamentarians and staff.”