European Parliament finally devises plan to force lawmakers to actually turn up

BRUSSELS ― Tune into any European Parliament debate and the aspect that strikes you most is how crazily empty the place is: Lawmakers fulminating into the void.

But that could soon change, with an experiment beginning next week aimed at forcing members to attend.

According to an internal email seen by POLITICO, two debates in next week’s plenary session in Strasbourg won’t have their schedules published, meaning members of the European Parliament will have to stay in the chamber for the entire debate to ensure their moment in the limelight. 

“Step by step, we need cultural changes to increase attendance and make debates more fun,” said Damian Boeselager, an MEP for the center-left Volt group.

The pilot, which was agreed by Parliament President Roberta Metsola and the chairs of each political family during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, follows a push by a group of 60 young lawmakers trying to shake up the institution from within.

“For the president, it is about making sure that MEPs are present in the hemicycle during the debates,” Metsola’s office told POLITICO, adding that “if it goes well, we will roll-out this approach increasingly.”

The first debate subject to the test will be on Tuesday and concerns the enforcement of the Digital Services Act against foreign interference and biased algorithms that stem from the apparent meddling by Elon Musk, the X owner and adviser to United States President-elect Donald Trump, in European politics and elections in recent weeks.

Then on Wednesday, a discussion about December’s European Council ― the summit of the EU’s 27 leaders ― will get the same treatment.

Traditionally, even debates as high-profile as these have been blighted by a low turnout as lawmakers pop into the main plenary room to say their piece at their allotted time and then skedaddle. 

Attendance, liveliness and relevance

In this trial, the president or vice president steering the session will be able to choose on the spot who speaks once the first round of speakers on behalf of each group, usually the group chairs, have opened the debate.

According to the email, which was circulated Thursday, that means “members who request and are allocated speaking time will need to attend the whole debate in which they want to speak and check on the screens if they are the next to be called.”

The young lawmakers’ group sent a letter to Metsola in December with a set of proposals with 10 ideas on how to improve debate attendance, liveliness and relevance.

Other proposals include mandatory attendance quotas for each political group, encouragement for lawmakers to react to speeches ad hoc, and to allow MEPs to sit in the front rows of the chamber ― currently reserved for group leadership.

“Let’s establish a culture of testing improvements over the upcoming sessions,” the letter read.

And to spice things up further, the group is also planning to “hijack” next week’s debate by attending as a group and using the so-called Blue Cards system on each other to allow them to start an impromptu Q&A with the speaker, according to Boeselager, who coordinates the group.

The Parliament has for years brainstormed to improve attendance to its plenary debates. Last year, a working group composed of MEPs and civil servants issued a list of recommendations for political groups to consider.