This course comprises two modules, one of which, lasting two and a half hours, and entitled “Respect and dignity at work — Preventing conflict and harassment in the workplace”, aims to help MEPs to recognize psychological and sexual harassment and distinguish it from inappropriate behavior, to understand what happens to a victim of harassment and to “react better” when witnessing something like this. As a Portuguese MEP told DN, the monitors encourage the participation of parliamentarians, asking them to give examples of what they consider (or not) to be sexual harassment.
“Suggestive comments” are harassment, says PE
In the cited documentation, the definition of sexual harassment is that set out in the EP staff regulations: “Sex-related conduct that is unwanted by the person to whom it is directed and that has the purpose or effect of offending that person and creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or embarrassing environment. Sexual harassment must be treated as gender-based discrimination”.
Examples are given, which include “promises of some type of advantage (promotion, etc.) in exchange for sexual favors, or threats of retaliation if these favors are refused”; “repetition of rude or suggestive comments, or sexual innuendos”; “use of vulgar or obscene language or gestures”; “comments, oral or written, about sex or someone’s sex life”; “repeated initiation of conversations of a sexual nature”; “repeated or exaggerated comments about an employee’s appearance”; “unwanted physical contact, touching someone, unwanted kisses”. And, of course, the very obvious “acts of voyeurism and exhibitionism” and “use of pornographic material”.
It is also clarified that “depending on the type of behavior, it is not necessary for it to be repeated for it to be classified as sexual harassment. Unlike what happens with psychological harassment, it is not in principle necessary for sexual harassment to occur over a certain period of time or for it to be repetitive or systematic.” And be warned: “To be considered sexual harassment, it must be unwanted. Where there is an imbalance of power or pressure, employees may have difficulty reacting clearly. You must ensure that your behavior is not perceived as unwanted attention.”
Cotrim’s office does not acknowledge receipt of questions
Given that Cotrim Figueiredo was, in the last week of the campaign for the first round of the presidential elections, faced with accusations of sexual harassment, which he flatly denied, against an advisor from the IL parliamentary group (harassment that allegedly took place when he was a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic and took the form of rude comments and sexual innuendos), DN wanted to know your opinion on these workshops and whether you would vote in favor of making it mandatory. He also questioned the MEP, through his advisor Gonçalo Levy Cordeiro, who asked the newspaper to send any questions in writing, about whether anything had changed in his attitude due to the influence of the said workshop.
Since Cotrim Figueiredo’s EP page also contains a statement of appropriate conduct in which it is obligatory to “cooperate fully (…), with a view to managing situations of conflict or moral or sexual harassment, namely responding promptly to allegations of harassment”the newspaper also asked if he considers that the way he reacted to the aforementioned allegations of sexual harassment is in line with the advice given in the course and related documentation, as well as with the rules of conduct to which MEPs are obliged.
It should be remembered that Cotrim Figueiredo immediately announced that he was going to take legal action against his former advisor (he stated, during the last week of the campaign, that he had already filed a criminal complaint for defamation), declared that he was being the target of a “the dirtiest political maneuver ever”, accused the journalists of having “killed” him” and urged them to investigate “how many complaints of harassment” the former IL advisor had made.
Despite DN’s insistence, the MEP’s aforementioned advisor did not, until the publication of this text, even note receipt of the email with the questions nor did he react to the newspaper’s requests to say whether there would be a response.
A mandatory courses for MEPs on conflict management and harassment was voted favorably in 2024, after several news revelations about the climate of harassment, moral, labor and sexual, that was experienced in the EP. In a survey published in March of that year, 15% of more than 1,100 employees questioned (of which two thirds were women) said they had suffered sexual harassment.
“Tolerated and devalued conduct that is no longer tolerated”
In Portugal, sexual harassment is defined by the Labor Code (article 29) as “unwanted behavior of a sexual nature, in verbal, non-verbal or physical form, with the aim or effect of disturbing or embarrassing the person, affecting their dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or destabilizing environment.” Corresponds to “a very serious administrative offense, without prejudice to possible criminal liability provided for under the terms of the law”.
The Portuguese Penal Code, unlike others, does not include a crime called harassment but this, in its verbal aspect, is partially covered by the criminal type of sexual harassment, which punishes with a fine or up to one year in prison “whoever bothers another person (…) by making proposals of a sexual nature (…)”.
Since, due to the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention in the Portuguese legal system, proposals of a sexual nature began to be punished as a crime (which occurred in 2015), being included in the criminal type of sexual harassment, inquiries relating to the same have almost doubled: between 2016 and 2024, they went from 733 to 1335. This is an increase of 82%, with 2023 being the year with the most complaints/inquiries (1362). Accusations relating to the same crime, although much less numerous than complaints — in these nine years, only 11.6% of investigations led to accusations — increased even more in the same period: 86.7% (from 75 in 2016 to 140 in 2024).
Num Lisbon Court of Appeal ruling dated February 2024, which specifically punishes a crime of verbal sexual harassment, it reads: “[A criminalização do assédio sexual verbal] break with a status quo of tolerance in relation to a certain culturally rooted stereotype of essentially masculine behavior, especially in Latin countries (…). This type of conduct, which would have been tolerated and devalued in other times, is no longer tolerated.”
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