The European Parliament has approved a reform that will allow female Members of the European Parliament to delegate their vote during pregnancy and after giving birth, a measure intended to facilitate reconciliation between motherhood and the exercise of parliamentary responsibilities. The initiative, supported this Thursday, November 12, by 578 votes in favor, 25 against and four abstentions, introduces an exception to the obligation to vote in person in the European Parliament’s plenary sessions. However, the agreement has opened a debate on equality in family responsibilities, since MEPs who are fathers and those who adopt a child are excluded from this possibility.
The amendment will allow pregnant representatives or those who have given birth recently to designate another MEP they trust to vote on their behalf for up to three months before the expected date of birth and up to six months after childbirth. The aim is to prevent Members from having to choose between staying with their children and participating in legislative decisions of the European Parliament, especially during the first months of motherhood.
The initiative has received majority support from the parliamentary groups, but it has also generated criticism for limiting the right of biological mothers. Currently, the European Parliament’s rules allow members to justify their absence for reasons of motherhood or fatherhood, although authorization to be absent does not mean that they can participate in votes. With the reform, this difference would disappear for MEPs who give birth, but it would continue to exist for fathers and adoptive families.
How maternity proxy voting will work in the European Parliament
The reform introduces an exception to the general principle that the vote of MEPs must be exercised personally and in person. Until now, a representative who could not travel to Parliament because she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy or recovering from childbirth had the right to justify her absence, but she could not vote remotely nor ask another parliamentarian to do so on her behalf.
With the new system, the delegation will be voluntary and revocable, so that Members of the European Parliament will be able to decide whether to use this mechanism and withdraw it when they consider it appropriate. The possibility of delegating will be limited to votes held during plenary sessions and will not be automatically extended to all parliamentary activities.
In addition, each Member of the European Parliament may assume only one voting delegation at the same time, a restriction intended to prevent the concentration of votes among a small number of representatives. The identity of the Member delegating and that of the parliamentarian tasked with voting must be reflected in the minutes and in public records, guaranteeing transparency in the procedure.
Delegated votes will also count toward determining the majorities and the quorums necessary to approve decisions, while correction mechanisms will continue to be subject to parliamentary rules. Therefore, the measure does not amount to a general authorization to vote electronically, but rather an exceptional system linked to specific circumstances of pregnancy and the postnatal period.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, promoted this initiative in 2025, after various representatives reported difficulties in reconciling motherhood with their institutional obligations. The reform also responds to situations such as that of the Italian Member of the European Parliament Cristina Guarda, who has gone to the hemicycle accompanied by her baby and even had to breastfeed it during debates in order to be able to participate in parliamentary activity.
Why fathers are left out of the reform
The main controversy revolves around the exclusion of men and of representatives who access motherhood or fatherhood through adoption. Although some Members of the European Parliament called for the right to delegate the vote to be extended to all parents, finally a limited regulation to pregnancy and the period after childbirth has been maintained.
The Dutch socialist Member of the European Parliament Lara Wolters, responsible for processing the amendments to the Members’ Statute, has acknowledged that the measure does not fully meet the aspirations of those who defend greater family co-responsibility. "I wish we could do the same for young fathers, or those who adopt children", she said after the vote, leaving open the possibility of expanding this right in the future.
The Spanish Socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, tasked with drafting a parallel amendment to European electoral legislation, has explained that the exclusion mainly responds to political and legal difficulties in achieving approval for the reform. As he told Euronews, there was a willingness to extend the mechanism to parents, but a more limited solution was chosen in order to prevent the entire project from being blocked.
The amendment to the European Electoral Act requires the unanimous backing of the 27 member states and its subsequent ratification in accordance with the constitutional procedures of each country. For the proponents of the initiative, incorporating from the beginning all scenarios of parenthood and adoption could make it harder to reach that agreement.
In fact, in November 2025 the European Parliament already rejected an amendment that sought to include fathers. That vote was not recorded by name, so it is not possible to identify individually all the MEPs who opposed the expansion.
The exclusion also responds to a difference in interpretation regarding the purpose of the rule. While some representatives consider that it should serve to reconcile the care responsibilities of any parent, others argue that its purpose should be limited to the physical consequences of pregnancy, childbirth, and subsequent recovery.
This latter position has been defended by Marieke Ehlers, the Dutch MEP from the Patriotas por Europa group, who argues that the exception is justified by medical and biological circumstances that do not affect parents. "This amendment only refers to mothers who are physically unable to cast their vote, either because they are about to give birth or because they have to breastfeed their newborn," she explained, rejecting that the mechanism be expanded to men or to foster parents.
When will the delegated vote come into effect and what still needs to be approved
Despite the support obtained in the European Parliament, the female MEPs still cannot automatically use this new voting system. The reform needs to complete a series of legislative and administrative procedures before it can fully come into operation.
The process began in November 2025, when the Eurochamber pushed for an amendment to the European Electoral Act. Subsequently, Parliament endorsed the text in April 2026, with 616 votes in favor, 24 against, and eight abstentions, and the Council of the European Union formally approved the amendment on May 26.
The vote held this November 12 constitutes another step in the procedure, focused on adapting the Statute of the Members of Parliament to the new delegation mechanism. Internal provisions that will govern its operation and the corresponding institutional procedures still need to be completed.
The main pending requirement is the ratification of the electoral reform by all Member States of the European Union. According to the information available on November 12, only ten countries had completed this procedure, so entry into force continues to be conditional on decisions by the remaining national governments and parliaments.
The initiative also highlights differences between European parliamentary systems. While countries such as Spain, Greece and Luxembourg have mechanisms that allow participation in certain votes without physical presence during maternity, other national parliaments maintain more restrictive rules based on the personal nature of the vote.
Approval of the European reform aims to correct this limitation in the functioning of the Eurochamber, although the debate over extending it to fathers and adoptive families remains open. For now, the agreement guarantees a specific future mechanism for pregnant euro-MPs or those who have given birth, without establishing an equivalent right for the rest of the parents.