The European Parliament warned Ciudadanos deputy Jose Ramon Bauza for complaining about workplace harassment, but did not impose financial sanctions on him.

European Parliament formally warns Ciudadanos MEP jose ramon bauza After complaining about his assistants for harassment and psychological abuse at the workplace. The case dates back to 2022 and although the internal investigation found that the facts were sufficient for a conviction, the President, Roberta Metsolahas opted to close the file with minor offenses without financial sanction.

“Based on the findings of the Advisory Committee for Harassment Complaints between Assistants and MEPs, and taking into account the comments of MEPs, I have decided to impose sanctions on José Ramón Bauza as a result of his behavior towards an accredited assistant , which constitutes psychological harassment. The sanction includes a warning,” Metsola said at the beginning of the plenary session in Strasbourg this Wednesday, in the same way as these decisions are notified to the Chamber. “The affected member has been informed and has not filed an appeal, so the sanction is final,” he said.

The complainant and the Chamber’s union services expected more, at least like the fine imposed on the socialist. Monica Silvana In January last year, the withholding of his daily allowance for a month resulted in a fine of about 10,000 euros. But the President has given one of lime and sand. He believes that the behavior of Bauza, one of the members of the Orange delegation, amounted to “psychological harassment”, but at the same time he believes that some of the facts reported could not be proven, or were not serious enough. Therefore it remains a stain on public notification and records.

The investigation report, which accompanies the decision, finds it proven that “the behavior described by the complainant constitutes psychological harassment” and it was extended in time, by at least one year between 2021 and 2022, but as ” This was the first time “that a situation of harassment was determined in relation to a deputy and that certain allegations against him were not proven”, it does not go further.

The European Parliament considers that the office of the former President of the Balearic Islands had an excessive workload and insufficient resources and that the deputy’s language was not appropriate. He states that Bauza abused his position and violated labor law by demanding full availability of his assistants 24 hours a day. And that he openly disparaged the complainant’s work, asking her to do household chores or tasks that had nothing to do with her duties in Parliament.

The committee studying the case did not find it necessary to conduct additional inquiries or call more witnesses or colleagues from the delegation to present alternative or contrary versions about the working environment, as Bauza wanted.