EU-wide survey on LGBTI people: press conference on Friday at 9.30 - Hoofdinhoud

Ahead of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (17 May), leading MEPs will hold a press briefing: ‘‘What future for LGBTI people in Europe?’’

EP Vice-President Fabio Castaldo (NI, IT), Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee Chair Evelyn Regner (S&D, AT), and Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), will be participating in this press briefing (remotely from Vienna for the latter).

Mr. O’Flaherty will present the main findings of the FRA’s second EU-wide LGBTI survey, published on Thursday, seven years after the first one. This study collects the experiences of discrimination and hate crime as well as the views and challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and, for the first time, intersex people across the EU, North Macedonia and Serbia. It reveals that 40 percent of LGBTI people suffered from harassment in the last 12 months and highlights striking disparities between countries.

The press briefing will be held in the Anna Politkovskaya press conference room and via Skype.

How to follow the briefing online

Parliament will be using an interactive virtual press environment (with interpretation in EN/FR/DE/IT) based on Skype TX, in conjunction with the traditional EbS and web-streaming services.

You can follow the briefing LIVE on EP MMC or EbS.

If you wish to ask a question remotely:

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  You will need a SKYPE account.
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  Connect to VOXBOXEP and write your name and media organisation in the chat box

Please use headphones and a microphone for better sound quality.

The system will be managed by Parliament’s media services and you will be placed in a queue (virtual waiting room) before being invited to ask your question(s).

If you have any trouble connecting, you can contact: +32 22834220.

After asking a question / listening to the reply (and any follow-up), you should then disconnect from Skype so that the next journalist in line can be connected to the press briefing room.

REMINDER: working conditions in Parliament for journalists in light of COVID-19

It is mandatory as of 13 May to wear a community mask that covers mouth and nose at all times while in Parliament's buildings. This is to continue to ensure Parliament's operational capacity, while at the same time avoiding health risks for Members, staff and other persons working in and visiting the European Parliament.

Journalists, who have to come to Parliament in person, are therefore asked to bring a mask and wear it in order to access Parliament's premises. There is no requirement as to the type of mask, as long as it covers both nose and mouth.

The wearing of a mask for journalists is now compulsory and necessary at all times. However, journalists could exceptionally and for the limited duration of a recording (stand-ups, interviews, studio recordings) remove their mask, if the social distancing measures are respected. This exception also applies to taking the floor in press conferences. Please note that masks should be put on again immediately after the recording. The exceptions do not apply to bilateral conversations or interviews that are not recorded.

To allow for this exception, journalists are required to keep a distance of 2 meters preventively.

Please refrain from coming to EP premises if you present any symptoms of a respiratory infection, if you have knowingly been in contact with an infected person in the last 14 days or if you have been to regions with very high transmission rates.