The European Parliament has asked the smallest EU institution to protect victims of intimidation and whistleblowers from "threats, blackmail and attempted corruption".
The trial comes when the next president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) faces possible criminal charges in Belgium for serious allegations of harassment.
MEPs voted on Thursday 14 May to tell the EESC, which sees itself as a platform for civil society, that it needs to do more to make its anti-harassment policy more effective.
He says that one of the main priorities of these measures should be "real and urgent protection (including against threats, blackmail and attempted corruption) from all victims and whistleblowers".
The EU anti-fraud office Olaf earlier this year alerted Belgian authorities to accusations of harassment against Jacek Krawczyk.
Krawczyk denied these allegations, calling them political motivations. He also described one of the victims named by Olaf as a supplier of fake news.
The EESC is responsible for delivering opinions on EU policy and is made up of three groups, each dealing separately with employers (group I), workers (group II) and diversity (group III ).
Krawczyk heads the employers' group and has been appointed to become the next president of the EESC at the same time that Olaf alerted the Belgian authorities.
Krawczyk is expected to take up his new role in October.
The EESC has received until before autumn to respond to requests from the European Parliament, which also includes calls for greater transparency.
Home office allowance increases due to pandemic
MEPs list other problems.
EESC members are entitled to a daily subsistence allowance of € 290 to cover travel, food and hotel expenses for attending a meeting.
Last year, an investigation by an EU observer revealed that around 30 EESC members already living in Brussels had pocketed the allocation of around 1.47 million euros over a period of several years. One admitted spending it in his apartment.
The EESC is based in Brussels.
To get money, a member must log in at the start of the meeting. But when asked to demand the signature of the same members after the meeting, the EESC refused.
MEPs are now asking the EESC to improve its working and communication methods.
This request follows a decision taken in April by the internal administration of the EESC, known as the Office, to temporarily increase its total IT allocation by more than 600,000 euros to buy equipment such as phones and computers. Each member's allowance will drop from around € 3,000 to € 5,000 this year during the pandemic.
The EESC believes that this is necessary because the members are working from home due to the epidemic, although they will not receive the money until after the summer.
Cristiano Sebastiani, head of the RD trade union which defends staff rights at the EESC, believes that this increase does not make sense.
"Why did you decide to increase this in IT, when now we may be coming out of the lockdown?" he said, describing the walk as a gift to members.
For its part, the EESC declares that it is busy working on issues such as the pandemic. He said that the EESC Bureau and the plenary session are focusing on the most important and urgent legislative procedures related to the coronavirus crisis and the recovery plan.
"The agendas will gradually be opened to other subjects, as we hope to return to normal in the coming months," said an EESC spokesperson in an email at the end of April.