Despite an overwhelming majority of Member States wanting to make progress in the negotiations on equal treatment, a minority still believe that the national framework is preferable to effectively combat situations of discrimination, as evidenced during a discussion organised by the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU at the Employment and Social Policy Council on Thursday 24 October in Luxembourg. However, all Member States appeared to state that their national framework was in order, hinting in this way that a directive did not seem so necessary.
While many Member States were in favour, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and France, some reaffirmed the prevalence of national competence in the field of anti-discrimination. These include Germany, Hungary, Poland and Denmark.
Germany highlighted that the fight against discrimination would be one of the main priorities of its Presidency at the head of the EU Council in 2020. However, the country repeated its reluctance regarding the Directive, in particular as regards its legal basis (Article 19 TFEU). This is a first, according to an informed observer, because Berlin has so far remained silent on the matter.
Hungary was very outspoken and pointed out that Christians were also regularly attacked. The country has publicly taken a stand against the European Commission's proposal in April to use the bridging clause to move the EU Council's decision from unanimity to qualified majority voting on discrimination-related issues.
In general, all Member States highlighted their efforts to combat discrimination, emphasising the quality of their national legislation. In practice, they would not really want this directive, for fear that the EU Court of Justice would point out the shortcomings of their law in this area, it has been suggested to us. Some positive positions would thus be "for the sake of appearances".
Invited to the EU Council, the Commissioner for Justice, Vĕra Jourová, based on the national interventions, stressed the need to "recalculate" the cost of equality by taking into account the cost of inaction, the latter weighing heavily on the private sector, she highlighted.
The Finnish Presidency now intends to summarise the debate and send it to the next European Commission, which will have to examine the future of the directive, which will come under the remit of the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli.
Bridging clause. The proposal to use the bridging clause to move decision-making from unanimity to qualified majority in the EU Council, in the fields of anti-discrimination and social protection (see EUROPE 12237/3), was discussed at the working lunch.
Enthusiasm among Member States was very muted. Only France and Spain, Portugal and Italy were clearly in favour. "This is only the beginning", assured Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen at a press conference. Responding to EUROPE, the Commissioner, who was attending her last EU Council meeting, acknowledged that it was difficult for Member States to give up their right of veto.
Coordination of social security systems. When asked about the French proposal to champion the principle of "equal work, equal pay and equal contributions" (see EUROPE 12347/5), the Commissioner was very reluctant. "This proposal, which was just launched a few weeks ago, should not be included in a debate that is being finalised," she said, insisting on the March provisional interinstitutional agreement (see EUROPE 12217/5).
Economy of wellbeing. In the morning, Member States adopted conclusions on the economy of wellbeing, which propose a European strategy after 2020 and going beyond the GDP indicator to measure the situation of an economy (see EUROPE 12353/12).
For the conclusions on the economy of wellbeing: http://bit.ly/31x7a2G (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)