On Friday 23 July, the European Commission published its roadmap for the publication, at the end of 2022, of a proposal for a Directive aimed “to strengthen the role and independence” of equality bodies.
The EU27 are indeed obliged by the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43) to designate such bodies, in order to provide independent assistance to victims of discrimination, to promote equal treatment or to conduct independent surveys.
“Due to the wide margin of discretion left to the Member States” in this area, the deployment of these bodies differs from one State to another, particularly in terms of mandate, powers, leadership, independence or funding, the Commission notes in its roadmap.
“This results in a very unequal protection against discrimination across the EU”, the institution insists, regretting that its 2018 recommendations on the subject have not led to progress and that “levels of ambition” in this respect remain variable among the EU27.
The Commission is therefore considering introducing binding minimum standards for equality bodies in its forthcoming Directive.
These standards could cover the problem areas listed above - mandate, powers, status, resources - but also requirements for data collection, monitoring of the bodies or their cooperation with other national and international institutions. This will depend on “which policy options the preparation work points to”, the roadmap states.
The promise of such a Directive was made by the Commission in its Anti-Racism Action Plan (see EUROPE 12563/2), and later taken up in its strategy on LGBTIQ+ rights (see EUROPE 12600/23) as well as in its framework for inclusion of Roma communities (see EUROPE 12576/9).
The roadmap published on Friday will remain open for comment until 20 August. A public consultation will then be held by the end of September 2021.
For more details: https://bit.ly/3y8uAfA (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)