In the wake of the progress report on the EU LGBTIQ equality strategy (see EUROPE 13160/19), the European office of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) sent its recommendations to the European Commission on Wednesday 12 April.
Overall, the association argues that the strategy is a “qualitative shift from the European Commission towards playing its full role in defending and protecting LGBTIQ rights” and that its mid-term implementation is promising.
ILGA-Europe points out, however, that at present, this implementation is mainly carried out by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice (DG JUST). The commitment of other departments is lagging behind. It thus calls for evaluating the implementation of each Directorate-General’s strategy in relation to the objectives to be achieved and not simply based on a report of actions taken.
In the long term, it advocates for establishing an LGBTIQ rights coordinator for the whole Commission.
At the same time, while the association welcomes the creation of an LGBTIQ sub-group within the Commission, it regrets that NGOs are not involved in a more continuous and structured way.
Furthermore, it calls on the Commission to uphold its political ambition to protect transgender, intersex and non-binary people. It notes, for example, that equality body guidelines only refer to discrimination based on sexual orientation, not gender identities.
Finally, ILGA-Europe welcomes the new possibility of reallocating EU funding to smaller entities (“regranting”) and suggests extending it to candidate countries. In this context, it calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the Western Balkans, where there has been a setback for LGBTIQ rights. ILGA-Europe also suggests reducing the CERV’s cofinancing rate from 20% to 10%, to free up funds for associations.
You can read the recommendations here: https://aeur.eu/f/6bd (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)