On Thursday 13 February, AGE Platform Europe, the European network of older people’s rights organisations, expressed its disappointment at the withdrawal of the horizontal equal treatment directive from the final publication of the European Commission’s 2025 work programme.
According to AGE Platform Europe, this is a significant step backwards in the fight against age discrimination. The organisation also condemns the absence of any legislative alternative and the European Commission’s argument that there is “no foreseeable agreement”, pointing the finger at a weakening of the EU’s commitments.
The directive, which has been blocked since 2008 in the Council of the European Union and which aims to guarantee greater levels of protection against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, religion or sexual orientation outside the workplace, had nevertheless been the subject of an encouraging discussion between the representatives of the Member States (Coreper I) a week earlier (see EUROPE 13574/25).
AGE is now urging the European Commission to clarify its position and reintroduce a legislative initiative in line with the commitments made for a ‘Union of Equality’ in 2020 (see EUROPE 12561/3).
To see the European Commission’s work programme: https://aeur.eu/f/fgp (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)