The European Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, was questioned by MEPs on the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) about the removal of the directive on equal treatment from the 2025 work programme. Katrin Langensiepen (Greens/EFA, German), Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, Swedish) and Maria Walsh (EPP, Irish) in particular expressed their indignation, the latter saying she was “shocked” by the decision.
The withdrawal of the Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive (see EUROPE 13581/20, 13579/21), proposed in 2008 to combat discrimination based on age, disability, religion or sexual orientation outside the workplace, appears in point 26 of Annex IV of the Commission’s work programme, presented on 12 February (https://aeur.eu/f/fgp ), where it is mentioned that the proposal, which is blocked because “it is unlikely to make any progress” due to the lack of the necessary unanimity in the EU Council, could be withdrawn “within six months”.
Hadja Lahbib assured that she had tried to unblock the text with several ministers, notably in Italy and Germany.
Faced with MEPs’ objections, she defended the Commission’s position, explaining that maintaining a directive with no prospect of adoption “does not improve people’s lives“.
However, she encouraged MEPs to “play (their) part” by putting pressure on their respective governments.
Harmonisation of the definition of rape. The lack of consensus in the EU Council was also raised on another issue: the definition of rape based on the absence of consent. At present, only 17 Member States include this concept in their legislation.
One year after the Interinstitutional Agreement on the directive against gender-based violence (see EUROPE 13344/24), which came after numerous fruitless negotiations due to Member States’ blocking, for a European definition of rape, Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew Europe, Swedish) called for European legislation guaranteeing that “only a yes is a yes”, while Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, Swedish) regretted that the Commission did not go further faced with certain Member States’ reluctance.
Acknowledging national differences and the importance of consent in the fight against sexual violence, Ms Lahbib encouraged the Member States to include this notion when transposing the directive and promised to closely monitor the negotiations on the recast of the directive against sexual abuse of children (see EUROPE 13545/4).
Roadmap. Hadja Lahbib also presented the roadmap for women’s rights, which will be adopted ahead of International Women's Day in March. This document will define fundamental principles and political objectives to guide future EU initiatives on gender equality.
While the Commissioner has made this a “compass” for European policies, several MEPs, including Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus (S&D, Polish), have expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of immediate concrete measures.
The Commissioner pledged her commitment to promoting gender equality in public policies and to combating online violence and violence against women. But she called for Parliament and the Member States to work together to turn this progress into reality. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)