Announced by our colleagues at Euractiv and Euronews on Thursday 24 July, the European Commission’s decision not to withdraw the directive on equal treatment from its work programme has been confirmed to our editorial team, and represents something of a victory for the associative networks that have been campaigning for months against its abandonment.
Proposed in 2008 and since blocked by the EU Council, this directive aims to combat discrimination based on religion, beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation in areas such as education, health, housing or access to goods and services, beyond just the field of employment (see EUROPE 13581/20, 13579/21).
Its inclusion in the list of texts that the Commission was considering withdrawing in 2025 - in its work programme published in February (https://aeur.eu/f/fgp ) - prompted a number of organisations, MEPs (see EUROPE 13678/5, 13640/26) and certain Member States to take action.
A European Commission spokesperson told us that the Commission had finally decided to keep the text on the agenda “for further political discussion” after having considered “the supportive position expressed by the European Parliament and by a large majority of Member States in the Council”.
It affirms that it remains “fully committed to continue building a Union of Equality” and intends to “redouble our efforts in supporting the Presidency and the Member States with all possible means to help find an agreement”.
The Commission supports the Danish Presidency’s ambition to reach a general approach on this file at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 1 and 2 December.
At their last EPSCO Council meeting in June (see EUROPE 13664/25), while several ministers themselves warned of the negative signal a withdrawal would send, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic maintained their reservations. The three Member States invoked the subsidiarity principle and the possible consequences for their national policies on education, social protection and birth rate (see EUROPE 13664/25).
As far as civil society is concerned, a number of associative networks have been sounding the alarm in recent months about the risk of abandoning the fundamental values of the EU.
At the beginning of July, ILGA-Europe presented a petition signed by over 33,000 citizens to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The organisation now welcomes a decision that “paves the way for long-awaited legislation to strengthen protection against discrimination”.
The same is true of the European Disability Forum (EDF), which describes this as a “positive development”, while calling for “concrete action in the Council”.
According to AGE Platform Europe, which protects the interests of older people, this decision is proof of “the impact of the sustained advocacy of equality networks” and creates a “political opportunity to be seized” under the Danish Presidency of the EU Council, which has made it one of its priorities. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)