Stalled since 2008, the European anti-discrimination directive is back on the table of the Member States. In a note consulted by Agence Europe, the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union states that it intends to relaunch negotiations at the meeting of the Working Party on Social Questions to be held on Thursday 2 October, calling on reluctant Member States to spell out their objections.
The directive aims to extend the fight against discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation outside the field of employment. It would cover social protection, education and access to goods and services, including housing.
In these non-employment areas, only discrimination on the grounds of sex - notably the 2004 text implementing the principle of equal treatment between women and men in the access to and supply of goods and services (https://aeur.eu/f/ipq ) - and racial or ethnic origin, with the 2000 directive (https://aeur.eu/f/ipr ), are currently subject to an EU-wide ban.
Last June (see EUROPE 13664/25), at the ‘Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs’ Council (‘EPSCO’), a “vast majority” of delegations reiterated their support for the rapid adoption of the text. However, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic once again expressed reservations, citing the principle of subsidiarity and the possible consequences for their national policies on education, social protection and the birth rate (see EUROPE 13664/25).
The Danish Presidency is now asking these delegations to spell out their objections in “concrete” terms and to indicate ways of responding to them.
The document also points out that the legislative landscape has changed significantly since 2008.
And with good reason: national legislation and practices have evolved, and all Member States are now parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which imposes obligations in terms of accessibility and reasonable accommodation.
What’s more, the EU has also armed itself with texts, such as the 2019 European Accessibility Directive and the 2016 Web Accessibility Directive, which reduce the scope of the initial proposal.
The text, which is still under discussion, has also been reworked in the course of exchanges over the last seventeen years.
For example, the obligation to ensure “effective non-discriminatory access” has been removed, the transposition deadlines for certain obligations, such as reasonable accommodation, have been extended and explicit references to the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality have been added.
In addition, the scope of the directive has also been redefined, albeit cautiously, so as not to take precedence over national competences in the fields of education and social protection.
This resumption of discussions comes two months after the European Commission decided not to abolish the directive (see EUROPE 13687/20), as it had envisaged back in February, in its 2025 work programme (see EUROPE 13581/20, 13579/21). This position was justified by the fact that it would be too difficult to obtain the unanimity of the EU Council required for this text. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)