Brussels, 13/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on 11 September under the chairmanship of Jorge Hernandez Mollar (EPP-Ed, Spain), the EP Committee on Freedoms and Citizens' Rights held an exchange of views with Equal Opportunities Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou on the EU's anti-discrimination policies (Article 13 of the Treaty) and the situation in Member States towards such policies as well as on the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and on the way to strengthen intercultural dialogue. As Mr Hernandez Mollar underlined, such issues require "a great deal of work in common between the parliamentary committee on freedoms and justice and that on social affairs. If one wants a high degree of justice, this must be done on the basis of real equality".
Anna Diamantopoulou took stock of what has been done to combat discrimination at Community level (adoption by the Council, in 2000, of the directive condemning discrimination with regards employment, education, social protection and access to goods and services, and that establishing a general framework for equal treatment in the field of employment, directives whose transposition into national law must be completed before end 2003). She pointed out that most of the Member States have "already sent the Commission their proposed action plan except Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Greece and that "some Member States - Belgium, United Kingdom and Ireland - intend to go beyond directives by establishing equal opportunities bodies". The Commissioner announced that the Danish EU Presidency is organising for 14 and 15 November in Copenhagen a conference on the implementation of anti-discrimination directives that will focus on age discrimination, the special care that employers should give to disabled personnel, or racial discrimination in educational circles. Ms Diamantopoul also insisted on the importance of close collaboration with candidate states, "which must apply these directives before they join the EU", and pointed out that Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Cyprus were to participate in the EC anti-discrimination action programme at the end of the year. Regarding the rise in racism and xenophobia further to the events on 11 September ("a date after which different political behaviour in Europe and in the United States changed", stressed the Commissioner), Anna Diamantopoulou mainly highlighted the immense work accomplished by the Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna through its network of international correspondents, Raxen. "Threats to the peaceful coexistence between different cultures arise from the lack of discussion and ignorance", she insisted, noting that, in order to promote peaceful coexistence, the European Commission and the Vienna Observatory will be organising two round tables this autumn on "anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the EU" (the first should be held end October), with the participation of religious leaders, politicians and representatives of the civil society.
In response to Michael Cashman (British Labour member), who expressed concern as to whether the Commission would take an interest in discrimination based on sexual leaning, Ms Diamantopoulou felt it "logical that one should go on to directives other than equality between men and women, with a timetable that varies according to the case". Giuseppe Di Lello (GUE/NGL, Italy) posed the problem of the definition of the term "anti-Semite" ("Palestinians are Semites; so are Israelis anti-Semites?", he asked) and the problem of discrimination towards trade unions. "I agree with you in trying to use a more exact language, whereby anti-Semite is someone who is against the Jews and their religious and cultural centres. As for trade unions, Europe must be proud of its trade union freedoms and the role of the trade unions", replied Ms Diamantopoulou. "Each week, Roma arrive on mass in Lyons. We shall end up having a small town next the large town! Is work underway with candidate countries on discrimination against the Roma?" exclaimed Martine Roure (PES, France). "After enlargement, the Roma, with 7.5 to 8 million people, will be the largest national minority in Europe with linguistic and cultural differences. This is a serious problem for candidate countries", noted Ms Diamantopoulou, recalling in passing that the "Phare programme provides funding to improve the living conditions of the Roma". Answering Alain Krivine (GUE/NGL, France) who raised the question of discrimination towards illegal immigrants who are caught in "a vicious circle" ("no papers, no work; no work, no papers", he noted) and who are in fact "new slaves working for real slave drivers", Anna Diamantopoulou pointed out that "without papers, these people are violating national law and therefore the Member States must take measures". She said she hoped the proposal by Justice Commissioner Antonio Vitorino in this field would allow solutions to be found.