Brussels, 28/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - Racist crimes have increased in at least eight of the 27 European Union countries including France, Great Britain, Germany and Poland over the past six years, the European Agency on Fundamental Rights, created on 1 March this year, said on Monday. According to the report presented by the Agency on Monday to the European Parliament's committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, racial discrimination in employment, education and housing is a serious problem in many European countries, where a foreign-sounding name is often enough to ensure less favourable treatment. “There is ample evidence that racist violence and discrimination persist and in fact are on the increase in parts of the EU”, deplores Anastasia Crickley, Chair of the Agency's Board in Vienna, in a press release. Many countries have not yet implemented the directive on racial equality and have not appointed any specialised bodies to analyse and combat the scourge of racism. As a result, penalties for racist acts are patchy and inconsistent. Eight of the eleven member states for which sufficient data are available to allow a trend analysis show a general tendency toward an increase in racist acts (Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Poland Slovakia, Finland and the United Kingdom). The other three countries show a general fall in declared racist crime (the Czech Republic, Austria and Sweden). The report also affirms that it is impossible to draw up an overall report on the situation due to the lack of information provided by the different States. The Agency asserts that five countries have not published any data for the year 2005-2006 (Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Portugal). During the debate at the EP, MEPs stressed the urgent need to appoint a director to the Agency. (bc)