Strasbourg, 01/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament adopted an own initiative report on Thursday 27 September by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Green/EFA, Netherlands) on the application of the directive on “implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin”, with 500 votes in favour, 46 against and 24 abstentions. The Parliament observes that progress must still be made in order for this directive to be implemented correctly. It demands that the member states transpose it as soon as possible. This directive was adopted in June 2000 and was due to have been implemented by June 2003, the Parliament points out, demanding that the Commission control the correct application of the directive and institute infringement proceedings, where necessary, by the end of 2007. The Parliament also wants to see national action plans put in place for more effective combating of all forms of discrimination.
In the debate which preceded the adoption of the report, Kathalijne Buitenweg stated first that in spite of progress in terms of legislation, discrimination has worsened recently and racial violence has increased. Despite the goodwill shown by Commissioner Spidla, the rapporteur would like to see a more “muscular” attitude, particularly with regard to the transposition of anti-discrimination legislation. In Ms Buitenweg's view, one of the keys to success is information: citizens are often unaware that they can defend themselves against discrimination or how to go about it, as shown by the Eurobarometer of January 2007. Ms Buitenweg cited a specific case of discrimination in the field of education concerning Roma children, who are often placed in schools for children with learning disabilities.
On behalf of the European Commission, Louis Michel, who was standing in for Mr Spidla, indicated that infringement proceedings initiated against 14 member states for failure to transpose legislation had already produced some results. He acknowledged that there is a problem with information: although 65% of people in Finland are aware of European legislation, only 17% of people in Austria are, and the European average is just 33%. Non-discrimination, he said, is not enough in itself to offer a real chance of equality to all: the Commission has demanded an in-depth analysis of good practice, particularly concerning employment, and believes that the legislation should be complemented with research, training and exchanges of good practices. On the sensitive issue of data collection, Mr Michel said that, according to Eurobarometer, three out of four people are willing to provide anonymous information on their ethnicity and religion. What matters is the non-discriminatory use of this data, he said, recalling that the member states have the right to collect such data for public policy reasons.
This theme was mentioned by several MEPs, in particular French MEP Patrick Gaubert (PPE-DE), who denounced any drift in data collection towards ethnic profiling and Dutch MEP Sophia in't Veld (ALDE), who also appealed for appropriate use of religious rights (a Catholic school, for example, should not be able to reject certain children in order to have a “white” school). French socialist Martine Roure recalled one of the conclusions of the first report by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights in July 2007, which was forced to observe that racist crimes had increased in eight countries of the European Union, despite the existence of very advanced legislation. Education on tolerance is key to giving equality a real chance, and this education should, according to Slovenian MEP Anna Zaboeska (EPP/ED), begin at home and be built upon in schools. When it comes to information, Polish socialist Genowefa Grabowska, while acknowledging that the Member States do not do enough in this area, said that NGOs were better equipped to deal with this.
A few dissenting voices were raised in the debate to defend Christian values in Europe: Louis Michel responded by rejecting any “whiffs of exclusion”, which fortunately are marginal. He also considered it useful to recall that Europe is not univocal in religious, philosophical or political terms. (gb/lg)