Brussels, 19/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - The 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 November examines the achievements of the year so far, and looks to the challenges still ahead. The conference takes place in the context of the current debate about equal opportunities and is chaired by the Portuguese prime minister José Socrates. Other participants include the Portuguese, Italian, Czech and British ministers for equal opportunities.
In 2007 there were 1000 different activities at regional, local and national levels in all Union countries. Around half of them have been co-funded by the European Commission. They include among others, 47 different anti-discrimination training programmes, 31 studies or surveys and 21 competitions for schools, businesses or the general public. National advertising campaigns took place in Austria and Belgium, while France took advantage of major music and youth festivals to pass on the diversity message.
There are new partnerships and dialogues to promote equality. For the first time, member states have developed national strategies covering all six grounds of discrimination (see below) targeted in Article 13 of the EC Treaty: discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age and handicap.
Vladimir Spidla's spokesperson reminded the press that last June the European Commission had opened an infringement procedure against 14 member states for non-respect of the 200/43/EC Directive on racial equality (Spain, France, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The European Commission sent formal notifications to these states, added the spokesperson. At the beginning of 2007, the Commission also set up a high level group for examining integration, in society, of minorities such as the Rom. The group will publish its report on this question on 3 December, concluded the spokesperson. (G.B.)