EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO HONOUR PLANS FOR ANTI-DISCRIMINATION DIRECTIVE

11.02.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Jun 2008

The European Commission has agreed to bring forward a new comprehensive anti-discrimination directive, despite objections from some Member States, after a fierce lobbying campaign by European Parliamentarians and NGOs, culminating in the adoption of a key report in the European Parliament last month by Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne (ALDE, UK), which called on the European Commission to honour its plans for a comprehensive directive.

Promised by the Commission in its 2008 Work Programme, the directive will outlaw discrimination in access to goods and services covering all areas presently excluded, including disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

Liz Lynne MEP, Vice President of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, who also recently launched a public petition in support of a new directive, said:

"I am delighted that the President of the Commission has now seen sense. I know Commissioner Spidla has been working towards this end and I am pleased that the European Commission will now deliver on its promise to bring forward a comprehensive directive to outlaw discrimination in access to goods and services on all grounds currently not covered under Article 13 legislation, including disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

"The European Parliament, in adopting my recent report, sent a strong signal to the Commission and Member States that their could be no backtracking when it comes to anti-discrimination and human rights, which I believe is the basis on which the European Union was founded;

"The challenge now is to ensure that the proposal is workable and achieves its aims and I will be urging the Commission to look at successful national legislation across Member States for examples of best practice in this field; there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

"My hope is those business organisations and Member States who have opposed this directive will now look at these proposals in detail and can be convinced of the need for this legislation, which I believe is vital if we are to put and end to the current hierarchy of rights and the ridiculous idea that it is alright to discriminate against one section of society."

ENDS

Notes:

Text of Liz Lynne's report as adopted by the European Parliament last month; http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A6-2008-0159&language=EN

Current EU anti-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination in the workplace on all grounds (Employment Directive 2000) but only provides protection against discrimination in access to goods and services on the basis of gender and race (Equal Treatment Directive and the Race Directive respectively).

Liz Lynne's campaign and petition to persuade the Commission and member States to press ahead with a horizontal directive can be found here: www.signtostopdiscrimination.org