News

On April 22 Social Platform, Amnesty International and the Open Society Foundations jointly addressed Mr. Deaglán O’Briain, Chair of the Working Party on Social Questions to call on the Council to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with civil society (Art 11, TEU) on the negotiations of the Article 19 Equal Treatment Directive. We asked "In order for us to support the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council in their work it is important to have a clear understanding of the provisions of the proposal for a directive that are currently being discussed. This would allow us to better explain to other stakeholders (victims of discrimination, the general public, trade unions, service providers and companies) what challenges and opportunities this text will create. Unfortunately we no longer receive any detailed information about the continuing negotiations. We have previously enjoyed an open and constructive working relationship with certain Presidencies that enabled us to support their work by providing our expertise. This approach should be reintroduced.

The directive will be discussed at the Fundamental Rights Platform meeting in Vienna on April 25-26 during a panel on ‘fostering anti-discrimination policies in the EU’ with Raul Romeva I Rueda, European Parliament's Rapporteur, Mr O’Briain, Chair of the Council Working Party and Ms Papamichalopoulou, Head of unit Non-discrimination, the European Commission. Several of Social Platform members will participate including OSI and Amnesty in the discussions.

Background
Since 2008, Social Platform, Amnesty International and the Open Society Foundations have called for the adoption of the Proposal for a Council Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (COM (2008)426 of July 2, 2008). Together we work for the advancement of the negotiations towards legislation that aims to better protect people against discrimination in Europe.