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Last week the third meeting of the structured dialogue of group of experts on the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) took place. I was asked to give a presentation on the use of ESIF and the fight against discrimination, in particular about what has emerged so far from the implementation of the Partnership Agreements (PAs) and the Operational Programmes (OPs) adopted.

The fact that ESIF can be used to fight against discrimination is a novelty brought by the Common Provision Regulation on ESIF (CPR) that was adopted in December 2013. Fighting against discrimination has become a horizontal principle that applies to all funds: in other terms, all funds should contribute to this.

The CPR regulation and the regulation on the European Code of Conduct on Partnerships set specific requirements. PAs shall include relevant bodies representing civil society, including NGOs and bodies responsible for non-discrimination. Their involvement is due in the preparation of PAs and progress reports, throughout the preparation and implementation of programmes, including in Monitoring Committees, in the application of horizontal principles and in the summary of assessment of fulfillment of ex-ante conditionalities. Ex-ante conditionalities means that member states before using ESIF must have in place specific legislation or policy frameworks.

We have conducted a survey among our members that work to promote equality and in most cases their members at national level haven’t been involved  in PAs (the European Network anti Racism, ILGA Europe and the European Youth Forum). The European Youth Forum reported that most National Youth Councils haven’t been involved in PAs and only 8 out of 22 were involved in the Youth Guarantee. Striking is the case of organisations promoting the rights of gay, lesbian, intersex and trans people in Hungary that haven’t been given any opportunity to get involved in the process, also after formal complaint to the relevant Managing Authorities and the European Commission.

To our knowledge, also the ex-ante conditionalities that are relevant for fighting against discrimination haven’t been completely fulfilled. Four countries still do not have in place a youth strategy (Cyprus, Denmark, Malta and Latvia). Concerning Roma inclusion strategies, only Bulgaria has received an extension to fulfill with it; on paper at least, the other member states have fulfilled it.

More encouraging is the use of the European Social Fund to fight against discrimination. Even if the overall amount dedicated to this investment priority is little (0,6€ billion equal to 0,7% of overall ESF allocation), 11 countries have chosen this investment priority and have planned specific measures in their OPs. For example, in Belgium the OP Bruxelles-Capitale includes raising awareness and combating all forms of discrimination by the means of diversity labels and social clauses for employers. The OP Wallonia devotes 38% of funds to the social and professional integration of the most deprived and to decrease the effects of stigmatisation linked to poverty, poor educational attainment, ethnic origin or sexual identity. In Spain, the OP Social Inclusion and social economy foresees three pillars: active inclusion approaches; strengthening social economy; integrated policy approaches and combined use of ESF and ERDF. A specific programme targets groups most at risk of discrimination and awareness raising actions among employers and the general public are foreseen.

Given this disappointing picture, in particular because of lack of involvement of equality NGOs in the process, the Commission has to play a crucial role in monitoring the implementation of ESIF and detecting cases of infringement of fundamental rights. There is also the need to provide expert advice on the issue of discrimination based on the different grounds. All this should be taken into account in the upcoming review of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework. At civil society level, there is the need for European NGOs to equip their members at national level to be pro-active and get involved in the use of ESIF.