“Incomprehensible decision” to withdraw anti-discrimination EU rules proposal

On Friday, lead MEPs representing a majority in Parliament condemned the Commission’s announcement that it intends to withdraw its proposal for a horizontal anti-discrimination directive.

Commenting on the Commission’s 2025 Work Programme, Parliament’s rapporteur and those shadow rapporteurs mentioned below made the following statement.

“We are extremely disappointed that the European Commission has announced its intention to withdraw the proposal on a Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive. At a time when equality is under brutal attack and just as light had appeared at the end of the tunnel, this is truly an incomprehensible decision. The Commission’s decision makes even less sense in the context of its own political guidelines regarding ‘A Union of equality’.

Parliament has been insisting for decades that the patchwork EU framework for the protection of people’s rights needs to be consolidated and expanded so that it covers everyone irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation and across every aspect of our lives. Over the past two years, several Council Presidencies have worked on reaching a compromise between the member states to unblock the directive, with the current Polish Presidency clearly indicating that progress may be imminent. In this light, the Commission’s announcement could not have arrived at a less opportune moment.

At the same time, attacks on the rights of vulnerable groups are on the rise everywhere, even within the EU. The Commission’s decision is sending the wrong message, both to people whose rights are under threat, and to the world at large. It is time for the EU to step up and show global leadership against discrimination, not back down.

We expect a fully reasoned explanation so we will request that the Committee on Civil Liberties invite the Commission to answer our questions. We also insist that, should the announcement not be reversed, another legislative initiative will be tabled in the immediate future to tackle the real issues that the directive was intended to address in the first place. Once we know more, we will continue working to identify potential ways to rectify the damage that the Commission’s decision is inflicting on people and our Union.

Europeans can rest assured that, in this fight for equal rights for everyone, we will exhaust all political and legal tools at our disposal.”

The rapporteur Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, SE) and shadow rapporteurs Maria Walsh (EPP, IE), Krzysztof Śmiszek (S&D, PL), Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew, SE), and Ilaria Salis (The Left, IT).

Background

Equality is one of the fundamental values on which the European Union is founded, reflected in Article 2 of the EU Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. These give the EU a mandate and responsibility to combat discrimination. However, at present, there are gaps in EU anti-discrimination legislation, especially since some grounds for discrimination are still only covered in the area of employment.

In 2008, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment outside the labour market, irrespective of age, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief, which aims at extending protection against discrimination through a horizontal approach. Parliament has been ready to negotiate since 2009. However, since unanimity has not yet been reached in the Council, the draft has remained blocked at that stage since then.

In 2023, Parliament expressed deep concern about trends with respect to equal treatment in several member states, as evidenced by the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU; asked the Commission to “explore all possible avenues to overcome the political deadlock”; and stated that that “any update of the proposal [...] must build on Parliament’s position, address intersectional discrimination and explicitly prohibit discrimination on any combination of grounds listed in the Charter”.