Watson urges Commission to ban all forms of discrimination

9.27.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Apr 2008

The European Commission and Council will decide this spring on an EU horizontal directive to combat discrimination. After statements from Commissioner Spidla about the "difficult political environment", ALDE members are concerned that directive will only focus on disability and not include sexual orientation, age, religion and belief. Media reports confirmed that sexual orientation would not be included.

The European Liberals and Democrats have urged the European Commission to come up with a horizontal directive banning all forms of discrimination as promised from the onset in 2004.

Graham Watson MEP for the South West and Gibraltar has sent a letter to Commissioner Barroso urging him to take action, and commented:

"The long-awaited Horizontal Directive was expected to combat all forms of discrimination not only in the work place but in all avenues of life. Yet it risks promising more than it will deliver unless it includes clear mentions of age, religion and sexual orientation as grounds for discrimination. Without such provisions in place Europe's ambitions to safeguard the rights of the individual will wither on the vine. I trust the President of the European Commission will take seriously my Group's concerns that the current draft falls short of Europe's commitment to equality".