Watson - Liberal Democrats make their mark on the European Commission's Anti-Discrimination Directive

2.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 2nd Jul 2008

After strong representation and argumentation from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, led in the European Parliament by local MEP Graham Watson, the European Commission has finally announced today a proposal for a "horizontal" directive on the fight against discrimination in the European Union. This directive is called "horizontal" because it widens the existing legal framework to include all types of discrimination (not just disability but also age, sexual orientation and religion) and enlarges the various fields of application (from the workplace to goods and services and social protection). ALDE is proud to have reached this result, having been heavily involved from the outset of this initiative by the Commission, which will now be adopted under the legal base (art. 13, TCE) which unfortunately marginalizes completely the European Parliament as the Council will decide by unanimity.

Graham Watson, declared:-

"The European Parliament approved the current Commission on the basis that it honours its pledge to champion fundamental rights. Although it took some time to finalize, this week's proposal is a welcome sign that citizen's equality remains its priority.

Liberal Democrats in both the European Parliament and the Commission have successfully acted to ensure that the draft directive covers all grounds of discrimination in all walks of life: a victory for equality and anti-discrimination".