“It’s time to stop explaining why we need to act. It is time to really act, “said Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová. She pointed out that, although EU officials and European leaders have long shown that racism needs to be combated, this is not always the case in practice.
The Commission called on Member States to prevent possible racial discrimination by the police more effectively and to seek to increase public confidence in security forces. In connection with the wave of protests in the United States, demonstrations against the allegedly discriminatory approach of the police also took place in some European cities this year.
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The Commission is preparing a number of its own initiatives as part of a comprehensive plan for the next five years. He is among the first to examine how Member States approach compliance with the Racial Equality Directive, which prohibits any discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity. Next year, it will draw up an evaluation report, which could be used in any subsequent proceedings against countries that would be in breach of the rules.
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Find out the ethnic ratio between officials, the European institutions called on the Commission
Brussels will also set up a coordinator to ensure that the EU institutions act in unison in all areas where racial discrimination may interfere. According to Jourová, it is, for example, housing, education, employment, healthcare or culture.
Some NGOs or MEPs blame the Commission for not being active enough to fight racism on its own. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took office last year, saying she wanted to achieve a balanced number of men and women, which she almost succeeded in doing. However, critics point out that her 27-member team includes only white people.
In this context, the Commission wants the EU institutions to find out the ethnic ratio between their staff. It itself intends to “take steps to significantly increase the representativeness” of the team of more than 30,000 people who work for it.
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