Discrimination in the EU

Catherine Magnant is the coordinator of this year's events, and talked to Inside Europe about the type of events taking place, and why the year is important.

Inside Europe: Tell me more about the activities that have been organized in the 27 member states of the EU.

Catherine Magnant: We’ve got over 400 projects currently going on throughout Europe, so we’ve got quite a lot of them. Most of them are awareness raising activities like media campaigns or activities in schools, like competitions for young children for them to think about equality means. We also have awards for businesses with innovative policies so we have quite a wide scope and array of projects. We will soon also have a big competition on MTV for young people so we want to put diversity -- and the fact that diversity is of benefit to Europe -- on people’s minds and on countries’ agendas.

What for you have been the highlights of the year so far?

For me, the most impressive result or fact has been the huge level of energy and enthusiasm that we’ve met and that has been generated by the year. We are also very proud that in every country we have got projects dealing with all issues, because what I’d like to tell you is that in the EU, discrimination is forbidden on the basis of six grounds: sex, race and ethnic origin, religion, age, disability and sexual orientation. As you can understand, some of those grounds are very sensitive, like sexual orientation, in some countries. So for us it is a big achievement that all of these issues have been tackled by all the projects that we’ve been running.

Do you have the impression, though, that many Europeans are aware of these events this year?

Well, maybe not all of them, but quite a large number of them. In some cities and regions we have made quite an impact, and we’ve had quite large projects, such as a partnership with Eurovision, as I said, a competition on MTV. We’ve also had a huge yellow truck touring Europe and stopping in market squares and schools, to meet people and to discuss their rights to a life free of discrimination. So, yes, we do think that we’ve made quite an impact.

It’s only September, of course, but is there already evidence of concrete improvements in promoting diversity and tackling discrimination?

We can already claim that in all member states, they’ve had to improve their laws to protect people against discrimination so that they are in conformity with EU levels and requirements. We are also very happy that we have started a number of very important processes such as getting governments and civil society to talk, including as I said, on issues that are so sensitive, such as sexual orientation in the Czech Republic, for example, in Poland, and for the first the time NGOs and the government sat together to discuss those issues.

Were there any particular challenges or difficulties implementing this year, then?

Well, I think that when you want to change mentalities, which is what the year is about, then you want people to think equal; you want people to challenge their fears and stereotypes and prejudices. You always have a challenge. It’s always difficult and (the outcome) only can really be seen in the medium to long term. So that’s not easy. And also, what has been sometimes frustrating is that we have received projects and requests that far exceeded the budget that we had so we had the impression that we could not answer everything. But the positive side is that you have all this energy and all these people wanting to do things and change things out there.

So how can the EU countries build on this year’s events to further promote diversity?

Well, the year has put the spotlight on legislation and laws to protect people against discrimination, so countries can and will continue making those laws known. Before we started the year, we had a survey and it turned out that only two-thirds of Europeans know that there are laws protecting them against discrimination, so that has to change -- people need to know their rights. But they also need to use them, and laws also have to be better implemented, so countries will to continue -- and we will continue as well -- to train judges and trade unions so that people can access their rights. We also want and the countries will also continue to work with businesses who have innovative policies and have diversity in their workforce in place. That’s the future for Europe: to be able to use all the talents it has and not leave a quite important number of people on the sides without access to jobs because of discrimination. It’s a waste of talent that we can’t afford.

Helen Seeney interviewed Catherine Magnant.