ILGA-Europe congratulates the Members of the European Parliament (MEP), and especially the rapporteur Kathalijne Buitenweg, for this important step towards putting an end of discrimination in the European Union. Today the MEPs sent a strong signal to the Council of the European Union that the discrimination has to be eradicated and the new directive is the best way to achieve it.

ILGA-Europe also wants to thank the European Commission for their ongoing support on the introduction of the directive and their effort on gaining the support for the European Parliament.

At the same time ILGA-Europe wants to stress that there is still important work to be done by the Council. In order to provide effective legal protections against discrimination it is essential to amend the text to limit the number of remaining exceptions in particular on the materials scope, and to improve provisions protecting disabled people against discrimination, to name a few ongoing issues.

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said:

“We welcome today’s vote by the European Parliament. We know how difficult and sensitive the negotiations on this report were. Therefore we send our thanks to those MEPs who despite difficult political negotiations did not lose sight of the bigger picture vision and remained committed to the principled of justice and equality.”

ILGA-Europe’s campaign supporting new EU anti-discrimination directive: www.ilga-europe.org/europe/campaigns_projects/campaign_for_new_european_anti_discrimination_legislation

The text of this report is available on the EP's website