Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup tabled today two questions to the European Commission with the main aim to foster implementation of the measures promised in the EU Anti Racism Action Plan.
The questions are detailing concerns around recruitment of an EU Anti-Racism Coordinator and the EU Anti-Racism Summit planned for March this year.
The Commission is currently recruiting an anti-racism coordinator. Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup’s and civil society’s main request was to recruit an expert with relevant experience who would have an operational role, and belong to a racialised community, which would simultaneously
reflect the Commission’s efforts to enhance its diversity. Considering the ongoing recruitment process is among the existing EC personnel, there is a concern that some of the mentioned recommendations of the legitimate representatives of the communities are not going to be fulfilled. ARDI would like to see more transparency and effective due diligence of this process. In addition, our recommendations included that the Commission employs a team instead of only one coordinator working on combatting racism. We therefore asked the EC the following questions:
- Does the Commission plan to employ a coordinator or a team and what are the main selection
criteria and when will the Coordinator become operational? - Considering existence of the anti-Muslim hatred coordinator, Roma Unit and anti-Semitism team,
what kind of structure is planned to fight racism and how the anti-racism Coordinator will be
related to the existing mentioned structures and what will be a hierarchy of competence? - What will be the main tasks of the Coordinator?
The Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup is fully supportive to an ambitious list of concrete initiatives included in the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020-2025. According to the document, an EU Summit is as well one of the most imminent deliverables. The Summit was planned for spring 2021, but there have been no communicated steps towards its organization. We are hoping to contribute towards a high-level political event aiming at obtaining serious commitments of Member States. Both development and implementation of the National Action Plans Against Racism are still something to provide an
incentive for. We understand that challenges such as the lack of communication and potential delays in the implementation might be a direct consequence of the lack of human resources. However, sound engagement and accountability of the Action Plan must be ensured, and the Summit is the first
and a pivotal milestone to its success. We therefore asked the Commission:
- Will the planned Summit happen in spring this year as planned?
- What are the plans about its aim, scope, partners, level and structure?
- Has the Commission planned consultations on the Summit specifically, with whom and in what form
(a steering group, open consultation, consisting of ARDI, civil society, EU institutions etc.)?
In the meantime the Commission confirmed the date of the Summit (March 19), while many more questions remain highly relevant. ARDI will be consulted by the Commission’s DG Justice on February 12 on the Summit specifically.
Read the pdf versions of the questions for more information about the signatories: Anti-Racism Coordinator, Summit.