Article for Black London Newsletter - Policy Update, June 2003

In one of the original issues of Black London, Claude Moraes MEP, London's only Black MEP set out why the EU was relevant to London's Black community. Here he gives an update on important race issues in Europe.

2003 is a pivotal time for both race issues and immigration policy in the European Union - the deadline for the groundbreaking Race and Employment Directives are in July and December respectively; a campaign is on to ensure that anti-racism is incorporated into the new European Constitution; and linked to this there are some major changes to the way immigration and asylum matters are to be decided at European level as the EU enlarges to 25 member states in 2004.

Readers of Black London may know that the campaign to secure a Race Equality Directive which would compel all 15 member states to implement comprehensive race legislation was hard fought for, and voted through the European Parliament in 2000. The deadline for all implementation is July 2003, yet some member states like Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal have been slow to implement change or have done virtually nothing. The UK and Belgium have made good progress - in the UK one effect of the directive will be to shift the burden of proof in race discrimination cases in employment.

Through my Parliamentary Questions and meetings with the responsible Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, a clear commitment has been given from the European Commission that they will take enforcement action against countries who do not transpose the Race Directive into their national laws this year. MEPs working with NGOs will also "name and shame" countries who persistently refuse to tackle racism at this level.

Another key issue is the campaign to ensure that race and equality issues generally are incorporated in the new European Constitution being drafted now. All the all-party equality groups of MEPs including the anti-racist group of MEPs are fighting to ensure that anti-discrimination is in the main text of the constitution and that there is a commitment to tackling racism and xenophobia overall by the member states - particularly given the concerns over racism in the candidate countries joining the EU in 2004.

Immigration and asylum policy which continues to dominate the race agenda in the UK will be formed through common decision making in the EU from 2004 through qualified majority voting (QMV). This will mean that those hoping to influence the way these issues are played out at UK level will have to pay close attention to decisions made at EU level.

London House in Brussels, (the European office of the Mayor and Greater London Authority), is doing an excellent job in pushing for equalities to be raised up the European agenda. In particular they are working with MEPs and NGOs on key issues like EQUAL funding, migration and employment and most recently on the issue of service provision for ethnic minority elders across the EU.

Finally, the issue of the growth and mainstreaming of far-right parties in the EU and the way they are influencing government policy continues to be another dominant issue.

Claude Moraes MEP represents London in the European Parliament.

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