The question of anti-racism must be raised at EU Summit in December

6.15.35pm GMT Wed 23rd Nov 2005

Members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats were quick to react to this morning's publication of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia Annual Report 2005. This year, the study provides data in five research areas: legislation, employment, housing, education and racist crimes. According to the report, a number of incidents which took place in 2004 had repercussions on inter-community relations across Europe, notably the Madrid train bombings (March 2004) and the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands (November 2004). More recently, riots in France demonstrated the challenges posed by the integration of immigrants in French society.

Sarah LUDFORD (LibDem, UK), ALDE spokeswoman on anti-racism, commented on the EU anti-discrimination directives: "The extent of non-implementation by Member States of the EU directives on racial equality is deeply worrying", she said. "This matter needs to be raised by the Presidents of the Parliament and the Commission at the EU Summit in December", she urged. The report also insists on the need of Member States to collect adequate data in order to evaluate problems and policies at European level. "I hope there can be progress in reaching a common accord on the recording of ethnic data in employment, housing, education and in other areas. Without that, it is difficult to see where discrimination might be taking place", she concluded.