EN Official Journal of the European Union C 229/57

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the European Parliament Resolution on Protection of Minorities and Anti-Discrimination Policies in an Enlarged Europe

(2006/C 229/09)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the decision of the European Parliament of 8 June 2005 to consult it on the subject, under the fourth paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 11 October 2005 to instruct its Commission for Constitutional Affairs and European Governance to draw up an opinion on this subject;

Having regard to the European Parliament's Resolution on protection of minorities and anti-discrimination policies in an enlarged Europe, T6-0228/2005;

Having regard to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed on 29 October 2004, and in particular to the Charter of Fundamental Rights which constitutes its Part II;

Having regard to Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin and establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation;

Having regard to its Opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Non-discrimination and equal opportunities for all — A framework strategy COM(2005) 224 final and on the Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All (2007) Towards a Just Society COM(2005) 225 final — 2005/0107 (COD) (CdR 226/2005 fin);

Having regard to the European Parliament's resolution on homophobia in Europe (RSP/2005/2666);

Having regard to its Opinion on the Green Paper on equality and non-discrimination in an enlarged European Union COM(2004) 379 final (CdR 241/2004 fin) (1);

Having regard to the recommendations of the EU network of independent experts on fundamental rights in the Thematic Comments No 3: The protection of Minorities in the European Union;

Having regard to the reports of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) on the situation of migrants, minorities and Roma specifically;

Having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 53/2006 rev. 1) adopted unanimously on 7 April 2006 by its Commission for Constitutional Affairs, European Governance and the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (rapporteurs: Mr Sovič, Mayor of Maribor and Mr Sinner, Minister of State, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery;

1) WHEREAS respect of fundamental rights, cultural and linguistic diversity is a profoundly European asset that has to be preserved throughout the regions of the European Union and constitutes a priority for the CoR;

2) WHEREAS all forms of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation must be fought with equal intensity by recalling that all residents contribute to the richness of Europe;

3) WHEREAS there is a difference between the protection of minorities and non-discrimination policies, equal treatment is a basic right, not a privilege, of all citizens;

4) WHEREAS it shall be a right of each individual to be different and tolerance and respect should be a general attitude in life and based on reciprocity, not a favour granted to some and not to others;

5) WHEREAS local authorities have an important role to play in upholding the fundamental right to freedom of assembly;

6) WHEREAS local authority officials have a special responsibility to set a good example and promote good practice;

7) WHEREAS local and regional authorities exercise considerable authority in matters pertaining to public records, education, police, health, housing and social assistance, without which fundamental rights could not be safeguarded;

8) WHEREAS the Committee of the Regions initiated, following the request of the European Parliament, a collection of the good practice at local and regional level, and thus wishes to substantially contribute to the better protection of minorities and the implementation of policies of non-discrimination;

adopted unanimously the following opinion at its 65th plenary session, held on 14 and 15 June 2006 (meeting of 15 June).

The Committee of the Regions

1. General remarks

1.1 welcomes the European Parliament's resolution and agrees with it that the state of implementation of non-discrimination policies by the Member States is unsatisfactory; recognises however that even if the level of implementation varies in particular Member States, some of them being more proactive than others, the EU, its Member States, as well as regional and local authorities have already developed a comprehensive list of good practice;

1.2 agrees with the EP's standpoint that various local, regional and national authorities of Member States could better coordinate measures to combat all forms of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, including anti-Semitism and attacks on minority groups, in particular Roma;

1.3 recognises that the local and regional authorities face a double challenge: on one hand in view of the responsibility of the regional and local administrations to combat discriminatory practice and to respect the principle of equality in access to individual, economic and social rights and, on the other hand, their active responsibility for promotion of fundamental rights, including the respect of minority rights;

1.4 underlines that the policies and rules applied by the local authorities have to be non-discriminatory, in law and in fact, and promote social, economic and political integration;

1.5 recognises that poverty, social exclusion and ghettoisation may lead to extremism, and therefore considers that efficient integration policies, including education and housing measures at a regional and local level, can indirectly help to prevent violent extremism and that special attention should be paid to young people living in urban ghettos;

1.6 indicates that there are positive actions aiming at ensuring a higher level of protection for members of minorities in several cities, municipalities and regions, which are based on the principle of a multicultural society and awareness of the EU's richness and diversity; thus proposes, taking into account evidence gathered by its members, an initial non-exhaustive catalogue of best practice at local and regional level, which is annexed to the present opinion.

2. Views and recommendations

2.1 Promoting diversity and intercultural dialogue — decentralised measures

2.1.1 considers that regional and local authorities should bring added value to the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia and attacks on minority groups, in particular Roma and third-country nationals, by encouraging diversity at grassroots and implementing the principle that diversity generates the wealth of society;

2.1.2 proposes that local and regional authorities should take appropriate, decentralised measures to increase the level of protection of the rights of minorities as well as to tackle racism and xenophobia in European cities and regions such as: — establishing regional and local non-discrimination offices charged of monitoring and recording complaints by people from groups suffering discrimination; — distributing basic information on the situation of minorities and non-discrimination policies to a wider public; — public presentations on good practice by official representatives from cities, municipalities and regions; — activation of the EuropeDirect contact points for the promotion of minorities' rights and non-discrimination measures; — organisation of events and festivities aimed at bringing together different cultures, traditions and linguistic groups living in the same area; — training programmes for local and regional administrations, teachers and journalists to promote non-discrimination and equal treatment for all citizens; — establishment of an easy and direct contact with the administrative services for the members of minorities, where they are likely to experience discrimination;

2.1.3 supports the Parliament's highlighting of the situation of the Roma as a particular concern; and therefore considers that the Roma community requires special protection, also taken into account its size and specificity;

2.1.4 believes the integration of the Roma to be a major challenge for regional and local authorities and calls on EU institutions, national governments and local and regional authorities to develop a common integrated and decentralised approach to facilitate political, social and economic integration and at the same time to promote the respect of diversity and tolerance. In this respect, proposes the following measures at local and regional level: — developing flexible education strategies in order to enhance as much as feasible the chances of integration; — exchange of best practice among these cities and regions where members of the Roma community live; — financing of cultural events aimed at publicising the Roma cultural heritage and tradition;

2.1.5 insists on the importance of a dialogue among religious and ethnic groups at regional and local level aimed at avoiding extremism and segregation, which could also lead to a common understanding of the equality and diversity of European societies;

2.1.6 supports the Parliament's highlighting of homophobia in Europe as a particular concern, particularly with regard ‘to a series of worrying events [which] has recently taken place in a number of Member States’.

2.2 Using and promoting standards and plans for equal treatment

2.2.1 considers that in order to achieve standards of equality in the provision of services, local and regional authorities need to consider setting policy targets and indicators that would help to measure progress in policy implementation and wishes to contribute to the drawing-up of such indicators;

2.2.2 recognises that standards and plans for equal treatment aimed at intercommunity equality strategies as well as race, gender, disability and sexual orientation equality will better recognise the importance of fair treatment and equal access to local government services and employment which have been developed as a tool to enable local and regional authorities to mainstream gender, race and disability into municipal policy and practice at all levels;

2.2.3 considers that local and regional authorities should deliver high quality local services accessible to all and responsive to the needs of the diverse neighbourhoods and communities of cities and provide a framework through which community cohesion and sustainability can flourish, by recurring to already identified best practice, such as: — legal aid in the form of advice relating to the status of individuals; — financing of community reception centres; — setting of integration fora with public discussions to increase contacts between citizens/residents and new arrivals; — introducing consultative bodies against discrimination and special advisors responsible for cases of race and gender discrimination.

2.3 Access to language learning, education and the job market

2.3.1 points out that education is a fundamental means of integrating minorities into the social and political life of the countries in which they live and of teaching tolerance and respect for diversity, and that local and regional authorities play a vital role in this area;

2.3.2 urges the Member States, in line with the European Parliament, to do their utmost to ensure the effective integration of the children of refugees, asylum-seekers and immigrants into their education systems. Public authorities should also help to ensure that every opportunity is given to the members of minorities to acquire the linguistic skills required to integrate successfully;

2.3.3 emphasises that acquiring sufficient language skills in the official language of the community where minorities live increases the possibility of effective integration and argues that the local and regional authorities should, within their remit, ensure — whenever appropriate — integration programmes with, inter alia, optional courses in the official languages, free of charge, even in kindergartens;

2.3.4 is concerned about the dispiriting effects of high youth unemployment and recommends the use of positive measures, in particular with regard to access to the job market for all disadvantaged groups;

2.3.5 proposes to activate its members' network to advocate: — traineeships in the municipalities for people belonging to minorities; — a system of scholarships for the best students from ethnic minorities or any disadvantaged groups; — special language programmes for migrants' children;

2.3.6 takes note of the existing good practice at regional and local level in the field of education and access to the job market such as: — admission of children of any nationality to public schools; — free access to language learning to anyone, guaranteed by the municipalities; — equal access to education also for disabled people, non-EU citizens and the older population in accordance with the principle of life-long learning; — educative projects aimed at combating discrimination; — courses offered in the language of the minority group; — virtual bureaux for integration policy; — actions to combat employment discrimination at the level of local employment service e.g. by sending employers anonymous details of job seekers, where applicants' surnames are left out.

2.4 Access to social housing and public services

2.4.1 calls on the Member States to set up a national database, or national good practice guidelines for authorities with housing responsibilities, for the systematic and rigorous collection of data on migrant and minority ethnic housing;

2.4.2 calls on the local and regional authorities to step up their efforts to ensure that non-discriminatory measures are applied, and in particular: — allocating municipal housing to families of any nationality; — avoiding segregation in housing and, if necessary resorting to positive discrimination; — establishing action plans at local and regional level to guarantee equal access to housing;

2.4.3 underlines the best practice of local and regional authorities aimed at ensuring an equal access to housing and public services to all citizens, such as: — providing technical and legal guarantees and insurance policy for all the groups of population; — allocating communal flats to migrants and third countries nationals; — setting up counselling organisations to improve housing access for refugees and migrants; — launching programmes of non-profit rental housing; — ensuring the participation of migrants in the public fora where housing sector policies are discussed; — securing an equal access and an equal quality of public services for each member of local communities.

2.5 Active access to political and civil life

2.5.1 strongly supports the participation of members of minority groups in political life at all levels of governments (local, regional, national and European), especially their greater involvement in local politics. To this end, the structures and decision-making procedures of local and regional authorities could be made more transparent and accessible so as to encourage the participation of minorities, and the unrestricted freedom of assembly and expression;

2.5.2 invites the local and regional authorities to encourage the representatives of the different ethnic groups of immigrants to play a more responsible role in the society of the Member States and their own regional and local authorities;

2.5.3 welcomes initiatives undertaken in a number of cities and regions which have introduced specific measures to promote the exercise of political rights such as the: — creation of advisory bodies; — presence of one or more representatives of minorities in city councils; — full participation of members of minorities in local and municipal elections; — creation of sites of communal activity between citizens/residents, migrants and any disadvantaged groups;

2.5.4 invites to implement concrete measures including the creation of conditions to allow representative institutions of the members of national minorities to actually take part in the development and implementation of policies and programmes concerning the education and occupational integration of minorities;

2.5.5 underlines the responsibility of local and regional medias in promoting tolerance and respect for diversity and their role in ensuring effective communication and stimulating a more active participation of members of minorities in the local political and civil life.

2.6 Promoting data collection at regional and local level

2.6.1 considers that the collection of data disaggregated by ethnicity is essential for the evaluation of the implementation of non-discrimination policies;

2.6.2 repeats its call to the Commission to publish a vademecum of non-discrimination good practice for local authorities as employers, providers and procurers of goods and services and as leaders in community cohesion and non-discrimination; such a vademecum to include the duties of local authorities with regard to upholding fundamental rights, including freedom of assembly, and the special responsibility of local authorities to set a good example in combating hate speech, or speech likely to produce the effect of legitimising, spreading or promoting racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia or other forms of discrimination or hatred based on intolerance. In this context offers the Commission its support in collecting data at regional and local level;

2.6.3 considers that better data collection, monitoring and evaluation is important to develop effective policies to promote equality and to tackle all forms of discrimination and reiterates that local and regional authorities must be involved, alongside the Commission, in developing comparable quantitative data to identify and highlight the extent of existing inequalities.

3. Final remarks

3.1 underlines the importance of the improvement of inter-institutional cooperation among EU institutions, the Council of Europe, the UN and the OSCE for the effective protection of minorities and stresses the role of NGOs and national, transnational and European associations of regional and local authorities in this process;

3.2 wishes the regional dimension to be taken into consideration more extensively in the reports of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights;

3.3 considers that the EU could supplement Member States' activities at local, regional and national levels by allocating suitable appropriations, and that the Member States could delegate part of their decision-making powers on the Structural Funds to regional and local authorities, in the spirit of the decentralisation policy conducted by the EU;

3.4 calls for appropriate financing of activities at local and regional level aimed at combating discrimination and ensuring that the rights of all citizens are protected.

Brussels, 15 June 2006 The President of the Committee of the Regions Michel DELEBARRE

(1) OJ C 71, 22.3.2005, p. 62.