Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Report from the Commission on the activities of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia"
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Committee of the Regions, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, activity report, cooperation policy, public awareness campaign

C 107/24

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Official Journal of the European Communities

3.5.2002

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Report from the Commission on the activities
of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia’

(2002/C 107/09)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the activities of the European Monitoring
Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (COM(2000) 625 final);

having regard to the decision of the European Commission on 6 October 2000 to consult the CoR on
this subject in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community;

having regard to the decision taken by its President on 7 February 2001 to instruct Commission 5 —
Social Policy, Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism — to draw up the relevant
opinion;

having regard to its Opinion on the Communication from the Commission on certain Community
measures to combat discrimination (COM(1999) 564 final), proposal for a Council Directive establishing
a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation [COM(1999) 565 final —
1999/0225 (CNS)], proposal for a Council Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment
between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin [COM(1999) 566 final — 1999/0253 (CNS)] and
the proposal
for a Council Decision establishing a Community Action Programme to combat
discrimination 2001-2006 [COM(1999) 567 final — 1999/0251 (CNS)] (CdR 513/99 fin) (1);

having regard to its Opinion on the European Action Plan against Racism (COM(1998) 183 final) (CdR
369/98 fin) (2);

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 67/2001 rev.) adopted by Commission 5 on 16 July 2001
(rapporteur: Mr Moore (UK/ELDR, member of Sheffield City Council),

Whereas

(a)

(b)

the overall picture of ethnic minority employment patterns in the EU shows ethnic minorities having
lower economic activity rates, facing dramatically higher rates of unemployment, and segregation
within the lowest paid jobs in the economy;

as leading public sector employers and as administrators of civil society at the level of residents and
citizens, regional and local authorities are important in effecting, measuring and participating in
anti-racism projects and in the development of good practice;

(c)

even national and EU strategies must gain the support of local and regional leaders, to maximise
support and legitimacy in the context of the whole Member State and wider European society;

(d) preparing for enlargement is relevant not just from the standpoint of acquiring a clear overview of
the current reality in candidate countries, but also to be prepared for the implications of enlargement
with respect to possible increases in fears about migration, unemployment, etc.;

(e)

full and unequivocal support for the EU Monitoring Centre on Racism & Xenophobia (EUMC) will
further put into practice agreed principles to prioritise the fight against racism and xenophobia at
both the national and international level;

(1) OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 198, 14.7.1999, p. 48.

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(f)

it is recognised that the components of research can include the descriptive, consequential and
implementational elements;

(g) monitoring by the EUMC through collection, collation, analysis and dissemination of appropriate
data will provide the EU with a better overview of the location and occurrence of racism and
xenophobia, better formulation of strategies and methods to improve the comparability, objectivity,
consistency and reliability of data at Community level, and increased co-operation with the national
university research centres, NGOs and specialist advocacy groups/centres;

(h)

the RAXEN information network can enable the EUMC to share good practice across Europe;

(i)

human resources as an asset will be key in expanding the work of the EUMC in directions identified
by the Management Board as a focus on priorities,

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 41st plenary session of 14 and 15 November (meeting
of 14 November).

The Committee of the Regions

(ii)

cascading this via greater involvement in input and advice
in terms of strategy and direction;

1.
welcomes the establishment and role of the EUMC since
it considers that it is important to engage a broader coalition
of people in the fight against racism, encourage changes in the
way our societies and institutions are structured, bring about a
change in attitudes, habits, and values and recognise the
enlargement of the European Union as a critical issue;

considers that the EUMC’s objective role in increasing
2.
awareness in its area of operations is vital to progress in the
EU, and deserves the fullest support of the Commission, the
Council, the European Parliament and the Committee of the
Regions;

3.
recommends that the EUMC include regional and local
authorities within the scope of its activities such that infor-
mation is both disseminated to, and collected from, regional
and local authorities. This could be done by:

(i)

contacts with National Focal Points being made specific
to incorporate this;

(ii)

representation of the Committee of the Regions on the
Management Board;

(iii) an annual report of the EUMC to be presented to the
Committee of
the Regions to promote an ongoing
dialogue with regional and local authorities on activities,
knowledge and information sharing, participation in
research and data collection;

(iii) building on the Round Tables conducted thus far, by
ensuring continuity, access for relevant national experts,
and inclusion of informed NGO input in every Member
State;

(iv) developing the distributive functional competencies of
the Board such as better representation from scientific/re-
search, financial/budgetary, etc., experts;

(v)

strengthening communication and collaboration with
national governments and the EU institutions;

(vi) engaging more collaboratively in terms of depth and
breadth, with various international bodies such as ECRI
and with NGO networks, to complement and supplement
work and maximise synergies of agenda/action to increase
impact;

recommends that the EUMC commence the process
5.
of being adequately prepared to meet the challenges and
opportunities presented by candidate countries in the context
of EU enlargement, and furthermore, should continue its
legitimate and important work for an inclusive society and
collaborate further with the EU institutions, for example in the
following:

4.
recommends that the Management Board of the EUMC
continue to build on work done thus far, by working towards:

— monitoring of Copenhagen Criteria,

including anti-

racism;

(i)

promoting a clearer organisational identity and focus on
priorities for the EUMC;

— readiness of candidate countries to co-operate with the

Centre;

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6.
recommends that the membership of the Management
Board be extended to include representatives from the Com-
mittee of the Regions;

11.
reiterates the proposals adopted by the Committee of
the Regions in its Opinion on 11 March 1999 on the European
they be
Action Plan Against Racism, and requests that
implemented as agreed. These are:

7.
calls on the Member States, the European Commission,
the European Parliament, and the Council fully, unequivocally
and publicly to support the important work of the EUMC;

recommends that

the EUMC be fully supported to
8.
expand its capacity for original research to include the
consequential (implications for organisations, institutions, civil
society, NGOs, governments in the EU with respect to health,
housing, education, etc.) and the implementational (applied
learning to action planning for the future and input into the
design of best practice) element. This will also help to further
engage NGOs and activists at the local level, in the work of the
EUMC;

9.
recommends that the full operationalisation of RAXEN
be given a high priority, as the monitoring remit of the EUMC
is a very salient one — it is recognised that systematic
collection of data and information is crucial to address the
following issues with respect to racism and xenophobia:

— persistent under-reporting or non-reporting of incidents

due to a number of reasons;

— identifying the development of discriminatory trends and
practices and the effectiveness of measures to combat
them;

10.
recommends that the EUMC website builds on the good
work done thus far, and is further developed with respect to
the following:

(i)

clear corporate identity for the website;

(ii)

increased user-friendliness in form and layout;

(iii)

increased hyperlinks to document archives;

(iv)

increasing outreach to promote greater awareness of the
website among target customers in order to maximise
access;

(i)

(ii)

establishment of an inter-institutional contact group to
co-ordinate and promote activities at a European level in
conjunction with the EUMC;

capacity building for the EUMC via RAXEN and equally a
new cooperation between the Community institutions
and the Committee of the Regions;

(iii) greater resources to be allocated to European anti-racist

activities and organisations or networks;

considers that the EUMC’s work with monitoring and
12.
strengthening the Charter of European political parties for a
non-racist society (which was presented at the Utrecht Confer-
ence in February 1998) should be encouraged and supported;

13.
recommends that the current initiatives as supported
by the EUMC via Round Tables, work with the media, and
conferences, be extended to cover the activities of political
parties at local and regional authority level;

14.
urges Member States to collaborate with the EUMC in
building a common approach to data and definitions to enable
meaningful comparisons, collation and analysis;

recommends that the current external evaluation be
15.
expedited so that an interim evaluation report can be made
available to the Executive Board of the EUMC, and within an
appropriate timespan that enables the EUMC to initiate needed
change in meeting the needs of enlargement and other
challenges. Given that the Commission acknowledges that
three years is not long enough to be able to carry out a
comprehensive evaluation of the Centre’s activities, the CoR
further recommends that an in-depth evaluation be planned
for 2004, to enable a fairer and more comprehensive analysis
of the Centre’s activities;

recommends that staff continue to be provided with
16.
relevant training and development in communication/liaison
skills, Commission procedures and media relations. Sound
managerial input and advice will also help to foster realistic
expectations to both internal and external stakeholders;

(v)

consider ways to use the website to harness user feedback
from target customer groups of the EUMC with respect
to information, products and services;

17.
supports the recommendation in the Commission’s
report for the establishment of an internal Advisory Committee
on Procurements and Contracts, which has to be confirmed by
the Management Board;

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18.
recommends that recognised experts in the field of anti-
racism and managing diversity be independently-selected for

bilateral exchanges of information, that will serve as additional
source of reliable and objective data for the work of the Centre.

Brussels, 14 November 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Second Report on Economic and Social
Cohesion’

(2002/C 107/10)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Commission’s second report on economic and social cohesion (COM(2001) 24 final);

having regard to the Commission’s decision of 2 February 2001 to consult the Committee of the Regions
for an opinion on this subject, in accordance with Article 265 (1) of the Treaty establishing the European
Community;

having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 13 June 2000 to assign the preparation of an
opinion to Commission 1 — Regional Policy, Structural Funds, Economic and Social Cohesion and Cross-
border and Inter-Regional Cooperation;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 1 on 4 October 2001 (CdR 74/2001 rev. 2,
rapporteurs: Mr Eduardo Zaplana Herna´ndez-Soro (President of the Autonomous Region of Valencia,
E/PPE) and Mr Jan Tindemans (Member of the Limburg Provincial Executive, NL/PSE),

adopted the following opinion at its 41st plenary session on 14 and 15 November 2001 (meeting of
14 November).

The Committee of the Regions

1.
wants to express its appreciation of the Commission’s
second report on Economic and Social Cohesion. Like the first
report, the second one is a comprehensive document.
It
provides extensive information in particular regarding the
policy pursued by the EU, but it is relatively less informative
regarding the relevant policy of
the Member States and
contains hardly any information at all regarding the efforts
of regional and local authorities. Moreover, it outlines the
consequences for cohesion between Member States within the
enlarged Union;

2.
notes that the Commission’s report demonstrates again
that during the period under review cohesion between the
Member States has clearly improved, but noticeably less so
between regions, and that in some Member States the differ-
ences between regions have even increased;

3.
notes that the forthcoming enlargement will directly
aggravate territorial imbalances within the Union, thus justify-
ing the need to pursue an objective of territorial cohesion as
suggested by the European Commission;