Source: European Parliament
Priority question for written answer P-001330/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Krzysztof Śmiszek (S&D), Maria Walsh (PPE), Alice Kuhnke (Verts/ALE), Ilaria Salis (The Left), Lucia Yar (Renew), Birgit Sippel (S&D), Sirpa Pietikäinen (PPE), Matjaž Nemec (S&D), Magdalena Adamowicz (PPE), Marc Angel (S&D), Rudi Kennes (The Left), Rasmus Nordqvist (Verts/ALE), Merja Kyllönen (The Left), Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Verts/ALE), Kim Van Sparrentak (Verts/ALE), Jonas Sjöstedt (The Left), Carla Tavares (S&D), Katrin Langensiepen (Verts/ALE), Villy Søvndal (Verts/ALE), Christophe Clergeau (S&D), Dainius Žalimas (Renew), Thijs Reuten (S&D), Alessandro Zan (S&D), Robert Biedroń (S&D), Nicolae Ştefănuță (Verts/ALE), Lukas Sieper (NI), Catarina Martins (The Left), Brando Benifei (S&D), René Repasi (S&D), Sebastian Everding (The Left), Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), Thomas Bajada (S&D), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska (PPE), Nikos Pappas (The Left), Lena Schilling (Verts/ALE), Carolina Morace (The Left), Evin Incir (S&D), Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE)
The announcement that the Horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive is being withdrawn from the 2025 Commission work programme has raised serious concerns regarding transparency and institutional accountability.
In June 2024, the Belgian Council Presidency introduced a compromise proposal for a new Council directive on equal treatment, garnering broad support among Member States. The Polish Council Presidency has since prioritised negotiations on this directive.
Given these developments:
- 1.Does the Commission intend to propose alternative legal measures to comprehensively tackle discrimination in the EU?
- 2.How does the planned withdrawal align with paragraph 9 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, which requires the Commission to provide reasons for withdrawing a legislative proposal, along with subsequent steps and a precise timetable?
- 3.In their hearings, Commissioners Lahbib and McGrath committed to strive to achieve the necessary unanimity in the Council. Yet, while the lack of unanimity in the Council was never a reason to abandon the proposal in the past, Commissioner Lahbib stated, during a hearing in Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on 18 February 2025, that the reason for the planned withdrawal was the ‘lack of foreseeable agreement’. In the light of the above, what was the real reason for the withdrawal, and what has the Commission done recently to address the stated ‘lack of foreseeable agreement’?
Submitted: 1.4.2025