Equality is a core value of the European Union, enshrined in the Treaties (articles 8 and 10). President von der Leyen made “equality for all and equality in all of its senses” one of the major priorities of her Commission in her political guidelines. Under this Commission, the first ever Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, was appointed.
This Commission has put equality at the heart of its agenda, striving to build a Union of Equality where all people can live free from discrimination. It adopted five Union of Equality strategies in 2020 and 2021 to create the conditions for everyone to live, thrive and lead regardless of differences based on gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
In order to build a Union of Equality, the Commission adopted five key strategies:
- The Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025
- The EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025
- The EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion, and participation 2020-2030
- The LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025
- The Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030
All Union of Equality strategies include a combination of targeted measures (such as equality legislation or dedicated awareness-raising activities) and mainstreaming equality in other policy areas. They all underline the role of the Task Force on Equality in equality mainstreaming.
In addition to targeted measures and equality mainstreaming, the Union of Equality strategies aim to:
- collect reliable and comparable data to support evidence-based policy making
- engage with stakeholders at all levels (at both EU and local level)
- pay due attention to intersectionality
- ensure consistency between EU internal policies and external action in third countries
- invite the Member States to develop national strategies or action plans as well as relay EU equality objectives at national, regional and local levels
- mobilise EU funds to support measures that promote equality and fight discrimination
- combat stereotypes
- commit the Commission to leading by example
As part of the Union of Equality agenda, there have been several key developments as regards EU equality legislative initiatives:
- Proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (March 2022)
- European Care Package (September 2022) with two Recommendations on long term care and early childhood education and care/Barcelona targets 2030 (adopted by the Council in December 2022)
- Directive on gender balance on company boards (October 2022)
- Proposal for two directives on equality bodies (December 2022)
- Proposal for a regulation on harmonising the rules of private international law to facilitate the recognition in a Member State of the parenthood established in another Member State (December 2022)
- Directive on binding pay transparency measures (May 2023)
- EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) (June 2023)
- Proposal for a European Disability and Parking card (September 2023)
In connection with President von der Leyen’s State of the EU 2023 speech, the Commission published an overview of achievements, including on the Union of Equality, in the period September 2022 – September 2023.