Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-05-Speech-4-072"
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"en.20001005.5.4-072"2
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"The proposal for a directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation before us today is a response to a demand long expressed by the European Parliament, and our group in particular.
It is actually one of three parts of a package of measures on combating discrimination based on the new Article 13, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, and includes a Community action programme.
These texts should, then, fill a glaring gap in the construction of Europe: recognition of the real needs of people excluded or marginalised in our societies because of disability, age, or membership of a minority. The texts therefore represent some of the first steps towards the people’s Europe that we have wanted for so long. So, I enthusiastically support this proposal for a directive and the very positive amendments proposed by our rapporteur to improve its effectiveness.
In so doing, I wish to stress the importance of the amendments to improve the protection of people with disabilities by clarifying the terms ‘reasonable accommodation’ of the workplace and ‘undue hardship’ for the employer, and those toughening the ban on discrimination against older people who freely choose to go on working – 63% of Europeans aged 55-64 do not work – and those strengthening the vital autonomy of management and the unions as well as the crucial role of social dialogue in actually implementing equal treatment in businesses.
In parallel, the amendment extending the exception to the principle of non-discrimination to the wider ‘social’ activities of religious organisations, where the discrimination is solely based on religious conviction and on no other grounds, is a reinforcement of the specific nature and original contribution of these structures as compared with public or private services.
On the other hand, the amendments providing for penalties against companies infringing the principle of equal treatment by excluding them from public contracts seem to me both poorly adapted to the purpose and subject to divergent interpretation. In addition, they open the door to distortions in competition between businesses in different European Union countries. That is why I wish to express reservations on that point, while voting in favour of the text as a whole."@en1
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