Spidla: Start Combating Discrimination Vigorously

EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities talked at the AGE General Assembly in Brussels

Brussels (EAC) The Permanent Representative of the European Anti-Discrimination Council – EAC in Germany, Dr. Klaus Michael Alenfelder reports from Brussels that EU Commissioner of Social Affairs Vladimir Spidla vigorously advocated a sustained fight for freedom from discrimination at this year’s AGE – The European Older People’s Platform’s General Assembly.

Alenfelder, who explained the EAC’s position and the current situation in Germany in a joint statement with EAC Director Stefan Prystawik (London) to representatives from all 27 EU member states, is convinced that significant steps ahead can be taken with the support of the EU Commission.
Alenfelder is an attorney for labor law in Bonn, Germany and Legal Expert for the National Focal Point of FRA in Vienna, Austria.
Alenfelder: “Talks at the conference with those involved, representatives of the commission and AGE Director Anne-Sophie Parent have shown how important and necessary the elimination -in particular of age discrimination in the workplace – actually is.”

EU Commissioner Spidla joined AGE Director Parent’s view in expressing that older people are no less productive in the workplace than younger employees. Claiming otherwise would amount to ‚utter and absurd prejudice’, Spidla said. He went on calling for a decisive fight against discrimination.

The demand on the EU level and in the member states was broadly supported – following the US example - to have only such employers benefit from public procurement and subsidies who are EAC certified.

Alenfelder acknowledged AGE’s leading work with the coordination between Older People’s Associations in the EU and the Commission. “It became clear that the European Union recognizes the tireless and detailed work over the years by AGE Director Anne-Sophie Parent, who is also a valued consultant to the Federal Government [in Germany]”, the Permanent Representative said.

We are an Non-Governmental Organization. Our aim is to eliminate unjust discrimination in Europe. We oppose any kind of discrimination and wish to establish harmonious and just living and work conditions for all European citizens and migrants.

In particular we oppose discrimination for reasons of (in alphabetical order):
• age
• beliefs
• disability
• gender
• race and ethnic origin
• religion
• sexual orientation
We are concerned citizens supporting professional and grassroots movements in their quest for the essential human right of living free from unjust discrimination. It is thus pre-eminent to create a legal environment tending to those needs – matching our motto “Per Iurem Ad Iustitiam” as Justice requires proper legal provisions.

We co-ordinate anti-discrimination efforts across Europe. We ensure regular professional and scientific analysis on current developments, a selection of which appears in the “EAC Review”. The EAC provides a forum and opportunity for the exchange of ideas for all people working in the EU on aspects of Anti-Discrimination.

The European Anti-Discrimination Council upholds and promotes the EU policies for anti-discrimination and supports the EU-wide campaign "For Diversity. Against Discrimination."

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This release was published on openPR.