In December 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for EU regulations that will strengthen national equality bodies throughout the Union through binding standards for these bodies. An equality body refers to a public body that works against discrimination and contributes to the implementation of EU legislation on non-discrimination. The Swedish equality body is the Discrimination Ombudsman.
The work carried out by equality bodies and the standards of such work currently differ between the various bodies in member states. In practice, this means that EU citizens receive different protection against discrimination in different EU countries. The purpose of the legislative proposal presented by the European Commission is to address this by harmonizing the differences between the equality bodies of member states.
The legislative proposals state, for example, that all equality bodies in each country should be independent, have the ability to pursue discrimination cases in court, and have sufficient resources.
The governments of EU member states, through the Council of the EU, approved the European Commission's legislative proposal on June 12, 2023.
Now that the governments of member states have taken a position on the European Commission's proposal, it is up to the European Parliament to present its views on the proposal. The final form of any new EU regulations remains to be seen.
The announcement of new EU regulations to strengthen national equality bodies throughout the Union represents a step towards stronger protection against discrimination in the EU through more consistent national equality bodies.
