Anger as calls for greater equality are side-stepped

Date: 26/11/1998

By Rory Watson

OFFICIALS arguing for a radical overhaul of staffing policy in the EU institutions have criticised the working group set up to investigate possible changes for ignoring calls for wide-ranging measures to improve equality of opportunity between the sexes.

The group chaired by former European Commission Secretary-General David Williamson devoted less than four of the 70 pages of its report to ways of ending discrimination and ensuring greater equality among EU staff.

Its timid conclusions have angered those campaigning for a more ambitious overhaul. "It is ridiculous. They tell member states to do things and then won't implement them themselves. What sort of example is that to give?" said one supporter of change.

The Williamson group's report recommended that special attention be given to integrating the handicapped into the Commission's workforce, pointed to the need for the parental provisions to be updated and cautiously supported the idea of part-time work.

But it did not pick up any of the other ideas put together over the summer by senior equal opportunity representatives from five EU institutions under the chairmanship of European Court of Justice and Council of Ministers' employees Ariel Wagner and Carla Kessels.

In particular, it drew a virtual veil of silence over the suggestion that unmarried couples in stable relationships, including those of the same sex, should enjoy the same rights as if they were married.

As a result, EU officials in this situation are worse off than if they lived in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, where such legislation already exists, or in France, Belgium, Spain, Finland and Germany, where it is in the pipeline.

The only EU institution to treat married and unmarried couples equally was the European Monetary Institute, which ceased to exist in July.

Officials following the Williamson group's progress suggest the chairman was reluctant to become too involved in issues such as the treatment of same-sex couples which might spark controversy in some member states.

The working group also failed to take up the idea of mainstreaming equal opportunities in the staff statute to make it a factor in every aspect of officials' professional lives and did not support the creation of a committee to start monitoring how the principle is applied in practice.

Nor did it accept the proposal that the statute should specifically make the institution responsible for proving that discrimination had not taken place when confronted by allegations to the contrary from aggrieved employees - a principle which the Commission itself successfully enshrined in EU 'burden of proof' legislation last year.

The equal opportunities group has also expressed disappointment at the lack of enthusiasm in the Williamson committee for making life easier for working parents by considering flexi-time and ensuring sufficient nursery places.