European Union Law discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

European Union Law discussion - Essay Example Although the European Union has been concerned with discrimination issues since its inception, it was not until 1997, when the Treaty of Amsterdam3 amended the Treaty of Rome, that anti-discrimination was included as a basic founding principle of the Union. Than, another step was made in 2000 with the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union4 which introduced the notion of equality and non-discrimination as fundamental rights which should be respected by every State.. Since the project of Constitution5, the notions of gender equality and of the respect of the minorities have been introduced. Furthermore, to become a member of the Union, it is necessary to promote all of these values. On this first part, we will discuss one of the principal issues regarding discrimination in the European Union: Gender Equality, through the use of case examples and the description of the policy of the quotas. One of the most important examples of successful gender equality in the European Union today may be the long waited access to politics for women. Belgian Environment, Sustainable Development and Consumer affairs Minister Van den Bossche accessed her position in Parliament thanks to gender quota according Amanda Ripley in her special report about gender equality in Time Europe.6 Taking the example of Belgium, the percentage of women in the lower House of Representatives has risen from 23% in 1999 to 35% in 2003. Nevertheless, the problem does not exist within the politics of quotas but in the mentality of the people: "They insist that France's largest parties failed to meet the quota requirements because powerful men didn't want to relinquish their positions to women. "There is still a lot of machismo," says Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist Party (PS) member who is also deputy mayor of Paris and a city councilwoman."7 When we are dealing with gender equality quotas and the policy of the European Union regarding this subject, we are only facing a European Union Directive aiming to put an end to gender discrimination (COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation8) but there is an absolute lack of promotion dedicated to change the ideas that the population may have regarding women access to higher positions in the public or the private sector. Naturally, the legislation is necessary to make it happen. In "Spain plans to ban sex discrimination at work" from Leslie Crawford9, the consequences of Spain proposed law which would oblige companies with more than 250 workers to introduce "equality plans" aimed at eliminating discrimination against women in pay, promotion and benefits had an echo on the European Union which stated that "a new European institute for gender network of national gender equality bodies to monito r and fight discrimination on equality would be up and running in January next year, while it also promised to fund a grounds of sex in member states." It is disturbing to observe when facing such an important issue like as woman discrimination