Nearly one in two black people in the EU experience racism and discrimination in their daily lives. This is evident from a report published on Wednesday Agency For Fundamental Rights (FRA) of the EU over the past year. In some countries this share is even higher: in Germany and France, for example, it accounts for more than two-thirds. Black people face, among other things, intimidation and violence and exclusion from the labor and housing markets. The agency interviewed more than 16,000 people in 15 EU member states.
FRA director Michael O’Flaherty calls it “shocking” that the situation has deteriorated last year compared to five years earlier, when the agency published a survey and more than a third of respondents still reported experiencing racism on a daily basis . The current measures are insufficient to stop the “systemic racism that is so deeply ingrained in our societies” and against which many people are protesting, O’Flaherty concludes.
In 2020, the EU also implemented a five-year action plan against discrimination. According to the FRA, this is “a positive step”, which depends on the implementation of measures in the Member States. The FRA itself makes a number of recommendations to combat racism. One is taking steps to prevent and eradicate institutional discrimination in policing. The body also calls on EU member states to develop anti-racism policies in the areas of education, work, housing and healthcare.
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