100 NGOs tell European Commission: “Dump controversial ‘Equality’-Directive, respect civic freedoms!”

As the pressuring of some lobby groups for a speedy adoption of the “Anti-Discrimination Directive” increases, so does the resistance against it. 100 NGOs have now jointly sent an open letter to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, asking him to dump the controversial proposal.

In that letter, they recall that the new Commission had pledged to apply a “principle of discontinuity”, i.e. to further pursue only those legislative projects of the old commission for which it saw a real necessity, and to get rid of drafts that have been blocking the Council’s working groups for too long without any realistic chances of going forward.

That is precisely the case of the “Anti-Discrimination Directive”. The proposal was presented in July 2008, but since then it has become clear that the consensus among Member States would be very difficult to reach. The proposed Directive, albeit originally planned as a measure to foster the social inclusion of handicapped persons, has been hijacked by the European LGBT-lobby, which has turned it into its absolute political priority. Although the measure is drafted in seemingly neutral terms, experts warn that its predominant use will be to harass and discriminate suspected opponents of the LGBT-lobby. Examples where this has happened include Catholic adoption agencies in England, who have preferred to close down rather than to hand over adoptive children to same-sex “parents”.

The letter co-signed by 100 NGOs does not mention this, but instead brings forward arguments of a more general nature. The letter is open to further signatures. Interested NGOs should write to: skuby@europeandignitywatch.org

It is not frequent for the Commission to receive letters that are jointly signed by 100 different NGOs. If anyone ever thought that civil society was keenly awaiting this Directive to be adopted, it is now time for a reality check.

Download the letter (pdf)

(based on a post at Agenda Europe, a new blog specialzing on human rights and human dignity in the EU)

View online at: https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/100-ngos-tell-european-commission-dump-controversial-equality-directive-respect-civic-freedoms/

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