During the plenary session in the European Parliament in Brussels (17-19 June 2020), MEPs debate on the anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd. Opening statements by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC and by Nikolina BRJNAC, Croatian presidency. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

fight against racism and xenophobia (T)

SASSOLI, David Maria (S&D, IT, S&D, IT)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

BRNJAC, Nikolina (HR)

The Anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd: Opening statements by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC and by Nikolina BRJNAC, Croatian presidency

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, And now we move on to the debates. The first debate is on the anti racism protests following the death of George Floyd. I would recall to members that for all the debates we won't be having the catch the eye procedure. And I'd like to pass the floor thanking her for being here to Minister Brnjac. You have the floor on behalf of the Council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Thank you. President honourable members, thank you for inviting the presidency to share its views on the crucial topic of racism.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The brutal killing of George Freud was shocking and it has provoked a tide of emotions and protest, not only in the United States, but around the world.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, I would like to start by using this forum to express on behalf of Croatian presidency and of the council. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of the George Floyd. Let me say loud and clear that we stand in solidarity with victims of racial discrimination across the world

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Black lives do matter and systematic racism and discrimination have no place in our society. The events that triggered the recent protest raised first and foremost the issue of police treatment of African-American people and more broadly, their place in society.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, And because of each country's history and social and political context, this situation cannot be transported to Europe one to one equality, human dignity, respect for human rights. Together, tolerance, gender equality and the prohibition of discrimination. Our founding values of the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Among the tools we have to fight racism. The main one is them the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which protects citizens against any discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic origin and religion or belief

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The Racial Equality Directive, as the first new generation equal treatment instrument extending legal protection against discrimination beyond the grounds of gender is the key instrument at EU level. It did not only paved the way for extending protection to new grounds and fields.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, It changed the European human rights infrastructure forever. By requiring all member states to designate national equality bodies to promote equal treatment. The presidency strongly committed to fighting racism.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to announce the marking of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of this crucial legislative instrument organised by the Croatian presidency and in cooperation with the European Network of Equality Bodies Commission and the Council on the 29 of June, the exact date of directive adoption by the Council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The EU has so far developed a robust legal framework, including specific legislation on combating intolerance and hatred such as 2008 Framework Decision on Combating race in say some and xenophobia.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, In June 2016, the council invited member states to ensure the effective transposition and implementation of the framework decision and other relevant hate crime laws at national level.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, In addition, it ask all member states to develop effective methods to report and ensure proper recording of hate crimes in conclusions adopted in October 2017.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The council also welcomed the measures coordinated by the commission's High-Level Group on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, All these counter measures need to be accompanied by anti-racist education and youth work and more precisely, the need to develop democratic resilience, tolerance and conflict resolution skills in learning process.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, To sum up, we have done tools, become legislation, knowledge, education, counter-narratives, but also commendation of any form of racial motivated violence, hate speech and discrimination. At the same time, however, we in Europe will be vigilant in the face of a worrying increase in the number of manifestations of hate speech and racism affecting minorities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The fundamental rights agency reported. Being black in the EU, released into Member 2018, revealed the unacceptable challenges black people still face in our countries. The inclusion of black people is hampered by several obstacles.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Discrimination against them during their job search, mismatch between individuals, educational level and their current jobs, and access to housing. We are therefore compelled to take such matters extremely seriously.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, It is our obligation to lead. An uncompromising fight can trace racism in our union. Honourable members. The European Union is deeply committed to fighting all forms of discrimination within its borders as well as in the world at large.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency ,The March 2019 Council adopted EU human rights guidelines on non-discrimination in external action. This provides guidance to enhance the effectiveness of the EU human rights policy in combating discrimination on any grants, including race, and to increase the visibility of awareness of the EU values and action in combating discrimination in its external action.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, Abuse of power has to be denounced and combated everywhere. Societies which pride themselves of representing the rule of law, democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights should set an example in this respect.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, All societies must remain vigilant against the excessive use of force and ensure that incidents such as the killing of Mr. Floyd are addressed swiftly, effectively and enforced. Death of the rule of law and the human rights.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, We trust in the ability of the American people to come together to heal as a nation and to address these important issues. Racism not just a problem in the United States. As I said, and as the protests in many European countries and across the world have shown.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Nikolina BRNJAC, Croatian Presidency, The responsibility of combating racism rests with all of us politicians, teachers, civil servants, students, parents, policemen, citizens, but all of us. Thank you very much for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, EP President, Thank you, Minister. Now, I like to pass the floor to President Von der Leyen. You have the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Mr President, honourable members. I do not know what it is to be black. I do not know what it is to be black or a member of any minority ethnic religious or sexual in the places I've lived.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, I have never experienced being treated differently merely for my appearance. So I dont know either what it means to be treated suspiciously day after day in the street or when I go shopping or when I go looking for a job or looking for a new flat or a house.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, That just as our colleague has just told us this story. Most of us who are sitting here in the room, well, we just dont know what it is that you have experienced. But we do have an opportunity. We have a chance.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, A lot of people are telling us they are crying out, lied to us, that we've been putting up with racism for far too long and it has to finish. Honourable members, those people who go out into our streets to demonstrate in our countries on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We hear them raising their voices. They want to be heard. And the time has come for us to do more than just listen and condemn racism. We have to take this opportunity to talk about racism openly and frankly.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And this is why I would like to thank you for having placed this point on the agenda for this part-session and for having placed it at the top of the agenda.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, As a society, we need to confront reality. We relentlessly need to fight racism and discrimination. Visible discrimination, of course, but also more subtle racism and discrimination.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Our unconscious biases, all sorts of racism and discrimination in the justice system and law enforcement in our labour market and the housing market in education and health care, in politics and migration.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We should join forces at all levels European,National, regional, local, public and private business and civil society. And each of us individually as citizen to build a Europe that is more equal and more humane, more fair.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And let me be very clear. In our Union, there is no place for racism or any kind of discrimination. This is for sure.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable members. Together, we need to answer difficult questions. Why do racism and discrimination endure in our societies?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Why are there political parties supporting xenophobia and racism that win elections? Why are members of ethnic and religious minorities underrepresented in political, social and academic institutions and overrepresented in poverty, illness and law enforcement statistics?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, What can we do in the fields of education, employment, health care, housing and more to build an open, fairer and more conscious society?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, What can we do so that our Institutions better represent the diversity of our European societies? This is not the work of a sectoral policy of a single person or ever single commissioner.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, This is why I am here as President of the European Commission. I want to get to the bottom of these questions. Next week we will have a structured debate on racism in college.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And let us look around here in this very hemicycle. The diversity of our society is not represented and I will be the first to admit things are not better in the College of Commissioners or among the European Commission staff.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And this is why I say we need to talk about racism and we need to act. It is always possible to change direction if there is a will to do so.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Let me take one small example of a small step in the right direction. That I witnessed when I was defence minister in my home country at the time in the German armed forces. A recruiting system had been in place for decade that always favoured the same.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We had some excellent candidates that would bring valuable assets to our armed forces, sometimes rare essence like speaking Arabic or Farsi. But these somehow those assets were not valued, not at all.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, ] And in a mission abroad. Such skills could save comrades lives, but at the time the attitude was all. But the system doesn't allow for this, and we've never done this before.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, But then analysis and reflection started and finally let the armed German armed forces to change the recruiting system. And it was to the better for the German army. What it was for the better for society.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, [15:47:16] It now has become a fairer system for those soldiers so we can change if there is the political will behind it. There is a way to do it.

Honourable members, we need to talk about racism with an open mind. The good news is we do not start from scratch in the European Union, discrimination is prohibited at the highest possible legal level.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, I Mean, our treaty, our charter, fundamental rights both on grounds of race and ethnic origin. We also have European laws against racism, ethnic discrimination and hate speech, our racial equality directive, our framework decision on combating forms of expression of racism, xenophobia, phobia, to name just a few.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We have cooperation tools involving experts from all member states, a High-Level group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, and a European network of equality bodies. Here again, to name just a few.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And we have European funds, but we need to try harder.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, I'm glad to live in a society that condemns racism, but we should not stop there. If we encounter it, we must sound the alarm and act immediately. And we must be aware that vigilance and awareness begin on a very small scale with each and every one of us.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Awareness includes examining ourselves. Awareness includes speaking up in cases of disagreement. Nation awareness includes questioning privileges. We may take for granted which are anything but honourable members.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The motto of our European Union is united in diversity. Our task is to live up to these words and to fulfil their meaning. And this is why I'm looking forward to listening to you for a better Europe. United in diversity, Unis dans la diversit&eacute;, In Vielfalt geeint.