Events

Equality and non-discrimination are fundamental rights and core values in the EU, enshrined in its Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. "Equal opportunities" is also the first chapter of the European Pillar of Social Rights. However, the Council of the EU continues to block the 2008 Commission proposal for an Equal Treatment Directive, which covers discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Having requested a referral to produce an opinion on this strategy, the EESC is starting by organising a remote public hearing on Thursday 11 February 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 13:00 p.m. to evaluate how the LGBTIQ community continues to be discriminated against and to collect views on how to effectively tackle such discrimination – not only across all EU policies and funding programmes, but also at all other levels and in all domains. Only a cross-cutting approach will solve this problem.

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In an exploratory opinion requested by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council, the SOC Section of the EESC is organising a virtual/hybrid public hearing on 7 January to discuss the challenges of teleworking with a focus on organization of working time, work life balance and the right to disconnect. Due to Covid-19, working from home has become the norm for millions of workers. Early estimates suggest that close to 40% of those currently working in the EU began to telework fulltime due to the pandemic.