Diversity: Parliament sets milestones towards a more inclusive administration

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

Parliament’s leadership adopts a roadmap for an inclusive approach to matters relating to disability, sexual orientation and anti-racism in its administration.

The European Parliament’s Bureau, comprising the President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors, has agreed to intensify efforts to achieve a more inclusive administration. To reach this target by 2024, the Bureau approved unanimously a two-year roadmap of ambitious milestones on disability, LGBTIQ+ matters and racial and ethnic diversity. The Bureau acknowledged the need to develop an intersectional approach to pave the way to sustainable changes towards a fully inclusive and respectful working place.

Chair of Parliament’s High-level group on Gender Equality and Diversity, Vice-President Dimitrios Papadimoulis said: “I am very pleased that we have been able to adopt unanimously a comprehensive roadmap that strives for equality, while maintaining a close and productive dialogue with diversity groups within the Parliament to ensure these measures are both legitimate and effective. This presents another opportunity to consolidate our position as a leading institution on diversity matters. It is also crucial to ensuring that Parliament’s administration is truly representative and accessible to all. Now, we have to work together to implement these measures in a timely and effective way.”

On disability, the focus will be on digital and physical accessibility, positive action schemes, financial support and awareness raising. Regarding LGBTIQ+ matters, boosting the thematic learning and development offered to staff and managers remains high on the agenda, as well as guaranteeing an appropriate support scheme for all types of families in a variety of scenarios and situations.

One of the objectives on anti-racism is to foster ethnic diversity among parliament’s staff. To achieve this, the experience of in-house colleagues from diverse ethnic backgrounds must be listened to and their grievances assessed. The plan is to actively reach out to less represented groups and support talent programmes to increase parliament’s diversity.

An anonymous and voluntary staff survey regarding the diversity of colleagues, their perceptions of Parliament’s inclusiveness as a workplace, and the effectiveness of its diversity actions will provide key data for further progress.

Parliament adopted these measures following the proposal by the High-Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity, chaired by Vice-President Papadimoulis. The group promotes equality, non-discrimination and diversity in Parliament so that it more accurately reflects European society as a whole. Last April, Parliament’s leadership adopted, also unanimously, a roadmap to achieve gender equality in political processes and its administration.