Brussels bubble has a diversity problem

Ethnic and religious minorities make up at least 7 percent of the European Union’s population. And yet, if you work in the Brussels bubble, you’ll know it’s exceedingly rare to meet an EU civil servant who isn’t white.

The European Commission urgently needs to take action. Failure to tackle this issue prevents fresh talent from participating in the EU’s decision-making and contributes to Brussels’ image as an exclusive club out of touch with its citizens.

In response to calls to address the lack of diversity in EU institutions, the Commission published a strategy last month to include more women, people with disabilities, older workers and LGBT people in its ranks.

Unfortunately, the strategy makes no mention of measures promoting a more racially, ethnically or religiously diverse staff — despite repeated calls from rights groups and MEPs.

The omission is particularly alarming in light of a series of racist, sexist and homophobic remarks made last year by Günther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for budget and human resources.

The Commission’s strategy reflects a long-standing colorblind approach to diversity.

Oettinger’s mandate to come up with a diversity strategy allowing the Commission “to reflect the diversity of our society in terms of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation” was an opportunity for him to make up for his poor track record.

Instead, his strategy’s failure to mention race, ethnicity or religion sends the message to current and future minority Commission employees that their concerns are not a priority of this administration.

To be sure, this is nothing new. The Commission’s strategy reflects a long-standing colorblind approach to diversity. While the EU institutions have embraced positive action when it comes to hiring women, it still rejects similar measures aimed at improving racial and ethnic diversity as “discrimination.”

This attitude ignores the tangible effects of racial discrimination and the steps needed to rectify it. On this front, the EU is falling behind a large number of national governments that recognize the need for affirmative action to push back against structural racial discrimination in their workforces.

The Commission urgently needs to develop strategies to ensure the institution is a fair and equal workplace for minorities. As we have detailed in an open letter to Oettinger and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, these measures must address the glaring lack of representation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities, particularly at senior levels, and make accommodations for the cultural and religious needs of Commission staff.

There is no way to analyze the EU’s performance on racial, ethnic and religious diversity.

The strategy should also pay particular attention to all forms of discrimination, for women, staff with disabilities, LGBT staff and older staff belonging to ethnic or religious minorities.

As part of this process, the Commission and other EU institutions should commit to collecting anonymous, self-identified data on the racial and ethnic makeup of their workforce. In the absence of data, there is no way to analyze the EU’s performance on racial, ethnic and religious diversity or for its hiring managers to adopt specific policies to address problem areas.

Most urgently, the Commission has to abandon its colorblind approach to diversity. If it fails to do so, the EU will appear increasingly impenetrable to talented potential employees from minority backgrounds and fail to truly represent European society in all of its diversity.

Amel Yacef is chair of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR).