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Ernst and Young has published its main conclusions of its evaluation of the Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination (Synthesis report April 2006). The evaluation covers the period 2001 - half 2005. Overall conclusion:

The Programme is contributing to raising the general level of protection against discrimination in Europe, whilst benefiting from advantages.

Strand 1 of the Action programme has the objective ‘to improve the understanding of issues associated with discrimination, assess the effectiveness of policies and practices and improve knowledge of discrimination’. The European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-discrimination field, which we manage, is one of the actions to implement this strand. The evaluation mentions that the products of this network:

enable a rigorous monitoring of national situations and form a basic support for the examination carried out internally by the Commission on the status of the transposition and application of directives. These tools contribute to identifying Member States against which procedures must be initiated for non-compliance with the transposition of directives. The group is characterised by a high degree of expertise and good coordination in its work, proof of the effectiveness and quality of its various contributions.

Last week I signed the contract with the European Commission for the third year of this network. We will produce anothere two issues of the European Anti-discrimination Law Review, a separate publication comparing the development of legislation in the member states, an international seminar, country and thematic reports (on Segragation of Roma children in Schools, Religion and Belief, Positive Action and Non-discrimination and Minorities).