Source: European Parliament
As the Commission already pointed out in its answer to Written Question P -000962/2025 , in preparing the first work programme of the mandate, the Commission thoroughly assessed all proposals currently pending with the co-legislators.
In its assessment, the Commission took into account whether proposals were actively being considered and agreement could be reached or, on the contrary, blocked for a very long time and/or without any real perspective of progress in the foreseeable future.
As a result of this assessment, the Commission put forward a list of 37 proposals it intends to withdraw. This includes the proposal for a Council Directive on equal treatment[1] presented 17 years ago in 2008.
The Commission has consistently supported the Council Presidencies and the Member States to help them in making progress towards the adoption of the Council Directive. While a majority of the Member States have indicated their support for the proposal, unanimity is required and does not seem likely to be reached.
In line with the interinstitutional agreement on better law making[2], the Commission provided the reasons proposing the intended withdrawals in the Annex IV of the 2025 Commission work programme, together with a time indication[3].
The Commission will take due account of the positions of the European Parliament and of the Council on the intended withdrawals before taking a decision.
Building a Union of Equality remains a key priority for the Commission, as demonstrated by the recent adoption of the Roadmap for Women’s Rights[4] and the preparation of new strategies on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer equality, anti-racism and gender equality.
- [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52008PC0426.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/agree_interinstit/2016/512/oj/eng.
- [3] https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/7617998c-86e6-4a74-b33c-249e8a7938cd_en?filename=COM_2025_45_1_annexes_EN.pdf.
- [4] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_681.