On the basis of Art. 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, two European directives, the Racial Equality directive (2000/43/EC of 29/06/2000) and the Employment Equality directive (2000/78/EC of 27/11/2000), were adopted.

These directives created a framework for the development of specific and comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and policies across all EU Member States. In this sense, they define the principles that offer every individual in the EU a common, minimum level of legal protection against discrimination, complementing wide-ranging legislation that has been adopted to fight discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, disability, age and sexual orientation, particularly in the workplace over the past three decades.

There are precisely these European Directives, launched by the European Union in 2000, which served as a common background to set the analysis on discrimination matters within the framework of the EMILIE research project.

Visit the EMILIE Site in order to consult the national reports on discrimination in the labour market that have recenlty been delivered.