 European Commissioners 2021 | |
| Date | 2017–present |
|---|---|
| Location | European Union, Brussels |
| Cause | Racial discrimination and lack of ethnic diversity in the European Union institutions |
The Brussels So White (or #BrusselsSoWhite) movement is an informal movement denouncing the lack of racial diversity in the European Union institutions in Brussels.
The hashtag BrusselsSoWhite first appeared in an article by Politico in 2017 written by Ryan Heath. [1] The article featured a collage of the portraits of all of the 751 Members of the European Parliament accompanied by the hashtag BrusselsSoWhite. [2]
In May 2022, the podcast EU Scream launched a new series dedicated to the issue of BrusselsSoWhite. The first episode of the series dealt with the question of white feminism in an interview with author Rafia Zakaria. [3]
The use of the hashtag on Twitter has emphases the lack of racial diversity in the European Parliament. Ethnic minorities account for more than 10% of the population of the EU, however less than 5% of the lawmakers elected to the European Parliament are people of color, a proportion further reduced to 4% after Brexit. [4] The lack of racial diversity among employees of the institutions of the European Union in Brussels, referred to under the hashtag BrusselsSoWhite, is even more striking because Brussels is a relatively racial diverse city. [5]
The European Commission refused in the past to collect information on the ethnic diversity of its employees. [6]
The hashtag BrusselsSoWhite has been invoked to denounce manifestations of racism towards people of colour working in European affairs in Brussels. [7] Employees of color at the European institutions are frequently assumed to be cleaning personnel, [8] catering personnel [6] or intruders. [9]
Shada Islam argued that because of the lack of diversity as denounced by #BrusselsSoWhite, whiteness could be perceived as being central to the European identity. In this manner the lack of racial diversity could fuel the arguments of the far-right movements in Europe. [10]
In September 2020, the European Commission put forward an Anti-Racism Action Plan to tackle the structural racism in the EU, including measures to address the lack of diversity of the European decision makers in Brussels, as denounced by #BrusselsSoWhite. [11] The plan and any accompanying announcement by the European institutions have yet to be translated in progress in terms of diversity in the European institutions. [12] Commentators expressed regrets about the absence of response or action from Brussels-based think-tanks [12] and environmental NGOs [13] in reaction to the stated objective of the European Commission to combat racism.
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world, with an electorate of 375 million eligible voters in 2009.
The European Commission (EC) is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), together with the European Council. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.
The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the president of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).
The College of Europe is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading historical European figures and founding fathers of the European Union, including Salvador de Madariaga, Winston Churchill, Paul-Henri Spaak and Alcide De Gasperi as one of the results of the 1948 Congress of Europe in The Hague to promote "a spirit of solidarity and mutual understanding between all the nations of Western Europe and to provide elite training to individuals who will uphold these values" and "to train an elite of young executives for Europe". It has the status of Institution of Public Interest, operating according to Belgian law. The second campus in Natolin (Warsaw), Poland opened in 1992. The College of Europe is historically linked to the establishment of the European Union and its predecessors, and to the creation of the European Movement International, of which the college is a supporting member. Federica Mogherini, former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was appointed as the Rector to start in September 2020; former President of the European Council Herman, Count Van Rompuy is chairman of the board.
Andreas Schwab is a German politician and member of the European Parliament for Germany. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. Since 2009, he has been Of Counsel with CMS Hasche Sigle.
Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde was a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the first election in 1979 with the People's Movement against the EU. He was re-elected 6 times consecutively. In 1992 he co-founded the June Movement which he chaired until his retirement in May 2008.
The city of Strasbourg in France is the official seat of the European Parliament. The institution is legally bound by the decision of Edinburgh European Council of 11 and 12 December 1992 and Article 341 of the TFEU to meet there twelve times a year for a session, each of which usually takes about four days. The majority of work, however, takes place in Brussels, and some other work is undertaken in Luxembourg City. Also all votes of the European Parliament must take place in Strasbourg. "Additional" sessions and committees take place in Brussels. Although de facto a majority of the Parliament's work is now geared to its Brussels site, it is legally bound to keep Strasbourg as its official home; a situation which garners much criticism from the European Parliament itself, as well as many interest groups, administrative staff, and environmentalist groups amongst others.
Politico Europe is the European edition of the German-owned news organization Politico reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in London, Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, and Frankfurt.
EUobserver is a European online newspaper, launched in 2000 by the Brussels-based organisation EUobserver.com ASBL.
The European Women's Lobby (EWL) describes itself as the largest umbrella organization of women's associations in the European Union, founded in 1990, working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men, and representing a total of more than 2000 organizations. EWL membership extends to organizations in 26 EU member states, three EU candidate countries, Iceland, and the UK, as well as to European-wide bodies.
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is an EU-wide network of anti-racist NGOs. ENAR aims to end structural racism and discrimination and advocates for equality and solidarity for all in Europe. It connects local and national anti-racist NGOs throughout Europe and acts as an interface between its member organisations, and the European institutions. It voices the concerns of ethnic and religious minorities in European and national policy debates.
Esther M. R. de Lange is a Dutch politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2007. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), part of the European People's Party (EPP), she was elected as delegation leader in the European Parliament at a party conference on 2 November 2013 in Leeuwarden, a position she assumed the following year. In July 2014 she was elected as Vice President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and in June 2018 as Vice President of the EPP Party.
Helena Dalli is a Maltese politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri is a Finnish politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2014.
Euractiv is a pan-European news website specialised in EU policies, founded in 1999 by the French media publisher Christophe Leclercq. Its headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Brussels, with further offices in Paris and Berlin. Its content is produced by about 50 journalists staffed in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.
The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium to long term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to its policies and institutions. It is intended that the Conference should involve citizens, including a significant role for young people, civil society, and European institutions as equal partners and last for two years. It will be jointly organised by the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission. On 19 April 2021, the multilingual digital platform of the Conference futureu.europa.eu was launched.
José Manuel Fernandes is a Portuguese politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since the 2009 elections. Earlier in his career, he was President of Municipal Chamber of Vila Verde in northern Portugal.
EU Scream is a podcast based in Brussels. EU Scream was set up in 2018 by Tom Brookes from the European Climate Foundation and by James Kanter from The New York Times. James Kanter had left the New York Times before the launch of EU Scream.
EU Anti-racism Action Plan is an action plan by the European Union which will be carried out from 2020 through 2025. The plan was announced on 17 June 2020 by president of EU, Ursula von der Leyen, shortly after the shooting of George Floyd and massive protests of 2020 across the United States and worldwide. Every year a European Anti-Racism Summit will be held.
Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on Asia and on EU affairs. She is a Belgian citizen.