The EU has slowly but surely developed a solid body of equality law that prohibits different facets of discrimination. While the Union had initially developed anti-discrimination norms that served only the commercial rationale of the common market, focusing on nationality (of a Member State) and gender as protected grounds, the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) supplied five additional prohibited grounds of discrimination to the EU legislative palette, in line with a much broader egalitarian rationale. In 2000, two EU Equality Directives followed, one focusing on race and ethnic origin, the other covering the remaining four grounds introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, namely religion, sexual orientation, disabilities and age.



Eighteen years after the adoption of the watershed Equality Directives, it seems timely to dedicate a book to their limits and prospects, to look at the progress made, and to revisit the rise of EU anti-discrimination law beyond gender. This volume sets out to capture the striking developments and shortcomings that have taken place in the interpretation of relevant EU secondary law. Firstly, the book unfolds an up-to-date systematic reappraisal of the five 'newer' grounds of discrimination, which have so far received mostly fragmented coverage. Secondly, and more generally, the volume captures how and to what extent the Equality Directives have enabled or, at times, prevented the Court of Justice of the European Union from developing even broader and more refined anti-discrimination jurisprudence. Thus, the book offers a glimpse into the past, present and – it is hoped – future of EU anti-discrimination law as, despite all the flaws in the Union's 'Garden of Earthly Delights', it offers one of the highest standards of protection in comparative anti-discrimination law.

Table Of Contents

Preface 

Koen Lenaerts, the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union

1. The Impact of the 2000 Equality Directives on EU Anti-Discrimination Law: Achievements and Pitfalls 

Uladzislau Belavusau & Kristin Henrard



Part I Theoretical and Procedural Aspects

2. Multiple Discrimination in EU Anti-Discrimination Law: Towards Redressing Complex Inequality? 

Raphaële Xenidis

3. EU Equality Law and Precarious Work

Mark Bell

4. The Effective Protection against Racial Discrimination and the Burden of Proof: Making up the Balance of the Court of Justice's Guidance 

Kristin Henrard

5. When Equality Directives are not Enough: Taking an Issue with the Missing Minority Rights Policy in the EU?

Dimitry Kochenov



Part II Race and Ethnicity

6. Eighteen Years of the EU Equality Directive: A Mitigated Balance

Mathias Möschel 

7. Romani Marginalisation after the Race Equality Directive 

Morag Goodwin



Part III Religion

8. Religious Discrimination in the Workplace: Achbita and Bougnaoui

Eugenia Relaño Pastor

9. Unveiling the Culture of Justification in the European Union: Religious Clothing and the Proportionality Review 

Anna Sledzinska-Simon



Part IV Sexual Orientation

10. The Impact of Framework Equality Directive on the Protection of LGB Persons and Same-Sex Couples from Discrimination under EU Law

Alina Trydonidou

11. EU Law as an (In)Direct Source of LGB Rights

Philip M. Ayoub



Part V Age

12. Justifying Age Discrimination in the EU

Rachel Horton

13. EU Age Discrimination Law: A Curse or a Blessing for EU Youth Policy?

Beryl Ter Haar



Part VI Disability

14. Breaking Down Barriers? The Judicial Interpretation of “Disability” and “Reasonable Accomodation” in EU Anti-Discrimination Law

Luísa Lourenço and Pekka Pohjankoski

15. The Influence of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on EU Anti-Discrimination Law

Lisa Waddington

16. Epilogue: The Limits of Transformative Change in European Equality Law 

Bruno De Witte