The horizontal equal treatment directive: why it needs to be adopted

This article addresses the reasons why Proposal COM(2008)426, often referred to as the horizontal equal treatment directive, should be adopted as soon as possible in order to protect persons across the EU against discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation outside the employment sphere, a protection that is currently lacking. The arguments for this are, first, that adoption would deal with some of the reasons for the hierarchy between discrimination grounds that is said to exist in EU law. Second, and most important, adoption of the proposal would fulfil, to a large extent, the positive obligations of the EU and of the Member States under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The latter part of this article analyses the CRPD and compares this to Proposal COM(2008)426 in its present compromise form to establish this.

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