EP committee agrees for a future EU roadmap against homophobia

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola welcomed the strong vote in the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, on a future EU roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The report calls on the European Commission to make proposals to ensure non-discrimination for LGBTI people in a number of fields and calls for action on hate crimes to be better tackled across the EU.

Metsola is the EPP spokesperson on the dossier and piloted the important negotiations on behalf of the group throughout the last months. The vote in Committee passed with only two votes against.

Commenting on the report, Metsola said this was the result of months of negotiations with different political groups and follows important discussions with NGOs and stakeholders from different viewpoints in Malta and the EU.

“We have achieved a text that strikes the right balance between safeguarding the rights of all our citizens and respecting the competence of Member States to legislate in this area themselves. The problems LGBTI people are facing are serious: discrimination, violence and harassment are persistent phenomena that must be addressed, in Malta and throughout the European Union.”

Metsola said the vote this morning sent a strong message to societies and showed a broad consensus across the political spectrum to tackle these issues.

"Importantly, the proposals respect the principle of subsidiarity, whereby the European Union and Member States must stick to their respective competences. This is a first step and the report must still be passed by the European Parliament's plenary before it is final," Metsola concluded.