'Discrimination is prohibited in the EU, but remains a fact': EU anti-racism coordinator

Michaela Moua is the EU's first ever anti-racism coordinator. She was appointed to the role in 2020 and explained that her job is to ensure the successful implementation of the bloc's EU Anti-racism Action Plan.

In our exclusive interview, Moua highlighted the importance of using strong data "to make sure that policy is build on evidence and is as effective as possible", not leaving anyone behind. Strong data reveals "patterns that might be hidden at times" and what she described as "structural inequality".

Some EU member states like France are opposed to the idea of gathering ethnicity-based statistics. Asked about the EU's approach, the anti-racism coordinator insisted on the need to "harmonise the collection of equality data across the EU to ensure that we have reliable, comparable and regular data to evaluate the state of equality in the Union".

Moua also pointed out the importance of a diverse workforce, so that those in "decision making positions…have a variety of world views and a variety of lived experiences" without which, she believes, policy and legislation cannot reach its "full potential". She added that the European Commission must lead by example in this area.

Produced by Georgina Robertson, Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero and Sophie Samaille.

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