An important week for equality in London in Europe - Sarah's column in Lib Dem News

10.06.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 4th Jul 2008

This week is an important one for equality and nondiscrimination at home and throughout the EU.

MEPs, with Liberals in the lead, will be demanding EU action to stop the prejudiced and inflammatory treatment of Roma people, many of them Romanians, in Italy.

It is shameful that Franco Frattini, until just weeks ago the EU justice & human rights Commissioner, is now as Italian foreign minister Berlusconi's apologist for the disgraceful Nazi-echoing campaign of vilification and discrimination, including fingerprinting of Roma children, towards Europe's most abused minority. Where are the raised voices from the Commission and national capitals? Apart from MEPs, there is a deafening silence.

Next Saturday London hosts its annual gay Pride festival. My mum's 90th birthday prevents me attending this year, but I know it will once again be a relaxed and jolly affair, with some outrageous costumes and everyone having a great time.

Sadly and disgracefully, even still in some EU countries, let alone in the wider Europe, Pride marchers run the gauntlet of attempted bans, skinheads and bigoted police. Our ALDE group has deployed MEPs to attend various Prides in the last few years, as supporters and witnesses to intimidation. Progress is coming, but in places it is slow.

Despite the 2003 European law banning discrimination at work, surveys reveal that one in five British lesbian and gay people report bullying in the workplace. Since a similar proportion fell victim to hate crime, the ban on incitement to homophobic hatred that Liberal Democrats have recently helped enshrine in UK law comes none too soon. But we must lobby to make this a general rule across the EU.

In a landmark move for EU equality legislation, this week the European Commission is proposing a new directive to extend the scope of antidiscrimination law for older, disabled and LGBT people. This would remove the present workplace-only limitation and match the law regarding race and gender so for example, sellers of insurance, health providers or hoteliers cannot discriminate. Hopefully protection will extend to those with HIV/AIDS.

Elderly people in the UK consistently receive poorer services from the NHS and in care homes, while disabled people suffer second class treatment daily. It is unacceptable that in the modern day an individual's access to quality care or service may depend on their age or capacity. The new EU directive once law should end this scandal.