The EU executive’s leading anti-racism official, a Black European woman Michaela Moua, was excluded from a reshuffle, placing her in a “lower position” than her white counterparts, according to The Guardian.
The European Commission announced earlier this month that its coordinator for combating anti-Semitism and promoting Jewish life, as well as her counterpart for combating anti-Muslim hatred, would be moved to the general secretariat, which reported directly to President Ursula von der Leyen.
However, the coordinator of the anti-racism commission will remain in the standard department, in a lower and less powerful position.
Moua, a Finnish former NGO executive, became the commission’s first anti-racism coordinator in 2021. The position was formed in the wake of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement and the EU’s first anti-racism strategy. In 2023, the Commission announced that three coordinators would be promoted to envoys to strengthen their work.
Although no one has been appointed envoy, the move to the secretariat general for the two is seen as paving the way for the promotion, also giving them more political clout. Moua’s absence from the reshuffle raised concerns among MEPs.
This exclusion, affecting the only racialised coordinator, raises concerns about systemic inequities.
They asked the commission to explain how it would “ensure all forms of racism are treated with equal attention given that the coordinators are placed at different hierarchical levels?” The European Network Against Racism also said that the inequality sended “a dangerous message about the commission’s priorities,” as well as created “unacceptable hierarchies within anti-racism work” and undermined “efforts to combat racism as a system issue.”
Outrage over the reshuffle came after von der Leyen abolished the separate post of EU equality commissioner. Mélissa Camara, a French Green MEP, claimed the move would polarise the EU parliament.
We are witnessing a more polarised and increasingly racist European parliament.
