Brussels to look afresh at 50:50 recruitment
12 August 2005
With Brussels due to review the continuation of 50:50 recruitment to the
PSNI before the end of the year, MEP Jim Allister QC has called for a
renewed and concerted campaign to highlight the inequity and discrimination
which it imposes on Protestant applicants.
In a statement Mr Allister said, "50:50 recruitment to the PSNI, with its inherent discrimination against Protestant applicants, is in conflict with the basic tenets of Council Directive 2000/78/EC, which lays down guarantees of equal treatment in
employment and occupation. In order to legitimise 50:50 recruitment the UK
had to secure the insertion of "particular provisions" into the Directive in
October 2000, which permitted a relevant derogation. (Chpt III Art 15(1) and
Recital 34 refer.) Under the Directive Member States are required to report to the Commission by 2 December 2005 on the measures they have taken to implement the Directive. The Commission shall then draw up a report on the steps taken by Member States to secure equal treatment in employment. In this exercise it has been confirmed to me in a written answer (E-1927/04), that the
Commission will review the "particular provisions" of Article 15.
"This pending review, I believe, should be used as a focus of a renewed
campaign to end the inequity of 50:50 recruitment. Accordingly, I urge all
who are opposed to the discrimination explicit in 50:50 recruitment to make
vigorous representations both to HMG in terms of its report to Brussels and
the Commission in regard to its own review and report. Certainly, as a MEP
I will be doing so and I will be happy to liase with all those interested in
ending this discrimination, with a view to presenting cogent and
co-ordinated representations.”
