EUROPEAN Parliament (EP) officials have warned Slovakia and the other acceding EU states that if they do not approve anti-discrimination legislation by the end of the year, they may face sanctions from the EU.
Slovak daily SME wrote that the warning was issued by Anna Karaman, head of the equality committee with the EP.
The daily also wrote that, according to Thomas Schwarz from the European racism and xenophobia monitoring centre, it was not necessary to worry about the sanctions because the required legislation has still not passed in many present EU member states.
The Slovak cabinet agreed to decide by January 20 whether to approve a single anti-discrimination law or whether the legislators will amend all of the already existing laws to put them in line with the required non-discriminatory status.
While Deputy PM for EU Integration Pál Csáky pushes for the passage of a single law, the conservative Christian Democrats prefer the latter option, which would require amendments to 18 laws.
15. Dec 2003 at 0:00 | From press reports
