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European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination The Hague, 29 October 2026 Angela Bib. Do any of you know her? You won't. She never existed. But she came very close to existing because Angela Bib was almost me. Before politics, I was a journalist. When I was starting out, someone gave me some friendly advice. Change your ...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination The Hague, 29 October 2026 Angela Bib. Do any of you know her? You won't. She never existed. But she came very close to existing because Angela Bib was almost me. Before politics, I was a journalist. When I was starting out, someone gave me some friendly advice. Change your name, they said. Call yourself Angela Bib. It will make things easier. And they patted me on the back. I was born in Belgium's coal country. At twelve, my father was a shepherd in Algeria. He could not read or write. He arrived in Belgium in 1947 and went down the mines. I kept my name. But I never forgot that “friendly advice”. That is how systems often work. Quietly, with a pat on the back. That is how doors stay open for some and stay shut for others. For every person told to change their name, countless others simply never get that apartment, that bank loan, or that job interview. Racism is not a relic of the past. It is a system that keeps producing the same outcomes, generation after generation, as if on autopilot. But there is no autopilot. Behind every closed door is a person making a choice. Earlier this year, we adopted Europe's first-ever Anti-Racism Strategy. Racism closes doors. This Strategy is about throwing them wide open. It moves us from tackling individual prejudice to dismantling the barriers built into our systems. People must feel this Strategy in their daily lives, so we are working with all of you: our Member States, civil society, equality bodies, international organisations, and people who live with racism. Fifteen EU countries now have their own action plan against racism. That is twice as many as in 2020. But we want all twenty-seven. Today I want to focus on four areas of this Strategy. First, we need to see the system clearly. You cannot fix what you cannot see. We are supporting EU Member States to develop a working definition of structural racism. It will help public authorities recognise barriers they may no longer notice. We are also preparing a Recommendation on equality data to see who is being left behind. Roma people live around eight years less than the average European. We only know that because someone counted and shared it. Our second priority is partnerships. No single institution can do this alone. Not even one with twenty- seven Member States behind it. Thank you to the Netherlands and to UNESCO for your partnership that is already delivering, on what we teach our children, and what we choose to remember. Racism is learned. So it can be unlearned, and school is the place to start. In parts of Europe, one Roma child in two still sits in a segregated classroom. Our joint project “Addressing Racism in and through Education” launched this year. It helps teachers spot stereotypes and respond to them, and it is built with young people and the communities who live with racism. We also support research and protect places of memory. Last week, I visited Lety u Písku, in Czechia. Under Nazi occupation, Roma and Sinti families were locked up there. More than 300 died, most of them children, and hundreds more were sent to Auschwitz. It was a painful reminder that racism can destroy whole peoples. My third area is enforcement. A right that cannot be enforced is not a right. Our latest report on the Racial Equality Directive tells us that only 5%-11% of people facing discrimination will report it. Many stay silent because they don't believe anything will change. It is a trust problem. And trust is rebuilt through enforcement. We are closing the gaps in how the Racial Equality Directive works on the ground and in people's access to justice. New EU rules make equality bodies stronger and better equipped to spot discrimination built into systems. Enforcement also has to reach the digital world. An algorithm that screens CVs or scores a loan application can reproduce racial bias at scale, and in silence. The AI Act and EU anti-discrimination law make sure these systems respect fundamental rights. Racism still kills today. Last Friday in Trappes, near Paris, a gunman drove through the streets shooting at people, killing one person and injuring five others. He told police he wanted to attack “black people and arabs”. We are also stepping up the fight against hate speech and hate crime. Rights must protect people online as firmly as offline. Under the Digital Services Act, we are working with platforms to tackle illegal hate speech. Our fourth priority is civil society. None of this works without you. You see the barriers that institutions miss because you work where racism actually happens. Our Anti-Racism Civil Society Forum connects what we decide in Brussels with what happens in your communities. Your independence and your voice matter, especially now that civic space is shrinking. Partnership needs money behind it. Since 2021, the EU has put over €140 million into fighting racism. In our next EU budget, the Commission proposed to more than double the funds for democracy, rule of law and equality, via the AgoraEU programme. Let me come back to Angela Bib. The person who invented her looked at the world as it was and told me how to get by in it. Change your name. Make yourself a little smaller. No one in Europe should have to shrink to succeed. We should do the opposite and help each other grow into giants. My father could not read or write. His daughter now stands before you with the name he gave her. That is what happens when a door opens. Somewhere in Europe, a young woman is writing her first CV. I want her to put her real name at the top, without a second thought. Let's change the system. Then the only friendly advice left to give will be this: keep your name. You will grow into a giant. SPEECH/26/2286 <@rel_link@>
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