"After Brexit, In Terms Of Fighting Racism And Discrimination, The EU Is Going To Be Worse Off"

An interesting and different reflection on the consequences of Brexit for the EU.

In this piece for Politico, Ginger Hervey points at the political representation of minorities in the UK, in comparison with that of the EU as a whole.

After World War II, Germany, France, and the UK started to integrate its minority populations by using different tactics.

Germany was the strictest one, disallowing dual citizenship and requiring at least eight years of permanent residence before a foreigner was eligible to have a German passport. France opted for an assimilation model and the UK for multiculturalism, in other words, coexistence.

Neither model is perfect, so in the 1970s, the UK passed an act to prevent race discrimination. Today, the UK "has some of the most far-reaching anti-discrimination legislation in the EU" and encourages minorities to be part of the society through different programs. It's still not easy, but there is will.

In contrast to the UK, Hervey argues, the EU has a "color blind" approach. No anti-discrimination laws and no data on racial or ethnic minorities are making these groups more vulnerable. According to Politico, barely 1 percent of top EU employees are non-white. Of the 17 MEPs of an ethnic minority background, eight are from the UK

Lack of diversity is an enormous handicap and, after Brexit, it is going to get worse.