Unjust and unaddressed: how EU politics has a whiteness problem

The Burning Case

In Brussels, politics still mean white.
The European Parliament currently only has 3% MEPs of colour while there has never been a Commissioner of colour. If you look into the thousands of people who work for the EU, you won’t find many more people of colour.

The issue goes beyond the institutions. Browse the websites of the hundreds of NGOs, lobbies and agencies gravitating around them and you’ll see they’re overwhelmingly white. As if the many minorities that make up Europe are simply forbidden from entering the sacred grounds of the EU bubble in any capacity.
This is problematic for many reasons. Not only does it mean racialised communities do not have access to these organisations, the lack of representativity has an impact on the policies adopted here in Brussels. When it comes to the green sector for instance, environmental NGOs play a key role in influencing policies, especially at a time where the climate and environmental crisis are some of the top priorities of the EU. Yet, we know that a lack of diversity in decision-making leads to policies that easily ignore the needs of marginalised communities.
Racial and ethnic minorities and BIPOC communities carry the heaviest burden of the climate and ecological crisis and should not only be at the centre of the climate action work but also leading it. Yet, in Brussels, these spaces are occupied by white people.
To better understand the roots of this issue, highlighted in the past by many activists through the #BrusselsSoWhite movement, we've talked to Alice Bah Kuhnke, Green MEP from Sweden (03:35), Sarah Chander, racial justice activist working for Edri (23:45) and Yasmine Ouirhane a peace and human rights activist and former Young European of the year (49:35).
With them we discussed about what the situation is like in the European Parliament and why politics is still dominated by white men in their 50s, how colonialism affects everything we do today and how the lack of diversity and inclusion in green NGOs means policies are automatically less ambitious than they should be. Finally we dive into the lack of opportunities for people of colour to enter the policy world and how these barriers can be addressed.
This might be our most important episode so far! Stay tuned as we have something coming up where you can get involved and ask the green movement to do better on these issues!