| Summary: | This thesis compares the implementation of European Council Directive 2000/43 prohibiting discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin in Britain and Germany. In order to shed light on the factors that shape anti-discrimination policy in Europe, it tests the theory that anti-discrimination law and policy making in Europe takes place as a cyclical process of ‘cross-fertilisation’. This policy process is characterised by the interaction between the European and the national level and the influence each level exerts on the other proving inspiration or incentives for the continuous development of anti-discrimination and equality law. In proving this thesis, the study begins with an examination of the coverage and the concepts of the Directive as well as its interaction with existing national approaches providing protection from racial discrimination. Questions are asked about the ability of the Directive to reach its goal of aiding the understanding of racism throughout Europe, of creating common tools to combat it and of instigating action at the European level that aid developments at national level. The main part of the project is devoted to a comparison of the implementation of the Race Directive in the UK and Germany. Since the Directive only constitutes a framework it provides scope for differences in the legal systems to influence the implementation process. The study compares in both countries their original position prior to the drafting of the Directive and assesses the legal and wider implementation of the Directive by analysing the national implementing measures and shifts in national anti-discrimination policy as result of EU equality law in the area of racial discrimination. The study shows that national narratives of race and ethnicity in Germany and the UK shape their discrimination legislation, including proactive approaches to the integration of ethnic minorities. The European anti-race discrimination framework is argued to contain mechanisms through which national implementation outcomes can re-influence European law and policy making, completing the cross-fertilisation cycle.
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