In 1997 the Member States of the European Union unanimously decided to add a new article to the Amsterdam Treaty: Article 13. This allowed the Council of the European Union to adopt measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. After the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty on 1 May 1999, the Commission proposed, and the Council adopted unanimously measures to implement Article 13: a Directive covering discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC, the Racial Equality Directive) and a Directive covering discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation in employment and occupation and in vocational training (Directive 2000/78/EC, the Employment Equality Directive).
With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 the EU remains committed to combat discrimination and to promote equality (Article 19, ex-Article 13 TEC). Mainstreaming is introduced in all policies and activities of the EU with regard to discrimination on grounds of sex, racial and ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights of is now formally recognised as legally binding.
