Belgium rejects US pressure on corporate diversity policies
Finance minister Jan Jambon, Foreign minister Maxime Prévot and Equal Opportunities minister Rob Beenders have rejected US pressure on the diversity policies of Belgian and European companies. Belgium immediately contacted the US embassy to convey its concerns, they said on Sunday.
Several European companies have received a letter and a questionnaire from the US government, asking whether they have anti-discrimination programmes within the company. If so, this could affect cooperation with the US government, it said.
According to French newspaper Le Figaro, the document refers to an executive order signed by US president Donald Trump which puts an end to programmes promoting equal opportunities within the US federal government, and "also mandatorily applies to all suppliers and service providers to the American government".
"We have no lessons to learn from the boss of America"
"We have a culture of non-discrimination in Europe and we must continue it," Jambon said on Sunday evening on French-language TV channel RTL-TVi. "We have no lessons to learn from the boss of America."
In a press release, Prévot and Beenders expressed regret that the US, which has been a pioneer of shared values such as diversity in the past, was now taking a step backwards. Belgium will not do the same, they said.
The federal government is committed to equal opportunities for all, as enshrined in the coalition agreement, they say. The topic is especially personal to Beenders, who has an auditary impairment and relies on a hearing aid and a cochlear implant.
"Undermining inclusion programmes harms not only the companies themselves, but also broader cooperation between the EU and the United States. Diversity is not a threat but an essential asset for economic growth, competitiveness and social cohesion," they say.
Belgium will continue to work within the EU for a business environment in which openness and inclusion are central, Beenders and Prévot added. Belgium has also contacted the US embassy "to raise the issue and convey its concerns unequivocally".
France responded similarly. “American interference in the inclusion policies of French companies, as well as unjustified threats of tariffs, are unacceptable,” France’s trade ministry said on Saturday.
© PHOTO MANDEL NGAN / AFP
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