The European Parliament is to vote in 1997 on whether to give equal rights to women, ethnic minorities and gays employed by the EU institutions. The measures would give all couples, including those of the same sex, rights similar to those of married couples.
The Amsterdam Treaty (Article 13) has, for the first time, provided a specific power for the European Union (EU) to combat discrimination, whether on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation.