ABSTRACT
In European policymaking guaranteeing fundamental rights and promoting social inclusion have increasingly become communicating vases. This shift has led to an interesting merger of more traditional legal measures with a variety of socio-political measures that aim at promoting a fuller participation for everyone. It has also generated a greater interest at the EU level in protecting the rights of minorities and creating sufficient conditions for pluralism in society. This chapter analyzes a variety of FRA reports that reflect this development, and that have also contributed to it. A potential challenge here is that many policy instruments that aim at promoting social inclusion are within the competency of national and local governments, rather than of the EU. Another challenge is that in Europe social inclusion is increasingly defined in cultural terms rather than in structural ones. If this trend persists, it will become more difficult for the EU, and also for FRA, to fulfil their mandates in the field of social inclusion on the basis of formal equality.
