Czech President Vetoes Anti-Discrimination Law

CeskeNoviny reports today that Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus has vetoed a broad anti-discrimination law designed to assure equal access to education, work, health care and social advantages. The law would ban discrimination on the basis of religion, as well as on the basis of numerous other grounds (age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, health handicap, sex, and world outlook). Even though such legislation is mandated by the European Union, Klaus in vetoing it said that it merely sums up protections already in place. He said that the form of anti-discrimination measures is up to individual EU members. Klaus called the legislation "ideological, not legal". The bill now goes back to the Chamber of Deputies.