The Council of Ministers established the European Monitoring Centre on racism and xenophobia (EUMC) in Vienna in June 1997 as part of a coordinated action to develop a policy to combat racism and xenophobia. This included the declaration of 1997 as the European Year against Racism.
The centre’s main tasks were to study the extent of racism and xenophobia, to analyse the causes of such behaviour, and to disseminate examples of good practice in combating it. A cooperation agreement between the Monitoring Centre and the Council of Europe was concluded on 21 December 1998. The Centre was formally opened on 6 April 2000, as provided for in a Council Regulation due to the absence of its explicit legal basis in the Treaties until 1999.
On 12 and 13 December 2003, the representatives of the Member States meeting in Brussels within the European Council decided to extend the remit of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, in order to convert it into the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
See also: discrimination; European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Eurofound (2008), European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, European Industrial Relations Dictionary, Dublin
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/european-industrial-relations-dictionary/european-monitoring-centre-racism-and-xenophobia