ECRI held its 97^th plenary meeting in Strasbourg, which took place from 18 to 20 March 2025.

On 19 March, ECRI held an exchange of views with Theodoros Rousopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on matters of common interest. On this occasion, Bertil Cottier, Chair of ECRI, thanked President Rousopoulos for the strong support of the Parliamentary Assembly to ECRI and its work.

During its meeting, ECRI took note with regret of the withdrawal, by the United States of America, of its observer status in ECRI in February 2025. This observer status had been requested by the United States in November 2021 and granted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in February 2022, following a favourable opinion of ECRI.

“We are saddened that the United States of America withdrew its observer status in ECRI earlier this year. The United States sought observer status in ECRI a few years ago to show its strong commitment against racism and intolerance, including racism against people of African descent and antisemitism, and to strengthen its ties with the Council of Europe”, said Bertil Cottier, Chair of ECRI. “On behalf of ECRI, I would like to thank Clarence Lusane, whose term of office as observer in respect of the United States ended as a result, for his valuable contribution to ECRI’s work”, he concluded.

As part of its sixth country monitoring cycle, ECRI examined its preliminary draft reports on Finland, Ireland, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia and Spain, and adopted its final reports on Croatia, Latvia, Portugal, Sweden and Türkiye.

ECRI also adopted its annual report on its activities for 2024.

ECRI also held discussions on the basis of the work done by its working group on relations with civil society and equality bodies.

In the course of its plenary meeting, ECRI also took note of the statements made by Claudia Olivia Morales Resa, Chairwoman of Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) and observer in respect of Mexico, Petra Bayr, observer appointed by the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Zeynep Yildiz, observer appointed by the PACE Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, Mélanie Lepoultier, observer appointed by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights, and Michaela Moua, observer appointed by the European Union (EU) and Coordinator of the EU Commission on combating racism.