New EU communication lines, 'via references to Christmas'

(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 29 - "Every person in the EU has the right to be treated equally" without reference to "gender, ethnicity, race, religion, disability and sexual orientation". Thus - Brussels writes in its new guidelines - 'Miss o Mrs' (ladies and ladies) must disappear, replaced by a more generic 'Ms'. And even the holidays should no longer be referred to religious connotations, such as Christmas, spelled out in a generic way: for example, 'holidays are stressful' and no longer 'Christmas is stressful', reads the document for a "correct communication" provided by the Commission entitled 'Union of Equality'.

    The guidelines contain several chapters in which the egalitarian treatment of the person, according to the EU executive, must be taken into consideration. In the commission's decalogue there are some recommendations to always use: "Do not use nouns or pronouns that are related to the gender of the subject; maintain a balance between genders in the organization of each panel; if you use audiovisual content or testimonials, make sure diversity is represented in all its appearance; do not address the audience with the words' ladies' or 'gentleman' but use a generic 'dear colleagues'; when speaking of transsexuals identify them according to their indication; do not use the word' the elderly 'but' older people (the population more adult, ed);talking about people with disabilities with priority reference to the person (for example, instead of 'Mario Rossi is disabled', 'Mario Rossi has a disability' must be used).

    In the guidelines there are also references to a "correct" communication regarding religions.

For example, in the text it is recommended, in any communicative content, not to use proper names typical of a specific religion.

Regarding the holidays, the commission asks to "avoid taking for granted that everyone is Christian".

With lots of examples: instead of saying or writing "Christmas is stressful" the European executive invites us to use the words: 'Holidays are stressful' ". (ANSA).