Introduction: how does race ‘count’ in fighting discrimination in Europe?

As opposed to the American and British reality, most European countries have adopted a position towards ethno-racial discrimination which could be summarized as attempting to fight ‘racism without races’. This piece outlines the consequences of such a position from the normative, legal and political sciences points of view against the backdrop of an increasingly multi-ethnic continental Europe. Using the US as a comparator, the special issue summarizes a range of specific problems that race and ethnicity raise in the European context, such as categorization and discrimination against the Roma. In particular, we analyse whether and how race and ethnicity ‘count’ in legislation, jurisprudence and policies from the supranational to the local, and in the work of agencies entrusted with implementing anti-discrimination provisions.