One of the topics discussed at the General Affairs Council in December 2013 was the fight against hate crime. On the basis of the Council’s conclusions, the Working Party on Hate Crime was set up by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). The Working Party is composed of representatives from the EU Member States, the European Commission and the OSCE. It is set up for a period of two years. The first meeting of the Working Party took place during the Italian Presidency in cooperation with FRA on 4 November 2014. The Working Party has set the following goals:

• encouraging victims to report hate crime incidents and improving hate crime identification;
• enhancing multi-agency partnerships;
• training for public sector service providers.