EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

On December 7th 2000, during the summit of EU leaders in Nice, three of the Union's institutions: the Commission, Council and Parliament proclaimed the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union. But what is the Charter? Why was it drawn up? Does Europe need it? And what difference will it really make?

The Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out in a single text for the first time in the EU's history, the whole range of civil, political, economic and social rights of European citizens and all persons resident in the EU. Its main focus is to make the overriding importance and relevance of these fundamental rights visible to the Union's citizens.

The proclamation in Nice was the culmination of an 18-month process that followed a decision to draw up the charter by heads of state and government at the Cologne European Council in June 1999. The Charter was drafted by a 62-member committee called a Convention, comprising representatives of heads of state and government, the European Commission, European and national parliaments. The general public also took part in the process. All Convention meetings were made public while NGOs, associations and special interest groups also took part in hearings.

The reason for the Charter came about mainly due to the changing nature of the EU itself. In recent years the EU has entered into a new, more resolutely political phase of integration, no longer based exclusively on economic considerations. The Charter can be seen as a major milestone for Europe as a political force, one which is evolving into an integrated area of freedom, security and justice, simply as a consequence of citizenship.

With the Union now developing a real common foreign and security policy in which respect for fundamental rights will play a key role, the adoption of a catalogue of rights will also make it possible to give a clear response to those who accuse the EU of employing one set of standards at external level and another internally.

Following the wholesale abuses of human rights that took place throughout Europe during the Second World War, it comes as little surprise that the protection of the assertion and protection of fundamental rights are one of the cornerstones upon which the European Union has been built.

Even in countries where a culture of human rights exists, these rights have to be defended day by day. This is true for 'traditional' human rights such as conditions in prisons or treatment at the hands of the police. But the charter goes much farther than this for technologically advanced countries such as those of the EU are also the most exposed to contemporary problems such as bioethics and the protection of personal data.

When drawn up it was made clear that the Charter needed to be the best possible combination of pragmatism and ambition. That it should add real value to the abundance of existing legal or political texts dealing with human rights in Europe.

Each of the Charter's 50 articles, which set out individuals' rights or freedoms, is taken from a "precursor" text -- another charter, convention, treaty or jurisprudence. Certain rights however are new, such as those relating to bioethics or the protection of personal data, in so far as they seek to respond to the challenges of new technologies. Specific conventions already exist on these subjects but what the Charter does is raise them to the status of fundamental rights.

The main reason for the Charter is to make these rights visible for citizens. While certain rights may already be visible, others, such as those stemming form the Court of Justice or Court of Human rights are much less so.

As well as making certain rights more explicit, the Charter is also totally innovative in way that it includes fundamental economic and social rights, alongside the more traditional civil and political rights. This is something, which has never been done before by any international or European documentation in this field.

The proclamation represents a solemn commitment by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to respect the Charter. It is obvious that the Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Commission will find it difficult to ignore in the future when they act in a legislative capacity, a text prepared at the behest of the European Council and by every national and European source of legitimacy.

The Charter will make EU citizens better armed to understand the extent of their rights, and therefore to defend themselves against violations. They will be able to refer to the charter when challenging any decision taken by the EU institutions and by Member States when implementing EU law. While this was possible before the Charter will make rights more familiar and explicit.

The Charter has its own specific objective: the protection of fundamental rights and should not be seen as a step towards an EU constitution.

The issue of the Charter's legal status - i.e. whether to make it legally binding by incorporating it into the Treaty on European Union - was raised by the Cologne European Council, which originally launched the Charter initiative. The Convention drew up the draft Charter with a view to its possible incorporation, and the European Parliament voted in favour of incorporation. The Nice European Council decided to consider the question of the Charter's legal status during the general debate on the future of the European Union, which was initiated on 1 January 2001.

Almost all the rights listed in the Charter are granted to everybody. However, things are different when it comes to the rights attached to citizenship of the Union, in the narrow sense of the term, in particular the right to vote in local and European elections.

Will Member States be required to amend their constitutions or to transpose the Charter into their national law?

No. The Charter does not replace national constitutions in its field of application. In any, event the Charter draws its inspiration from national constitutional traditions. There is therefore no fundamental contradiction between the charter and national constitutions.