Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-15-Speech-2-203"
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"en.20000215.10.2-203"2
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"Like the honourable Member, the Commission welcomes the decision taken by the Heads of State and Government to start the process of drawing up a European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the conclusions of the Cologne European Council the Heads of State and Government even established the broad outlines of the Charter’s content. According to these conclusions, the Charter must contain three categories of rights. The first category is rights of freedom and equality and procedural rights, as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The second is the rights reserved for citizens of the European Union. The third is economic and social rights, as contained in the European Social Charter and the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, insofar as they do not merely establish objectives for action by the Union.
The Commission considers that the Convention responsible for drawing up the Charter of Fundamental Rights must respect the mandate given by the Cologne European Council. Having said that, this does not mean that the Convention should be limited to a codifying role of simply compiling the existing rights from various sources. As I have said before in this House, the Commission is convinced that the Convention must be able, if necessary, to adapt and develop these rights in view of current circumstances, particularly technological and social changes. However, given the mandate and the final objective of the text to be submitted to the Heads of State and Government, this power must be exercised with caution and on a case-by-case basis.
The rights conferred by this Charter will have at least two types of beneficiary. Some rights will apply to anyone present in the EU territory while others will benefit only citizens of the European Union. It may also be envisaged that some economic and social rights could be guaranteed only for citizens of the European Union and third-country nationals meeting certain conditions. It is not possible at this initial stage of the process of drawing up the Charter to prejudge its content in more detail. However, I can confirm that the principle of equal opportunity and equal treatment between men and women will certainly be included among the rights guaranteed by the future European Charter of Fundamental Rights. This is because this principle already figures among the rights guaranteed by the EC Treaty and by secondary legislation and because it undoubtedly constitutes a common constitutional tradition in the Member States.
As I have also said before to this House, the Commission is favourable to inserting the Charter in the EU Treaty. However, we are fully aware that the final decision on this matter will fall to the Heads of State and Government. The difficult part, which will fall to the Convention, is therefore to draw up an ambitious and politically significant text which can be integrated as such into the Treaties. In its opinion on the holding of an Intergovernmental Conference to amend the Treaties, the Commission noted that the European Council must decide during the year 2000 on the inclusion of certain items on the IGC agenda, in particular the European Charter of Fundamental Rights."@en1
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