Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-198"
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"en.20000216.10.3-198"2
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".
The Charter of Fundamental Rights is one of the most promising aspects of any that we in the European Union are working on at institutional level. As you know, the charter stems from a decision of the Cologne European Council. It is a factor that we feel is crucial to the construction of what could be called an ethical pillar for the European Union and of what could be called the European Union’s need, in aiming to achieve a Union of values, to be able to increase its scope, not just internally, but also in order to give legitimacy to its own image externally, based on a common set of values. This is of course extremely important for the Community of Fifteen. Four or five months ago, we probably did not think this was so important for the Community of Fifteen. Today, we are perhaps already thinking along different lines, or at least some of us are. The enlarged Union is also very important, specifically with regard to future cultural policies.
The content of the charter is, as you know, currently under discussion. There have only been two meetings of the preparatory group for the Charter of Fundamental Rights; this group is now called the Convention for the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. There are various problems that must be addressed in this area. First of all, we must decide if it is a declaratory text or a binding text. Secondly, there is the content of the charter. This applies whether the document is binding or not. In other words, we must decide whether it is a collection of all the principles which the Member States advocate and have enshrined in their national constitutions, or whether it is a new corpus which could to a certain extent act as a common pattern for the European Union. Then there is a fundamental problem which your question in fact touched upon and which I think is of the utmost importance, yet it has still not been resolved. That issue is whether this charter only applies to citizens of the Union or whether it also applies to third-country nationals who are resident in the Union. This issue is also under discussion.
There is also an extremely important issue, that of the subordination of legal systems, and compatibility between the legal system of the Strasbourg Court and the legal system of the Luxembourg Court. This problem must be resolved when the Charter of Fundamental Rights is drawn up.
You also touched upon the issue of social rights, Mrs Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou. We will have to find some common ground on this matter. I would like to say, as a member of the Portuguese delegation, that we regard economic and social rights as a vital part of the European Union’s heritage, and understand that they must be part of any European Union charter and of any corpus of European Union values. I do not know whether everyone shares this view.
Concerning your last question, there is the issue of equality between men and women in the European Union. I am sure that this aspect will certainly be treated with the utmost care in this charter, all the more so because, during discussions on the Treaty of Amsterdam, we ourselves had strong views on this and the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam represented a qualitative leap as compared with Maastricht.
Lastly, on the subject of incorporating the charter into the Treaty on European Union, I am currently chairing the steering group of the preparatory group for the Intergovernmental Conference. The Portuguese Presidency is keen to ensure that, as soon as there is consensus on the charter among the people drafting it, it should be incorporated into the Treaty on European Union and that this issue should immediately be referred to the Intergovernmental Conference. As you know, the charter does not fall within the competence of the Council, but comes under a convention with an elected chairman and representatives of the European Parliament, of national parliaments and of the governments of the Member States, and of the European Commission. It should be referred to the Intergovernmental Conference as soon as it is ready, but we are not in control of this procedure. We are merely monitoring the progress of the charter by means of a vice-chairman of the convention, who is at the same time the representative of the European Union presidency in this group."@en1
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