Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-191"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like first of all to pay tribute to Mrs Boumediene-Thiery and the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs for an excellent report that bears clear witness to Parliament’s continuing efforts to establish a genuine policy of fundamental rights within the European Union, which we want to build together. Once again, this document is based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, although the rapporteur has chosen a subject-based overview of the Charter, analysing the criminalisation of vulnerable social movements and groups.
In the context of the fight against terrorism, which is, unfortunately, a highly topical subject again, and one that affects us all deeply, we must ensure that fundamental rights and public freedoms are respected. I can assure you that I cherish this principle and I hope that after the tragic events of 11 March in Madrid we shall be able to overcome some of the difficulties encountered in the past and adopt legal rules for the protection of individuals, including the common procedural guarantees in the matter of criminal procedure that are essential for building mutual trust and applying the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions. The measures taken to protect democracy and the rule of law in Europe against all forms of crime and against terrorism must strike a clear balance between the protection of fundamental rights – especially the rights to security and freedom, which are inseparable – on the one hand and social protection measures on the other. Clearly, the European Union has reached a very important juncture so far as the protection of fundamental rights is concerned. By enlarging, laying down its constitutional rules and developing an area of freedom, security and justice, it is about to define its true identity. Your report serves a very important purpose, namely to monitor the observance of fundamental rights by the Member States, which is very important in itself, and also by the European institutions. The report will also help to promote fundamental rights, and that is essential for the future. All of your recommendations to the Commission will be looked at very closely to ensure that they are acted upon in the most appropriate way. I shall now address a few points in greater detail.
First of all, the Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights has just completed its report for the year 2003. The Commission has just received the final version of this report, which will be forwarded to you officially as quickly as possible. I would like to emphasise that in response to Parliament’s request made last year, the Network has this year sent us the 25 national reports on which the summary report on the whole Network is based. Like the Network’s first report, the 2003 report, which expresses the views only of the Network of Independent Experts and not those of the Commission, focuses not only on a number of concerns relating to respect for fundamental rights but also, it must be said, on positive aspects, in particular the good practices developed by some Member States that might be the inspiration for similar solutions in others. The Network of Experts is anxious to preserve the link between the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is their benchmark, and the more general trends in international human rights law, in particular changes to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Network’s report covers an enormous range of issues. The Network stresses the contribution that the EU can make, in exercising its powers in criminal matters, towards safeguarding fundamental rights in several respects, for example in the fight against racism and xenophobia, the fight against trafficking in human beings or the fight against impunity for serious crimes under international law. The Network makes valuable comments on the development of asylum policy in the Member States and in the EU’s instruments. In this connection, Mr Roche has just pointed out that the Justice and Home Affairs Council reached agreement yesterday on a vital directive bringing the definition of refugee into line with the 1951 Geneva Convention, approximating the systems of subsidiary protection in all the Union’s Member States and covering the crucial and delicate question of persecution by non-State agents. The Network’s report also expresses concerns about the slowness with which European law is adapting to changes in the laws of some Member States concerning the definition of the family.
I turn now to the question of the Human Rights Agency. As Mr Roche has just reminded us, the December European Council decided to extend the mandate of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia to make it a Human Rights Agency. The creation of a Human Rights Agency has also been called for by this House, in Mrs Swiebel’s report on basic rights in the European Union in 2001, for example. The Commission had already begun to consider whether it was appropriate to create an agency of that kind. The idea was also put forward in the Commission communication on Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, which we presented to Parliament last October. Around July, the Commission will be presenting a discussion paper so that the idea of setting up a Human Rights Agency can be the subject of a wide-ranging public debate. We believe the agency’s creation should be preceded by a wider debate on its aims and how it should operate. To allow the next Parliament to take part in the discussion, the dialogue with civil society will continue until October and will end with a Commission-organised public hearing, on the basis of which we intend submitting a draft regulation on the new agency in spring 2005.
I cannot commit myself on the substance of the regulation at present, but I can assure you that the agency’s creation will in no way compromise the study of racism and xenophobia; these will continue to be important pillars of the agency’s activities, and of its political visibility. It cannot be otherwise when fears of growing racism and xenophobia are again being felt in Europe, as evidenced by the Vienna Monitoring Centre’s work and, in particular its reports on anti-semitism, which will be presented to Parliament today. It is also clear that the agency’s creation must not be allowed to upset the existing institutional balance. Finally, we are not planning to extend the agency’s mandate beyond the territory of the European Union for the time being.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, European policy on fundamental rights is taking shape. The year 2000 saw the proclamation of the Charter and, following the European Parliament’s recommendation, in 2002 we set up the Network of Experts, which I mentioned earlier. The entry into force of the Treaty of Nice was an important staging post for the application of Article 6 and Article 7 of the Treaty. The new constitutional treaty will make the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding and will allow the Union to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights.
In its communication on Article 7, the Commission presented an outline analysis of the conditions for applying that article in the future, with the emphasis on prevention; this will involve, inter alia, cooperation between the institutions and with the Member Sates and dialogue with civil society. The future of European integration depends on the common values of fundamental rights, the rule of law and democratic institutions. All activities in the field of justice and internal affairs must be rooted in those common values.
Thought will have to be given to how the internal and external dimensions of human rights can be addressed coherently. I am firmly convinced that with the Constitution we are profoundly changing the Union’s legal and political environment. I hope that, together, the Commission and Parliament will be on the right road towards building a genuine fundamental rights policy within the European Union."@en1
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