Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-28-Speech-3-048"
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"en.20071128.14.3-048"2
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"Madam President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Madam Vice-President, it is also one of the fundamental rights of citizens not to be overlooked. This Charter of Fundamental Rights does indeed provide protection for citizens akin to that afforded by the classic constitutional state. However, the European Union is not a state. It is not a state, but it does have legislative competence, and it is only this legislative competence of the European Union’s institutions which falls under the protection and control of the Charter of Fundamental Rights on a binding basis. Associated with this is the fact that European legislation and the actions of the European institutions are bound by values and value-based decisions, along with the first sentence of this Charter, which is also the most noble: human dignity is inviolable.
I derive this principle from a Christian image of humanity. However, it can be derived from other sources as well. Our binding commitment to this principle, and the binding commitment of our three institutions to adhere to this principle, represents a massive step forward. This applies to the European Union as a whole. Poland and the United Kingdom are rule-of-law states; there is no doubt about that. The fact is, however, that by not signing and by opting out of the Charter, they are not protecting themselves; they are shielding something that is already protected. The fact is that this Charter is not applicable to national legislation and national institutions at all. In other words, they are protecting something that can already be taken as a given. In Poland in particular – where a majority in Parliament and a majority of the people take a different view, but where the President is making use of his prerogatives – I hope that change will come about in time.
The legally binding nature of the Charter can be further reinforced if we pursue a harmonised strategy. Mr President-in-Office, I am grateful to you for the fact that we are utilising the opportunity afforded by single legal personality and are acceding to the Strasbourg Convention. If this is successful, the European area of justice will achieve coherence, bringing together the protection of fundamental rights at both national and European level. I hope the outcome will be a value-oriented Europe of citizens of which we can be proud!"@en1
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