P6_TA(2005)0208
Promotion and protection of fundamental rights
European Parliament resolution on promotion and protection of fundamental rights: the role of
national and European institutions, including the Fundamental Rights Agency (2005/2007(INI))
The European Parliament ,
— having regard to the Constitutional Treaty signed by Heads of State and Governments on 29 October
2004, which includes the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as its second part,
— having regard to Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Union, and Articles I-2 and I-9 of the
Constitutional Treaty,
— having regard to Articles 13 and 192(2 )of the Treaty establishing the European Community,
— having regard to the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the European
Court of Human Rights,
— having regard to the Communication from the Commission “Fundamental Rights Agency —Public
consultation document ”(COM(2004)0693),
— having regard to the decision of the Representatives of the Member States meeting within the European
Council on 12-13 December 2003 in Brussels, stressing the importance of human rights data collectionand analysis with a view to defining Union policy in this field, to build upon the existing EuropeanMonitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia and to extend its mandate to make it a Human RightsAgency,
— having regard to the outcome of the public seminar “Promoting EU fundamental rights policy: from
words to deeds or how to make rights a reality? ”held on 25-26 April 2005 at the initiative of the
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,
— having regard to its resolution of 20 April 2004 on the Commission communication on Article 7 of
the Treaty on European Union: Respect for and promotion of the values on which the Union isbased (
1),
— having regard to its resolution of 28 April 2005 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World
2004 and the EU's policy on the matter (2),
— having regard to Rules 39 and 45 of its Rules of Procedure,
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home
Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development andthe Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A6-0144/2005),
The EU constitutional framework as a new impetus to fundamental rights
1. Considers that effective protection and promotion of fundamental rights is the basis of democracy in
Europe and an essential condition for the consolidation by the European Union of the area of freedom,security and justice;
2. Points to the fact that the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Constitutional
Treaty and the EU's future accession to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms (ECHR) bring with them fundamental changes, substantially strengthening theUnion's obligations to ensure that fundamental rights are actively promoted across all policy areas;
(1) OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 408.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0150.C 117 E/242 MT 18.5.2006 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
3. Considers that the European Union is establishing itself increasingly as a political community of shared
values and is further broadening its initial objective, clearly focused on the market;
4. Considers that several Union objectives, such as those of developing the area of freedom, security and
justice, combating discrimination, promoting transparency and protecting data protection, are already indis-sociable from the promotion of fundamental rights;
5. Notes the need for fundamental rights and individual freedoms to be fully asserted and observed
following the broadening of the competences of the Union, and that the new form of terrorism has furtherincreased the need to ensure collective security; is therefore of the opinion that a balance between individualfreedoms and collective security has to be achieved through adequate policies in order to make these twoobjectives compatible;
6. Considers it essential to give effect to the values proclaimed in the founding Treaties and in the new
Constitution;
7. Notes that transparency is a democratic principle which is essential for the relationship between the
Union and its citizens, the Community judiciary and its legislature, the EU and its Member States, as well asthe EU and the Council of Europe;
8. Notes that the European Union and Member States share competence for human rights, and that
therefore they are obliged to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in their respective spheresof competence in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, taking into account its abovementionedresolution of 20 April 2004; urges the Commission to take steps to guarantee all the cooperation andassistance required, even before it initiates any legal proceedings, with a view to enabling the Member Statesto overcome any problems they encounter in implementing Community law and Union measures; regardsa special degree of transparency as essential when it comes to transposing Union measures which have abearing on fundamental rights;
Towards an EU fundamental rights policy
9. Welcomes the signature of the Constitutional Treaty, insofar as it provides for the Court of Justice to
be fully competent for the area of freedom, security and justice, the accession to the ECHR, the incorpora-tion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaty and more extensive use of the co-decision pro-cedure, thereby enhancing the role of the European Parliament;
10. Considers that the implementation of fundamental rights is a goal of all European policies; to this
end EU institutions should actively promote and therefore protect fundamental rights and fully take themand their relevance across borders into account when drafting and adopting legislation;
11. Regards it as politically essential to incorporate the notion of promoting fundamental rights among
the objectives to be pursued in connection with the simplification and reorganisation of the Communityand Union acquis; calls for any new policy, legislative proposal and programme to be accompanied by animpact assessment as regards respect for fundamental rights; that assessment should form part of the jus-
tification for the proposal;
12. Welcomes the establishment of a Group of Commissioners on “Fundamental Rights, anti-discrimina-
tion and equal treatment ”; calls on the Commission and especially the Commissioners responsible for fun-
damental rights to work out a comprehensive and coherent strategy to ensure that fundamental rights areobserved in all areas of Union policy;
13. Takes the view that the Court of Justice has performed a decisive role in making the Community and
the Union a “Community ”and a Union of law, in particular as a result of the fruitful dialogue between
national and European judges in connection with the task of providing preliminary interpretations whichthe Treaties confer on the Court; supports the proposal put forward by the European Council in the pro-gramme adopted at The Hague to strengthen dialogue between the supreme courts of the Member States,and takes the view that such steps not only demonstrate the determination of the highest courts to sharetheir experience, but also constitute the beginnings of a European public policy which finds its rationale inthe shared objective of protecting fundamental rights;18.5.2006 MT C 117 E/243 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
14. Points out that the Member States and the Union institutions enjoy a special right to bring actions
before the Court in the interests of the law and takes the view that Parliament can, using that means, defendthe rights of citizens in cases where fundamental rights might be affected by a Union act;
15. Regrets the fact that, in connection with the implementation of Community and Union law, the
Member States are becoming more and more reluctant to accept the principle of mutual recognition, clai-ming that the level of protection of fundamental rights is inadequate in a given Member State; drawsattention, in this connection, to the case law of the Court (
1) and calls on both the public authorities of
the States required to supply detailed information in order to justify their reluctance and the authorities ofthe States requesting such information to provide any clarifications necessary;
Cooperation with national human rights institutions and national parliaments
16. Notes that some Member States have established national institutions for the protection and promo-
tion of fundamental rights, in particular with reference to the United Nations “Paris principles ”; calls on the
other Member States to take steps to this end and to provide the national committees and institutes withadequate financial resources, bearing in mind, inter alia, that one of the functions of those bodies is toreview governments' human rights policies to prevent shortcomings and suggest improvements, since effi-ciency lies in prevention and not only in solving problems;
17. Supports the establishment of an ongoing dialogue on fundamental rights with the national parlia-
ments of the Member States;
18. Is of the opinion that collecting data is a priority, as is methodological work to enable the data to be
compared and analysed; considers that national institutions are key in this regard;
19. Remains convinced that fundamental rights can be protected all the more effectively if citizens them-
selves are made aware of their rights and are in a position to demand the protection thereof well beforelegal action becomes necessary, by encouraging their involvement in shaping and implementing decisions; isof the opinion that, with that aim, the establishment of national committees and institutes for fundamentalrights can enable NGOs both to establish clearer standpoints and to target more effectively their calls foraction and their exposure of treatment regarded as unlawful; restates its view that national governmentaland non-governmental organisations should exchange best practice regarding human rights;
20. Considers that the Commission should pay attention to the repeated and continuous violations of
human rights —in particular civil rights such as the active and passive right to participate in election
processes —committed in some Member States, which were the subject of reports by the Human Rights
Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Mr Alvaro Gil-Robles;
Spreading the principle of the protection of fundamental rights outside the Union
21. Takes the view that the universality and indivisibility of fundamental rights must prompt the Euro-
pean Union and its Member States to encourage the spread of such rights in their relations with thirdcountries, not least with a view to the conclusion of association agreements with third countries, andinternational organisations, such as the United Nations, which has embarked on a reform process whichplaces particular emphasis on the protection of fundamental rights; stresses that the European Union as abody should play an active part in implementing such a reform by strengthening further its external actionin this area and by contributing to the drafting of a United Nations report on this matter;
22. Proposes the drafting of an interinstitutional code of conduct, designed to confer greater coherence
and fairness on the Union's external action in the field of democratisation and human rights —as t e p
already approved in its resolution of 25 April 2002 on the Communication from the Commission to theCouncil and the European Parliament on the European Union's role in promoting human rights and democ-
ratisation in third countries (
2); believes that the Code should govern relations between the Union and the
more than 120 countries to which the democratic clause is currently applicable, as an essential element ofthe agreements of all kinds which bind them;
(1) Joined Cases C-187/01 and C-385/01 Gözütok and Brügge [2003] ECR I-1345.
(2) OJ C 131 E, 5.6.2003, p. 147.C 117 E/244 MT 18.5.2006 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
23. Calls on the Commission to undertake and to present to Parliament, in conjunction with its position
on this Agency, a thorough study on the need for a similar structure (inside or outside the Commission)dealing with the provision of relevant information on human rights and democracy concerns in countrieswhich are not covered by this Agency;
Cooperation with international human rights organisations
24. Recalls the significant role of the various Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and institutions
in the human rights field; urges the EU institutions and the Agency to build on this experience, takingaccount of these mechanisms to incorporate them into a procedure for working in a network, and tomake use of the standards developed by the Council of Europe and the other substantive results of its
work; is adamant that this cooperation should not lead to any decline in EU standards;
25. Believes that a functional model of cooperation should be worked out and that there should be
concrete proposals in the Commission's forthcoming legislative proposal on the Agency, including cleardefinitions of the competences of the Agency and of the various other agencies and an institutionalisedlink between the Council of Europe and the future Agency on Fundamental Rights, both to avoid duplica-
tion and to give the Agency all necessary input and to ensure its effectiveness;
The Agency as an operational tool for the EU's human rights policy as a whole
26. Points out that establishing the Agency should make a contribution to further enhancing mutual
confidence between Member States and constitute a guarantee of continued observance of the principlesset out in Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Union and considers that the Agency should provideall the information required to develop the Union's legislative activity, monitoring role and policy on awa-reness raising for fundamental rights;
27. Takes the view that the Agency must have a strong mandate and the power to follow the develop-
ment of the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights within the European Union and acces-sion countries; stresses that the Agency should also be able to cover third countries when they are involvedin human rights issues affecting the Union, for example in cases where there are suspected violations of thedemocracy clause;
28. Believes that the Fundamental Rights Agency should have special standing among EU agencies; belie-
ves that the Agency will enjoy enhanced legitimacy if its management bodies are appointed by, and answe-rable to, the European Parliament and report to the competent parliamentary committees; is convinced thatthe independence and credibility of the Agency is a prerequisite for proper interaction between it and theEuropean institutions;
29. Considers it essential for the Agency to be seen as fully independent in every respect; emphasises,
therefore, that it should have sufficient staff and budgetary resources to allow it to fulfil its ambitiousmandate and should be staffed with high-quality personnel with scientific expertise, unimpeachable integrityand personal credibility;
30. Considers that the key bodies of the Agency should be composed of independent experts (possibly
including members of constitutional courts) of the highest professional repute from the Member States andhigh-level representatives of EU institutions, the Council of Europe and international NGOs; stresses that itshead should enjoy an excellent record in the field of human rights and should be appointed by the Euro-pean Parliament;
31. Takes the view that most of the recommendations set out in this resolution, such as those contained
in the following paragraphs:
— 11: impact evaluation of every legislative and strategic EU initiative taking as model the approach on
impact evaluation adopted by the Commission on April 27 2005;
— 13: promotion of dialogue and cooperation between supreme courts;
— 16, 18 and 19: support for Member State Institutes for fundamental rights and “equality ”commissions
established under Directive 2000/43/EC, in so far as data collection is concerned;18.5.2006 MT C 117 E/245 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
— 17: establishment of a permanent forum with national parliaments on fundamental rights issues and
establishment of the EU as an area of freedom, security and justice;
— 23: financing a study on the external factors which could affect EU policies as regards human rights and
the possible consultative role to be played by a European Fundamental Rights Agency;
— 24 and 25: structured operational cooperation and synergy with the Council of Europe;
— 49: EU Institutions' information and communication strategy in so far as EU policies affect fundamental
rights;
— 26, 27, 28, 32, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50: as a possible reference for the future
Agency's tasks and mandate;
— 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 38: for the governing bodies and organisational structure of the future Agency,
seek to ensure that information is collected, analysed and processed with a view to the assessment of the
impact of measures to protect human rights when the Community and the Union exercise their competen-ces; moreover, they also seek to improve the organisation of administrative and legislative procedures andfind their legal justification, in particular, in the policies which deal with measures to combat discrimination(Article 13 of the EC Treaty), freedom of movement (Article 18 EC), asylum (Article 63 EC), judicial cooper-
ation in civil matters (Article 65 EC), data protection (Article 286 EC) and transparency (Article 255 EC);
32. Takes the view, in that connection, that the very act which defines the task of collecting information
may constitute the legal basis for establishing the Fundamental Rights Agency, whose task is subsidiary tothat of the institutions in the areas dealt with in this resolution; accordingly, the codecision procedureinvolving Parliament, and with the Council acting by a qualified majority, should apply;
33. Calls on the Commission, pursuant to Article 192 of the EC Treaty, to submit a legislative proposal
on the basis of the indications given above; the proposal should particularly refer to policies for whichParliament is co-legislator; taking into account the Court of Justice case-law on cases of multiple legalbases, the main (and non-exclusive) legal basis should be Article 13 of the EC Treaty, which, by preventingdiscrimination, serves to protect human dignity, which is the key element of any policy dealing with funda-mental rights; leaves the Commission to judge whether a measure under the third pillar, and referring to theCommunity measure, would be necessary, in keeping with the initiatives linked to judicial and police coop-eration on criminal law matters;
34. Considers that the Agency should operate as an umbrella organisation covering all human rights
issues, so as to avoid having different structures doing the same work;
35. Considers that the Agency should be designed as a multi-layered structure ( “network of networks ”),
a specialised body with horizontal competences, in which each of the layers must play a role and contributeto the development of a fundamental rights culture in the Union; believes that the Agency should gather allrelevant information, analyses and experience available in European and national institutions, national par-liaments, governments and human rights bodies, Supreme/Constitutional Courts, NGOs and existing net-works, such as the Network on Independent Experts in Fundamental Rights, and especially the expertise ofthe European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and its information network, RAXEN;
36. Opines that existing European and national human rights institutions should be part of the “network
of networks ”, the Agency being a tool to ensure the quality and coherence of the EU's human rights policy:
there should be established a map of European, national institutions and operating networks to this end;
37. Sees this framework as an opportunity to establish an effective network linking existing bodies,
instruments and procedures through the establishment of a Fundamental Rights Agency;
38. Considers that before new organisations are set up to defend fundamental rights, there is a need to
study the consolidation of existing organisations and the possibility of merging them in order to improvetheir operation; insists, therefore, that the future Gender Institute should be part of the Agency on Funda-C 117 E/246 MT 18.5.2006 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
mental Rights, seen as a “network of networks ”, should work under its own name and could be situated in
the same location, in order to follow a rational, cost-effective and consistent approach when creating newbodies to deal with fundamental rights;
39. Proposes that the Agency should be structured on the basis of areas of concern of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights —as a complement to the EUMC's remit to fight against racism and xenophobia —
inter alia, the freedoms of expression, assembly and association and thought, the right to participate underequal conditions in election processes, the rights to education and liberty, solidarity and social rights, chil-dren's rights, gender equality, violence against women, trafficking in human beings, citizens' rights andjustice, the right to asylum, the Roma issue and minority rights and respect for cultural, religious andlinguistic diversity; where there is already a Union-wide body covering a particular area, the tasks of theAgency should be performed in that area by the specialised institute becoming an integral part of theAgency;
40. Notes that protecting national minorities in an enlarged EU is a major issue and that it will not be
achieved simply by fighting against xenophobia and discrimination; points out that this complex problem
must also be addressed from other angles and that the question of the protection of ethnic and national
minorities should be one of the Agency's specific tasks;
41. Contends that, when designing this new instrument, special attention should be paid to the three
main functions that such an institution must fulfil (promoting fundamental rights, monitoring the obser-vance of fundamental rights and raising the awareness of the key players, namely, the Member States, the EUinstitutions and citizens) in order to meet the strategic needs of a common area of freedom, security andjustice;
42. Is of the opinion that, in order to fulfil its three main functions, the Agency should collect data
through its networks and analyse them and should be empowered to deliver opinions and make recommen-dations to Parliament, the Council and the Commission;
43. Considers that, as part of its task to promote fundamental rights, the future Agency should provide
proactive support to human rights policy-making in two ways: by identifying where legislative improve-ments would be most welcome and by monitoring the implementation and enforcement of existing legisla-tion;
44. Considers that the Agency, as a part of its work to protect fundamental rights, should draw up an
annual report on the situation of those rights falling within its sphere of activity, to be delivered to theEuropean Parliament, the Council and the Commission; further believes that the Agency, without havingjudicial competence, should answer directly and primarily to the European Parliament, on which basis theEuropean Parliament can draw conclusions and adopt recommendations, and to the Council;
45. Considers that the Agency's monitoring will have the added value of providing a horizontal view of
the protection and promotion of fundamental rights, for which reason all the rights contained in the Char-ter of Fundamental Rights and the relevant provisions of the first part of the Constitutional Treaty should becovered; holds that the Agency's annual work programme might have a thematic focus;
46. Stresses that there is no question of preparing the ground for anything equivalent to an EU Court of
Human Rights; realises that dealing with individual violations of human rights is altogether different frommonitoring a political system or its legal instruments which may not be living up to generally recognisedhuman rights standards;
47. Maintains that the Agency should be endowed with an advisory and consultative role regarding the
provisions of Article 6 and Article 7 of the TEU, supporting the action of the Parliament and the Counciland using the information, knowledge and expertise gathered from its networks;
48. Asserts that concrete steps should be taken by the Agency to find the best ways of making the
people of the European Union aware of the fundamental rights they enjoy and create a culture of funda-mental rights within the EU, which can then be successfully promoted beyond the borders of the Union asone of its basic values;18.5.2006 MT C 117 E/247 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005
49. Believes that an enhanced information and communication strategy is necessary if the objectives of
promoting fundamental rights and raising awareness of fundamental rights issues (creating a culture ofrespect for fundamental rights) are to be attained; believes that the inclusion of a subject on the MemberStates' school curricula to cover both fundamental rights and the human rights recognised by the interna-tional community could help to attain these objectives;
50. Takes the view that these concrete steps should include training measures organised by the Agency
for those working in the field of human rights in Europe, whether representatives of civil society or profes-sional organisations;
51. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council and the Com-
mission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, national human rights bodies, the Councilof Europe, the OSCE and the UN.
P6_TA(2005)0209
BEPGs
European Parliament resolution on the Commission recommendation on the broad guidelines forthe economic policies of the Member States and the Community in the framework of the integrated
guidelines for growth and jobs (2005-2008) (COM(2005)0141 —2005/2017(INI))
The European Parliament ,
— having regard to the Commission recommendation (COM(2005)0141),
— having regard to Article 99(2) of the EC Treaty,
— having regard to the Spring 2005 economic forecasts drawn up by the Commission for the euro area
and the European Union (2005-2006),
— having regard to the conclusions of the Presidency of the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March
2000, the Gothenburg European Council of 15 and 16 June 2001 and the Barcelona European Council
of 15 and 16 March 2002,
— having regard to the conclusions of the Presidency of the European Councils held in Brussels on 20 and
21 March 2003, 16 and 17 October 2003, 25 and 26 March 2004, 4 and 5 November 2004 and 22and 23 March 2005,
— having regard to its resolution of 22 February 2005 on the European economic situation —prepara-
tory report on the broad economic policy guidelines (
1),
— having regard to Rule 107 of its Rules of Procedure,
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A6-0150/2005),
A. whereas growth in the euro area and the 25-member European Union is failing to achieve its potential
on a sustained basis and is still too weak, particularly in the four leading economies in the euro area;whereas household consumption is still faltering and the economic outlook for 2005 and 2006 conti-nues to be unsatisfactory, contributing to a continuing high level of unemployment which will declineonly slowly; whereas, despite the lowest interest rates since the Second World War, there is little wil-lingness to invest;
B. whereas structural reforms of product, energy and labour markets and taxation systems and the imple-
mentation of the internal market have not been carried out in all the Member States with the requisitecare, and whereas reforms at Community level are making only slow progress,
(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0034.C 117 E/248 MT 18.5.2006 Il-Ġurnal Uffi ċjali ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Il-Ħamis, 26 ta' Mejju 2005