WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1095/97 by Jesús CABEZÓN ALONSO to the Commission. Human rights in the EU following the IGC
Date: 1997-03-21
Institutions: CABEZON ALONSO, European Parliament
Subjects: Court of Justice of the European Union, European treaties, fundamental rights, human rights, intergovernmental conference (EU), legal basis













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91997E1095

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1095/97 by Jesús CABEZÓN ALONSO to the Commission. Human rights in the EU following the IGC  


Official Journal C 373 , 09/12/1997 P. 0065 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1095/97 by Jesús Cabezón Alonso (PSE) to the Commission (21 March 1997)Subject: Human rights in the EU following the IGCAt the Dublin European Council meeting in December 1996, the Irish Presidency proposed the inclusion in the revised Treaties of a new Article 3c, which would expressly protect the rights and freedoms laid down in the European human rights convention. It also proposed that new Articles Fa and 3c should provide for channels to allow a response to any human rights violations by the Member States.Can the Commission comment on the negotiations for the inclusion in the new Treaty of these proposals? What obstacles does it envisage to their inclusion?Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (12 May 1997)The aim of the two proposals for articles referred to by the Honourable Member was to establish the general principle of respect for fundamental rights binding the Union's Member States and the Union itself.In this context, Article Fa provides for the possibility of adopting measures in the event of serious violation by a Member State of the general principles to which the Union subscribes, of which respect for fundamental rights is a cornerstone. The Intergovernmental Conference saw the emergence of a broad consensus on this proposal during recent negotiations.The idea behind the insertion of a new Article 3c in the EC Treaty was to give Court of Justice direct and explicit power to monitor respect of fundamental rights by the Community.Following the Court's opinion of 27 March 1996 declaring that there was no legal basis in the existing Treaties enabling the Communities to accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, it appeared to the negotiators at the Intergovernmental Conference that the best way to improve protection of fundamental rights in the Community was to confer direct internal judicial review jurisdiction on the Court of Justice. To that end, this Article 3c took over the wording of the current Article F(2), thereby confining that jurisdiction to Community matters alone.Independently of the fact that the Commission shared the view of several delegations on the importance of making provision for a legal basis which would make it possible to adhere to the 1950 Convention in the future, if all the technical and political conditions were met, it urged that the Court's review jurisdiction should not be based solely on the EC Treaty.The addendum of 20 March 1997 to the general framework prepared by the Irish Presidency in December 1996 accordingly drew back from the idea of inserting this new Article 3c. Article F(2) would be left as it is. This Article requires the Union, and not only the Community, to respect fundamental rights, with a corollary reform of Article L of the Treaty to make it possible to invoke Article F(2) in the courts.The Commission feels that the reform of both Articles F and L is the minimum required to strengthen the judicial guarantees underpinning the system for the protection of fundamental rights.