Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the 'Process of drawing up a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union'
Date: 2000-02-16
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Union, European charter, economic rights, fundamental rights, political rights, social rights

6.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 156/1

II

(Preparatory Acts)

COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Process of drawing up a Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union’

(2000/C 156/01)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision of the Bureau of 15 September 1999 to draw up, in accordance with the
fifth paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, an opinion on the
subject, and to instruct the Commission for Institutional Affairs to prepare the Committee’s work on the
subject;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by the Commission for Institutional Affairs on 27 October
1999 (CdR 327/99 rev. 1) [rapporteurs: Mr Bore (UK, PSE) and Mrs du Granrut (F, PPE)];

whereas the European Council feels there is a need, at the present stage in the development of the Union,
to establish a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Annex IV of the Presidency
Conclusions of the Cologne European Council on 3 and 4 June 1999);

whereas the Convention to draft a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was set up on
17 December 1999,

adopted the following opinion at its 32nd plenary session of 16 and 17 February 2000 (meeting of
16 February).

1. General comments

The Committee of the Regions has always stressed the
1.1.
need to strengthen citizenship and participatory democracy in
the European Union, and the importance of formulating the
rights of European citizens to attain this objective; it takes the
view that, as the representative of regional and local authorities
— the bodies which are closest to the citizens — and as the
guarantor of the subsidiarity principle,
it should make its
contribution to drawing up the Charter of Fundamental Rights
of the citizens of the European Union.

1.2.
Basic rights constitute the bedrock of a society based
on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human
law, as
rights and fundamental
enshrined in the constitutional traditions which are common
to the Member States.

liberties and the rule of

The European Union’s capacity to help build a society which
corresponds to these aspirations largely depends on citizens
claiming these rights — i.e. accepting them and above all
exercising them.

1.3.
The Committee of the Regions recognises the fast-
changing character of the European Union and the growing
challenges which it faces at the beginning of the 21st century.
The last four decades have seen the gradual development of the
European Union. Developing in several phases, an increasing
number of European countries have pooled their resources
and achieved together a very significant degree of economic
growth, social stability and political harmony, without manag-
ing to generate the sense of commonality among the citizens
of Europe needed to realise the full potential of a social and
political Europe which guarantees fundamental rights.

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The last fifteen years have seen an enormous acceleration of
economic integration with the development of the single
European market and a common European economic area. It
is due to be further accelerated by the creation in 1999 and
putting into circulation in 2002 of the single currency, the
Euro.

1.4.
A number of steps have been taken towards greater
social cohesion and increased political cooperation. These have
found expression in the establishment and development of
new European institutions such as a directly elected Parliament
and the Committee of the Regions and in the introduction of
European-wide social and civil guarantees.

At the Council of Europe’s initiative, a European Convention
on Human Rights was drawn up, allowing for cases to be
brought, and there is a European Social Charter which can be
used for reference, but without the right to resort to legal
action in the event of non-compliance.

It had been envisaged that the European Union as such would
be a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights.
This is now excluded by Opinion 2/94 of the European Court
of Justice, dated 28 March 1996, which states that this would
involve the Community in a distinct international institutional
system, that it would introduce all the provisions of the
European Convention on Human Rights into the Community
legal system, and finally that at the present stage of Community
law the European Union does not have the powers to accede
to the Convention.

1.5.
Up to now, fundamental rights with respect to acts
the Community institutions have been
of sovereignty of
safeguarded in the first place by the European Court of Justice.
At an early stage, the Court of Justice established the binding
force of fundamental rights as unwritten principles of law at
EU level too. The Treaty bases for safeguarding fundamental
rights in the EU were expanded and strengthened by the
Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. The Treaty of Amsterdam,
signed on 2 October 1997 and inaugurated on 1 May 1999,
represents an important stage in the consolidation of the
the consolidated
(cf. Article 6(2) of
fundamental
Treaties). However, these wider issues have lagged behind the
developments in the economic area.

rights

Moreover, while the Treaty reaffirms the commitment of the
Union to fundamental rights, it includes gaps and inconsist-
encies with regard to the guarantee of these rights or of those
linked to the objectives set out.

The 1990s have seen signs of greater citizen uncer-
1.6.
tainty about
these developments towards European inte-
gration. These have been reflected most recently in the very
low turnout for the elections to the European Parliament in
June 1999. A quickening in the pace of economic and financial
integration, combined with a lessening of confidence by
citizens in European institutions, represents a dangerous
scenario for the future of the European Union. It requires swift
action to bring the social, political and cultural needs of
citizens into correspondence with the changing economic
realities. This makes the call for a Charter of Fundamental
Rights for European citizens all the more important and
urgent. However, to address the issue of a lack of public
confidence, this Charter needs to be a simple, straightforward,
easily understood document, free from the bureaucratic and
legalistic jargon that often mars formal constitutional docu-
ments.

At a time when the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam
have granted new powers to the European Community, giving
rise to wider responsibilities in terms of fundamental rights for
the Community, and when the Community has chosen not to
subscribe to the European Convention on Human Rights, it
seems urgent for the Community to take up a clear position
on the basic rights which it wishes to see guaranteed to citizens
of the Union, following from the scope of its action.

the
the Regions is of
The Committee of
incorporation of these rights into European Union Treaties
would give a clear indication of Member States’ commitment
to building a Union based on the values of liberty, equality and
solidarity.

the view that

The Committee points out that historically declarations of
citizens’ rights are preambles to Constitutions and have their
raison d’être in them, as the basis of the powers needed for the
exercise of those rights.

The Committee stresses the constitutional value of the Charter
because it feels that the process of drawing up a charter of
rights cannot and must not be separated from the institutional
reform to be undertaken by the next
Intergovernmental
Conference.

2. The content of the Charter

The Charter of Fundamental Rights for citizens of the European
Union must cover three fields: individual rights, economic,
social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights.

Acknowledging the existence of these gaps and inconsistencies
provides an opportunity to correct them and arrive at a clear,
unequivocal text on the basic rights of European citizens and
the ways to guarantee them.

The first field should cover the basic rights covered by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and more specifically
by the European Convention on Human Rights.

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2.1. Rights linked to the person

— Right to set up European political parties, right of petition,

association and demonstration.

— Right to life, right not to be subjected to torture or
inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment; Right not
to be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour, right
to freedom of movement.

— Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,

freedom of expression and information.

— Right to a proper civil or penal trial.

— Right to local democratically constituted decision-making

bodies.

— Right to check on legality of administrative action.

— Right of minorities to protection for

their

religion,

language and culture.

— Right to privacy regarding private life, personal data,

correspondence and home life.

— Right to equal opportunities of women and men in all

decision-making fields.

— Right to housing, right to property and to respect for

property.

— Right to health protection.

2.4.
Clearly, these rights cover a very broad canvas. The
crucial task is to make them meaningful and practical, so that
they give people a clear sense of the rights they enjoy across
the European Union as a whole.

2.2. Economic, social and cultural rights

— Right to work, to freely negotiated working conditions, to
a fair wage, to a reasonable length of notice of termination
of employment, to appropriate vocational guidance, train-
ing and re-training.

— Right to freedom of movement and establishment for
workers and to equality of treatment with workers of the
country concerned.

— Right to equality of opportunity and treatment, without
discrimination based on race, sex, colour, ethnic, national
or social origin, culture, language, religion, political beliefs,
family situation, sexual orientation, age or disability.

— Right

to set up trade union organisations and right
information, consultation, and

to collective bargaining,
participation for decisions affecting workers’ interests.

— Right to social security, social and medical assistance, and

the benefit of social services.

— Right to education, right to freedom to choose an occu-

pation and right to continuing vocational training.

— Rights linked to economic and entrepreneurial activity:
right to property, right of competition, right to conclude
contracts, etc.

2.3. Civil and political rights

— Right to vote in local and European Parliament elections
for non-nationals from other EU countries in the Member
State where they are resident.

It is not enough to define rights. The principle of their
justifiability must be established and appropriate access to
national courts and the European Court of Justice defined or
clarified, to ensure that rights can be exercised in practice.

2.5.
As well as detailing these rights, the Charter should
contain, as appropriate, complementary clauses expanding on
particular aspects. This opinion from the Committee of the
Regions wishes to highlight a number of areas where this is
felt to be necessary.

2.5.1.
In an increasingly multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-
ethnic European Union equal opportunities is a ‘horizontal
theme’ which cuts across a number of these rights. Thus, the
Bill of Rights should guarantee the right
to equality of
opportunity and treatment without any distinction of race,
ethnic, national or social origin, language, religion, gender,
marital status, sexual orientation, age or disability.

2.5.2.
In the light of the conclusions of the Tampere
European Council on 15 and 16 October 1999 and its
resolutions on the integration of third country nationals, the
Committee of the Regions believes that the body responsible
for drawing up the Charter of Fundamental Rights should
examine the issue of whether long-term residents should be
granted a set of rights that resemble as closely as possible those
of EU citizens.

2.5.3.
The right to a fair, public hearing needs to be
reinforced by the creation of common legal standards and a
common sense of justice throughout the European Union.
Given the huge and growing degree of travel within the
European Union for work,
leisure and tourism, a set of
common standards to ensure a common level of justice and
fairness should be applicable across all EU Member States. We
give two examples: a guarantee that effective legal advice and

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Official Journal of the European Communities

6.6.2000

where necessary, language interpretation services are available
for EU citizens arrested outside their home Member State; the
establishment of a common system of European bail so that
people are not arrested and held on remand in cells in another
country for lengthy periods.

2.6.3.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights should therefore
reiterate in some form the principles of local self-government
as set out in Article 3 of the Council of Europe’s Charter of
Local Self-Government.

2.5.4.
Finally, with regard to the rights of private individ-
uals, the new charter of rights needs to recognise the contem-
porary reality of patterns of divorce, separation and remarriage
within modern European society. The new charter should
make clear the rights of mothers and fathers to have fair and
equitable access to their children in the event of divorce and/or
separation; and indeed the rights of children to be able to see
both of their parents if they so wish on a regular basis.

2.5.5.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights must also address
questions related to new areas such as the knowledge society,
environmental changes or biotechnology.

2.6.
Beside these four specific areas where the introduction
of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into European law will
give clear civil and social rights to residents of the Union and
help to match the growing common European economic space
with a complementary social, civic and political space, the
Committee of the Regions wishes to stress three issues related
to European citizenship.

The Charter will enable each national of an EU
2.6.1.
Member State to identify his specific European citizenship as
involving new rights and expressing membership of the new
entity known as the European Union.

The fundamental rights therefore have an essential
2.6.4.
political dimension, because they link the democratic basis of
political society with its limitation by the recognition of
citizens’ rights.

The Committee of the Regions is convinced that this right of
participation in public life, exercised first and foremost by
electing local authorities, is the first and indispensable link in
a chain of political responsibilities in which the citizen must
participate and feel involved.

Once the citizen feels a part of the chain of power emanating
from him and extending to the summit of the European Union,
he will accept the constraints of the ‘res-publica’ and the
decisions of those whom he has entrusted with it.

The fundamental rights thus lay the basis for participatory
democracy, which respects the citizen’s power and that of the
various levels of authority to which he delegates his power.

2.6.5.
As regards social and economic rights, the principle
of subsidiarity needs also to be taken into account, given the
different social, economic and legal structures within the
Member States.

European citizenship is a major challenge for the European
Union; it is not an alternative to national citizenship; it is at
once complementary, unique and resolutely political.

3. The future process

For the Committee of the Regions the Charter of Fundamental
Rights is the foundation of European citizenship.

2.6.2.
The Committee of the Regions takes the view that
the fundamental rights have a constitutional value, enabling
individuals who enjoy them to appeal to the relevant courts,
where appropriate national courts, the Council of Europe’s
Court of Human Rights and the Court of
Justice of the
European Communities, every time such a right is threatened.

The Committee of the Regions considers that fundamental
rights need to be effectively guaranteed within the European
Union, within a framework that ensure that citizens will have
recourse to appropriate legal remedies.

3.1.
European Union leaders have agreed to the proposal
for the drawing up of a Charter of Fundamental Rights. The
preparation of the Charter is the responsibility of a working
group made up of representatives of the governments of the
Member States, a person appointed by the Commission
President, MEPs and national parliamentarians. The Committee
of the Regions is to be consulted in this procedure and has
been invited to speak to the Convention, but it believes that it
should be more fully involved and be given observer status.

In compliance with the subsidiarity principle, the Convention
advocated by the European Council for drawing up the charter
should be wide enough to allow every level concerned, that is
Europe, the Member States and local and regional authorities,
to obtain a hearing for their views on the content of the
European Charter of Fundamental Rights and in particular
enable the public to express views and have access to
information prior to decisions being taken by Europe and the
Member States.

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3.2.
The proposal to develop a Charter of Fundamental
Rights is an important step forward by the European Union.
The COR intends to participate fully in this process and to
take forward the ideas contained within this opinion into that
wider forum. The COR representatives will highlight the main
themes in this opinion during the forum’s deliberations. The
COR does not rule out drawing up a further position which
could supplement and clarify the opinion in the light of the
work of the Convention responsible for drawing up the draft
Charter of Fundamental Rights to be submitted to the European
Council in Nice in December 2000. At the same time they will
stress the importance for the final document not only to be
incorporated within the EU Treaties, but also to be produced
as a stand-alone document highlighting the key elements that
form Europe’s bill of political, social and civil rights.

4. Conclusion

The European Union is very much at a watershed in its
4.1.
development. It is vitally important that urgent steps are taken

Brussels, 16 February 2000.

to involve the public in decision-making so as to boost public
confidence in both European institutions and the European
in very practical and
Union as a whole. Making clear,
straightforward terms, the key economic, social, cultural, civil
and political rights which the Union guarantees to all of its
members is the urgent task. The development of a Charter
which gives expression to a citizens’ and people’s Europe,
which will complement the common economic space which
is currently being developed, is the way forward. This should
be the clear goal and objective of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights. That is the task which the Committee of the Regions
and its representatives will argue for in the months ahead.

4.2.
The Committee of the Regions comes out firmly in
favour of a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the citizens of
the European Union, which will give the Union homogeneous,
coherent Community law with constitutional value within
which these rights may be effectively exercised.

4.3.
Thus the European Union, governed by law and based
on adherence to common values which are legally guaranteed,
will be enshrined in that form in the next Treaty on European
Union.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT