5 The Charter of Fundamental Rights and
Commission legislative proposals
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COM(05)172
| Commission Communication on compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Commission legislative proposals
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 27 April 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 1 July 2005
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| Department | Constitutional Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 14 July 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
5.1 The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was
"solemnly proclaimed" by the Presidents of the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission at Nice on 7 December
2000. The Charter subsequently formed Part II of the Treaty establishing
a Constitution for Europe, signed in Rome on 29 October 2004.
5.2 On 13 March 2001 the Commission decided that
it would scrutinise its own legislative proposals for compatibility
with the Charter. The Commission also decided that legislative
proposals and draft instruments having a specific link to fundamental
rights would incorporate a recital as a formal statement of compatibility.
The Commission notes that the legislature "now automatically
inserts this recital".
The Commission Communication
5.3 The Communication sets out a methodology for
"ensuring that the Charter is properly implemented in Commission
proposals". The Commission recalls that it has "meanwhile
equipped itself with new horizontal policy programming instruments",
notably the impact assessment form, and notes that in this regard
all legislative and major policy proposals contained in the annual
Legislative and Work Programme from 2005 will be subject to impact
assessment.
5.4 The proposed methodology is intended to allow
Commission departments to check systematically and thoroughly
that all the fundamental rights concerned have been respected
in all draft proposals, to enable members of the Commission to
promote a "fundamental rights culture" and to make the
results of the Commission's monitoring more visible to other institutions
and to the general public. To achieve this, both the impact assessment
and the explanatory memorandum will contain assessments of impacts
on fundamental rights, based on increased inter-service consultation.
5.5 Apart from monitoring respect for fundamental
rights in its internal work, the Commission states that it will
also monitor the work of the two branches of the legislative authority
(i.e. the European Parliament and the Council) and that it will
reserve the right, based on a "case-by-case political scrutiny",
to initiate annulment proceedings in the event of an infringement
of fundamental rights.
5.6 Finally, the paper indicates that the internal
monitoring of respect for fundamental rights in the Commission's
own legislative proposals should form the subject of "an
appropriate communication targeted at European citizens".
The Commission explains that increasing publicity in this way
would reinforce the credibility of the Commission's initiatives
and would "promote the image of the Charter as an essential
vehicle of a European civil identity based on common values",
as well as encouraging citizens to assert their fundamental rights
in the consultation conducted by the Commission.
The Government's view
5.7 In her Explanatory Memorandum of 14 July the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Constitutional
Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland) summarises the content
of the Communication, notes the Commission's aims in publicising
its monitoring activities, but states that "no serious policy
implications arise from this Communication". The Minister
describes it as being primarily concerned with improving the
way the Commission monitors compliance with fundamental rights
and with the way it "mainstreams" fundamental rights
in its legislative proposals.
5.8 The Minister also notes that, although the document
was adopted by the Commission on 27 April, it was not transmitted
to the Council until 16 June.
Conclusion
5.9 In view of the prominence which the Commission
gives to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the legal status of
which is controversial, we find it strange that the Minister should
consider this Communication to have no serious policy implications.
5.10 The Commission proposes a publicity campaign
to promote "the image of the Charter as an essential vehicle
of a European civil identity based on common values", but
the Minister offers no comment on this or on the question of whether
such common values are in fact expressed under the European Convention
on Human Rights, which is binding on Member States, as opposed
to the Charter, which is not. We would be grateful for the Minister's
comments.
5.11 We shall hold the document under scrutiny
pending the Minister's reply.
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