17 FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME ON FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHTS AND JUSTICE
(26529)
8210/05
COM(05) 122
+ ADD1
| Commission Communication establishing a Framework Programme on
Fundamental Rights and Justice for the period 2007-13
Commission Staff Working Paper
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Department | Constitutional Affairs
|
| Basis of consideration |
Minister's letter of 22 December 2005 |
| Previous Committee Report |
HC 34-iv (2005-06), para 13 (20 July 2005) |
| To be discussed in Council
| No date fixed |
| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
17.1 We considered this Framework Programme on "Fundamental
Rights and Justice" on 20 July 2005 when we noted that its
objectives were to complement existing EU policies in the field
of fundamental rights and those designed to fight anti-semitism,
racism and xenophobia, to deal with violence and drug misuse and
to promote judicial co-operation. The Programme included the outlines
of four draft legislative proposals relating to violence against
children, young people and women and drugs, fundamental rights
and citizenship, criminal justice and civil justice.
17.2 We noted that these proposals would have to
be submitted individually at a later stage, but we questioned
the reliance by the Commission on Article 308 EC as the legal
base for the proposal on fundamental rights and citizenship, and
the utility or justification for including the promotion of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights as a specific objective of the Programme.
We asked the Minister to address these two concerns. We also asked
the Minister to explain in particular the justification for an
EU programme of fundamental rights in the absence of a legally
binding EU bill of rights, and when human rights matters remained
primarily the responsibility of Member States either individually
or as signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Minister's reply
17.3 In her letter of 22 December 2005 the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Constitutional
Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland) first explains that her
Department has assumed responsibility for this matter from the
Home Office, as the Department for Constitutional Affairs is leading
on the negotiations relating to the proposed European Fundamental
Rights Agency.
17.4 On the use of Article 308 EC as a legal base
for a proposal on fundamental rights and citizenship, the Minister
explains that the Regulation[49]
establishing the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia
(EUMC) was based in part on the provision then equivalent to Article
308 EC[50] and that it
is now proposed to extend the mandate of the EUMC. The Minister
adds that "the importance of fundamental rights in Community
law has been accepted for many years" and that "the
European Court of Justice has confirmed that fundamental rights
are part of the general principles of Community law, and that
compliance with fundamental rights is a condition of legality
of Community acts". The Minister observes that the Framework
Programme "will support the application of some of these
principles as they apply to areas of Community action, including
in the course of the operation of the common market".
17.5 On the justification for an EU programme of
fundamental rights, including the promotion of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights, the Minister comments that the Commission's
desire to promote the Charter in the Programme "is not without
precedent" and explains that the decision to create the Charter
was based "on a desire for greater transparency, and greater
clarity for the citizens of Europe". The Minister recalls
that the conclusions of the Cologne European Council in 1999 called
for the creation of a Charter, stating that "the fundamental
rights applicable at Union level should be consolidated in a Charter
and thereby made more evident" and also refers to the conclusions
of the Nice European Council in 2000 which welcomed the proclamation
of the Charter as a political declaration and stated that the
European Council "would like to see the Charter disseminated
as widely as possible amongst the Union's citizens".
17.6 On the legal status of the Charter, the Minister
states that "the Charter of Fundamental Rights is not legally
binding, and does not create new rights or place new obligations
on Member States". In support of this statement, the Minister
refers to the preamble to the Charter to show that the "Charter
reaffirm … the rights as they result, in particular from
the constitutional traditions and international obligations common
to the Member States". The Minister adds that "the Government's
policy will remain in line with the Nice declaration and preamble".
Conclusion
17.7 We thank the Minister for her letter. We
do not find the Minister's arguments in favour of the reliance
on Article 308 EC to be conclusive, but the point is clearly arguable.
17.8 We have more concern over the inconsistency
in the Government's position in asserting, on the one hand, that
the Charter of Fundamental Rights is not legally binding and does
not create new rights or obligations and, on the other, being
prepared to confer a role on the EUMC as a Community body in relation
to the operation of the Charter. In our view, this cannot fail
but to give the Charter an increased status and legitimacy, and
we do not consider that the likely consequences, such as the risk
of duplication of the work of the Council of Europe, have been
fully thought through.
17.9 We shall need to consider this question more
closely when legislative proposals are made, but we now clear
the present document.
49 Council Regulation (EC) No 1035/97, OJ No L 151,
10.06.1997, p.1. Back
50
The provision was Article 235 of the EC Treaty. The Regulation
was also based on the then Article 213 (now Article 284 EC). Back
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