Activities of Cristian TERHEŞ related to 2021/2186(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union – annual report for the years 2020-2021
Amendments (53)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Expresses concern about the number of petitions setting out cases of discrimination; in this context, stresses that discrimination remains one of the most serious and unacceptable threats to fundamental rights and that it has no place in any aspect of life; regrets the fact that the proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (COM(2008)0426) (the ‘horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive’) remains blocked in the Council, and calls on the Commission to propose new anti-discrimination legislation; calls, therefore, on the Member States to effectively tackle every alleged case of discrimination and to deal with it in accordance with EU and national law;
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
— having regard to Article 2 of the TEU,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)
Citation 3 a (new)
— having regard to Article 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 15 and 45 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
— having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 b (new)
Citation 5 b (new)
— having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/953 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2021 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID- 19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU Digital COVID Certificate) to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that LGBTI people face some of the biggestminorities face a challenges as far as fundamental rights are concerned, and, in particular, the right to non-discrimination; stresses that the right of a person to self- determination of their sex, sexual orientation or gender identity is inviolable; highlights that in spite of the progress made in recent years with regard to LGBTI acceptance, the situation of LGBTI people in the EU remains critical, as they continue to be the targets of discrimination;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission, in the light of the increase in the number of cases of discrimination on various grounds, in particular of a person’s sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, to ensure that the Charter is upheld and adhered to, using all legal instruments provided for; calls on the Commission and the Fundamental Rights Agency to work together to raise awareness about the problem, in order to guarantee equality for all EU citizens;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 34 #
4 b. Notes with concern the increasing attacks on Christian churches and synagogues in EU Member States; calls on the Member States to take the necessary legal and practical measures to prevent and stop such attacks;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights the importance of the child’s best interests in cross-border family litigation; emphasises that, when considering child's best interests, one of the guiding principles must be the importance of family integrity and preference for avoiding removal of the child from his/her family; emphasises the importance of close cooperation and efficient communication between the different national and local authorities involved in child custody proceedings; calls on the Member States to introduce non- discriminatory monitoring and evaluation systems for child-related cases, which ensure full respect for the fundamental rights of the child, particularly the principle of the best interests of the child; calls on the Member States to respect the right of children to see their parents in spite of the restrictive measures linked to the pandemic, as long as this does not endanger the children’s safety and health;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the years 2020 and 2021 saw the most draconian loss of fundamental rights in the history of the EU as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby citizens were forced to stay at home, close businesses, remain distant from friends and family, maintain physical distance and go untreated for ‘non-urgent’ medical issues, were prevented from attending places of worship and from travelling within and outside the EU, and were forced to show a historically worrisome ' health' pass to enter premises or vehicles; whereas in times of crisis, respect for fundamental rights is even more essential than in normal times and must therefore be the subject of increased vigilance;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas as enshrined in Article 2 TEU, the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, values which must be upheld by the EU and by each individual Member State;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas equality before the law and non-discrimination are enshrined in Article 20 and Article 21 of the Charter;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises that the measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic adopted by many of the Member States have interfered withviolated the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Union’s legal order, such as the freedom of movement of persons, including travelling within the EU and within countries, the freedom of expression and information, and the right to privacy and data protection, especially in relation to public health and measures taken in order to safeguard it; stresses that the measures taken to contain the pandemic must be in accordance with the rules and principles of the Charter;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the rule of law is one of the common values on which the EU is founded;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas the limits of Union competences are governed by the principle of conferral, which in consequence means that competences not conferred upon the Union by the Treaties remain competences of the Member States;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
Ae. whereas the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2020 and 2021 have been undermined since the introduction of the European Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), which was introduced to facilitate safe cross-border movement during the Covid-19 pandemic, but in reality has been a limitation to free movement of European citizens;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Highlights that, even though the Regulation 2021/953 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU Digital COVID Certificate) was intended only to "facilitate freedom of movement" during the COVID-19 pandemic1a, in practice it was used to condition people's fundamental rights like the right to work, the right to travel, the right to healthcare and the right to freely express their religious beliefs; calls on the EU Member States to stop conditioning the exercise of people's rights based on this certificate; _________________ 1a https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021 R0953
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Notes with regret the high number of petitions concerning emergency quarantine measures that have been adopted by several Member States as a result of the pandemic and which may have restricted citizens’ rights and freedoms, such as the freedom of expression and information, the freedom of assembly and of association, and the freedom of movement and of residence; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the Member States to effectively tackle COVID-19-related discrimination, hate speech and racism against ethnic minority groups, migrants and refugees, or people with a migrant background;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Highlights that the close of educational facilities in all Member States has led to an unprecedented shift to online learning, even though the educational systems lacked the digital infrastructure, less than 40% of educators being ready to use digital technologies in teaching 1c and many low-income homes having no access to computers; calls the Member States to respect the right to education and to not discriminate children from low-income homes; _________________ 1c OECD (2019), TALIS 2018 results, OECD Publishing, Paris. The main survey (International Standard Classification of Education level 2) was conducted in 31 OECD countries, including 22 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden).
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11 c. Emphasises that the restrictive measures in the EU Member States also affected the courts activities and the judicial system, which has violated people's right to access to justice, defense and due process;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Paragraph 11 d (new)
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the return of migrants whose asylum application has been rejected is an essential part of a successful migration and asylum policy and in line with international and EU law;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the introduction of the EUDCC for every citizen of the EU flouts the principle of non-discrimination (guaranteed by Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU) as it provides for a different treatment between vaccinated and unvaccinated persons, in the absence of any valid scientific basis;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas the (indirect) obligation to vaccinate has been a condition for the exercise of free movement of persons.in the EU, which constitutes a clear violation of the right to freedom enjoyed by every citizen of the Union under Article 6 of the Charter;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas Member States have used the EUDCC for purposes other than cross-border travel, extending the use of so called vaccine passports to allow for entry into non-essential locations as bars and restaurants;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas Regulation 2021/953 does not guarantee for the protection of data privacy;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas there has been a deterioration of the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech, illustrated by the countless twitter bans and other social media account suspensions and censorships of people exercising their rights;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
Cg. whereas on 15 March 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in its judgement in case 21881/20, that the ban on public demonstrations during the first wave of COVID-19 of the Swiss government was disproportionate and a violation of the right to freedom of assembly;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Is deeply concerned about the deterioration of fundamental rights in the EU in 2020 and 2021;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Council, the Commission and the Member States to revoke the EUDCC and any other national equivalent of the digital passport, as it infringes on the right of equal treatment, and has resulted in discrimination against those who do not wish to be vaccinated or tested;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Notes that the collection and processing of personal data for the purposes of behavioural manipulation have an increasing impact on the fundamental rights of citizens in the EU, particularly the rights to privacy, data protection and information; urges competent authorities to ensure the full application of EU data protection law and privacy law, and to ensure that individuals understand when and how their personal data is processed and for what purposes, and how they can object to data processing and file complaints, in order to protect their right to personal data protection and privacy;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on Member States to protect and develop an independent, pluralist and free media sector; condemns in this regard any measures aimed at silencing critical media and undermining media freedom; expresses concern about the creation of government-controlled bodies which manage large parts of a country’s media landscape and the hijacking of public service media outlets to serve partisan interests; recalls that where media ownership remains highly concentrated, whether in government or private hands, it constitutes a significant risk to the diversity of information represented in media content; recalls that freedom of information, and media freedom are fundamental to democracy and the rule of law and urges Member States to guarantee the independence of their media authorities;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Recalls the fundamental role of investigative journalism in acting as a watchdog in a democratic society; condemns the persistence and increase in many Member States of threats and intimidation against journalists, including in relation to the disclosure of information about breaches of fundamental rights;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Expresses its concern about the threat that different forms of propaganda and misinformation pose to freedom of speech and expression and to the independence of the media, and the negative effects they might have on the quality of political debate and on the participation of citizens in democratic societies;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Believes that all Member States must fully comply with the Charter in their legislative practices and must fully respect the rule of law and the principle of the separation of powers;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States to protect and uphold the rule of law and the fundamental values of the Union, including fundamental rights and democracy for the upcoming years and to learn from the mistakes made in 2020 and 2021;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Notes that the EU has acted ultra vires in adopting the rule of law conditionality regulation, in that it has gone beyond the powers conferred upon it by the Member States; further considers that the rule of law conditionality regulation violates the unanimity principle set out in Article 7 TEU and therefore constitutes a breach of EU law;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that law enforcement officials must respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons while performing their duty; stresses that the foremost task of police forces is to ensure the safety of citizens, and to ensure protests are conducted in a peaceful manner; condemns the use of violent and disproportionate interventions by law enforcement authorities during peaceful demonstrations over COVID-19 measures and government overreach in Member States as Austria, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Strongly condemns the increasing restrictions on freedom of assembly, including during the COVID-19 period; calls on Member States to refrain from adopting restrictive laws concerning freedom of assembly and encourages the EU and its Member States to take further steps to safeguard and protect freedom of assembly, as a fundamental right and as basic principles of democratic processes;
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Expresses its deep concern at the increasing forms of intimidation and political pressure exerted upon scientists, elected officials and activists engaged in exposing the disinformation spread by the EU institutions and the national governments regarding COVID-19;
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Deplores the fact that the fight against disinformation has been abused, as so often in the past, to try to suppress dissident opinions which have, in fact, turned out to be useful in helping the public better to understand the COVID-19 situation; emphasises that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not permit censorship on the basis of allegations that an opinion is false;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Emphasises the important role of whistle-blowers in safeguarding the public interest and in promoting a culture of public accountability and integrity in both public and private institutions;
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Strongly condemns NGOs masquerading as aid agencies while facilitating the smuggling of unqualified migrants into the EU; urges the Commission to cease funding such entities; calls on the Commission and the Member States to put a halt to "pull" factors of illegal migration;
Amendment 340 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Member States to protect the life, health and property of their citizens who are suffering from the consequences of the uncontrolled influx of economic migrants;
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Highlights that the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and its Protocols 1d, as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (especially art. 3) guarantee, without discrimination, the respect for bodily integrity of any person, who can receive a medical product only after "the free and informed consent"; notes, with deep concern that, despite such protection in the EU law of the fundamental rights, many EU Members States, with the tacit approval of the European Commission, have imposed sanctions or restrictions to EU citizens who are not vaccinated, like denying them access to employment, certain public places, hotels, restaurants, or fining them, thereby coercing them to be vaccinated against their free will; notes, also, that the European Commission had not published the full version of the contracts signed with the vaccine companies, which violates the right to an "informed consent" of a person; calls on the European Commission and the Member States to stop immediately any restrictive or punitive measures against people who are not vaccinated, and respect the right of all the people to bodily integrity;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Strongly condemns Austria for being the first and only Member state to have introduced mandatory vaccination for all its citizens as this is a violation of the right to bodily autonomy;
Amendment 367 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Condemns the national governments of Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, which have made access to the workplace conditional on the presentation of the EUDCC; condemns in the strongest possible terms all Member States which have introduced mandatory vaccination in the workplace; stresses that these national measures, which are based on the framework of Regulation2021/953, has impeded the right to work for millions of Union citizens; points out that such an infringement is contrary to Article 15, 20 and 21 of the Charter;
Amendment 368 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 c (new)
Paragraph 17 c (new)
17c. Condemns the government of Latvia for stripping the rights of the unvaccinated members of the national Latvian parliament of their right to vote on legislation and participate in discussions;