Activities of Kinga GÖNCZ related to 2011/2069(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Fundamental rights in the European Union (2010 - 2011) (debate)
Amendments (50)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 1
Section 1 – paragraph 1
1. Believes that the expectations of many European citizens and residents addressing EU institutions to denounce violations and calling for the protection of fundamental rights and European values enshrined in the Charter and in the Treaties are often dashed as a result of the restrictive interpretation of EU powers and roles in the field of fundamental rights by some EU institutionsthe Commission and the Council, and underlines that this creates a risk for the credibility of the EU, the Commission as ‘guardian of the Treaties’ and the EU legal order based on the Treaties and the Charter as a whole2 ;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 2
Section 1 – paragraph 2
2. Reaffirms, in this context, that the EU and its institutions have a duty to respect, guarantee, protect and promote the fundamental rights of European citizens in the EU, on the basis of the Charter and of Articles 2, 7 and 9-12 TFEU, notably in cases where these rights are not effectively and appropriately guaranteed at national level; recalls that Article 51 of the Charter should not be used to minimise the importance of the Charter and of its application, and underlines that this article does not abrogate the role and powers that EU institutions have in relation to the protection of European fundamental principles and values of democracy, rule of law, citizenship and equality;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 3
Section 1 – paragraph 3
3. Recalls the role and the responsibility of Parliament towards European citizens generally, and in particular through the petitions process, established by the Treaty, which creates an obligation to seek non- judicial remedies on behalf of petitioners, where appropriate and based upon the facts of each case, in order to assist citizens in the exercise of their fundamental rights, and to ensure that the values and principles contained in the Charter and the Treaties are properly applied in the European Union and in each and every Member State;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 6
Section 1 – paragraph 6
6. Deplores instances of discrimination against minorities, and calls on the Council to act effectively and responsibly to uphold the values of the Union in relation to Member States who fail to fully respect their Treaty obligations on such issues, and calls for stronger EU legislation, policies and actions on racism, discrimination of gypsies, xenophobia and, homophobia, violence and hatred against any minority group;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas respecting and promoting these values is an essential element of the European Union identity and a condition to becoming an EU member and to fully preserving the member prerogatives;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 7
Section 1 – paragraph 7
7. Draws attention to the restrictions on the freedom of the media in Member States regularly reflected in many petitions received, and calls on the Commission to task the Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) with a monitoring role in this field an; welcomes the drafting of the own initiative report by the European Parliament on setting standards for media freedom across the EU which could lead to a review of the EU legislation in order to ensure that common standards for media pluralism and media freedom are applied;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the EU's hitherto fragmentary approach to human rights has led to calls for a coherent EU human rights policy; whereas no mechanism bringing together the various fundamental rights actors within the EU structure currently exists;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas citizens can enjoy their rights fully only if the fundamental values and principles, such as the rule of law, the independence of judiciary, freedom of the media and non-discrimination are respected;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas the gap between fundamental rights and their implementation undermines the credibility of the EU as well as of its Member States and the effective respect for and promotion of human rights, within its territory and throughout the world;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 13 a (new)
Section 1 – paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Considers the mandate of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency should be reviewed to include the necessary competences to regularly monitor the situation of democracy and the rule of law in the Member States on the basis of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, and be given adequate resources; in the future, this monitoring activity should also cover the monitoring of the situation in all Member States of the European Union; asks the FRA to publish annual situation reports and present them to the European Parliament;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Section 1 – paragraph 13 b (new)
Section 1 – paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Awaits with great interest the assessment of the FRA that was launched in December 2011 under Article 30 of the FRA Regulation1; asks the Commission to include the monitoring activities described under a) in its proposal for a revision of the Regulation further to Article 31 paragraph 2 of the Regulation; 1 168/2007/EC establishing a European Agency of Fundamental Rights.
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas together with Article 2 TEU, Article 7 TEU grants the EU institutions the power to assess whether there is a breach of the common values such as respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the Member States, to politically engage with the countries concerned to prevent and redress violations;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas the effective protection and the promotion of fundamental rights calls on the Member States to accept, in a spirit of solidarity and of sincere cooperation with the other Member States, the EU scrutiny of the respect of EU values in legislation policies and practices,
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that its annual report on the implementation of the Charter adopts a more balanced and self-critical analysis, to include not only positive developments but also analysis of where it could strengthen its approach in the future;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that a sufficient level of funding is ensured in funding programmes dedicated to fundamental rights and anti-discrimination during the coming Multiannual Financial Framework;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Urges national parliaments to enhance their role in human rights scrutiny of EU activities and national implementation of EU law and invites them to hold periodic meetings focused on the strategies to be developed to implement the Charter and the jurisprudence of the EU Courts;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Notes that participation in international treaties for the protection and promotion of human rights can only serve to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights within the EU and welcomes the fact that the EU has joined the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and will join the ECHR; calls on the Council and Commission to take steps towards becoming party to other international human rights treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Regrets the weak reaction of the Commission to specific violations of fundamental rights and weakening of democratic checks and balances and the rule of law in Member States and calls on the Commission to ensure that infringement proceedings secure the effective protection of human rights, rather than aiming for negotiated settlements with Member States;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Considers that, in order to maintain the credibility of the accession conditions, Member States should also be regularly assessed for their continued compliance with the EU's fundamental values and the fulfilment of their commitments concerning the functioning of democratic institutions and the rule of law;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Stresses that the mandate of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights should be enhanced to include regular monitoring of Member States' compliance with Article 2 TEU, publishing annual reports on the findings and presenting them in the European Parliament;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Calls for a closer cooperation between Union institutions and other international bodies particularly with the Council of Europe and its European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) to make use of its expertise in upholding the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law and to make their recommendations enforceable;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Calls for the setting-up of appropriate National Human Rights Institutions in all Member States and for measures facilitating the networking of these bodies across the EU with the support of the FRA; invites the EU institutions and the Member States to develop the capacity and guarantee the independence of Equality Bodies and Data Protection Bodies, of NHRIs and of FRA as human rights litigants;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 d (new)
Paragraph 9 d (new)
9d. Regrets the worsening situation of media freedom in various Member States; calls on the Member States to respect and the Commission to take appropriate actions to monitor and enforce the freedom of media and media pluralism; welcomes the initiative of the European Parliament to draft a report on standard settings for media freedom across EU;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Points to shortcomings in the current mandate of the FRA, notably the limited number of comparative evaluation between Member States and the lack of assessments of the whole human rights, rule of law and democracy landscape of Member States;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Considers that the FRA scientific committee should be composed of former members of the European and national constitutional Courts, appointed by designation, as follows: a third by the EP, a third by the Council and a third by the Commission; considers that it should play an independent and neutral role in the interest of the EU institutions, as is done by the Council of Europe Venice Commission;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on Member States to collect disaggregated data for all grounds of discrimination, as well as to develop fundamental rights indicators in cooperation with the FRA, in order to ensure properly informed and targeted legislation and policies, particularly in the field of non-discrimination and in the context of national Roma integration strategies;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Deplores the fact that not all Member States have properly transposed the Council Framework Decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law; calls on Member States to prosecute xenophobia, racism, anti- gypsyism, and other forms of violence and hatred against any minority groups, including hate speech;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Calls on the Commission to propose a recast of the Framework Decision to include other forms of bias-motivated crime, including on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Calls on the Member States to ensure that bias-motivated offences, such as of racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, islamophobic, homophobic or transphobic intent are punishable within the criminal law system, and that these crimes are investigated effectively, prosecuted and punished, that victims are offered proper assistance, protection and compensation, and that such offences are properly registered;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses that the principles of human dignity and equality before the law are foundations of democratic society; deems incomprehensibleregrettable and contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Treaty the current blockage of Council negotiations on the Commission's proposal for a horizontal directive extending comprehensive protection against discrimination on all grounds, including religion or belief, disability, age or, sexual orientation, or gender identity and urges efforts to ensure adoption as soon as possible; calls on the Member States which are currently blocking the negotiations to make public their arguments so that EU citizens can better understand why no progress is made;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls on Member States to address racial and ethnic discrimination in employment, housing, education, health, access to goods and services;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Regrets that citizens of Roma origin are subjected to collective expulsion procedures by Member States and deplores the weak reaction of the Commission in certain cases;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Member States to eliminate spatial segregation, forced evictions and homelessness faced by the Roma setting up effective and transparent housing policies and to avoid criminalisation of homelessness;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Calls on the Member States to address the high levels of unemployment among the Roma by removing barriers to accessing employment;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Calls on the Member States to reform their national educational systems in order to address the needs of Roma children and to dismantle segregated educational arrangements;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Reiterates its call for a targeted approach to the social inclusion of Roma women in order to avoid multiple discrimination and ethnic segregation;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 4
Subheading 4
Equal opportunitiesity between women and men
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Welcomes the Commission proposals on jurisdiction and applicable law for the property effects of marriages and registered partnerships; considers however that the choice of two different instruments and of a separate approach for registered partnerships and marriages are unjustified; considers that the same choices of jurisdiction and applicable law should apply in both cases;
Amendment 278 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Calls on the Commission to come up with a proposal for the full mutual recognition of the effects of all civil status documents across the EU, including marriages and registered partnerships, in order to reduce discriminatory legal and administrative barriers for citizens who exercise their right to free movement;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Calls on the Commission to use the results of this survey to prepare an EU Roadmap for equality on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, with a view to adoption by 2014;
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 c (new)
Paragraph 26 c (new)
26c. Calls on Member States to ensure the effective protection of participants in LGBT public events, including pride marches, and to ensure these events can take place lawfully;
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 6
Subheading 6
The youth, elderly and disabled peoplepersons with disabilities
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Calls on all the Member States to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol and to ensure that all national action plans are in line with the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and aim at improving accessibility, employment, inclusive education and training, as well as independent living for people with disabilities;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 b (new)
Paragraph 30 b (new)
30b. Calls on the EU and on the Member States to improve access to employment and training of persons with disabilities, including persons with psycho-social disabilities, using existing EU funds;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 c (new)
Paragraph 30 c (new)
30c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU funding for internal and external actions is not used to create barriers or to generate discrimination against persons with disabilities and to put in place adequate measures in the adoption of new funding programmes to prevent this;
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32a. Is concerned about the existing trends of undermining the independence of data protection authorities and welcomes the Commission vigilance; calls on Member States to comply with existing provisions and the relevant case-law;
Amendment 376 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Stresses the importance of an community-based evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis in line with fundamental rights principles;
Amendment 379 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Calls on all EU institutions to effectively address challenges such as the removal of children from the custody of one or both parents, missing children, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, protection of unaccompanied migrant children and the situation of institutionalised disabled childrenchildren with disabilities;
Amendment 412 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Urges Member States to restructure their court systems, review the level of court fees, reform the legal aid system and to provide alternative dispute settlement mechanisms so as to facilitate equal access to justice to the maximum extent possible;
Amendment 446 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45 a (new)
Paragraph 45 a (new)
45a. Calls on the EU and the Member States to increase public awareness of the Citizens’ Initiative, a tool for direct democracy aiming at enhancing the Union’s democratic functioning;