Activites

• 2007/03/15 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0078/2007 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Johannes VOGGENHUBER (Greens/EFA, AT) in response to the Commission communication on monitoring of compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Commission's legislative proposals. The report was adopted by 485 votes in favour to 87 against with 29 abstentions. Parliament stressed the need to overcome the crisis in the constitutional process, to preserve the central achievements of the constitutional treaty, and to establish the Charter of Fundamental Rights as legally binding. It welcomed the Commission's proposals on the consolidation and improved transparency of the procedure on compliance with fundamental rights in its legislative proposals, and called on the Commission to make the monitoring process more transparent and to consult with relevant actors in civil society, particularly those potentially affected by the Commission proposal. The Commission's proposed 'systematic' monitoring made it absolutely necessary for every legislative proposal to be thoroughly checked and for the result to be substantiated. Genuinely systematic and rigorous protection of fundamental rights called not only for scrutiny to identify any legal errors in weighing up the respective importance of the freedom of the individual and the requirements of the public interest, but also for political analysis on every occasion to ascertain which of the various solutions that weigh up these interests correctly produced the best balance between determination of the objective and restriction of fundamental rights (optimisation in terms of fundamental rights). Parliament rejected the Commission's reservations on bringing annulment proceedings 'on the basis of case-by-case political scrutiny' and strongly emphasised the absolute priority of the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms over all political considerations. It pointed out that, even though general consultation procedures existed, independent external bodies which were specifically concerned with fundamental rights issues must be more extensively involved. The Commission must devise a specific arrangement for enabling such bodies to be consulted during the procedure for drafting legislative proposals which had an impact on fundamental rights. Parliament called on the Council to strengthen the systematic monitoring of fundamental rights also in areas covered by intergovernmental cooperation, to publish the results and likewise to secure the support of the Fundamental Rights Agency. Member State parliaments, in particular in the fields of police and judicial cooperation and the common foreign and security policy, were requested to verify the compatibility of all decisions and measures with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, so that the indivisibility of fundamental rights is preserved and the systematic and thorough monitoring of fundamental rights in all the Union's policies could be ensured. The Council and the Commission should submit a yearly report on the fundamental rights policy of the Union to Parliament and the national parliaments, and engage in a systematic, open and permanent dialogue on the safeguarding of fundamental rights in the Union. Lastly, Parliament called on the Commission and the Council to report to Parliament on the follow-up given to the reports by the network of national experts.

• 2007/03/14 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2007/02/12 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A6-0034/2007
• 2007/02/01 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2005/09/29 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2005/04/27 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2005)0172 summary

    PURPOSE : to set out a methodology for ensuring compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Commission legislative proposals. CONTENT : The Charter was incorporated into the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed on 29 October 2004. This document sets out a methodologyfor ensuring the Charter is properly implemented in Commission proposals, which methodology has a threefold objective:-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, and the Group of Commissioners on Fundamental Rights, Anti-discrimination and Equal Opportunities in particular, to follow the results of the scrutiny and to promote a “fundamental rights culture”;-to make the results of the Commission’s monitoring of fundamental rights more visible to other institutions and to the general public. The Commission should be seen to set an example, which will also give it credibility and authority in monitoring respect for fundamental rights in the activities of the two branches of the legislature.The checks are already carried out when the lead department draws up the draft and, in particular, during the interdepartmental consultation where the Legal Service checks for compliance as an integral part of its verification of legality.However, to further reinforce and systematise the practical aspects of scrutiny at the interdepartmental consultation stage, fundamental rights will be brought into even sharper focus in two key documents submitted together with the draft legislative proposal:-the impact assessment, which should include as full and precise a picture as possible of the different impacts on individual rights-the explanatory memorandum, which for certain legislative proposals should contain a section on the legal basis for compliance with fundamental rights. The impact assessment provides the Commission, right from the start of the drafting process, with a complete picture of the various impacts which the process can have on the individuals and groups whose rights may be involved, depending on the different options envisaged.On the other hand, an impact assessment cannot be used to contain the legal scrutiny, i.e. the legal definition of the impacts identified in the light of the provisions of the Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights, and the case-law. The legal scrutiny calls for specific expertise and should concern an advanced draft proposal. It should as far as possible be initiated within the lead department itself and then continued during the interdepartmental consultation procedure through the formal involvement of the Legal Service; it should if necessary be summarised in the explanatory memorandum, and thus be made publicly visible.The lead department will also ensure that the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security is involved in the interdepartmental consultation when a proposal is liable to raise issues relating to fundamental rights, notably in the light of the impact assessment. Similarly, it will ensure that the relevant external relations Directorate-General is associated where a proposal might affect the fundamental rights of third-country nationals outside the Union.The Legal Service will keep the Group of Commissioners regularly informed of significant cases where fundamental rights have been subject to internal monitoring. In very special cases where proposals require a careful balance between several opposing fundamental rights, the Group may also produce policy guidelines, within the margins for political discretion afforded by the provisions of the Charter.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/legal_service/', 'title': 'Legal Service'}, BARROSO José Manuel

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2005)0172
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A6-0034/2007
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0078/2007

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)