EP Committee wants Charter in new EU Constitution
The majority of MEPs in the Constitutional Affairs Committee approved on Thursday a draft report by liberal MEP Andrew Duff, which states that the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be incorporated in a new Constitutional Treaty without amending the provisions contained in the Charter. This report, which will be presented in the next plenary session in the European Parliament later this month, was approved by twenty one MEPs in favour and three against.
An integral part of new Constitutional Treaty
The Committee stressed that the Charter should be incorporated into the basic law of the EU as an integral part of a new constitutional treaty, and warned of the dangers of refusing to make the Charter mandatory upon all the EU institutions, EU member states, bodies and agencies .
Vitorino presents progress report to Convention
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Also on Thursday justice and home affairs Commissioner, Antonio Vitorino, during the plenary session of the Convention presented his working group’s progress on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. He said that in his group, there was either "support without reservation" or "readiness" to see the charter attached to the Treaty. Still open was whether to insert the charter in the treaty or refer to in an article and attach as a protocol. His group also felt that the EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Brussels could take the UK to court over strikes
However, accession of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the treaty was met with resistance by some delegates in the Convention. Peter Hain, the UK minister for Europe, articulated the British government’s worries on the matter. It is worried that inclusion of the charter into the treaty will mean that the right to strike will be guaranteed in the treaty. Technically it would mean that Brussels could take the UK to court over strikes, with a final decision being taken by the European Court of Justice.
At present the charter does not have any legal status. It isjust a text which outline rights which already exist in member states. It was drafted on 2 October 2000 after a proposal from the Cologne European Council on 3-4 June 1999. The Charter was finally signed and proclaimed by the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on 7 December 2000 in Nice.