Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-14-Speech-2-126"
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"en.20000314.8.2-126"2
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"Mr President, I would just like to say a few words on the question of the incorporation of the Charter into the Treaties. The European Parliament declared itself fully in favour of this move, convinced that this is the way to guarantee the legal status of the Charter and to consolidate the protection of rights at a legal level as well, awarding jurisdiction to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The governments, and, on their behalf, the Council of Cologne, left the question open. They left a question mark over whether and how to incorporate the Charter into the Treaties. We feel that the Intergovernmental Conference is our opportunity to resolve this question, and this opportunity must not be passed up.
There are, so to speak, two parallel operations. It is the responsibility of the Convention to prepare the draft Charter in time for the Intergovernmental Conference to be able to decide whether to incorporate it into the Treaties. In this regard, I would like to warn the representative of the Council, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that the Intergovernmental Conference should already be starting to prepare for this eventuality. If the Charter is ready in time, the Intergovernmental Conference will have to define the procedures for its incorporation into the Treaty. As we are all aware, from the European Parliament’s perspective, this should represent a step towards the constitutionalisation of the Union. I am quite aware that the term ‘constitutionalisation’ has come to be viewed with some suspicion recently, and that people are afraid to use it, or at least, prefer to avoid using it. From time to time I find myself in difficulties, because the parliamentary committee of which I am Chairman has changed its name from the ‘Committee on Institutional Affairs’ to the ‘Committee on Constitutional Affairs’. And yet I feel that this is the right way for us to go and that it does not in any way mean promoting that concept we all fear of a European superstate. Nothing can undermine the value of the national constitutions, in the same way that, according to the Treaties, European citizenship does not replace national citizenship, but incorporates it.
The governments did something very courageous when they gave the go-ahead for the preparation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Cologne, and now they should not have any regrets. They should not turn back, but should exploit their decision to the full.
Ladies and gentlemen, human rights are a constitutional issue. The incorporation of the Charter of Rights into the Treaties is the logical result of the decision taken in Cologne, which was taken for the benefit of the citizens, that they might have a part in the construction of Europe and fully identify with the plans for the Union, its principles, its values and its institutions."@en1
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