Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-13-Speech-1-114"

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"en.20030113.6.1-114"2
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"Mr President, in common with the EU Member States, the European Parliament has a responsibility to defend human rights and fundamental freedoms and rights. At the same time, there is a dangerous tendency to put democratic freedoms such as freedom of expression and thought and the freedom to vote, on an equal footing with far-reaching social requirements. This weakens the basis of democracy. If all rights are equally important, no right is in the end especially important. An annual report by the European Parliament is of doubtful value if it is a spectrum of subjective views. Political wish lists easily result in new topics being lighted upon instead of there being a focus upon the really fundamental rights. In tackling these issues from a perspective other than that of this broad spectrum of views, I am amazed that there are no rights to good governance and democratic elections. These rights should be more to the point than many of those included in the report. It has become apparent that existing Member States too need to be reminded of them. The EU should impose sanctions on Member States that fail to uphold democratic elections and in which there is proven electoral fraud. The Convention should reflect upon these issues. There are, however, positive new things in the report worth mentioning. Data protection and transparency are included. Rights to these must be developed in the Treaty. Data protection and the right of access to documents are included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The time is now ripe for citizens’ right to information under Article 255 of the Treaty to be made more specific. In conclusion, the European Parliament has an important role to play in issues relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms and rights. I hope that the Convention consolidates this role by creating a democratic system of decision-making and a right for people to go to court and, in certain cases, obtain damages if their rights have been infringed. The issue clearly needs to be explored further. Mrs Swiebel has made this clear. That is good, but there should preferably be a more concentrated approach next time, with the issue explored more deeply rather than just broadened out. We must clearly develop our methods for the future."@en1

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