Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-19-Speech-1-049"
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"en.20040419.5.1-049"2
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".
Mr President, firstly, I would like to thank the rapporteur for this report which replies to the Commission's communication on Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union. In that communication, which was addressed to the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission aimed to provide a framework for analysis of the conditions for the application of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union in order to initiate a dialogue with the other two institutions responsible for implementing this important provision.
The Commission is pleased with the favourable reaction of Parliament to the principle of this Commission initiative. Fundamental rights and the rule of law are the foundations of the European Union and a significant departure by any Member State from these values threatens to call into question the common values upon which the Union was built. For this reason, the Commission's communication underlined prevention as a means of obviating the need to resort to Article 7 or, in any event, to impose the penalties provided for by this Article. Evidently, penalties should still be resorted to if necessary – let us be clear on this particular point.
As the draft resolution rightly stressed, the Union must first and foremost have confidence in Member States and their own institutions, for example the constitutional courts. However, as part of a preventive approach it is undoubtedly necessary, as has in fact been requested by Parliament, for the Union to monitor respect for fundamental rights, and for independent European expertise to be developed in this area. As you are aware, we have put in place a network of independent experts which my colleague Mr Vitorino commented on at length at the last part-session during the debate on fundamental rights in the Union. Prevention also requires cooperation between institutions and the Member States, dialogue with citizens and information and education of the public.
A point meriting particular attention, and with which the Commission fully concurs, is the reference to the principles that must be respected when considering whether to enforce Article 7. These are the trust that should govern the EU's relationship with its Member States, the respect for pluralism, the principle of the equality of the Member States and the principle of the transparency of the decisions taken under Article 7.
I note also that the report considers that the role of the Vienna Monitoring Centre could be revised with a view to providing 'independent and objective scrutiny on a broader basis'. This is in line with the European Council's decision in December 2003 to extend the Centre's mandate to convert it into an Agency for Fundamental Rights, which is supported by the Commission.
I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that the Commission is currently studying ways of implementing the preparatory activities of the NGO support programme in the new Member States, in the areas of respect for the law, democracy and fundamental rights, in line with Parliament's wishes. This confirms the shared determination of the Commission and Parliament to encourage civil society to take action to support fundamental rights based on a preventive, positive and constructive approach.
To conclude, the Commission welcomes the recognition of the importance of interinstitutional dialogue regarding the launch of the Article 7 mechanism. As I said before, this is in line with the aim of the Commission's communication, which was to institute a dialogue with the two institutions in order to develop a common approach."@en1
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