Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-16-Speech-1-076"
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"en.20060116.14.1-076"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am grateful to all those who have spoken. However, I feel obliged to repeat certain information in greater detail, because some speakers have clearly shown – and I say this with the same frankness that you have shown towards me – that they are not familiar with what the Commission is doing.
I believe you are keeping abreast of all these activities, and it is our intention to continue to work hard in this field. I must therefore reject the accusations that the Commission has done nothing. We intend to carry on with our work in this area and to do so in a spirit of mutual openness. I felt that I should provide you with some facts, and not merely ideas, about initiatives that are already in place and which will improve our determined fight against all kinds of homophobia.
I must emphasise – and I do not believe there can be any doubt about it – that we are talking about homophobia, which is a violation of human rights, and that is the only point on which I agree with Mr Agnoletto. Homophobia is not about protecting certain categories of people, but it is essentially an issue about absolute rights, which can never be interpreted otherwise.
I should, however, like to clarify a few points. Some of you – Mrs Bozkurt was the last – asked whether or not we would guarantee that the status of homosexual protection and the fight against homophobia in the Member States would be monitored. I can assure you, Mrs Bozkurt, not only that such monitoring will be guaranteed but that it has already been done! You should be aware of the report drawn up a few weeks ago by an independent specialist group – which I have of course made available to Parliament – which illustrates what kind of behaviour in each country runs counter to our common desire to fight discrimination.
That report has been officially passed on to Parliament, and it is obvious that the only reason why I – and no one else – decided to have it prepared on a country-by-country basis was to provide you and us with the information we need to be able to form a judgment. That monitoring, Mrs Bozkurt, will continue: any actions that run counter to this guiding spirit will be exposed in public. Governments too, which are required to take the first step and to report what their national, and not just European, rules are on freedom of assembly, for instance, may draw all the necessary conclusions if they read the relevant documents. Transparent information is indeed a priority.
Other speakers mentioned a promise by President Barroso to adopt a horizontal directive – that was the term used – on the strengthening of and respect for rights in the area of non-discrimination. That too has been done, ladies and gentlemen! In 2005 the Commission adopted a formal communication entitled ‘Non-discrimination and equal opportunities for all’, which clearly indicates what is expected as regards guarantees of greater protection of equal rights.
In that communication to the European Parliament, however, we were duty-bound to point out what everyone knows, which is that when the Commission puts forward a proposal based on Article 13, that proposal must, by law – according to the Treaties and not according to our interpretation – be adopted unanimously by the Council. There is, however, no unanimity within the Council as yet, although I hope there will be. In any case, the 2005 communication very clearly states our intention to harmonise the field of legal protection against all kinds of discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation, which is what some of you claim we have not yet done, ladies and gentlemen.
I shall now turn to another subject, which concerns the powers of the European Commission. I am quite sure that the Commission does not currently have the necessary powers to take action against violations of a right that affects people so deeply, as you rightly said, Mr Cashman. It is precisely to strengthen Europe’s powers, however, that this Commission and I myself have once again proposed that a European agency for the protection of fundamental rights should be set up. The agency would be endowed with the powers that you propose, since it is the European Parliament’s duty to give its opinion on the subject and perhaps increase its powers of intervention. If you accept that proposal and if there is agreement in June, the agency will be a tool aimed precisely at tackling discriminatory behaviour. This proposal is already on the table: it just needs examining, and I have said before and I repeat that we shall listen to any request by Parliament to improve it.
That, however, is just one of the tools available. There are, of course, the usual instruments, such as Article 226 of the Treaty, infringement proceedings, and also a good deal of Court of Justice case law, according to which the Commission is unfortunately not empowered to intervene if the actions lie within the competence of the Member States. I hope that the agency will be active soon, because it will perhaps be the first instrument to meet the demand for such powers.
Mrs Bachelot-Narquin, you mention a right to diversity, and I once again reply that we are already working on it. You should, I believe, be aware of the information campaign programme named precisely ‘For diversity’. Our aim in this programme, which began in late 2003 and is still ongoing, was to put together positive information to explain that diversity is a value for Europe. All the major European gay rights groups are involved in this programme."@en1
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