Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-098"
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"en.20071212.17.3-098"2
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"Mr President of the European Parliament, Prime Minister of Portugal and President of the Council of the European Union, ladies and gentlemen, on the eve of the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Presidents of the three political institutions of the European Union – the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission – are signing here, in Strasbourg, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
If we work together to promote the culture of human rights, we shall make a crucial contribution to achieving a Europe genuinely rooted in values – tangible values that are credible in the eyes of ordinary people. Strengthened by the Charter, Europe has become more determined to promote its values at world level. Ever since the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Europe has led the way in the fight for basic rights. From now on it will be better equipped to pursue that fight successfully in the interests of freedom, peace and democracy.
It is, for me, a great personal honour to participate in an act of such high significance. The proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights enshrines a culture of law in Europe. In the European Union, which is above all a community under the rule of law, institutional changes require the reinforcement of respect for fundamental rights.
Honourable Members, today the three European institutions reaffirm their commitment – the commitment they made in December 2000 when the Charter was proclaimed for the first time. But, seven years later, we go a crucial step further.
The Charter of 2000 was not legally binding. With tomorrow’s signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, and then ratification, the Charter will be part of the Union’s primary law and will have the same legal value as the Treaties themselves. This progress will have very concrete benefits for European citizens. Let me illustrate this point by looking briefly at the content of the Charter. The 54 articles cover rights that until now had to be recognised by the Court of Justice on a case-by-case basis. Now they are brought together.
The Charter, recognising the basic principles of human dignity, incorporates first of all the classic civil liberties already included in the European Convention on Human Rights: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, equality before the law and the principle of non-discrimination.
The Charter also confirms economic and social rights. It includes the right to property and the freedom to conduct business, but, at the same time, the rights of workers and of social partners, and it enshrines topics such as social security and social assistance.
The Charter also covers the new challenges facing society today. It therefore includes guarantees on data protection, on bioethics and on good administration, known as ‘third-generation rights’. These will be highly relevant in many of our areas of activity, be it in research policy, in the area of freedom, security and justice or in our permanent quest for good governance.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Charter of Fundamental Rights will help to anchor the European Union within a genuine culture of fundamental rights. By signing the Charter today, we – the Presidents of the Union’s three political institutions – are undertaking, as a priority, to respect those rights in all that we do. That commitment might, on the face of it, seem easy to uphold, but in reality it will be an ongoing challenge to ensure that civil liberties are fully respected in all EU policies, whether in legislating for the internal market, managing immigration or endeavouring to combat terrorism.
The Charter is the first legally binding document ever produced at international level which brings together in a single text not only civil and political rights but also economic and social rights, making them all subject to the same system of legal supervision. It is undoubtedly a major achievement and one that the European Union should be proud of. It is, I believe, particularly significant that this should be possible now in the new enlarged Europe, a Europe formerly divided by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes which disregarded human rights, whereas the Europe that we have today is a Europe united around the values of freedom and solidarity."@en1
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"(Several Members loudly voice their opposition, waving flags and banners and chanting: ‘Referendum!’)"1
"(The President of the House, José Sócrates and José Manuel Barroso proceed to sign the Charter of Fundamental Rights)"1
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