EU CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

At its meeting in Moscow from 5^th to 9^th May, the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches, covering churches throughout the whole of Europe, was able to give consideration to the submission already made on its behalf to the Convention drafting the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The Commission wishes to endorse all the points made in that submission, of which we enclose a copy. We would like to take this opportunity to give emphasis to some of those points and to add some comments.

The churches represented on the Commission already have a record of commitment to the promotion and defence of human rights, with a special emphasis on social and cultural rights. These are all rooted in genuine Christian tradition. This commitment is expressed through the churches' engagement with European organisations - the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the EU. We therefore welcome the commitment shown by the member states of the EU in launching the process of the development of a Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The Convention has not yet determined how the Charter is to be structured. It is not yet clear what emphasis will be given to social and cultural rights, nor how the defined rights will be limited. In endorsing the view that this Charter should be legally binding, we recognise that the real test of this Charter is the enforcement of the rights contained in it, as much as their formulation. We insist that no provision of this Charter may be interpreted as restricting the scope of the rights guaranteed by European Community law, the law of the member states and international conventions, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights, as interpreted by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

We warmly welcome the idea that the Charter should be introduced with a preamble which lays out the common values on which the integration process is based, as outlined in Article 6 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. To this we would add the values of peace, solidarity and participation.

As people coming from the whole of Europe, and not just from the member states of the EU, we stress the importance of extending the process of consultation on this Charter to include the potential member states, beyond the hearing scheduled for June. If the fundamental rights in the Charter are to be expressions of values common to people across Europe, is it not only right that it should be drawn up with the participation of all those likely to be affected by it.

The potential member states are members of the Council of Europe and most have recently undergone the process of drafting their own constitutions. Since the Charter relies not only on European and international legal sources, but also on the national constitutions of the member states, those countries will be well placed to make a precious contribution based on their recent experience.

We look forward to the first complete draft being available soon. We will continue to monitor closely the forthcoming debate, particularly that on social and economic rights.

For the enforcement of the Charter to be successful, it is crucial there should be wide public discussion. We welcome the steps which the Convention has taken towards making this process as transparent and as open as possible. However, we note that in very few of the EU member states represented on our Commission is there adequate public awareness of this development. We therefore encourage members of the Convention to publicise their work more widely, so that their commitment should not be lost in the face of public suspicion and ignorance. We commit ourselves to promoting discussion of the Charter within our churches and beyond.

May 2000

Conference of European Churches,
Church and Society Commission,
rue Joseph II 174,
B-1000 Bruxelles.

VIEW DOCUMENT SUBMITTED TO THE CONVENTION