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On 16 July the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee adopted its own initiative report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union (2013-2014), drafted by rapporteur Laura Ferrara. The report will be voted on in plenary after the summer.

Ferrara writes in the explanatory statement that ‘too many actions have been proposed in the past by this Parliament that have not yet been properly followed through and there have been too many violations of fundamental rights that have not been prevented or that continue to be perpetrated’. Unfortunately I agree with her. As long as all three EU institutions do not show enough political leadership to jointly respect, protect and promote fundamental rights, the report’s 44 ambitious pages will end up serving more as decoration on a shelf than as guiding words put in practice, whom the rapporteur and NGOs were aiming for.

With that said, we welcome the report for being both comprehensive and inclusive. We also very much welcome the rapporteurs initiative to launch a public consultation in order to take into account the views of civil society actors and citizens. The report includes several points that we have long called for, such as:

Institutional questions

The Parliament ‘calls on the Member States to ensure that all EU legislation, including the economic and financial adjustment programmes, is implemented in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Social Charter (Article 151 TFEU)’ (2)

The Parliament ‘welcomes the appointment of the first Vice-President of the Commission…expects to see an internal strategy on fundamental rights adopted in the near future, in close cooperation with the other institutions and in consultation with the broad representation of civil society…’ (4). (Read our position for an internal strategy)

The call for a strategy includes making that ‘…all EU legislative proposals, policies and actions, including in the economic sphere and in the field of external relations and all EU-funded measures, must comply with the Charter and undergo a detailed ex ante and ex post assessment of their impact on fundamental rights…’ (9f). Further, the strategy should include the Commission’s framework to strengthen the rule of law (8-9a), establish a scoreboard with indicators reflecting the Copenhagen political criteria (10a), monitoring by giving the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights wider power (10b-c) and make sure that the Council take into account different institutions and stakeholders report in their debate on fundamental rights (11).

Specific fundamental rights

The report also includes a section on specific rights*, some of the recommendations particularly interesting for Social Platform’s work are:

Firstly, that the Parliament calls for the adoption of the 2008 Equal Treatment Directive (44) and ‘the need for reliable and comparable equality data to measure discrimination, disaggregated according to discrimination grounds, in order to inform policy-makers, evaluate the implementation of EU anti-discrimination legislation and better enforce it’ (47). (Read our joint NGO call for ‘Equality for All’)

Secondly, the Parliament ask for the monitoring of the transposition and launching infringement procedures of the Framework Decision on hate crime and hate speech and ‘furthermore for a review… in order for it to fully cover all forms of hate crime and crimes committed with bias or discriminatory motive’ (109). It also stresses the need to properly implement the EU Victims’ Directive (173). (Read our position on bias violence)

Thirdly and very timely the Parliament  ‘notes that the economic crisis and measures implemented to address it have affected the rights to access to basic necessities such as education, housing, healthcare and social security, as well as having a negative impact on the overall health condition of the population in some Member States; stressed the need to respect the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion as stated in Article 30 of the European Social Charter; calls on all Member States to introduce support measures, in accordance with national practices, to provide their citizens with decent living conditions and to combat social exclusion’ (136). To add, the report acknowledges ‘that long-term investment in social inclusion is beneficial, as it tackles the high costs of discrimination and inequality’ (141). It also encourages the Commission to consider accession to the European Social Charter (142).

*Recommendations on: Freedom and Security, Freedom of religion and conscience, Equality and non-discrimination, Promotion of minorities, Situation of Roma people, Violence against women and equality between women and men, Children’s rights, Rights of LGBTI people, Rights of people with disabilities, Age discrimination, Hate crime and hate speech, Homeless people, Rights of migrants and applicants for international protection, Solidarity in the economic crisis, Criminality and the fight against corruption, Conditions in prisons and other custodial institutions, Justice, Citizenship, and Victims of crime.