The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights : legal and political implications for further EU integration

Abstract

The status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is on the agenda of the 2004 Intergovernmental Conference which will discuss the future of the EU. The Charter was proclaimed at Nice European Council (December 2000) by the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The Charter is a compendium of civil, political, economic and social rights derived from European and international instruments including the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR); member states' constitutional traditions, and case-law from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and that of Human Rights. The Charter has filled a long-felt gap in human rights' protection within the EU. The founding treaties still lack a specific catalogue of rights. The only reference is that to the ECHR in Article 6 Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the two social charters in both TEU and Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). The ECJ managed to develop case law on human rights when Membe1 States act within Community law. In 1989 the Por1inment drafted a Declaration of Fundamental Rights. A draft treaty on EU (1984) and an EU Constitution (1994), also by Parliament, both carried specific references to an EU charter of rights.